System 10.3.9 freezes at startup after installing Security Update 2006-007

PS. I forgot to mention that when all this occured, I had come home and we had had a power failure earlier that day. I firmly believe that the corruption came from the power outage. I think somehow it zapped the pram and something happened to scramble some of the file system. I know this isn't all technical mumbo jumbo, but logically, that just seems to me to be what had happened.

My system is also hosed after installing this update, another G4 (Imac) running 10.3.9.
On mine, the security update never finished, it stopped at verifying disks, I think. I ran Disk Utility from startup, and was able to boot and login, but the system halted when I tried to launch a program.
Now when I reboot, I either can't get past select user, or I login and get a desktop background only.
I had recently installed the Zudeo/azureus client which is Java, I believe. I'm wondering if there's a java issue here?
I'd like to avoid a reinstall if possible, ?wouldn't we all?, as this system has been running well for a while and I have a lot of installed programs.

q a z

Imac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

DeziaVu,

A power failure is a common cause of various forms of corruption of software on the hard drive. Shutting down a computer in an un-nice way, such as pulling the power plug, is another way. There are lots of files open when a computer is running and if the computer is shut down before the files can be closed, some things can get out of whack. (Not a very technical description, but let's leave it at that.) So, to me, your premise makes a lot of sense. The power failure probably led to some damaged files, which you fixed by the zeroing out the drive and re-installing.

Thanks for your feedback and I hope you have no more power outages.

Rich

EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

q a z,

Have you tried to boot in Safe Mode? If you suspect that you might be having a conflict with some 3rd party software, the Safe Boot is one thing to try.

EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I have gotten the machine to boot, login and run the finder.
I am now backing up files to an external.
If I try to launch a program, nothing happens.
If I launch off the dock, the icon bounces and then stops.
Has anyone tried DiskWarrior, et al?
Thanks for the response Rich.
If I do boot to Safe Mode, assuming I can, what then?

Imac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

The main function of a Safe Boot is to disable third party kernel extensions and startup items. If you are able to boot up successfully with a Safe Boot, that would imply that there is some third party item that is conflicting with your system software. This is a situation which sometimes arises after an update. My suggestion is that you try a Safe Boot and see if it works. If so, we can discuss further and see if you can find the conflicting item and eliminate it.

If you are curious, there is a description of what a Safe Boot does at: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X).

I have one question for you. In your first post, you said that I ran Disk Utility from startup, and was able to boot and login, but the system halted when I tried to launch a program. Do you mean that you booted from your install cd, ran Disk Utility from that CD and then attempted to repair your disk? If so, did Disk Utility report that it found problems?

Rich


EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

God ****!

Same problem, and i did not have friend who would give 10.4x to give me, so had to install operating system again. But ofcourse i have really important data in my HD... so i had to buy new harddisk, and a box + firewire cable for the old HD to save some of my data.

But no... this security update has done something to harddisk (damaged boot al least), it dosent show it self, no even with diskutility-tool.
What are the options, exept cry like man or buy service to save some of my data?

I have a problem that I think may have resulted from an earlier security update. I have a few folders in Appleworks that will not open and have a little x on them. When I click on one of them the box says that it cannot be opened because it has been deleted. Is there a way I can find these "deleted" files again. Or am I just stuck? Thanks.

iMac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Yes, the first thing I tried was to boot from OSX 10.3 Install Disk #1 and ran disk utility Repair Disk/Repair Permissions from that. Disk Utility did report errors and that it had fixed them. Then I removed the disk and tried to boot normally. Now I get one of 3 things happening, 1) It will boot to the login screen and accept a password, then just spin forever, 2) It will accept the password and then present a screen with just the login background, 3) It will login to a normally looking desktop with icons, dock etc but only finder will run. I am interested in what different things I can make it do before I reinstall. Booting with S pressed doesn't get me into single user mode though. I am trying to get a hold of Diskwarrior to see what that does.

Hi qaz,

Hmm, from what you have said, I would be suspicious of your hard drive and that there is some damage that Disk Utility could not fix. So, trying something stronger like Diskwarrior is a very good idea. Also, have you checked the S.M.A.R.T. status of your hard drive with Disk Utility? If not, that would be a good thing to do - to make sure that you get a S.M.A.R.T. status of "verified".

Rich

EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Once I finished the backup, I ran
Archive and Install which got the
system working again.
Then I got Diskwarrior properly burned
and booted it and ran that.
The system is working now, I had to
go back and update lots of programs,
and I now have updates turned off,
so hopefully this will run for another
5-6 years, and then maybe I'll put
Ubuntu on it. By then the airport
extreme card support should be easy.

q a z



Imac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)