[Gig103]

Hi everyone,

I am still fairly new to OS X and Macs in general, and tonight while the Software Update was downloading the some OS X Update, my computer crashed. It was the equivalent of the blue screen of death, when you get the gray screen with "Turn off your computer now by holding the power button or pressing reset".

I have a powerbook so i held down start, and it wont boot back up. I let it sit for a good 5min with the little circle spinning below the apple logo for startup, and nothing happens.

Is there a "Safe Mode" for OS X, or a way to undo the partial install? I have a lot of data that is not backed up that I need to not lose.

Thanks.

[nate_02]

Try to repair permissions from the system disc. That worked for me for this last update after my computer wouldn't start up. I didn't get a kernel panic though.

If you system still won't start up, if you have another mac, or know someone else with a mac, you can start the PB up in target disk mode making it possible to backup all your files.

[Gig103]

Thanks Nate - a followup though, since I know someone else with an iBook could you give me a quick explanation on how to do "target disk mode"?

[nate_02]

You will need to connect the PB to the iBook with a firewire cable. Have your iBook booted up and logged in. Start up your PB while holding the "T" key. You'll know it's in target disk mode when you see the firewire symbol on the screen of your PB. It will appear as a firewire hard drive on the iBook.

Hope this helps.

[Gig103]

That helps a ton, I'll try it tonight!


Thank you!

[Gig103]

I ended up using the CD after I found out about the "Archive and Install" option so I didn't lose anything.