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Little Brother Screwed up my Macintosh :(

E

~Ero Oyagi~

Well-Known Member
Yesterday, I foolishly let my brother use the internet on my laptop. When he asked "how do I lock my documents so other users can't see them?" I told him how without really thinking about it (click on the file, press get info and go to the bottom section etc. etc.)

He then logged off the computer and I was left with something I thought i'd never see again after finishing with XP; a blue bloody screen. It was like he'd logged off and the login window hadn't come up, just the blue background.

So I restarted it, something I have never had to do before might I add, and it seemed to start fine until the little circle thing that spins came up on the screen. Again, the spinning cricle was there, but there was no window behind it as there usually is, just a blue background.

I thought this was weird, but unfortunately this was soon overcome by a feeling of "Oh s**t, what's happened?" when the screen went black and the laptop went into a MS-DOS-like mode (called Darwin I think?), asking me to log in.

I asked my brother what the hell he'd done and he said he'd just been browsing the internet and changed the access settings on some folders. "Which folders?" I asked, dreading the worst. "All the ones at the side of the finder window. And that folder called System I think."

So i'm presuming the computer isn't allowing itself to access its own system folder and it can't boot up properly. And i'm also presuming that the problem will have to be fixed in the MS-DOS mode thing. But I have no idea how to do anything on it right now, except log in to my user.

It's an iBook G4 with OS X Tiger.

Any help would be much appreciated, all my bleeding coursework is on there and if I lose it there go 20% of my GCSE marks down the drain.

Sorry if I didn't give enough info.
 
E

Eileen

Queen of Orudoran
You totally need to reinstall Mac OS X. To do this, just insert your Mac OS X DVD that came with your iBook and just click the Hard Drive that all your files is on. After that, press Options and click Upgrade. (Do not select Erase and Install or it will erase your files and settings). You do not need to reformat. Make sure your iBook is plugged in before installing. After that, you have to reinstall your updates, your user settings and applications will still be there, just don't erase the hard drive.
 
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D

DJ 9-Volt

Hoping to get a Wii!
Eileen said:
You totally need to reinstall Mac OS X. To do this, just insert your Mac OS X DVD that came with your iBook and just click the Hard Drive that all your files is on. After that, press Options and click Upgrade. (Do not select Erase and Install or it will erase your files and settings). You do not need to reformat. Make sure your iBook is plugged in before installing. After that, you have to reinstall your updates, your user settings and applications will still be there, just don't erase the hard drive.
Click to expand...

try rebooting the computer 1st then if that does not work then reinstall
 
E

~Ero Oyagi~

Well-Known Member
Eileen said:
You totally need to reinstall Mac OS X. To do this, just insert your Mac OS X DVD that came with your iBook and just click the Hard Drive that all your files is on. After that, press Options and click Upgrade. (Do not select Erase and Install or it will erase your files and settings). You do not need to reformat. Make sure your iBook is plugged in before installing. After that, you have to reinstall your updates, your user settings and applications will still be there, just don't erase the hard drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll try this today when I get back from school. But it sounds like it should work. I just want to know why the hell OS X would let someone do this at all, if my little bro could totally bugger up the OS so easily then why the hell don't they make it impossible to do? :confused:

DJ 9-Volt said:
try rebooting the computer 1st then if that does not work then reinstall
Click to expand...

I already rebooted about 26 times, in the vain hope it would do some good. But every time I was greeted with the same screen full of code that was complete gibberish to me.

chuboy said:
Get a PC.

Sorry couldn't help myself.
Click to expand...

This isn't half as bad as some of the stuff that happened to my old PC. I had to format the hard drive 3 times and I only had it for 3 years. And it had all these viruses which took up half the memory, and a bunch of anti-virus programs which took up the other half. Now i've severed the internet connection so it can't get any more. But it's still useful for playing games on :)
 
K

Kal-El

Mush! Mush!
I just want to know why the hell OS X would let someone do this at all, if my little bro could totally bugger up the OS so easily then why the hell don't they make it impossible to do?
Click to expand...

Like all money-making OS companies they don't care what goes into the final product. Just as long as they'll make million off it.
 
E

Eileen

Queen of Orudoran
Next time, like totally use a regular account instead an administrator account. Even with Authorization prompts, a regular account is more safer than an administrator account.

I totally never have any problems with OS X, unlike Windows and Linux (Hard to use and hard to fix). =p
 
Kikas123

Kikas123

What 'bout My Star?
If you are going to do something into the promp, don't use DOS code, because it is UNIX based, I just suggest using the disc.
 
M

Missingnoguy55

Is feeling happy. :D
Eeek, that's scary. I don't know how your little brother can do that. Maybe you can hide the folders so he can't get to it. But, your computer is broken. I have no advice currently.
 
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K

Kal-El

Mush! Mush!
I totally never have any problems with OS X, unlike Windows and Linux (Hard to use and hard to fix). =p
Click to expand...

Linux is impossible to break.


Silly me... but Unix commands are almost the same as linux commands. =p
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be because Linux was built on Unix could it? Nah.

Eeek, that's scary. I don't know how your little brother can do that. Maybe you can hide the folders so he can't get to it.
Click to expand...

Problem is it won't work if you change the directory since that'll wreck the OS anyway which, I assume, started this mess.
 
E

~Ero Oyagi~

Well-Known Member
Well, i've tried reinstalling OS X by putting in the "OS X Install CD 1" in the drive and holding down the "C" key as I started up, but the apple symbol comes up followed by a bunch of error masseages on the console saying "Panic!" and stuff. I think it says it can't find the correct drivers. The background is that screen you get when a serious error occurs, telling you you have to restart the computer in 5 different languages.

So it looks like i'm gonna have to learn unix... 'cause there's no way in hell that I can reformat the HD otherwise I will have to redo 3 years of coursework in 11 different subjects. Which is nigh on impossible since I would have about 4 weeks to do it in.

Also, what's the eject firmware key shortcut? It's slipped my mind and the damn OS X CD is stuck in there.
 
A

Alecat

I'm Back!
What springs to mind is a kernel panic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic (a page linked from there, relating to the OS X is here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106227 )

I know very little about the systems, though. It's just a term I've heard before that seems relevant now and may be a useful research path to follow?

Hope things work out for you...

[edit] a bit of google pulled up this: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html which refers here: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/repairprocess.html for info on resolving permissions. I think... if that's not what you're looking for exactly, the whole site seems to be quite useful and will probably have some form of answer.
 
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E

~Ero Oyagi~

Well-Known Member
Wow, thanks that first kernel panic article really helped. It says that I have to start up the comp in OS 9 mode. So, umm anyone know how to do that? I don't think I have an OS 9 disk. Is there a key combo or something that changes the startup disk so I can do this?

Thanks everyone so much for your help! ^_^
 
V

vaerna

Well-Known Member
Sounds like to me that somehow permissions or passwords were changed and the mac is confused and can't boot itself. I'd go to a dealer/repair place and see if they can use another mac to boot remotely. Disk Warrior may also be required.
 
E

~Ero Oyagi~

Well-Known Member
Well, I finally fixed it after 6 days of painstakingly trawling the internet and searching my house for disks. Funnily enough, I worked out how to do it all by myself.

I just connected my laptop to my mum's computer with firewire and used the migration utility to edit the permission settings from there. Took about 2 minutes. There was the nerve-racking wait as it booted up and I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not, but sure enough it worked.

And here's a free piece of advice: FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T MUCK ABOUT WITH THE SYSTEM FOLDER!

Anyway, thanks for all your help, I would probably have just given up if I had no idea what to do. :)
 
D

DIZZI

SOS Brigade Member 7
i was going to suggest a complete system restart (get rid of everything then reinstall) but you got it


oh im also writing a book called "what to do if your little brother screws around with your computer" everyone could use a copy
 
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