[tranquilchaos]

This is one of the most frustrating problems i have on my mac. When i log off on ne user it brings me to a screen when the backgrounf is black and there is white text that looks like:

Darwin/BSD (Non's-computer.local.) (console))

Login:

I can put in a user's name and their login after login and then it says Welcome to Darwin enter comand: and then when i type in any thing it says command not found or something along those lines. Please if you know any thing about this help, it might be ruining my computer which is by the way an eMac, on OSX version 10.2.8, not a very good computer, but i want it to last while it can. Thank you, I'll be looking forward for your replies.

[yukon]

Sounds like something is borked. You can log in into a normal OS X user environment? If not, then a required library is either damaged or gone.

Think about when it started, what you did.....all I can say is that you need to reinstall OS X, preferably on a newly reformatted and sector-scanned disk.

[Angus_D]

Sounds like loginwindow is breaking and as a result the windowserver is falling over. If ctrl-d doesn't return you to loginwindow and this is happening regularly, you probably need to reinstall OS X.

[tranquilchaos]

ok i see, but umm if i have to reinstall OSX then how do i do so? and what affects will it have on my comp? liek files, and users, ect.? will i lose alot of my music? all of it?

[chabig]

Before you reinstall the whole system, I'd recommend you download and install the 10.3.6 combo updater. Then repair permissions afterward.

Chris

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by tranquilchaos:
ok i see, but umm if i have to reinstall OSX then how do i do so? and what affects will it have on my comp? liek files, and users, ect.? will i lose alot of my music? all of it?

I would "archive and install" over your system, everything will stay where it is, your apps/files will be mostly unaffected, its an option in the OS installer.

Back up all important docs before doing it, just in case.

[Dr. Smoke]

The problem you are experiencing normally happens when folks first attempt to log in to their Macs, not on log out, so your situation is interesting. The following steps may sort this out without need of performing an Archive and Install.

(1) Start up the computer in Single-User Mode.

(2) Type the following, exactly as written:

mount -uw /

and press Return. Note there is a single space after mount and after -uw

(3) Type the following, exactly as written:

mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist preferences2.old

and press Return. Note there is a single space after mv and after .plist

(4) Type the following, exactly as written:

reboot

then press Return.

Note that these instructions are based on information from the following two sources:

a. Step 5 of the section "You see an empty, blue screen..." in Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X.

b. This hint on Mac OS X Hints.

Note: If you decide to perform an Archive and Install, see my General advice on performing an Archive and Install FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the specified order.