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skybolt · Mar 14, 2007, 09:19 AM

After the update failed, I needed to restart, but that failed because mail was trying to send a message (at least that's what the error message said). So I had to turn off the MB via the power button to get it to restart (other error messages that I don't remember now). Now will only start to grey apple screen with the spinning pinwheel.

My plans for this evening when I get home from work are to insert the restore disk, hold down the C key, and attempt to repair permissions that way. Failing that, I plan to try to archive and install from the restore disks. Failing that, I plan to do a complete restore, then clone from my external (did a new backup over the weekend -- Yay!).

Can the experts out there tell me if my plans are sound, or should I do something else instead/first? Is there a better way? The external is a firewire drive that I cloned to using SuperDuper and asked that it be made bootable. How could I boot from that and repair my problem? I'm open to anything that will get me back on track again. I have an idea that the update failed because I momentarily lost my internet connection -- this I say because at the same time Mail was trying to send a message and I got the error message that it could not use the selected server. Maybe that had nothing to do with anything, but just seemed like it might.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Thanks in advance!

chris v · Mar 14, 2007, 09:29 AM

you could boot from your backup by holding down the option key on boot, then choosing it in the dialog you'll get. May take a couple of minutes for your machine to complete the scan for valid operating systems, so be patient. From there, you can run Disk utility, or DiskWarrior if you have it, on your internal drive to see if theat fixes you up.

If not, Archive & Install, preserving users & apps should do the trick. Then, just run the combo-updater.

Sherman Homan · Mar 14, 2007, 09:39 AM

Definitely do the Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. But before you resort to reinstalling the OS, try booting in Safe Mode, hold the Shift key down through the restart process. It may take a while because it runs a disk repair and empties out some system and font caches.

Art Vandelay · Mar 14, 2007, 11:42 AM

You didn't need to force it off when Mail interrupted the restart process. Logouts, restarts, and shutdowns will normally time out if an application is busy and won't quickly quit as requested. You could've waited for Mail to finish sending the message or force quit Mail and choose Restart from the Apple menu.

skybolt · Mar 15, 2007, 09:42 AM

Thanks, guys for all the info. Last evening, I booted from the external and ran disk utility, but that did not fix the problem. So, I tried starting in safe mode, but guess I did not wait long enough (see Sherman's post). I decided to run disk utility from the restore disk, but got confused and ended up doing an archive and install instead. All seems fine now. Took a little time, but I just set things up and went away -- checking on the progress from time to time. After everything was back, I used the combo updater from the Apple site, then went to software update and updated things there. A quick clean up with Onyx and all is good!

Thanks again! I hope to never have to do this again, but am keeping all of your comments in case I screw up again (not taking a minute to close down my apps before updating was a dumb thing to to -- always shut them down previously for updates, but was in a hurry -- hubby had breakfast on the table!).

voicebox · Mar 15, 2007, 10:13 AM

Thanks again! I hope to never have to do this again, but am keeping all of your comments in case I screw up again (not taking a minute to close down my apps before updating was a dumb thing to to -- always shut them down previously for updates, but was in a hurry -- hubby had breakfast on the table!).

Your husband cooks you breakfast ......??
Wow! Now there's a first!!
Glad to see you got things sorted out by the way; for what it's worth, I always use combo update, I never quite trust Software Update for major updates ...
Even so, I think I'll leave 10.4.9 alone for another month or so!

skybolt · Mar 15, 2007, 10:38 AM

Not only that, he cooks dinner, too!

voicebox · Mar 15, 2007, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by skybolt

Not only that, he cooks dinner, too!

Hey skybolt,
I want to meet this Super Man!!
Although sadly, London UK is too far away - so I'll be a little late for dinner!
best
voicebox