So, I’ve had my G4 for about five years now, and it’s been pretty good to me for the little I do with it (edit photos, check the boards, look up porn…you know, the important stuff).
Well, last night, it started acting slow, so I decided to shut it down (I usually just leave it on all the time). Well, it didn’t shut down, so I rebooted it, and when it got halfway through the start up phase, a warning came up that read:
Sorry, system file error
Virex Scheduler
Error number 41
Then it asks me if I want to reboot my computer, which leads to the exact same thing happening.
I called a Mac Fix-it shop, and they told me it was a software problem, that I probably needed to reformat my computer because I’d never done it, and that virex was pretty much a useless application because Macs aren’t prone to getting viruses. So, now I’ve got a seemingly useless program that won’t let me start up my computer, and I’m not about to pay a shitload of money to take it into a shop if there’s a quick way of bypassing this process that will allow me to just remove the software from my hardrive and not have to worry about it anymore. I plan to reformat my computer once I take care of this, but I have a feeling I need to do something more with it than just reboot it constantly.
You don’t mention what OS you’re running… Tell me that, and I can (hopefully) give you more detailed instructions.
But you need to boot from a CD (the original CD that came with the thing should work, or any OS CD that you might have lying around), and that should allow you to bypass your HD altogether, so that you can get in and delete the defunct file.
Try rebooting the computer with the Shift key held down; this will load the operating system without any third-party extensions. That should get you to your desktop so that you can find and throw out the file that’s making things go kerflooey. (If you’re running OS X, don’t press Shift until the login progress window appears.)
Hey guys, thanks for the tips. I’m currently running OS9. I’ll look for the disks and try to boot it up with that and see if it helps.
I tried rebooting by holding down the shift key, but after the start up, and before the desktop appears, I get another message saying:
System File Error
Error Type 41
To load the desktop with the extensions off, reboot the computer while holding down the shift key
I don’t know how the computer can’t recognize that I JUST FRIGGIN DID THAT!!!. Oi.
Well, I’m at work and won’t be able to fiddle with it till later this evening, but I’ll try rebooting it using the OS disk. But just in case, if you can give me a few more pointers with the new information as to what I should do if I still encounter problems, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks again for the advice.
Hey Otto, thanks for the tip. Now all I gotta do is find all my friggin CDs when I get home (I’ve moved four times since I’ve gotten this computer, so we’ll see how well that goes). Hopefully, that will fix everything. Then I can work on trashing everything and reinstalling my hardrive from scratch! YAY!!
Thanks again guys for all the advice, I’ll keep you posted.
Since you’re in 9…
a) Don’t reformat anything!! Don’t ever talk to those idiots at the fixit shop again!!
b) Boot from something else. Got a system installation CDROM? Boot from that. Rename your old system folder, something like “Old System Folder” will do. Then do a clean install of MacOS 9 (click all the “Options” buttons and “Custom” buttons until you find the checkbox that lets you do a clean install).
c) Reboot. If you boot successfully from your regular hard disk, from the newly reinstalled OS, click past all the “wizard” setup screens (put any old thing, you’re going to discard all that in a moment anyhow).
d) Open “Old System Folder” and throw the following subfolders into the trash:
Apple Menu Items
Extensions
Control Panels
Application Support
Contextual Menu Items
Extensions
Favorites
Fonts
Help
Preferences <— this is probably the most important one
Startup Items
Any folders named for a program or software company that you have installed software from, such as Adobe, Microsoft, FileMaker, Eudora, AOL, Macromedia, etc. etc.
ColorSync Profiles
Internet Plug-ins
e) From the exact same list above, drag the folders with those names from “Old System Folder” into “System Folder”.
f) Reboot. You should be back in the world as you know it, with all of your settings, customizations, installations, and so forth intact. All your applications should work normally when you launch them (although a few may demand that you re-enter the registration codes). All your documents will be where you left them, intact.
If that doesn’t work, repeat the process except keep the newly installed Control Panels and Extensions folder this time. After successful reboot, open the old Control Panels folder and the new Control Panels folder and move over only the Control Panels that don’t have replacement copies in the new Control Panels folder. Repeat for Extensions. Reboot.
That’s going to get you up and running 98% of the time.
Actually, I went Otto’s route during my dinner break. I didn’t find a disk labeled OS9, but I did find a disk labelled something along the lines of “Software Refresher” and opened up my desktop with that. It gave me the option to refresh all the initial software on my hardrive without losing any of the other stuff I’ve saved onto it over the past five years, so I gave that a shot and it seems to have worked. I was able to load up my desktop without the disk and so far, everything seems to be up and running.
I am thinking of going to the store sometime soon, though, buying a CD burner, and saving everything onto disks as a backup. Then I’ll give your process a shot AHunter3, just to be on the safe side.
Again, thanks to all you guys for the helpful advice. I know very little about computers, and none of my computer savy friends know much about Macs, so I really appreciate all the help.
AHunter3’s suggestion does the same thing as a reinstall, only it changes less. Since you’ve already reinstalled, there’s no reason to do it. Moreover, always avoid a custom job if it isn’t necessary.
If it gives you trouble again, I would guess that it’s a problem either with extensions or with preferences (assuming your reinstall preserved these; I don’t remember if it does). If it’s the latter, you should boot from the CD, copy your preferences folder to somewhere else, empty it, and then restart. If neither that nor booting with extensions off fixes the problem, then you might try what AHunter3 suggested, but I would be surprised if that fixed it.
Rereading your post, I see you may not have done an actual reinstall. I haven’t used those “software restore” CDs, so I don’t know quite what you did to it. However, I maintain my assertion that you shouldn’t change anything as long as it’s working.