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filmguy · May 25, 2004, 08:37 AM

How do I get back to the finder?

filmguy · May 25, 2004, 09:16 AM

I would ad that my problem is that I am forced into the console by entering my password into the multiuser window. So ctrl-D and # exit just return me to that window causing a catch-22 of non-usability.

Millennium · May 25, 2004, 09:32 AM

Hold on; you mean that just logging in normally takes you into the console, rather than the Finder?

It sounds almost as though something has replaced your Finder with the console, but I've never seen that happen before. I didn't even know that a fullscreen console could be accessed as an application.

Could someone with Path Finder experience help here, maybe? I don't think that Path Finder itself could have done anything, but I know that it can be used to replace the OSX Finder. Maybe someone has done something similar with the Console.

Chris O'Brien · May 25, 2004, 09:35 AM

Hang on - are you logging in as >console at the login screen? It then shows a black screen with white writing in which you log in as yourself? Or are you trying to log in as yourself but it's just chucking you to the console, as if you had logged in as >console?

:XI: · May 25, 2004, 11:14 AM

If you have logged in as >console... logout will get you want you want. If not...

/me places the thread back on the track

carry on

filmguy · May 25, 2004, 11:58 AM

It's just chucking me there when I try to login as myself in the GUI login window.

I then login as myself again.

/me doesn't seem to be doing anything. But I may be missing the point of that.

I want to get back to a working finder. This may be a good time to let you know how I got to this point.

1) I was trying to make the M-Audio Sonica work in Panther so I used a little hack I saw somewhere to which involved removing the Sonica installation package (with Package Manager) and before I could get to step two of that process, I did Stupid Thing Number One: I accidently removed the 10.1 install package. No Command-Z on that action.

Then lots of things didn't work.

2) Sooo...I did Stupid Thing Number Two: I reinstalled system software from the system disk (10.2). Archive and install. Now I have this current prob.

Then I repaired permissions.

3) Then I did Stupid Thing Number Three: I installed the system again, but not having room for the archive I reinstalled it over itself.

So. I'd like not to lose everything by Erasing, but There is no more room on my OSX partition. I do have a large OS9 partition. But I am lost.

It is my backup machine so, nothing crucial is on it, mostly a bunch of recent bookmarks I didn't get a change to sync and a few personal files I'd really hate to lose. Not to mention the hassle of reinstalling a ton of software.

I suppose its possible to install OSX on the 9 partition and backup the whole thing externally and then wipe it and start from scratch. Boy, I'd like to avoid that.

Chris O'Brien · May 25, 2004, 12:17 PM

If you have X11 installed you could do startx to see some sort of GUI in order to help with backing up.

However, >console login still gives you access to all your files - you're basically using OS X without the GUI etc. You could just use a few UNIX commands to move/copy all your stuff over to your OS9 disk and then do a fresh install of OS X...

filmguy · May 25, 2004, 01:15 PM

That sounds like a good opportunity to learn some basic UNIX. I think it's one I'm going to skip though. I'm going to try moving all the files to a seperate drive with CCC and reformat. then I'll move them back and reinstall the system. The question is, can I keep my Library, User, Etc. folders and, of course is there an esier way to do this without buy a UNIX book?

(also they are on seperate partitions of the same drive so I think I would have the same problem, unless you know of an easy way to erase a single partition on a drive without harming the other.)

Xeo · May 25, 2004, 01:24 PM

Originally posted by filmguy:
(also they are on seperate partitions of the same drive so I think I would have the same problem, unless you know of an easy way to erase a single partition on a drive without harming the other.)

When you choose to erase the drive before installing, I believe it will erase the partition you choose and not reformat the whole drive. Can someone confirm this for me?

You might want to try another archive and install. To do that, you can probably remove the old system, located in /Previous Systems/ at the root of the drive. Then you might have enough room to do it. When you archive and install, it keeps all the old files, even the old system ones, so you have to delete those files manually to free up some hard drive space.

filmguy · May 25, 2004, 01:43 PM

I'll give that shot.

gorickey · May 25, 2004, 01:49 PM

Originally posted by Xeo:
When you choose to erase the drive before installing, I believe it will erase the partition you choose and not reformat the whole drive. Can someone confirm this for me?

That is correct...it will NOT reformat the whole drive...

filmguy · May 25, 2004, 02:33 PM

That did it. I'm back in action.

This time I installed directly from the Panther disc instead of the powerbook restore disc. that may have made the difference.

This is my first post here and I want to say it has been very helpful and fruitful. I've dabbled around over at DealMac, which is a great place for conversation.

But y'all really got the chops here.

Thanks.