[flylive]

I'm working on a brand new white iBook with OS 9.1 and I put in some 3rd party ram that crashed my system. Pulled out the ram, put in really expensive Apple ram, and the system is working again. BUT, I now have an "Invalid extent entry, 5829,571" disk problem, which can't be repaired with Disk First Aid. I went and bought Disk Warrior (yes, it's been a fun day) and tried to boot from the cd, but I keep getting another error message: "Sorry, a system error has occurred. bus error. To temporary turn off extensions, restart and hold down shift key." So, I do this, and I keep getting the same message. Oh, I should also mention that when I hit the restart message on the error message, it ejects my Disk Warrior cd. The computer functions fine, but it makes me nervous to know something is jiggy with the hard drive (10gig hd). Can someone help me out of this cruel loop? Do I have to reinstall the OS?

Grateful in advance.

[reader50]

The Disk Warrior CD you have is not rated to boot the new iBooks yet. The next release from Alsoft doubtless will do the trick. Try just running Disk Warrior from the CD, or installing DW onto your HD and running from there.

If neither works (DW refuses to fix the boot partition), I suggest you backup any files you have created to your iDisk (or other safe place), reformat the HD with Drive Setup, and create a small (2GB) second partition. Do a basic OS install on the 2nd partition, and a full reinstall on the main (8GB) partition. The 2nd partition is for emergency booting in situations just like this one. Boot into each partition in turn, and install DW into each.

Presto. From now on you can repair either partition by booting from the other.

BTW: Extent damage means the file structure has lost track of a file fragment somewhere. Or thinks it might have. Most likely some small & recent file like a prefs file or browser cache, or temp file in any of several places. This is not immediately dangerous, but is something that should be fixed. No, it won't hose your HD any time soon. But it might make your system less stable if it is a system-related prefs file, or make an application less stable if it is that app's prefs file. A broken browser cache file should be ignored, along with a busted temp file.

[flylive]

Thanks Reader50. I didn't know that this DW cd wasn't rated to book the new ibooks. No wonder I was getting into a loop.

I'm unable to start the rebuilt from the cd or from the hd (when installed). From the cd, I get these messages:

- Directory cannot be rebuilt because this is the startup disk.
- This disk is a Mac OS Extended disk.
- Where (ATA Bus 2 Dev 0, v3.2.8)

From the hd, I get the same messages, plus this one:

- Directory cannot be rebuilt because DiskWarrior resides on this disk.

Do you know if I can boot from a Norton cd? Would you recommend that to fix the problem?

Here's the thing -- brace yourself. I've been a pc person for more years than I want to admit and just converted to Mac ("Welcome to the light," my friend just told me.) I work in the entertainment business and I'm using Final Cut Pro 2 to interface with the Avid. The thought of reformatting and partitioning sounds a little overwhelming to me, but I will try it if there is no other good solution (I need to learn how to partition anyhow). But I want to make sure I exhaust my options to fix this disk first. I'm not worried about losing anything -- I haven't installed or created anything that I couldn't recover -- I'm more worried that a Mac rookie like me will completely hose my system doing this. Help?

[reader50]

No problem, and welcome to our side of the fence.

Bootable CDs generally don't work with Mac models that come out after the CD was created. Apple fiddles the OS just a bit for the new features of each new Mac model, this usually makes older bootable CDs unable to boot. I doubt Norton could boot it either, unless the CD was released after the new iBooks came out. Everyone will fix this when they release the next version point for their different utilities.

Since you have no files to back up, do the reformat & partition right away. Boot from the Software Restore CD, it was created for your iBook and will boot it. The CD should open a window, find the Utilities folder in that window. Inside will be Drive Setup, the formatting & partitioning utility. BTW: Drive Setup is on the Software Install CD also, in the same place. I suggested the Software Restore CD because the software reinstall afterwards will be faster. But you could boot and do it from either CD.

Launch Drive Setup:


You will get a list of drives, they will show "Macintosh HD" and "iBook Restore" on your system, or something very similiar:


Click the "Macintosh HD" to highlight it, then click the Initialize... button in lower right of the window.


This doesn't start the formatting process, it brings up the next dialog window:


The next window shows the drive name, and the default partition of "1 Mac OS", along with several buttons. Click the Custom Setup... button on lower left.


In the next dialog, pop up the top pop-up menu to show "2 Partitions" instead of the "1 Partition" it shows at first.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 05-27-2001).]

[reader50]

Now, the Volume Info zone. The Size box should already be highlighted. Type "8000" in, you are giving the first partition 8 GB (8,000 MB as shown). Make sure the pop-up "Type" menu shows "Mac OS Extended" as shown. Don't worry about the volume name "untitled", you will get a chance to name them later.


Now click in the lower "untitiled 2" graphic in the Volumes zone. The Volume Info will show "untitled 2", and a number that might be a little different from mine. Probably in the 1,500 - 1,900 range, depending on the exact size of your 10GB HD. This is the remaining space. Make sure the pop-up "Type" menu shows "Mac OS Extended" as shown. Click the OK button in lower right when you are satisfied.


You now see the Initialize window again. The drive name shown will be "Macintosh HD" in your case, or whatever you had renamed your drive to. And it will show "2 Mac OS" partitions. Click the Initialize button. You should get a warning dialog box next about initialization erasing all your data on the HD. Click through it, and let the format proceed. When it has finished, quit Drive Setup.

Next, you should return to the Finder. Two new disk icons will be on the desktop showing "untitled" and "untitled 2". Ignore them, in the Software Restore CD window launch Apple Software Restore.

You will get a window much like this:

Click the radio buttons in the middle to "Erase untitled before restoring" as shown. Click the Restore button. After the warning dialog, the restore should be done in only a minute or two. Congrats, the first partition is now bootable. Quit Apple Software Restore if it did not quit automatically, and go to the Apple Menu -> Control Panels -> Startup Disk control panel. Select "Macintosh HD" as the startup disk, then reboot. You can use the Restart button on lower right if you like.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 05-27-2001).]

[reader50]

After rebooting, insert the Software Install CD and launch "Mac OS Install". The name might be a little different on your later model.

Proceed through the dialogs. In Select Destination choose "untitled 2", you are proceeding to install a minimal system into the small partition. Click through the warning & license windows until you get here:

Click the Customize button.


Scroll down the window and uncheck everything but "Mac OS 9". It may show "Mac OS 9.1" in your dialog. I've already unchecked all the boxes in the picture. Click the Start button when you are ready. It will take several minutes, perhaps 5-10 minutes to finish. Quit the Installer when it is done.

Back in the Finder, you can click on the "untitled 2" disk icon in the name area. It will highlight, you can give it another name like "Repairs" or whatever you like.

In the future you can use the Startup Disk control panel to boot into the other partition and do repairs on the first. I suggest you boot into each, and install DiskWarrior into each. You can also hold down the Option key while booting, and a graphic dialog will come up allowing you to choose the boot partiton from all available. That way you can boot directly into the 2nd partition even if there were considerable damage to the first partition.

If that is not clear enough, please ask for clarification on anything that does not make sense. Oh, and this answer was split into three posts because the Forum would not take the single long post I first wrote. Post size limit.

I suggest that you print these instructions out, including the pictures, before starting. You can normally back out if things get strange by clicking the Cancel buttons. And you can quit Drive Setup or Apple Software Restore or Mac OS Install at any time unless they are actually writing to disk/installing at the time.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 05-27-2001).]

[reader50]

Oh, another thing. You will have to reenter your internet settings, etc. after this. Might want to write them down first.

On a side note, this 2nd partition is a nice size for installing OS X into & playing around with. Or installing any software that you are leery of without risking your main working partition. Having a 2nd partition gives a great deal of flexibility in the future. Good luck.

[WDL]

Reader50:

You're a class act! Beautiful help to flylive.

Well done!

WDL

[flylive]

Reader50, you made that unbelievably easy for me. Thanks so much. It went without a hitch and I've got my two bootable partitions with Disk Warrior installed on each. With this awesome new computer and such a great Mac community, I know I did the right thing switching over.

See you next time

[yoyo52]

Very impressive indeed! Good job, reader50

[ddiokno]

excellent documentation reader50!
dave

[MMJ]

When I have a machine that I need to do some HD work on from a non-bootable CD I make a startup Zip disk. Granted you need a Zip drive in or around the machine (a USB drive in the case of an iBook or TiBook), but once you make one using the OS CD that came with the new machines you're good to go if needing to use an older version of Norton, Tech Tool, or Disk Warrior. Glad you were able to resolve your situation.