Starting up in Darwin

Question

Starting up in Darwin

My iMac is starting up in Darwin with a screen that looks like:

Darwin/BSD (tonys-imac.local) (console)

login:

When I try to login with my username and password, it won't allow me to enter a password. I have also logged in under single-user mode and have checked the log files with fsck, but I have no idea what to look at or where to start!
In addition to those things, I have tried starting in Safe Mode by holding the Shift Key down, but it still puts me back at the Darwin login screen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Tony

iMac 17'' G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 7, 2006 1:05 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 7, 2006 1:43 PM in response to morsalmared210

Ok, so I ran a /sbin/fsck -fy and I got this response:

-sh: /sbin: is a directory

I tried it a few times and keep getting the line above.
So then I tried this:

/sbin/fsck -y

And I got this line:

fsck_hfs: Volume is Journaled. No checking performed.
fsck_hfs: Use the -f option to force checking.

So then I tried this line:

/sbin/fsck -f

And it force checked the volume. After it was done it said:

volume appears to be OK.

I then ran this code:

tail -20 /var/log/system.log

And got this:

launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow: Login Window Application Started
loginwindow[231]: Login Window Started Security Agent
loginwindow[231]: AuthorizationRef doesn't have a username (<LoginAuthRefMgr: 0x337a30>).\n
launchd: onoption epeating too quickly on port /dev/console, sleeping
/System/Library/CoreServices/mcxd.app/Contents/MacOS/mcxd: MCXD.createConnection Unable to register server
/System/Library/CoreServices/mcxd.app/Contents/MacOS/mcxd: MCXD Unable to create the connection
/System/Library/CoreServices/mcxd.app/Contents/MacOS/mcxd: mcxd- runloop could not be started; status = -2
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping
launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/fax, sleeping

Any ideas?

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Answer 2

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

Oct 7, 2006 1:43 PM in response to morsalmared210

Hi, Tony. Welcome to the Discussions.

I believe point 2 in the following should prove helpful:

--

1. If you are seeing

"To continue booting, type 'mac-boot' and press return"

see: "'To continue booting, type mac-boot and press return' Message."

2. If you seeing a Darwin login prompt such as the following:

Darwin/BSD (your_name-computer) (Console) login:

the following steps may sort this out:

2.1. Start up the computer in Single-User Mode.

2.2 Type the following, exactly as written:

mount -uw /

and press Return. Note there is a single space after mount and after -uw

2.3. Type the following, exactly as written:

mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist preferences2.old

and press Return. Note there is a single space after mv and after .plist This is one, long command.

2.4. Type the following, exactly as written:

reboot

then press Return.

Note that these instructions are based on information from the following two sources:

a. Step 5 of the section "You see an empty, blue screen..." in "Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X." While tihs document states it applies to Mac OS X 10.3.9 and earlier, the file com.apple.loginwindow.plist is still employed in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

b. This hint on Mac OS X Hints.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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Answer 3

Oct 27, 2006 6:32 PM in response to morsalmared210

Fixed. Had to reset permissions.

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Answer 4

yeapcb

Level 1

0 points

Dec 11, 2006 7:22 AM in response to morsalmared210

Hi,

I have the same problem!!! May I know which file permission need to be reset?

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

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