I need someone to help me out of this hole please for the love of God!

Question

Level 1

8 points

I need someone to help me out of this hole please for the love of God!

About a month ago water was spilled onto my MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core Duo. This caused several keys on my keyboard to stick and several other keys to not function and all. To add insult to injury the DVD optical drive now works about one out of every 100 times. To drive the final nail through my brain I have been unable to locate my install disk one.

The problems stems from this.....at some point my admin password was needing to be input which it was. However not noticing the key sticking problem right away the password was somehow reset to a random number of stuck key inputs and punctuation marks. I now no longer have Admin access to my own computer.

The situation is getting desperate. Luckily I do not have to input the password on boot up but I can not add any new programs or upgrade any existing programs as I can not modify the applications folder....not being the admin and all.

I solved the keyboard problem by way of the apple mini bluetooth keyboard and just yesterday I purchased a USB external optical drive. However I have had any luck booting to the install disk (I have since borrowed a friends)

Last night I got close to resetting the password using target mode and another mac but it was sounding like I wasn't quite getting booted into single user mode as when I imput the standard seried of fsck -y and rm /-uaw and the rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone I ended up getting a promt that said something to the effect of override -rw-------uw/0 var/db/.applesetupdone? at which point I was being prompted for a yes or no which I input "Y" for yes and then it just returned and said permission denied.

Now I am back at the attempt again this morning and have another install disk. I can get to the Utilities meny and select any of the tools....."reset password" " or "system profiler" however pretty much every single utility tool I select "Quits unexpectedly" and I am asked to reset and relaunch but I can NOT get them to work.

I refer to Console and I see some error messages saying cryptic things such as....

11/24/09 8:37:57 AM [0x0-0x28028].Reset Password[261] Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
11/24/09 8:37:57 AM [0x0-0x28028].Reset Password[261] dyld: Symbol not found: __commpagedsmos
11/24/09 8:37:57 AM [0x0-0x28028].Reset Password[261] Referenced from: /Volumes/Mac OS X Install Disc 1/Applications/Utilities/Reset Password.app/Contents/MacOS/Reset Password

11/24/09 8:46:57 AM [0x0-0x38038].System Profiler[320] dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: __commpagedsmos

I am really at a loss here and if there is anyone out there that can help me out I would be forever greatful.

Thank you.

MPB 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.4.11), M-Audio Firewire 410 / E-MU Xboard Midi Controller

Posted on Nov 24, 2009 9:53 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2009 10:04 AM in response to rckseattle

This is not the same as http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2219664&tstart=0

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Answer 2

rckseattle Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 24, 2009 10:29 AM in response to Mario Arruda

Hi Mario, yeah actually it is and I apologize for the double post. I just wasn't sure how the message was going to get parsed and I wanted to make sure I had the full description in the body since my replies had dropped off and I am in desperate need of a solution to this problem.

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Nov 24, 2009 12:19 PM in response to rckseattle

If you are in desperate need of a solution, call Apple Customer Relations at 1-800-767-2775 and order a replacement for your original OS X installer DVD. Using DVDs that were shipped with other computers or retail installers with too low a version number will get you nowhere.

You may also need to have the water damage to your computer repaired to get it running properly again.

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Answer 4

joeuu

Level 5

5,089 points

Nov 24, 2009 2:19 PM in response to rckseattle

The main issue seems to be the possible loss of data.

Can you start in Target Disk Mode and move/copy your important stuff to another machine?

See: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

Joe

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Answer 5

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Nov 24, 2009 4:42 PM in response to joeuu

That's already been done, joe. The OP has another long thread going on this subject, and this one is just confusing matters.

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Answer 6

joeuu

Level 5

5,089 points

Nov 24, 2009 5:26 PM in response to eww

Well, as Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, never mind. Or was it Emily Litella? 8^(

Joe

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Answer 7

rckseattle Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 25, 2009 5:27 PM in response to eww

Whats also confusing matters is getting conflicting answers to pretty much every question I ask. I was told I just needed to have ANY system install disk to make this work, now I am hearing it has to be specifically for my setup? Also the old post that I made was not getting any more replies after I had updated it to state what progress I had made. This is a hugely important issue for me to resolve so I am trying to obtain as much information any way that I can and as quickly as I can I was just trying to post one COMPLETE description under a separate topic. Sorry to confuse anyone, didn't think it was that complicated. Seems to me that you get an incredible amount of feedback on something that may be relatively easy to resolve as long as there is one or more other people that have knowledge of how to achieve any given task. Something a little more complex though.......crickets.

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Answer 8

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Nov 25, 2009 7:36 PM in response to rckseattle

I think your entire post is confusing and whatever you've done to this point is convoluted. Follow eww's advice and call Apple Customer Relations at 1-800-767-2775 and order a replacement for your original OS X installer DVD.

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Answer 9

rckseattle Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 25, 2009 8:19 PM in response to sig

Yeah I know it's pretty convoluted. I posted exactly whats happening. I have been receiving great advice by many people on this forum and others and it is appreciated. Weird how they seem to be able to understand exactly what is happening and others are lost and confused. Did call customer service and got a message at 3:00 p.m. saying "we are closed in observance of the Holiday but will be open tomorrow during normal business hours" lol! I must have a different calender.

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Answer 10

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Nov 26, 2009 5:23 AM in response to rckseattle

I must have a different calender.

They undoubtedly closed early so their employees could travel to wherever they need to be for the holiday, and recorded the message so that people listening to it on Thanksgiving would know to call back on Friday. It would have been more sensible to say "We'll be open again on Friday," but whoever recorded it was probably eager to get out the door and not doing his or her best thinking.

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Answer 11

rckseattle Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 27, 2009 4:34 AM in response to eww

Yeah, I didn't actually think they got took the wrong day off I was just underscoring all the unlikely events that have happened to make the process of fixing this problem an ever increasing calamity of errors. So here is the newest.....about it all coming down to me just needing to have my original install disk. NADA!! No dice. I found my original install disk one and it does the exact same thing as my friends Tiger disk was doing. I get the install window to open up and I go into the Applications/Utilities folder and none of then will run, they all immediately crash over and over and over and over and over. One thing that is coming from all of this, in just a few short days, I am pretty confident my terminal skills can martch up against anyone. I have learned all about running, reading and interpreting console messages. Matter of fact I may just end up solving this myself, just through my own research and persistence. Not getting much feedback any longer so If I have stumped all you resident "experts" here....I know I have really screwed it up pretty good. One thing to maybe move this process along one step further...there is this open firmware/file vault/master password issue I have been coming across with more frequency, anyone know the details about what this may/may not effect. I have read if that is set it will not allow you to boot into single user mode....I get a little lost here. If I am booting as instructed with the install disk in....holding down "C" and I get the install OS X window to open first...does that confirm I am in fact booted into single user mode? My filevault settings says " A master password is SET for this computer"......however it goes on to say "FileVault protection is OFF for this account." So does that mean that I am clear of any open firmware conflicts?

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Answer 12

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Nov 27, 2009 6:34 AM in response to rckseattle

I hope you do solve your own problem, because your determination to fly off in all directions at once instead of focusing on the core issue makes it impossible for anyone else to help you.

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Answer 13

star-fish

Level 2

195 points

Nov 27, 2009 9:31 AM in response to rckseattle

rckseattle wrote:
Whats also confusing matters is getting conflicting answers to pretty much every question I ask. I was told I just needed to have ANY system install disk to make this work, now I am hearing it has to be specifically for my setup? Also the old post that I made was not getting any more replies after I had updated it to state what progress I had made. This is a hugely important issue for me to resolve so I am trying to obtain as much information any way that I can and as quickly as I can I was just trying to post one COMPLETE description under a separate topic. Sorry to confuse anyone, didn't think it was that complicated. Seems to me that you get an incredible amount of feedback on something that may be relatively easy to resolve as long as there is one or more other people that have knowledge of how to achieve any given task. Something a little more complex though.......crickets.

You need to realise that no one here is necessarily an 'expert'. There are plenty of people that have given up their free time to try and help you. I understand you're frustrated, but you're talking to random Apple product owners over the Internet here. It's not exactly AppleCare. All you can do is systematically try the responses given, and if answers dry up, then answers dry up. You can't blame other Apple product owners for not knowing the answer to something you don't know the answer to either. And let's face it, you were the cause of your own problem and there's a reason why it's not covered under any kind of warranty.

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Answer 14

rckseattle Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 27, 2009 12:19 PM in response to eww

Wow you guys are completely off base about how I am reacting, sorry....I mean now I'm a little upset because you have no idea how frustrating this is for me, I have said over and over how appreciative I am of everyone who has even replied. In reading and re-reading my last post I think it is pretty clear what my intent was with my comment, unless you practice at being a dick. All I was saying is that as the individual tidbits of information were streaming in, progress was being made but no resolution yet, which makes it appear like this is not going to be some easy fix, if all the advice coming in from people who have thousands and posts and obviously much more experience than I do and when that group is all out of ideas,,,,,,I am in deep doo doo. No I didn't mean it like I thought the entire forum was conspiring against me, just making an observation......sheesh lighten up. Just saying if guys were out of ideas I was probably out of luck, sorry to put quotations around the word "experts"....everyone on this board that has had any kind of an idea to try IS and EXPERT compared to me. I mean sorry pal but compared to how I actually feel and in reading my posts many times now, they are pretty complimentary. But again in re-reading these last two.....don't see a lot of advice in there. Anywhoooo..... I took it to the genius bar.....and VOILA they were able to reset my password.......my standard access password........standard as in now I can log in with a password but that is all I can do now I can't modify pretty much any folder. However I CAN now boot into single user mode as I was correct my thinking that the master password was preventing me from booting into single user mode....so I get the proper screen now when I boot to disk and I get the correct utility menu pulldown and run the reset password utility from there and now it doesn't keep quitting however when it should show the actual Hard Drive that I am wanting to apply the reset to....it never shows my hard drive OSX it only shows my Install DVD containing OSX. So anyway, sorry if the grinding of the teeth was beginning to leave dust in my posts I'll be careful not to recklessly "compliment" anymore

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Answer 15

Martin_UK

Level 2

150 points

Nov 27, 2009 4:19 PM in response to rckseattle

"I think it is pretty clear what my intent was with my comment, unless you practice at being a dick"

Can I make a suggestion, calling people who are helping you in their own time "dicks" isn't going to make anyone want to help you and going out of your way to make your posts as hard to read as possible by deciding not to break them up with paragraph breaks just makes them impossible to read.

You're the one wanting help so maybe you might want to drop the attitude and make it easier to be helped?

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