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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Jul 21, 2012 5:10 PM in response to Ange101by BDAqua,★HelpfulHello Angel,
See this User Tip by Niel: I accidentally set a disk's permissions to No Access ...
If the disk in question is your Mac OS X startup disk and your computer stops starting up at the blue screen, restart with the Command and S keys held down, and enter the following commands:
mount -uw /
chown root /
chmod 1775 /
exit
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Jul 22, 2012 1:38 AM in response to BDAquaby Ange101,Thanks for your response
Yes it relates to mac os x startup disk and stops at blue screen with apple symbol. It gets stuck at that screen then resets itself and starts over again.
I tried your suggestion but it did not fix my problem.
Any other suggestions?
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Jul 22, 2012 2:49 AM in response to Ange101by Neville Hillyer,You need a slightly more detailed command as you applied it to enclosed items.
Try the following - may take a long time to apply to all files - ensure you have a total of 10 spaces.
mount -uw /
chown -R -L root /
chmod -R -L 1775 /
exit
As soon as it starts make sure that you use Disk Utility to repair permissions before you do anything else.
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Jul 22, 2012 1:31 PM in response to Neville Hillyerby Ange101,Again - thanks but still no luck. Looks like I am running out of options. Anyone solved this problem before?
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Jul 22, 2012 2:26 PM in response to Ange101by Neville Hillyer,Try safe mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
If it starts use Disk Utility to repair permissions.
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Jul 22, 2012 3:14 PM in response to Neville Hillyerby Ange101,First thing I tried. Tried again for good luck but still did not work.
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Jul 22, 2012 3:53 PM in response to Ange101by WZZZ,I think you need to Archive & Install now.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1710
Be sure to select Preserve Users and Network settings.
Then bring it back to 10.5.8 with the Combo Update.
http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_8_Combo_Update
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Jul 23, 2012 2:44 AM in response to Ange101by Neville Hillyer,Do you have an external disk and does it have a full backup?
Your cheapest solution is to purchase an external DVD drive - the cheap ones are about 10 UKP and you have a wide choice for a little extra. This would allow you to use Disk Utility on your install CD/DVD.
If your Mac has FireWire and you had an external FireWire hard disk you could install OS X on the external drive and boot from it. Via Target Disk Mode you could access your Mac's disk and back it up prior to doing a fresh install.
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Jul 23, 2012 4:28 AM in response to Neville Hillyerby WZZZ,back it up prior to doing a fresh install.
A "fresh install," (or installing the OS on an external and booting via FW) which will lose all third party programs and cause a much bigger headache, is not necessary. I suggested an A&I. It is, of course, preferable to have a backup when doing this, but it will most likely come out alright.
Do you have an external disk and does it have a full backup?
If the OP had a "full backup," either in the form of a bootable clone or TM -- something I wouldn't ever think of not having -- then a restore from the date before this happened would take care of the problem. I assume there isn't one, since it probably would already have occcurred to the OP to do this.
This would allow you to use Disk Utility on your install CD/DVD.
I think the problem may be too severe for that. In most cases, whatever the OS, an A&I, reinstall, not erase and install (Snow Leopard) or restore is what is needed.
Message was edited by: WZZZ
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Jul 23, 2012 4:31 AM in response to WZZZby Neville Hillyer,The OP has said the optical drive does not work so your archive and install is not quite as easy as you implied and I don't see how you think a backup can be done.
Booting an external drive and accessing the internal drive via FireWire will not destroy anything. This will allow Disk Utility to be used and also facilitate a full backup of the whole internal disk with Carbon Copy Cloner.
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Jul 23, 2012 5:05 AM in response to Neville Hillyerby WZZZ,The OP has said the optical drive does not work so your archive and install is not quite as easy as you implied and I don't see how you think a backup can be done.
Missed that.
Booting an external drive and accessing the internal drive via FireWire will not destroy anything. This will allow Disk Utility to be used and also facilitate a full backup of the whole internal disk with Carbon Copy Cloner.
Disk Utility won't fix the Permissions. And a full backup right now will only clone/reproduce the Permissions problem. (But it will back up user and third party data.)
But running an A&I from another Mac in FW Target Disk Mode with the problem Mac as the target should work. This will basically turn the other Mac into an optical drive.
This thread, which is about doing a clean install -- not what we want -- gives the basic idea.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/10985537#10985537
EDITED: Removed running the A&I from an external.
Message was edited by: WZZZ
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Jul 23, 2012 6:33 AM in response to WZZZby WZZZ,Booting an external drive and accessing the internal drive via FireWire will not destroy anything. This will allow Disk Utility to be used and also facilitate a full backup of the whole internal disk with Carbon Copy Cloner.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here, but the OP can not boot his Mac, the Permissions are completely hosed. How is he supposed to get OS X on an external in order to boot from that and use FWTDM, or download CCC and clone to that external? Even if he uses DU Restore -- and, anyway, a moot point, since with no optical drive I don't see how he gets to DU in the first place -- he will be copying hosed Permissions, and DU Permissions repair won't fix this.
As far as can tell, either he runs FWTDM from another PPC Mac to use its optical drive, or he borrows or buys an external optical drive.
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Jul 23, 2012 11:14 AM in response to WZZZby Neville Hillyer,As I said earlier - with an external DVD drive and an external FireWire hard disk:
Your cheapest solution is to purchase an external DVD drive - the cheap ones are about 10 UKP and you have a wide choice for a little extra. This would allow you to use Disk Utility on your install CD/DVD.
If your Mac has FireWire and you had an external FireWire hard disk you could install OS X on the external drive and boot from it. Via Target Disk Mode you could access your Mac's disk and back it up prior to doing a fresh install.
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Jul 23, 2012 11:58 AM in response to Neville Hillyerby WZZZ,This would allow you to use Disk Utility on your install CD/DVD.
What would the OP do with Disk Utility from the install DVD? Unless you mean use it to format the new external prior to installing an OS to it, what is that supposed to accomplish?
If the OP gets an external optical drive, why not then go straight to an A&I? What's the point of creating a backup of a completely hosed OS (which is what CCC or DU Restore would do) except perhaps to save user or third party data -- which an A&I should, by default, do? Certainly a backup/clone on an external to restore to in some future situation is desirable, but I don't see the point now. And why are you suggesting a fresh install, when an A&I from an external optical drive or from another Mac in Target Disk Mode is possible and preferable?
And, even if it were useful in some way, I wonder if it would even be possible -- I'm not sure of this -- to access the Mac's startup disk to do a backup, given its present condition?