# Urgent Mac OS Help Needed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633 "2005-03-28T17:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633/1 "2005-03-28T17:53:39Z")
I have an iBook Dual USB running OS 10.3. Yesterday, it started making a funny noise while I was checking my email and it seemed very hot, so I shut it down. After letting it sit for a while, I tried to start it back up and it only got to the start up page with the apple and the spinning thing. Next, I tried booting with Norton Utilities and TechTool Pro. Both started up normally (in OS9) but my hard drive did not appear on the desk top. When I tried show missing disks with Disk Doctor it crashed the system. After that, I tried booting it as a FireWire Target drive on my Wife’s computer. Everything showed up normally, so I tried running TechTool from there. It found some sort of volume error, which I had it repair. It then spent more than 2 hours checking files, so I decided to let it go overnight and check it in the morning. When I woke up, my wife’s iBook had shut itself off. I tried redoing the target drive, and I got a message that I had inserted a disk with no files OSX could read. Oh yeah, and a little background. I’ve had problems with my laptop before, and while it was covered by AppleCare, it got a new hard drive about a year ago. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! St. Urho ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633/2 "2005-03-28T17:57:57Z")
Also, yesterday, I tried rebooting it once and it made it past the apple screen but then went into Darwin and asked me to enter my username and password. It then said I entered the wrong password and went to the desktop. My desktop picture appeared but nothing else. Today it just boots to the apple screen and sticks there. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody\_Special](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nobody\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633/3 "2005-03-28T18:48:59Z")
Have you tried booting from your OS X install disk? From there—assuming it sees your drive—try running (I think it’s called) Disk Utility located in the Installer or File pull down menu. Run Disk Repair and Repair Permissions.\* If that doesn’t work, try reinstalling OS X. There is the option to keep your home folder and preferences, so you should lose anything. - I don’t have my install disks handy, so the specific name might not be correct, but it should be clear what is what. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633/4 "2005-03-28T19:13:35Z")
> [@Nobody Special](#): > > Have you tried booting from your OS X install disk? From there—assuming it sees your drive—try running (I think it’s called) Disk Utility located in the Installer or File pull down menu. Run Disk Repair and Repair Permissions.\* > > If that doesn’t work, try reinstalling OS X. There is the option to keep your home folder and preferences, so you should lose anything. > > - I don’t have my install disks handy, so the specific name might not be correct, but it should be clear what is what. Hmm. I tried that and it failed. There was an invalid key length and “The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)” Anyone know what that means? Thanks for the idea, too. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-mac-os-help-needed/296633/5 "2005-03-28T21:44:38Z")
Norton Utilities and Techtool Pro are useless, IMO. If you can afford the splurge, go get a copy of [DiskWarrior](http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/) instead. IME, if DiskWarrior can’t fix it,it can’t be fixed at all. First things first, though – if you haven’t already, boot up the iBook in Firewire Target mode with your wife’s computer, and _save your stuff._ And, of course, if you’ve got Applecare/warranty coverage and a nearby Apple Store or third-party Apple retailer, I’d recommend a visit. It’s cheaper than buying DiskWarrior, and will help in finding any long-term problems you may have.