Installer is failing and disk utility wont run, what in the world is going on?

[Aniej]

This is related to an earlier post, but with a new twist. My disk utility will no longer run and crashes when I try to verify permissions. I ran OS X disk and was able to verify the permissions and repair the disk, but now that I am trying to run disk utility on its own, it is failing just like before.

In addition to this problem, I cannot run installer as I quickly realized when I tried to run the iTunes update last night. I am not as knowledgeable on this area as others, but it would seem these two are related. I am lost at how to resolve this and pretty concerned, can anyone provide some insight and a offer a solution?

Here is a link to my earlier and related posting. I wanted to start a new thread because of the changed circumstances. Thanks a bunch.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/247317/

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[frankblundt]

Did you try fscking it? sometimes that can resolve issues Disk Utility can't (just remember to keep fscking until it says no changes were made)

 

[Aniej]

I did try it, but forgot to list that on my previous post. I fsck'd my powerbook and ran OS X to repair permissions and the disk.

 

[frankblundt]

mmOK. If you go into Sys Prefs > Accounts, make a new account log out and log into it, do the problems follow you? (this will eliminate preference corruption)

When you say you can't run the installer do you mean Software Update? or the OSX installer from the disk?

and then there's always zapping the PRAM

 

[Aniej]

I mean the actual installer is failing, not simply the software update.

 

[frankblundt]

If the OS installer (off the disk) is failing, that sounds like a dieing hard drive to me (or a dieing install disk - possible, but less likely of the two given everything else).

Did you format the drive first?

 

[Aniej]

There is no problem when running disk utility when I am using the OS X disk, it runs just fine, but when I eject the disk and try and repair permissions disk utility fails again.

 

[Hockeypuck]

Does your HD show up red when you run disk utility on your OSX install disk? It sounds kind of like your HD is failing.

 

[frankblundt]

But you can't install OSX off the disk? (sorry, a bit thick this late in the afternoon). Either Archive and Install, or format the drive with a Clean install?

If it's come to that, that is - did you try re-installing the Disk Utilty from the disk using Pacifist?:

Pacifist would be one way to grab clean copies of those bits of the system. If that brings no joy, an archive and install of OS X may be in order, if you want the permissions check back...

 

[Aniej]

But you can't install OSX off the disk? (sorry, a bit thick this late in the afternoon). Either Archive and Install, or format the drive with a Clean install?

If it's come to that, that is - did you try re-installing the Disk Utilty from the disk using Pacifist?:

Nope I have not tried it yet, but I am about to right now. Do you think I should roll with just reinstalling OS X or Pasifist?

 

[frankblundt]

If you can live with re-importing all your stuff a fresh install would be best, ideally a clean one, so that you can format the drive.

Did you try the new account thing, just to make sure it's not something simple like corrupted preferences?

 

[Aniej]

Uhohhh! I tried making a new user with admin priviliges and tried to install iTunes 7.0.2 update, but installer crashed again. I presume this means it is not limited to just my user prefs, but rather systemwide?

 

[frankblundt]

doesn't sound good. I've never done Archive and Install, but it may make it easier to recover your stuff than a clean install (which would be safer IMO) - maybe someone else has thoughts..

 

[iMeowbot]

Archive and install would be the one to try here, it will do a full reinstall of the OS components but save what you had (user files, apps, etc.) before.

 

[iBookG4user]

Do the archieve and instal. I've done it before and it leaves everything just as it is and all that has been done is the reinstall of the operating system. See if that works, you won't lose anything if you do. And take this opertunity to backup all your important documents because if it is a failing hard drive then you don't want to lose all your stuff.

 

[Aniej]

Do the archieve and instal. I've done it before and it leaves everything just as it is and all that has been done is the reinstall of the operating system. See if that works, you won't lose anything if you do.

Can you or anyone walk me through this, i.e., what do I specifically highlight in finder and archive? And, secondly do I just put the instal disk in to

And take this opertunity to backup all your important documents because if it is a failing hard drive then you don't want to lose all your stuff.

I have acted upon this oportunity, in fact, I do it with new files that that I add to or edit on a daily basis.

 

[iBookG4user]

Can you or anyone walk me through this, i.e., what do I specifically highlight in finder and archive? And, secondly do I just put the instal disk in to



I have acted upon this oportunity, in fact, I do it with new files that that I add to or edit on a daily basis.

Apple gives you instructions here.

 

[Aniej]

Update and man did I mess up!

My Mac is really F'd up. I am using my other powerbook with all my recently backed up files thankfully. Not only does disk utility not run unless I am running it by way of the OS X disk, but now installer will not install anything and crashes. I am really freaked at what is going on. To top it all off I added a little pain to the problem. I changed my home directory title from username to User Name (username was used instead of my actual directory name) in finder and when I restarted the comp treated this change as if I created a whole new user file and eliminated every user preference and file, essentially like turing on a Mac for the first time. Thankfully username file is saved in there and has everything, but I have no idea how to get this back to the way it was before? Oh yea and the worst part is that I tried to then run installer and disk utility under the new identity and they still continued to crash.

 

[frankblundt]

1. Never change the home folder name directly, only through Accounts

2. Did you Archive and Install a fresh OS or just bits and pieces? - I had thought A&I bundled the old system into a zip file and otherwise completely reinstalled everything fresh (user folder and all).

If you did try that, maybe it's time for a Clean install (which formats the drive first)

 

[Aniej]

1. Never change the home folder name directly, only through Accounts.

I appreciate the post-hoc name change advice. I tried changing it in accounts, but it was dimmed grey for some reason and I couln't get access. All that I was trying to change was actually the short name for my username. Any insight on how to fix this?

2. Did you Archive and Install a fresh OS or just bits and pieces? - I had thought A&I bundled the old system into a zip file and otherwise completely reinstalled everything fresh (user folder and all).

I have not done the A&I yet, but am planning to do so later this evening. I am currently working on my other powerbook, which is identical in every way to my other powerbook, minus the issues we are discussing here of course.r a Clean install (which

 

[Aniej]

If it is installer that is failing and disk utility I am confused as to why reinstalling 10.4 would cure this issue? I could very well be wrong on this, but wouldn't the problems I am having be related to the hard drive directly and not to the OS? If I am wrong, let me know, I would certainly appreciate the knowledge and love learning about this stuff. A solution would be nice too haha.

 

[iMeowbot]

If it is installer that is failing and disk utility I am confused as to why reinstalling 10.4 would cure this issue?

If you boot from a CD or DVD, the copy of the Install app on there will be used, not the b0rken one on your hard drive. The installer will move fresh copies onto the computer, so you can get past the immediate problems and see what (if anything) is really wrong.

 

[gekko513]

Both the installer and disk utility will rely on certain parts of the OS X system install. If this has somehow gotten corrupted (did you perhaps rename anything else that were not in your user directory?), that can explain why both fail, while running the disk utility from the DVD succeeds.

If OS X starts acting up in strange ways, the problem can often be traced back to one of five things. Corrupted preferences (diagnosed by problem disappearing if you create a new user account), corrupted file system (disk utility and fsck are your friends), failing RAM (diagnosed by removing or switching RAM), a corrupt OS install (hard to diagnose without reinstalling) or an application has borked the system up (sometimes uninstalling the application can fix it, sometimes you'll need to reinstall the OS).

Since your problem doesn't seem related to an application, an archive and install seems like the next thing to try, because it reinstalls the system files without touching the user files and applications.

Of course some problems will also fall outside one of these five categories. They may need a full clean reinstall or a hardware repair.

 

[Aniej]

iMeowbot, as always thank you for for your insight, you have saved me an annoying trip to the apple store 45 mins away.

Gekko513, awesome input and a really useful list that I am going to make sure I save, I would have spent tons of time trying to figure those out. Thanks

I have not changed the name anywhere else thankfully. Actually, I took all the prefs and docs and music, etc from the messed up new account I made and brought them all back into the correct account that my Mac automatically re-populated. It is working wonderfully and has all my files and prefs just as I left them. I did this all after the problem started with disk utility and installer though so that is not the problem. Anyway, one problem down, one to go.

Disk utility and Installer are still craping out on me so I think I am going to go and do the archive and install and see where that gets me. Any idea on how long this takes?

Completely unrealted question, but thought you two or someone else might have some ideas. Is there anyway to make the preview window in the current version of mail go to the top and bring the email list to the bottom? my neck is killing me.

 

[iBookG4user]

Disk utility and Installer are still craping out on me so I think I am going to go and do the archive and install and see where that gets me. Any idea on how long this takes?

Just did it on my MBP and it took between 1 and 2 hours. I was away from the computer so I don't know the exact time. Also, you may have to reinstall some programs, but when I did it, I didn't have to reinstall a lot of them, just one or two.