Hi, sally!
Thanks for touching base with your status. Glad you're
"hanging in there" — and that we're communicating OK.
Given the stress of this situation — particularly feeling "alone" —»»
Let me try to suggest a little perspective on a few of the things we've discussed:
• If AppleCare told you 'twas OS X 10.2.3 0r 10.2.4, believe it — and that's close enough! (And consistent with what you've added to your signature — except for the 10.0.x part.)
• The critical thing(s) you need to move forward are Apple-compatible, USB-pluggable
[a] mouse / keyboard while troubleshooting and trying to fix things. Those aren't too expensive — so muster your courage and ask the Hobby store guy for a loan!
• My comment that you could consider booting your eMac using Firewire Target Disk Mode "via a borrowed Mac" was intended only in the context of saving data — but that's probably a moot point at the moment (?)
Borrowing keyboard/mouse may be a less difficult — and you could always carry your eMac (Huff! Puff!) to where he has his Macs...
Again, thanks for keeping us apprised — I've been wondering how you were doing.
Good luck!
Dean
[a] Just a reminder, if you do end up borrowing and don't know about/remember ADB. Older Macs had ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) ports for connecting mouse/keyboard; eMacs don't. The ends of the ADB cables look like this (which won't work ). In ~1997-98, Apple started offering USB port(s) "built-in" — mouse/keyboard cables and ports that look ~like these are what you need.
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