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Clivey · Nov 20, 2007, 03:33 PM

Okay, I'm using the girlfriend's iBook to post this because something really worrying just happened to my PowerBook:

I have been using the computer all morning/early afternoon at home with no problems at all, before bring it to my girlfriend's place.

Upon then trying to connect to her wireless network I found that the Airport logo in the Finder bar had vanished. I started Safari and ran 'Network Diagnostics' to try to see if I could connect to the network from there, Airport was running but it turns out there was a problem with the network. My main concern was the disappearance of the Airport logo in the first place.

Whilst waiting to see what would happen regarding the network (router trouble-it's sorted now), I decided to do a bit of housekeeping on my computer. I then found a "program" in my 'Applications' folder called "Maintenance.app" and decided seeing that I'd never used it before to find out what it did.

Initially when I ran the application, it asked me to let it verify the permissions on my hard drive. I let it but at some time during the process I recieved an error message stating that the program had quit unexpectedly and that "Mac OS X and other applications are not affercted" (or similar).

I then restarted my computer and OS appeared to be loading normally - until I clicked on my username icon. As I did this, the screen went black and showed what appeared to be the console program with "Username:" written in the top corner. I entered my username, hit return and it appeared to accept, then showing the word "Password:" underneath. The problem is that no matter what I try and type, the characters aren't accepted.

Does anyone have an idea about what the hell is going on?

Clivey · Nov 20, 2007, 06:02 PM

To add to the above post: The actual error message reads:

Darwin/BSD (Computer-Name.local) (console)

Since leaving the computer on this screen, this line has been added to the screen:

Login: Stealth Mode connection attempt to UDP xxx.xxxx.x.x:xxx from xxx.xxx.x.x:xxx

...what's going on?

mduell · Nov 20, 2007, 06:43 PM

Sounds like your computer is booting into single user mode.

And Unix/Unix-like systems typically don't show the number of characters you've typed for your password. Just type the password and hit enter to login.

Clivey · Nov 20, 2007, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Sounds like your computer is booting into single user mode.

And Unix/Unix-like systems typically don't show the number of characters you've typed for your password. Just type the password and hit enter to login.

OKay, you're right so far! (Thanks!) It's logged into Darwin.
It now says:

Computer-Name:~ Name$

I just want to log-into Tiger and use it as normal...

What do I do?

P.S. (To anyone kind enough to help me) Sorry if I'm a complete n00b but this is my first Mac and I've not really had any problems with it up until now. I really don't know much at all, therefore it'd probably be less confusing if you talk to me as if I've never used a Mac before. Thanks,

Clivey

mduell · Nov 20, 2007, 08:09 PM

Sorry, I didn't even read your post the first time. I've seen this issue before, caused by an Airport card that wasn't quite seated. Did you drop or jar your PowerBook just before this all started?

Shutdown the machine (shutdown -h now), unplug it and pop out the battery, open the little hatch next to it, and push the Airport card back into its slot.

Clivey · Nov 21, 2007, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

Sorry, I didn't even read your post the first time. I've seen this issue before, caused by an Airport card that wasn't quite seated. Did you drop or jar your PowerBook just before this all started?

Shutdown the machine (shutdown -h now), unplug it and pop out the battery, open the little hatch next to it, and push the Airport card back into its slot.

Nope, can't be that. The computer's not had a shock of any kind and the Airport card's seated correctly. I took the computer into the store I bought it from today and seeing as I have a full backup they've suggested an Archive and ReInstall.

I've found a document on Apple's support website detailing how to do this but the one thing it doesn't give you is the shortcut you need to use when starting the PowerBook to force it to boot from the install CD. Know what it is?

Big Mac · Nov 21, 2007, 11:42 AM

It sounds like drive corruption of some sort.

Clivey · 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

It sounds like drive corruption of some sort.

Yeah, that's what the store said - all I need now is the keyboard shortcut to boot from my install CD.

EDIT: I've found it. Command + C

Thanks everyone for their help,

Clivey

msuper69 · Nov 21, 2007, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Clivey

Yeah, that's what the store said - all I need now is the keyboard shortcut to boot from my install CD.

EDIT: I've found it. Command + C

Thanks everyone for their help,

Clivey

Actually, just restart and hold down the C key. No need to press Command.

Clivey · Nov 21, 2007, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by msuper69

Actually, just restart and hold down the C key. No need to press Command.

Yeah, I just realised that I didn't actually type what I was thinking (brain fart . I've got the computer working again now, thanks!

Can I refer you to the following thread? I need assistance with getting the computer "back to normal" post Archive and Install.

http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/...install-setup/

Cheers,

Clivey