[psychofett]

Hi
I have been having trouble logging into my computer. Everytime I go to log in, it freezes for a while then it will fade in as though its about to show the desktop etc, when bam it goes straight to the shell command (just black screen with text) and asks me to login there. I do so then I type exit which then takes me back to the login screen. Thus I am in some sort of loop.

I have tried:
fsck (which tells me the drive is OK)
single user mode
safe mode (which either won't work or takes hours to start, stops at either gray apple w/ spinning thing or blue screen w/ spinning thing)
verbose mode
creating new users
activating the root user
deleting some preferences
deleting some large files/folders

I don't have the original disks with me as I am on a vacation, and I really need to get some work done.

I'm using a G3 400mhz Powerbook w/firewire (Pismo) with an upgraded 80gb HDD and 512 MB RAM with the latest version of Tiger if that helps.

Also if I take it to an Apple store will my privacy be ensured?

I hate myself.

Thanks for your time.

[as2]

Originally Posted by psychofett

Also if I take it to an Apple store will my privacy be ensured?

Dam that kiddy porn..

[ghporter]

What kind of privacy issues are you worried about? They certainly aren't going to retrieve your credit card data and use it to buy a Jaguar or something dumb like that...

[psychofett]

Hi
The privacy thing doesn't really matter that much, I just have some sensitive data thats all.

I'd just like to get this fixed, so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions that would be great.

Thanks.

[Tsilou B.]

You have created users from the command line and you cannot login to their accounts, either? So it looks like the system itself is screwed. What error messages are shown in the files /var/log/system.log and /Library/Logs/Console/xxx/console.log (where xxx is the number of your user account, probably 501)? You can output these files from the command line with "cat /var/log/system.log"

If you still have Internet access, you should try reapplying the latest combo updater. You can do this from the command line, too, with these commands (the first one has to be entered in one single line, before and after "-O", and only there, is a space):


1.) curl -O http://supportdownload.apple.com/download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/Mac_OS_X/downloads/061-2607.20060627.47cmbppc/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.7PPC.dmg

2.) hdiutil attach MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.7PPC.dmg

3.) cd "/Volumes/Mac OS X 10.4.7 Combined Update"

4.) sudo installer -pkg MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.7PPC.pkg -target "/"

Now it will take some time, when it's finished, reboot - hopefully everything works again thereafter. If any error messages are displayed, post them here.

[psychofett]

Hi
I went to the genius bar at the Third Street Promanade in Santa Monica and the guy there was pretty helpful. He booted Tiger from his external drive, then he tried restarting but removed the library folder for my user temporarily which did not work. Also my airport card ceased to work. Then he suggested an archive and install and now all I get is the apple logo and spinning thing underneath.

I did end up getting some important information out before I left though, so I'm glad about that.

It looks like the old Pismo has finally bitten the dust after 6 years, I figure its not worth buying a new HDD and Airport card, plus the cost to get them installed.

I'll target disk mode my stuff temporarily onto a friends computer and maybe buy a Macbook.

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks for your help Tsilou B., I appreciate it.