please HELP!! mac wont load up

[jeb]

hi, i am new to this forum, and new to my mac, but i turned it on this mornin, and it is on a black screen, similar to how windows DOS used to be, and has stopped at the following writing:

welcome to macintosh
dyld:SystmeStarter malformed library: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskArbitration.Framewrok/Versions/A/DiskArbitration (not mach-Ofile, bad magic number)
Starting kernel event agent
Starting timed execution services

and thats where ends, and i dont know what to do, can anybody please help? any suggestions would be great!

 

[madmax_2069]

hi, i am new to this forum, and new to my mac, but i turned it on this mornin, and it is on a black screen, similar to how windows DOS used to be, and has stopped at the following writing:

welcome to macintosh
dyld:SystmeStarter malformed library: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskArbitration.Framewrok/Versions/A/DiskArbitration (not mach-Ofile, bad magic number)
Starting kernel event agent
Starting timed execution services

and thats where ends, and i dont know what to do, can anybody please help? any suggestions would be great!

have you tryed reseting the pram by pressing and holding the command key the option key and p and r key's press them once you hear the start sound and hold them till you hear 2 or 3 start sound's. and try this hold the command key the option key o and f key and there should be a command line interface now type in set-defaults press enter then type in resert-all press enter just if you dont know the command key is the one with the lil apple on it by the space bar if that dont work i dunno what to tell you i sorda new to mac and just learned how to recover the system form not starting up

 

[motulist]

When you are asking a technical question you need to provide many more details then you've provided. What type of Mac is it? What operating system is on it? How much ram is in it? Has anything in your configuration changed? If you want detailed responses you have to post a detailed question.

 

[jeb]

When you are asking a technical question you need to provide many more details then you've provided. What type of Mac is it? What operating system is on it? How much ram is in it? Has anything in your configuration changed? If you want detailed responses you have to post a detailed question.

sorry bout that, as far as i know it is an imac, running on th latest operating system (as i get regular updates) at least 10.4.2, 166MHz, 80gig hd, i havent changed anything to the configuration that i know of, hope this is more of a help?

 

[jeb]

have you tryed reseting the pram by pressing and holding the command key the option key and p and r key's press them once you hear the start sound and hold them till you hear 2 or 3 start sound's. and try this hold the command key the option key o and f key and there should be a command line interface now type in set-defaults press enter then type in resert-all press enter just if you dont know the command key is the one with the lil apple on it by the space bar if that dont work i dunno what to tell you i sorda new to mac and just learned how to recover the system form not starting up

thanks very much for the speedy reply, i tired to do the command+option+p+r and nothin worked, just to make sure, the option key is the arrow facing up below the caps lock button isnt it? or is it control key? also, do you have to be holding down the keys before u start up the mac, or can u start it, then press the buttons, just so long as its before the chime starts? sorry for all the questions

 

[motulist]

sorry bout that, as far as i know it is an imac, running on th latest operating system (as i get regular updates) at least 10.4.2, 166MHz, 80gig hd, i havent changed anything to the configuration that i know of, hope this is more of a help?

No need to be sorry. The reason why I asked for more details is because that low level a problem is a very rare occurrence that strongly suggests that since you haven't made any modifications to your stock system then it is probably a hardware problem and if you are still under warranty i would suggest you get it inspected, imho.

 

[jeb]

No need to be sorry. The reason why I asked for more details is because that low level a problem is a very rare occurrence that strongly suggests that since you haven't made any modifications to your stock system then it is probably a hardware problem and if you are still under warranty i would suggest you get it inspected, imho.

ok, thank you, just a question, you know you said have i made any changes to the configuration, i dont know how you would, could you please elaborate, so i know if i have or not please? and what is my stock system? haha sorry for the questions. J

 

[Belly-laughs]

thanks very much for the speedy reply, i tired to do the command+option+p+r and nothin worked, just to make sure, the option key is the arrow facing up below the caps lock button isnt it? or is it control key? also, do you have to be holding down the keys before u start up the mac, or can u start it, then press the buttons, just so long as its before the chime starts? sorry for all the questions

No… the key to the left of the space bar is the command key (apple key), the key to the left of that, also marked with "alt", is the option key. Just press the keys right after you´ve powered up.

The key with the "up" arrow is shift.

 

[motulist]

...have i made any changes to the configuration, i dont know how you would, could you please elaborate, so i know if i have or not please? and what is my stock system? haha sorry for the questions. J

Don't worry about it, we were all new to this stuff once. By changing the configuration I mean substantially altering the computer. Specifically, things like adding any sort of hardware or installing utilities designed to alter the operating system, like some of these system mod hacks that allow people to change the appearance of the windows and such. The "stock system" basically means the way it was when you received it from the manufacturer, which in context can mean without even extra software installed but in most cases it usually means the way the computer came from the manufacturer not counting any normal use alterations. When trouble shooting any computer, the basic idea is to isolate the problem. This usually means eliminating as many factors as possible to see if the problem goes away, such as removing all usb and firewire devices besides the keyboard and mouse and disabling any software that could cause a ruckus like system mods (mods = modifications). If it does, then you know one of the removed items was the problem. If you've stripped away everything you can and the problem still persists it means the problem is still in one of the parts you haven't eliminated yet. And by "parts" I mean software as well as hardware parts. If the problem persists then you start up the computer from the diagnostic or installer cd and see if it starts up succesfully. If it does then the part you just eliminated, the statup disk or something on it or something related to disk use like a controller chip, is the probable suspect. You keep widdling things away until there is 1 component to your system that when present there is a problem and when removed the problem is gone. That's how you hunt down and eliminate a problem.

 

[jeb]

thank you very much for your helpful information, i have managed to get my imac up and running now, and found that i had a corrupt file on my hard drive, thanks for your help again, muchly appreciated. Jeb