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General discussion

Can't access system prefs, accounts, some programs...

Mar 19, 2008 9:52AM PDT

I have a G4 running 10.4.11. I was defragmenting my computer using TechTools Pro when after about 15hrs it froze. I was working from a partition created on an external drive and when I restarted it only saw the external drive. I tried restarting several times and still no internal drive. I opened my computer, giggled the connectors and tapped the drive a couple times. I restarted and there it was. Unfortunately pretty much nothing is working. Most of the files and or programs wont open. I click to open and nothing happens or with some applications I get a message certain files are missing. The other unfortunate problem is that I don't have my original Tiger DVD. (Believe it or not, it was stolen when my car was broken into a year or so ago.) I was thinking I should go out and buy Leopard but wanted to get a few opinions first as to what the problem actually is. I'm concerned that the problem is that the drive itself has been damaged and that new software alone isn't going to fix it.

Discussion is locked

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the problem could have been
Mar 19, 2008 10:38AM PDT

Tech Tool Pro.

There really is no need to defrag your drive when you are running in a UNIX environment. Under OS X, the disk is defraged when software updates are installed.
Also, under UNIX, there are certain files that need to be in a certain place. Defrag has a nasty habit of moving them to places unknown.

Step away from TTP.

Now that you have booted in to OS X from the internal, run Repair Disk Permissions and see if that makes any difference. Disk First Aid would be an idea too.
I am not to keen on the idea that after you Jiggled and tapped the drive, it worked. That does not sound good at all.

Try the permissions thing first and get back with us

Good Luck
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no luck there...
Mar 19, 2008 12:28PM PDT

I can't run First Aid because the verify and repair disk options are grayed out. When I try to verify or repair disk permissions I get an error - No valid packages.

This nightmare started when I was having some minor crashes and my system seemed to have slowed down. I ran Disk First Aid and there were some volume/directory problems. That's when I turned to TTP since I didn't have my OS X disk to start up from. It found and fixed those problems. I thought the defrag would help with my system being slow so I figured I should do that too.

You know what they say about those of us that know just enough information to be dangerous...

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No Valid Packages
Mar 19, 2008 11:05PM PDT

you will get this error if the BaseSystem.pkg file is not in /Library/Receipts folder.

This is one of those file I mentioned that should not be moved or messed with. This folder contains a list of everything you have installed on that machine and is how the permissions are setup in the first place. It is also used by Software update to figure out what it is you need.

Right now you need another copy of a BaseSystem.pkg from another Mac that is also running 10.4.11.
Just copying that file from another machine and putting it in your /Library/Receipts folder should solve your problem.

The official Apple solution can be found Here but not that you will need the 10.4 installation CD/DVD

As luck would have it, I just happen to have a copy of that file, probably 10.4.10, which "may" work for you. It can't hurt.

You will find it Here
Download it, put it in the /Library/Receipts folder, restart and try again with the permissions thing.

Disk First Aid will only repair if you are booted from another drive.

Let us know how you go on

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One problem solved
Mar 20, 2008 4:15AM PDT

Thanks. I used your file and I was able to repair my disk permissions. I probably threw that file away when I was cleaning out my computer trying to free up some space on my drive. My guess is that this is what started my initial problems. I still can't access my system prefs and many of my programs wont open. Thanks for your help.

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It's a start
Mar 20, 2008 8:49AM PDT

I do have another one of the Base package files, for 10.4.11

If you want to try it, I will push it up there in just a moment.

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10.4.11 Base Package
Mar 20, 2008 8:55AM PDT

is up in the same place.

Help yourself

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A little more history
Mar 20, 2008 9:38AM PDT

I tried your 10.4.11 file and repaired the disk permissions again but still the same problems persist.

I'm wondering now if I've deleted some other necessary file(s). Unfortunately I can't remember what exactly I did but I was looking for files from old programs that I didn't think I needed. I know I deleted some things from my user preferences folder. The reason I bring this up is that my Adobe CS programs aren't working. Example error: "The application "InDesign" could not be launched because of a shared library error: ",<InDesign CS><InDesign CS><ObjectModelLib><>". So I thought I'd just reinstall the programs. When I launch the installer it asks for my admin password, I type it in and it tells me "The software to be installed requires Administrator or higher level access privileges." I am the Administrator and my account is the only one on the computer. This is what prompted me to go into my system prefs so I could look at my accounts and when I learned I could not access them.

What do you think? Thanks!

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Putting this back together
Mar 20, 2008 9:48PM PDT

without the installer disk is going to be a lot of sugar for a nickel.

Whether it was you or TTP that screwed around with stuff that needed to be there is now a moot point.

Your account has somehow reverted to a None Admin or, worse still, Guest. Reverting this back to its correct rights requires the installation disk.
However, you could try logging on as a Single User and see how you go from there. You may be able to create another account, with admin rights, log on normally with that account, change your original back to Admin and try again.
I'm not sure how Guest works, but it would normally have virtually NO rights and "may" explain why you cannot access System prefs.

1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and one of the following:
the "s" key for single-user mode.
the "v" key for verbose mode.
4. To exit single-user mode type: reboot
5. Press Return.

More information at the Apple site

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