Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 06:27 PM

really obvious question to most of you but i've never done it.

what i need to do is open an adobe illustrator file under 9 so i can bleed the edges when i print

Colonel Panic · Mar 8, 2003, 06:33 PM

apple menu:system preferences

select "StartUp Disk"

select OS 9 and reboot.

to get back to X from 9, Apple menu:control panels:startup disk, select OS X

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 06:51 PM

oh crap i need help! i did just as you said and my computer restarted. the only problem is os9 will not startup. at the startup screen i see a grey screen with an icon in the middle that flashes a question mark. now i can't do anything! can someone help me out?

Colonel Panic · Mar 8, 2003, 07:11 PM

Originally posted by Rinpoche:
oh crap i need help! i did just as you said and my computer restarted. the only problem is os9 will not startup. at the startup screen i see a grey screen with an icon in the middle that flashes a question mark. now i can't do anything! can someone help me out?

reboot and hold down apple-x to boot back into X...

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 07:14 PM

it doesnt work. is there anything else i can do?

mjarski15 · Mar 8, 2003, 07:32 PM

try rebooting with the option key held down, this will allow you to choose X as your OS

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 07:36 PM

i tried the option key, but the hard disk doesn't show. only the os restore cd icon shows. i ran disk utilities from the installer cd, and it appears the the hard disk is not mounted. when i tried to mount, nothing happens.

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 08:01 PM

ok lets assume the worst and say that i can't log into the os anymore. what would be my next option without losing all my data? if i did an os restore, would my files remain intact?

if so, how does that affect all the 3rd party software i installed? for example, my restore cd is for version 10.2 or 10.2.1 i belive. my current os is 10.2.4. would anything get screwed up in the process or doing a retro-restore as far as the os and its interactions with the 3rd party software and other misc files?

man oh man this really sucks. i have a project roughdraft that i must print out for tonite when i meet with my group. any help or advice would be appreciated

chabig · Mar 8, 2003, 08:05 PM

When you reboot, hold the X key down to boot to OS X (not command-X). Make sure you hold it through TWO sets of chimes.

Chris

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 08:10 PM

doesn't work. i still get the flashing quesitonmark/finder icon

kingskel · Mar 8, 2003, 08:17 PM

Do not panic. Try this:

1. Hold down the Apple-option-P-R combination (that's four keys) when you reboot. You should hear the "bong" rebooting sound. Do this for four bongs.

2. If that doesn't boot you into OSX, put in the OSX Restore Cd you spoke of before. Restart, and hold down the "C" key. It should boot from the OS X on the CD. Choose "Disk Utility" from the "File" menu, select your disk, and then "Repair" (don't bother with "Verify"). Run that until it says your disk "appears to be ok". Quit the intstaller, and it'll restart. Remove the Cd, and it should boot into your OSX install.

If these don't work, post back here with your results, and we'll see what else we can do.

Rinpoche · 08:42 PM

i tried resetting the pram but it didn't work. then i tried running the disk utility and heres the funny part. my hard disk does not appear to be mounted. i clicked on the HD icon (which by the way, was faded) and then clicked on repair. the funny thing is the status indicator only progressed 1/8 of the total length when it was done and it never said "appears to be ok". here's what it said in the detail box:

repairing disk "my comp"
checking HFS Plus vol
checking extents overflow file
checking catalog file
incorrect block count for file temp 292930 (text in red)
(it should be 1460 instead of 36266) (text in red)
incorrect block count for filetemp 292934 (text in red)
(it should be 13924 instead of 169030) (text in red)
invalid key length (text in red)
Repair completed

I restarted but still got the flashing quesiton mark.

Here's the bizarre part of it all. I went through a mock installation constantly clicking continue during the process just to see what would happen. At the screen where you select a harddisk to install the OS into, IT DOESNT EVEN SHOW A HD! help!

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 09:00 PM

any ideas? if not i'm going to have to make the 1 hour drive to the apple store before they close at 10. in any case i appreciate everyones help and i'll stick around for a few if anything comes up but i'm getting into desperation mode now. i have until 11 to get this fixed to retreive that project file!

kingskel · Mar 8, 2003, 09:17 PM

If you have a Diskwarrior CD, that'd be very good. I'm guessing you don't though.

Try this:

hold down Apple (Command) and the "S" key without the Cd in. This will boot you into single user mode. then type the following:

/sbin/fsck -y

Do this a few times until you get the "OK" prompt. The invalid key deal should be fixable with either this method or diskwarrior. However, it's a serious problem, and usually is fixable in the long term by a hard drive wipe (zero all data), or taking it to the shop. I've had the same problem before, and it's worth having them fix it. If I were you, I'd try to fix the drive, recover the file, then take it into the shop - if you're still covered, might as well have them fix it for you.

Hope this helps...

Rinpoche · Mar 8, 2003, 09:22 PM

hey whats up. well...i tried holding down apple+s and all i get is that same flashing question mark flashing...obviously somethign is screwed up..any ideas?

midwinter · Mar 8, 2003, 09:49 PM

Originally posted by Rinpoche:
hey whats up. well...i tried holding down apple+s and all i get is that same flashing question mark flashing...obviously somethign is screwed up..any ideas?

Did you get an OS 9 disk with the machine? If so, you could try booting to it. Barring that, you really need something like Diskwarrior or Norton at this point.

Have you been messing around inside the computer lately?

Cheers

Edit: um, what I meant to say was that you could boot to the 9 CD and run the disk utilities on it.

mikerally · Mar 9, 2003, 03:53 AM

I'm sorry to say this, but your hard disk is seriously damaged.

This is why you can't boot from it, and why it doesn't mount in Disk Utility - and it looks like from what you say - Disk Utility is unable to repair it either.

Your only choice is to go out and buy copies of Diskwarrior or Norton Utilities and pray that they can recover your hard disk.

Rinpoche · Mar 9, 2003, 10:39 AM

hey thanks for all the replies and help, again the mac community never fails to amaze me, were like a big nerdy happy family.

anyhow, the genius at the apple store used diskwarrior and managed to save my essential files. oh man was i happy!

i'm actually running osX again, i don't know what the hell the genius did but after a lot of sweating he managed to get my comp to recognize the HD again. so i'm running osX but he did say that it would be best to backup all my essentials/apps/etc and reinstall the os from scratch.

God bless Diskwarror!