[Fawad]

Hi All,

Im new to OSX-- I just got my powerbook less than a month ago. Recently I left the computer in sleep mode and was away for a few days (unplanned) -- however Im sure there were no programs running. When I returned the battery was drained, and the computer off.

So I connected it to the power supply and booted it up, everything went fine till I reached the login prompt, I logged in (I have just one account, and its an admin account). However I got taken back to the login prompt again. I can not login. Ive tried restarting, putting it to sleep and waking again, with no success and always returning to the login prompt.

I loaded my OSX repair DVD I got with the powerbook with OSX 10.2.3 and reinstalled, however I still have the same problem.

Ive got some really important data on it and I cant access it now either.

Does anyone know of any way I can retrieve my data and reformat the HDD. Or (preferrably) fix this problem so it works again

Thanks a lot guys
-Fawad
(A happy switcher)

PS. I cant SSH into the machine

[pat++]

Try to boot in single user mode (hold cmd-S during startup). This will drop you a root shell. Then, try to repair the disk with :

fsck -y

then enter :

reboot

Let us know if this helps.

[Fawad]

Hey, I tried that.. had to use fsck -yf as I had journalling enabled (Which is supposed to stop this kind of thing isnt it?) It did a lot of fixes and stuff, but when I rebooted, it still didnt work

Thanks anyways

Ill keep asking around.

I dont want to reformat

[chabig]

When you log in, what exactly happens to get you back to the login prompt? Does the login window shake?

You do realize that both the username and password are case sensitive, right?

You might try booting from the Jaguar install disk and resetting the password.

Chris

[Fawad]

The username and password are correct, Ive tried entering the wrong password and the screen does shake. But when I give the correct login and all, it says logging in, then the screen turns towards my desktop colour for less than a second before returning to the darkish blue background of the login prompt, and then the login prompt reappears.

I remember we had a problem with Windows2K in college when if we were logged on a computer, and didnt log off properly (ie reset the computer) Whenever we'd try to log on, it'd log us off straight away. That was done by the admin though to prevent multiple logins..

I just wish I can save my data and then Ill format everything. I want to try every other option till then- OSX has been so good to me. People tell me the disk is corrupt.. Ive done repair disks and repair permissions from the OSX boot DVD..

This suddenly makes .mac's backup seem worth it

[Homer1946]

Originally posted by Fawad:
The username and password are correct, Ive tried entering the wrong password and the screen does shake. But when I give the correct login and all, it says logging in, then the screen turns towards my desktop colour for less than a second before returning to the darkish blue background of the login prompt, and then the login prompt reappears.

I remember we had a problem with Windows2K in college when if we were logged on a computer, and didnt log off properly (ie reset the computer) Whenever we'd try to log on, it'd log us off straight away. That was done by the admin though to prevent multiple logins..

I just wish I can save my data and then Ill format everything. I want to try every other option till then- OSX has been so good to me. People tell me the disk is corrupt.. Ive done repair disks and repair permissions from the OSX boot DVD..

This suddenly makes .mac's backup seem worth it

Some possible options. If you can login to console mode (entering >console as the username and leaving password blank) you may be able to activate a root account and then login as that. (You will be in a command line interface but if it works the steps are easy) You will then at least have access to all your files. You can also try resetting your password using System Preferences from there.

If saving your files and restarting is all you are after, firewire target disk mode is probably good enough. If you have a firewire port on the problem system just purchase a 6 pin to 6 pin firewire cable, hook your hobbled machine up to a working one (a laptop is good here), turn it off, hold turn the "T" key, and power it up. It should mount on the working mac as an external HD. You can then extract whatever files you need/want.

However, I bet if you manage to console in, create a root account, and then login as root, I bet you can create a new account and login at will. I would be willing to bey money this is a userspace problem and is something in your user preferences.

-R

[elmer]

I was playing around with Visage, a third-party customization utility and found I could not login to my main account - same as you, it showed my desktop colour for a second. I logged in as another user, su'ed to myself in a Terminal and deleted Visage's preference file. After that I was able to login to my main account. I recommend deleting preference files for applications that run as login items, if you suspect any of them. The preferences will be restored using system defaults the next time you run the program. All of your user preferences are in a subfolder of ~/Library. Each program has one or more files there.

[elmer]

For more on the subject of corrupted preference files, see:

Dr. Mac's prescription for finding a damaged or corrupted preference file fast

[xtal]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago. I read through a lot of workarounds, such as creating another admin account, etc. I also tried everything people have mentioned here (fsck, disk repair, etc.)

In the end, booted up the computer using Firewire target mode (connect to another mac via firewire, and hold T as you boot up).

I then copied over all the useful files, and formatted, partitioned and reinstalled the OS. If I had done this in the beginning it would have taken me less than an hour to get it all done. On the downside, it took days...

I also talked to a tech at Applecare who was very helpful, and had me try some other things. In the end, he figured the best thing (timewise and outcome-wise) was to backup files, wipe and reinstall.

[darrick]

for what it's worth....

maybe you could login fom the install disk and clear the login items, so you start without anything running.

or

maybe you could login fom the install disk and create a new user/admin account.