broadway al

Q: sleepmode virus

Last two days my iMac won't come out of sleep mode. I wind up with a question marked folder blinking. I install the system disk and restart and things seem to straighten out strangely as I can eject the disk and keep going. I've tried to run disk utility off the disk but it's not compatible with the Snow Leopard I'm using.

All I can conclude is that I managed to get that malware bug from an email someone sent me. Time Machine won't let me restore my system folder.

Posted on Jul 4, 2015 7:32 PM

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Q: sleepmode virus

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  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Jul 6, 2015 4:40 AM in response to broadway al
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 4:40 AM in response to broadway al

    The fsck command is used by Disk Utility, but Disk Utility is the preferred method. However, in cases like this, you can use fsck from within single-user mode to check and repair the drive. Hold down command-S at startup to enter single-user mode, which is a command-line mode. When the command prompt appears, execute the following command:

     

    /sbin/fsck -fy

     

    To reboot the computer, use the "reboot" command.

     

    However, as I've said, I strongly suspect that you have failing hardware. If that drive is original (ie, it is the same one that originally came inside that Mac, and hasn't been replaced), even if fsck fixes things, you need to question whether you want to trust that drive. If it is failing, that can corrupt data, and then the corrupt data can make its way into your backups. If that goes on long enough, you could end up with data loss despite having a good backup strategy, as corrupted files replace good files in the backup.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 5:54 AM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 5:54 AM in response to broadway al

    You can run from a flash drive if necessary, but flash drives are not SSD drives. Flash drives read fast, but write very slowly in comparison. So your Mac would noticeably run slower booted from a flash drive.

     

    fsck checks a drive for file table entry errors and other data errors, fixing them if it can. It's the same with Verify Disk. It's checking file integrity, not the drive's mechanical stability. Neither can do anything about a drive that is physically failing. Eventually, and I would say (much) sooner rather than later, your drive is going to expire. It needs to be replaced.

     

    Since your TM backup was completed yesterday, then the only thing that would be missing from it are any changes since then you would prefer not to lose. Like an important letter you just wrote.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 6:37 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 6:37 AM in response to thomas_r.

    Last night I set my mac to NEVER go to sleep. As of right now its working without having to wake up. I just can't understand what it is about a hard drive that makes it not work if it went to sleep vs staying awake. I'm looking at getting a new machine.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 6:43 AM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 6:43 AM in response to broadway al
    I just can't understand what it is about a hard drive that makes it not work if it went to sleep vs staying awake.

    The drive is physically failing. From a power on startup, or coming back from sleep, the drive has to come from a standstill back up to operational rotational speed. That would mean the spindle motor is dying. Though the other common issue is that the drive is spinning properly, but the actuator arms that move the read/write heads is sticking. Either way, it's not good.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 7:48 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 7:48 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    Last night when I made the energy saving settings I set the mac to Never go to sleep. I set the "put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible. I noticed while my desktop was visible I could feel the disk running. After the "display sleep" kicked in (15 minutes) so did the disk vibration quit. So obviously the disk not spinning isn't the cause right?

    Looking at the new iMacs I see they no longer have an optical disk drive. It's like what Apple did with floppies. But it also means you no longer get a system

    disk. I feel like I'm being corralled.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 7:58 AM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 7:58 AM in response to broadway al
    So obviously the disk not spinning isn't the cause right?

    Well, yes and no. It does come back up to speed after enough tries. Though as I mentioned above, it could be that the drive is spinning fine, but the read/write heads aren't working correctly.

    Looking at the new iMacs I see they no longer have an optical disk drive. It's like what Apple did with floppies. But it also means you no longer get a system disk. I feel like I'm being corralled.

    It's been like that since Lion, 10.7.x. Windows users have been going without included system disks on many makes longer than that. It's all about eliminating the cost of physical items you rarely need. It costs a lost to produce those things, and people routinely lose, or throw them away.

     

    At any time, you can boot into Internet Recovery Mode and install the original OS the Mac came with on a bare drive. As long as you have an Internet connection, that is. What users normally do with newer Macs is to immediately make a clone of the main drive to another drive. Then you can always clone it back. No need for disks, or an Internet connection. The best solution is two separate OS partitions on an external drive. The first being a clone of the Mac the way it came so you can get back to the original configuration at any time. The second being a clone of your drive as it currently is. That one includes any OS upgrades, your third party software, etc. It again makes it pretty simple to restore your Mac to the last state you cloned the drive. There's also always Time Machine, but that's the slower method since you need to reinstall the OS from Apple's servers via the Internet, then merge in your TM data. A clone that's kept up to date is a much faster way to restore your Mac.

     

    External optical drives are cheap. DVD drives in particular can be had for under $40 for a read/write drive. Blu-ray capable drives aren't all that expensive, either.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Jul 6, 2015 9:48 AM in response to broadway al
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 9:48 AM in response to broadway al

    broadway al wrote:

     

    But it also means you no longer get a system disk.

     

    It's really not an issue, unless your internet connection is extremely slow, unreliable or limited in bandwidth. You'll be surprised how easy it is without the disk.

     

    If you do have poor internet connection, I believe that you can take a flash drive to an Apple Store and they can load it up with a self-contained installer. (You'll need something like 6 GB of space free, if I recall correctly.) Don't quote me on that, though... I'm not 100% certain that's still the case.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 11:38 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 11:38 AM in response to thomas_r.

    When I used the word "flawlessly" I meant that once the imac booted properly everything went back to normal.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 12:04 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 12:04 PM in response to thomas_r.

    am I to understand that by running "verify disk" in disk utility I will get the same results as if I were to restart the computer in a certain mode (I have been told two different modes to start in) and run the terminal commands? Because verify disk results in "the disk appears to be ok". I really don't want to do a restart right now. It seem that nothing is going to get repaired even if I had access to "repair disk" in disk utility anyway.

    If I knew just what the problem was it would be a lot easier to get my mind around a new box. I bet I could get a replacement drive for this old 32 bit for next to nothing pop the glass etc but what if it's not the hard drive?

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 12:11 PM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 12:11 PM in response to broadway al

    Verify Disk just checks the drive for errors and reports any that exist, but doesn't do anything to fix them. When you use Repair Disk, it runs fsck in the background. The same thing you could run from Single User Mode. You do have to boot from another drive to use Repair Disk since it has to unmount the disk it's going to examine for repairs, and you can't unmount the drive you're booted out from under yourself.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 12:08 PM in response to broadway al
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 12:08 PM in response to broadway al

    I guess what I'm asking is why is the computer working just great as long as it doesn't go to sleep or I shut it down? If it were a drive hardware issue wouldn't I be seeing it?

  • by XCH1,

    XCH1 XCH1 Jul 6, 2015 12:09 PM in response to broadway al
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Peripherals
    Jul 6, 2015 12:09 PM in response to broadway al

    Hello,

    Is there a question mark on the folder?

    If there is, your system is gone.

    Maybe because of a Kernel Panic or corrupted drive.

    Happened to my friend once.

    Hope I answered you!

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 12:12 PM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 12:12 PM in response to broadway al

    No, not necessarily. Though you already have noticed it by the fact it won't always come back from sleep mode, or maybe not on the first cold startup. It's a drive with one foot in the grave. Do not trust your data with it. You can keep the Mac on continuously, but it will eventually fail even doing that, and I wouldn't give it a whole lot of time before that happens.

  • by broadway al,

    broadway al broadway al Jul 6, 2015 12:20 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 12:20 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    thanks Kurt that's what I wanted to know. I perceived that maybe when the mac is asleep or shut down the startup disk couldn't be found and that's why once it's found things are fine. I have Time Machine on a big external firewire drive. Would it be possible to run this iMac if the system was on that drive?

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 6, 2015 12:25 PM in response to broadway al
    Level 8 (37,939 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 6, 2015 12:25 PM in response to broadway al

    You can't boot to a TM backup, but you could use Disk Utility to create a partition on the external drive large enough to clone your current startup drive to, then make that your startup disk. It's a bit slower through FireWire or USB, but not bad.

     

    If the whole external drive is currently being used for TM, then you'd have to repartition it first, which will wipe out your TM backup.

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