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pseudopeach
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
 
2006-03-20, 14:45

My ibook G4 decided all of a sudden, to boot in unix. I've tried safe boot, which just also dumps me into unix. I've tried the exit command, which exits and then returns to unix. I also am having trouble booting from a CD...it just keeps thinking forever and then goes to a light-blue screen

I can only log into the system as my guest user because my "super user" password contains a non-keyboard character, namely the infinity symbol, which I usually get by typing option-5.

Can the lack of disk space keep the GUI from starting? My HD is really full right now, and I can't get in to delete anything because I can't log in as the main user. Anyone know what's wrong? Is there a way to enter special characters in Unix Prompt? I tried replacing the symbol with ∞ or something, but that didnt work either. Please help, I need access to my stuff!
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pseudopeach
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
 
2006-03-20, 14:54

i see that symbol shows up in html
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Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2006-03-20, 15:18

It should still work in the password at that level.

Secondly, if you're well and truly dumped into the console, then you can delete files just fine... you're essentially super user (root), and have the power to destroy your realm at a whim. Muahahahahaha.

To wit: be very careful, but you can judiciously delete files while in the Unix level. The 'cd' command 'c'hanges 'd'irectories. The 'rm' command 'r'e'm'oves files.

So, for instance, if you wanted to go look in your Documents folder, you would type 'cd /Users/yourusename/Documents' and then you'd be in your Documents folder. 'cd /Users/yourusername/Movies' would then take you to Movies, etc.

To go up a folder, 'cd ..'

'ls' is short for 'l'i's't, and that will show you the files and directories in the directory you're currently in.

You can go directly into a folder that is in your current directory by 'cd'ing into it immediately. For instance, in my Documents folder I have a folder named Incoming. I could get to that folder by 'cd /Users/myusername/Documents/' and then 'cd Incoming'. 'cd ..' would then take me back up to my Documents folder.

Once you navigate to where you want to delete things, 'rm filenametodelete' will get rid of it. WARNING: This is *NOT* like the Trash in the GUI - once you do this, it is GONE. No second chance.

But you can delete files.

Assuming that's actually the issue...
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Majost
monkey with a tiny cymbal
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Lost
 
2006-03-20, 15:58

Something similar happened to me about three years ago. My startup disk was completely full, so when it tried to write out one of the preferences files, it got corrupted. The symptoms were slightly different (instead of dumping me to the command line, it would 'boot' and then freeze at the blue screen before the login window came up).

Of course, this must have been with 10.2 or so, and the booting mechanisms have changed dramatically. But I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened to you. That would mean that purely deleting stuff won't fix it (It'll fix the underlying cause, but not the direct problem).

What I ended up doing was slowly deleting some of my preferences, and by trial and error I found the right one on the first try. Of course, I had a bit more to go on... since I knew the error was coming up at the time when the login window should, I deleting that pref first thing, and that fixed it.

Sooo... I don't know which prefs you should go after first. Maybe someone has had more recent experience with this problem using 10.4 and would be able to give you a bit more direction. But the files themselves are located in /Library/Preferences. The ones in your home directory shouldn't be the problem, since you're not loading your user yet. Maybe just do a brash
Code:
mv /Library/Preferences /Library/PreferencesOld mkdir /Library/Preferences
By 'm'o'v'ing all your old prefs into a different folder, it will forces OS X to reinstate default versions of all of its preferences, and would bypass any corrupted prefs. And then you could manually move back your old prefs slowly, making sure that you don't reinstate the problem.
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pseudopeach
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
 
2006-03-20, 18:19

That character must be entered differently in unix. I can't log in as an myself and therefore can't delete anything.
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Paul
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: New York City
 
2006-03-20, 20:42

can you boot into target disk mode at all and hook the mac up to another computer?
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Majost
monkey with a tiny cymbal
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Lost
 
2006-03-20, 23:00

Erm... Boot up holding down cmd-s. That will put you in complete control, without the need of a password. Kick and I both assumed that that was the place you were getting 'dumped,' which is why we didn't really give you any advice on how to get around the ∞ conundrum.
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