Disk Utility Failure

[floatingspirit]

Hey Folks,

My Dad has the old Crane Neck iMac and whenever he tries to repair permissions, he gets an error message that indicates the program cannot proceed. Also, in general the compy has gotten generally unreliable. Any suggestions on how to proceed? I realize this is a very vague description, but do what you can, would you?

Thank you,

Son who is in a different state from the Dad

 

[frankblundt]

He can try repairing permissions from Disk Utility after booting off the Sytem cd/dvd.

He could also try fsck

If it's at all possible, i'd strenuously recommend backing up in any case, cos it sounds like it could be the drive's on the way out.

 

[mad jew]

Has he got much free space left? frankblundt put forward some excellent suggestions. Considering how difficult it is to troubleshoot through a third party, if they don't work then I'd get him to do an Archive & Install. It might be simpler in the long run.

 

[solidbreakz]

Pop in the OS Install disc and power off. Power-on and hold Cmd+S after the bong on start-up and release after you see spinning gear. @ prompt type: fsck -f -y or fsck -fy and hit Return. Power off. Power-On and hold C key @ bong until spinning gear again and run Disk Utility. Permissions should fix up nicely then.

Archive and Install is like an old crusty bandaid on a new cut. It's like painting a car with a new color without stripping and repainting. Of course it is nice once the work is done, but over time, the old will show through. Backup with SuperDuper! and Erase and Install.

 

[allan_zip]

If he has recently run a software update then it could be a problem with the latest version of itunes.
This thread can help,

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/175104/

 

[floatingspirit]

Thank You

Thanks for the ideas guys. Unfortunately, I can't offer any useful feedback. Before I could get back to my dad, he took it to a store where a Genius Bar dude tinkered with the the power supply and then Dad got it working at home. I will keep your suggestions at the ready though should he have further troubles.

Thanks!