Help! I can't boot up my iMac!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Oct 15 2006, 08:33 PM) [snapback]333046[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like you have some files missing on your harddrive (or at least your OS thinks they are missing). This can be caused either by a harddrive failure or simply be a directory issue.
Carefully read the following document and follow the instructions related to 10.4.x AND the section about not being able to boot into the OS.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Alternatively you can start up your "defective" iMac in Target Disk mode (reboot holding T) and connect it via Firewire to your other iMac to diagnose and/or recover data.

Good luck,
Alex

P.S. You may have better luck posting your question in the Apple Discussion forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa?categoryID=1

 

Try holding down "apple key and "s" on reboot...this will put you into line code
after the screen scrolls...type in fsck -y to repair disk...then when that's complete
type "reboot"...then it will restart and hopefully it will boot up...

 

Boot from a system DVD if you can, and then repair your hard drive with the included applications:utilitiesisk Utility program.

 

It was buried quite deep in the website, but I finally found this:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Oct 15 2006, 01:33 PM) [snapback]333046[/snapback]</div>

Slightly off topic, I've been using PCs since I got the IBM PCjr over 20 years ago. This year I'm thinking of getting an iMac. Anyone here made this switch in the past recently and how did it go?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mdmikemd @ Oct 15 2006, 07:42 PM) [snapback]333256[/snapback]</div>

I've been using PCs since I traded in my Kaypro 2X for an 80286. I ordered my first Mac, a 64-bit iMac, the day they were announced (I came within a hair's breadth of buying the old iMac the day before the new one was announced!) My new computer arrived just under 2 weeks later. I don't remember exactly when that was.

There have been some frustrations, but there always are with a new OS, and the iMac has been the least frustrating new computer I have bought. My old Compaq printer is not supported for the Mac, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to a laser printer.

WordPerfect is not available for the Intel Mac (it's available only for the non-Intel Mac) and that was a big disappointment. MS Word is available, but I won't use that, on principle, so I'm using NeoOffice, which is a beta version of OpenOffice for the Mac. OpenOffice itself is available for Mac in the X11 environment, but I have not gotten that installed, and I've heard conflicting reports on the advisability of using it.

There are ways of running Windows on the iMac, but I bought the Mac to get away from Windows, so I choose not to use any of those.

I had to install third-party solutions to view WMA video, and to do the sort of batch renaming of files that Windows has built in. Chessmaster is not available for the Mac, but I did find a chess program that works well enough.

I didn't like the mouse, but my Logitec trackball plugged in and worked without installing any software. I lose the horizontal scroll of the Mighty Mouse, but for me that's an acceptable trade-off because I don't like a conventional mouse.

Garmin does not yet have software to update my StreetPilot on the Mac, but their web site says they are working on it and will have it available soon.

Overall the transition was smooth. I'm still getting used to it, and I still have a few things to figure out, but I'm happy to have made the switch.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(athanasios @ Oct 15 2006, 12:05 PM) [snapback]333054[/snapback]</div>

If you take a look at the source to launchd (which anyone can do as the source is freely available from Apple) you will see that what you wrote is not correct. Basically, launchd does an execv() of /bin/sh and the next statement following it (which will never be executed unless execv() fails) is a call to syslog() to print out that error message. So if /bin/sh was simply missing, the error would be ENOENT, and you'd see "No such file or directory" rather than "input/output error".

For execv() to fail with errno set to EIO (which is the error code that will produce the "input/output error" message) the most likely explanation is damaged file system or failing disk drive. According to the man page for execve:

[EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from the file system.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Oct 16 2006, 08:20 PM) [snapback]333537[/snapback]</div>

While you are technically correct, the original poster made it implicitly clear he is not a software developer and/or able to read source code. To him the result is all the same. His system cannot start up and he cannot get to his data. All I gave him where a few simple things he could try before having his harddrive replaced (if needed). I believe this may serve him better than technical essays......

But hey, feel free to show off how smart you are. ;-)

 

Ouch. I'm sorry my advice turned out so poorly.

Now that I think about this a bit more, you have to explicitly tell the macintosh to boot from the optical drive rather than the hard drive. On most modern macs this is by holding down the 'c' key while booting, but older macs required different key presses.

 

Hi Oxo,

IP over ethernet is much more established and time tested than IP over FW, so I doubt that route will improve matters.

I'd think about one of these solutions:

1. NAS
2. An external HD that you physically move by replugging the FW cable.

I hope this advice is better than my last offering !