Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Upon consulting osx daily website i erased a a 4gb file in private folder which is something to do with RAM and now i can,t boot up. I,ve tried to do numerous types of boots like holding c and trying to reinstall my original cd with snow leopard on, but,

If i try d utility the areas i need like verify or repair etc are dimmed out. If i tryand reinstall it asks me which startup disk i,d like to boot from and there are no disks to choose from. Please help. P.s. im not fussed about wiping the existing m lion os and programs and starting from scratch if that what it takes.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Feb 26, 2013 6:05 AM

Reply
7 replies

Feb 26, 2013 7:36 AM in response to ds store

8: Reinstall Just OS X


Category: OS X and bundled Apple software related


Description: Replaces only OS X and bundled Apple software programs with a new copy. Small portions of some third party software installed in OS X itself is removed in the process, but they can be reinstalled later. Third party programs in Applications folder or the User account folders themselves are not touched.

Small portions of some third party software installed in OS X itself is removed in the process,


First I've heard of this. I was under the impression that absolutely everything was retained. Are you saying this from your own experience using 10.6? Can you give an example what "small portions" are removed? I reinstalled 10.6 several weeks ago and I'm wondering if in fact it preserved all my CS2 and Office '04. Any idea if anything in those would have been affected? I'm not noticing any defects in particular, but those involve files all over the place.

Feb 26, 2013 3:02 PM in response to WZZZ

WZZZ wrote:


I was under the impression that absolutely everything was retained.


Some third party software installs at boot kernel extension files that load when OS X boots, if there is a problem with these one usually gets the famous gray spinning wheel of death (also can be white or blue screen).


You can see what you have by pasting this line in Terminal


kextstat -kl | awk ' !/apple/ { print $6 $7 } '



Since the folder holding these is ~/System/Library/Extensions, when OS X is reinstalled those third party kext files are obviously not included, requiring those softwares to be reinstalled from original sources to put theirs back in there.


The #8 Reinstall OS X has the benefit of fixing OS X if it's the issue, removing all third party kext files, including outdated and no longer used ones, as well as replacing all bundled Apple software that comes with OS X (not including iLife).


When this is done with 10.6, the old version of 10.6 is installed, why it's important to Software Update right away for security and bug fixes.


On 10.7-10.8 now I assume the download is the most recent version of OS X as that would make sense.

Feb 26, 2013 3:15 PM in response to ds store

OK, then, I think neither CS2 nor Office installs any kexts. But since I've already done the reinstall, that wouldn't help now to know what I'm missing. I did happen to run this one (and the one you have just cited as well (borrowed from a certain Mr. Davis) which is far simpler, before doing the reinstall, so I know I'm not missing anything.


kextstat | grep -v apple



Since the folder holding these is ~/System/Library/Extensions, when OS X is reinstalled those third party kext files are obviously not included, requiring those softwares to be reinstalled from original sources to put theirs back in there.

Nope, none of my third party kexts needed reinstalling. They were all there, present and accounted for after the reinstall. And, btw, that's /System/Library/Extensions. No ~ tllde character.

Feb 26, 2013 3:15 PM in response to ds store

Thankyou so much ds store. That did the trick. It was a case of me deleting a file named vm file which is some sort of mirror for the amount of RAM i have, 4GB. It s hidden in a folder named private and i uncovered it along with swapfiles using daisydisk. since i,m with virginmedia network wise i presumed it was network info. OSX Daily said it was ok to delete and you know the rest. Thanks again DS.

Upon consulting osx daily website i erased a a 4gb file in private folder which is something to do with RAM and now i can,t boot up. I,ve tried to do numerous types of boots like holding c and trying to reinstall my original cd with snow leopard on, but,

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.