Help! Can't switch to my user account!

Question

Help! Can't switch to my user account!

On my home desktop computer, we (my boyfriend and I) have fast user switching enabled to switch back and forth to both of our accounts. My boyfriend uses this computer 90% of the time, while I usually use my laptop. In the past week, I've been using the desktop a lot more, as I've been fiddling around with my iTunes (all my music is on there).

Over an hour ago, I came to the computer and it was on my boyfriend's account -- but when I tried to switch over to mine, it just bounced to the main login window screen. When I try to re-enter my username/password from there, everything (but the mouse) just freezes, and it is unresponsive. I can't even switch back to my boyfriend's account when this happens. The ONLY thing I can do is shut the computer down and restart it. But once it gets back to the main login window, the ONLY thing I can do is login to my boyfriend's account. If I try to login to mine, I just gets bounced back and I'm forced to restart. If I try switching to my account from his account, the same thing happens all over again. No matter how many times I restart, ONLY my boyfriend's account is accessible!

I'm not sure what happened! My boyfriend says he hasn't messed with any settings, downloaded anything, or done anything unusual -- he only ever uses Safari, iPhoto and iTunes and that's it.

Can anyone please help??

My info:
Computer: PowerMac G5
System: OS 10.5.4
Recent software downloads within past week: SimplifyMedia, GimmeSomeTune, and some iPhone app store purchases

With this happening to my Mac, and my iPhone suffering the lost apps/media problem, I feel like I'm having the worst Apple luck ever lately...

PowerMac G5, iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 29, 2008 3:28 PM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Aug 29, 2008 3:39 PM in response to Anton Kawasaki

question number one in such situations: do you have a backup?
assuming you don't, sometimes things like this are caused by system cache problems. download and install [Onyx|http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system diskutilities/onyx.html] and run all maintenance scripts. in particular, execute all cache cleaning scripts in the Cleaning section. when done, try logging in.

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Answer 2

Sep 2, 2008 6:17 AM in response to V.K.

Thanks.

To answer your question, I don't have have everything backed up. (Thanks to my boyfriend, who decided to switch off Time Machine 'cause he thought it was slowing things down on the computer).

I downloaded Onyx and ran the scripts and cleaning as you said....but it didn't fix the problem. I also ran Disk Utility and repaired the disk (which DID say it had problems, though they seemed minor) -- but after it said it was repaired, I tried logging into my account again, and....nothing. I continue to be bounced back to the main login window.

We also noticed something when we're on my boyfriend's account (which luckily we can still access) -- Spotlight doesn't seem to work. When we go to it, it says "Spotlight will be available as soon as the contents of your computer have been indexed." And then it has the spinning candy-striped bar as it's estimating indexing time -- which....goes on forever, and never stops. No matter how long we're logged in, or if we restart and try again, it's always continually indexing.

Any other suggestions before I take this into repairs? (Hoping to avoid a big expense - I'm unfortunately not able to afford anything right now).

Well at least I was able to get my iPhone problems fixed....

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 2, 2008 6:44 AM in response to Anton Kawasaki

there is no reason to go for repairs in a situation like that. you should be able to fix things yourself. try the following. first add the whole drive to spotlight's privacy pane in spotlight system preferences. this should stop indexing. next try rebooting in safe mode. restart and hold shift at the chime. it will take a while to boot as it will first perform disk repair. try logging in into your account in safe mode.

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Answer 4

Sep 2, 2008 7:50 AM in response to V.K.

Thanks - I'll try that when I get home again, and let you know how it goes.

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Answer 5

Sep 2, 2008 3:34 PM in response to V.K.

Well the indexing has stopped. Tried the safe boot, and....still not working. 😟

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Answer 6

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 2, 2008 3:45 PM in response to Anton Kawasaki

well, maybe something is wrong with your directory service entry.

reboot normally and from your boyfriends account run the following command in terminal
\\

sudo rm /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/short-user-name.plist

Instead of short-user-name put in the above the short name of the your user (not the user of your boyfriend). It's the same as the name of that user's home directory in /Users folder. Please make sure you copy the command EXACTLY as given. it's very important. we don't want to delete the wrong thing here.

Press enter in terminal.

You'll be prompted to enter your boyfriend's admin password (which you won't see as you type it). that's normal.

Restart and log into your boyfriend's account. go to system preferences->accounts. Your account should be gone from there and from fast user switching menu. try creating the account with your old short name. you'll get a popup saying that a home directory by that name already exists and asking if you want to use it. say "yes". this will resurrect your user with a new directory services entry. try logging in.

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Answer 7

Sep 2, 2008 9:27 PM in response to Anton Kawasaki

That worked!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

I have to admit, it was pretty scary -- especially not having used Terminal before. I wasn't sure if I was going to somehow delete the wrong thing.

One question: What about Spotlight? I did your above suggestion to stop the indexing -- but now I'm without the ability to use Spotlight on my hard drive. What can I do to get it back, working normally? I moved it out of the Privacy pane to see if the indexing would stop, but it still keeps going. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for the user account help!!

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Answer 8

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 2, 2008 9:43 PM in response to Anton Kawasaki

I'm glad it worked. I wasn't sure what was going on there.

sorry, forgot about spotlight.

since you are now a seasoned terminal user let's try the following in terminal (cut and paste please). execute them one line at a time

sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo mdutil -E /
sudo mdutil -i on /

the commands turn off spotlight, dump the index and then turn it on. see if that helps.

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Answer 9

Sep 2, 2008 9:46 PM in response to V.K.

Will do - but first, does it matter if I still have the hard drive in the privacy pane (in settings), or should it be back out like before?

Thanks

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Answer 10

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 2, 2008 9:48 PM in response to Anton Kawasaki

move it out of the privacy pane.

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Answer 11

Sep 3, 2008 5:44 AM in response to V.K.

You, sir, are a genius.

I did what you said, and checked Spotlight again immediately after, and I got the same "indexing" message. I figured that it was probably doing it for real this time, so I left it be and went to sleep, and...voila! This morning everything's working normally!

I can't thank you enough!!!

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Answer 12

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 3, 2008 6:48 AM in response to Anton Kawasaki

you are welcome! Glad it worked.

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Answer 13

Sep 15, 2008 5:17 PM in response to V.K.

I now have a new iTunes-related problem, which may or may not be related to having rebuilt my account (it seemed to happen right after, so it's possible).

I made a post about it in the iTunes section:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8098281#8098281

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Answer 14

Sep 17, 2008 4:35 PM in response to V.K.

I had the EXACT same problem (except it was the main admin account) and thought I was cooked.

I followed these instructions and it worked great.

Thank you!!!

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