Can't log in - desktop won't load

Question

Hi, and thanks for reading this. I hope someone here can help me.
I have a G4 flat-panel iMac, running 10.2.8. Bought brand new in 2002 and have had no problems, with the exception of the hard drive going out a few months later and replaced under warranty. (Apparently a few of the dual-boot machines had this problem.) They also upgraded the OS to 10.2.8 and the computer has run beautifully ever since. Until the other night.
I was online and the modem disconnected but Internet Connect kept displaying "Disconnecting". This happens on occasion and the only way out of it is to shut down the computer and restart. So I did, and when the computer restarted I could not log in. The computer started as usual and seemed fine, the log-in screen appeared, I entered my password, the computer said "logging in", a blue screen appeared briefly... and then kicked back to the login screen. The desktop never appeared.
After several tries of that, I decided to reset my password (with the system CD). It let me reset my password and the computer recognized the fact I had changed my password. (You know how the log-in screen "shakes" to signal a wrong password - that never happened.) I tried to log in again and it said "logging in"... and returned to the log-in screen. The same thing happened when I tried the root user account.
I was able to start up from my Norton CD and changed the startup disk to 9.2. In 9.2, I can see the contents of my hard drive including my User folder in OS X and everything that had been on my desktop in OS X is right there in the "desktop" folder for my user name. I can move, copy, and delete things there. It's all there; the desktop just won't load when I start in OS X.
I don't know if it helps, but in 9.2, the computer recognizes my ZIP drive, CDs, and my Wacom tablet and mouse.
I have gone through the discussion boards and articles here and cannot find where anyone else has had the exact same problem. I have tried the possible solutions below, and none of them have changed anything:
* Norton Utilities (Disk Doctor) - fixed some minor errors, then ran it again and no problems were found.
* Safe Boot - I couldn't get the mouse to work, and when I figured out the keyboard "shortcuts" to log in, I got the same thing as before... "logging in" and then getting kicked back to the log-in screen.
* Disk Utility (from the Mac OS X install CD) - it fixed a couple things then said that my hard drive appeared to be okay.
* fsck (single-user mode) - it said that "Macintosh HD appears to be OK". So at least the hardware seems okay.
* Rebuilding desktop - a long shot but I figured it was worth a try; nothing changed.
* Reset privileges (single-user mode) - as far as I can see, nothing changed even after doing this.
* Startup items (folder) - nothing seems out of place.
* Disable log-in items - I still couldn't log in
* In single-user mode: when trying one of the suggestions from an article here, I typed "cd/Users/{my user name}/Library, then mv Preferences Preferences_old, and received a message stating "no such file or directory."
Looking through the contents of my hard drive, I can see that there is a Desktop icon for OS 9, but not anything for OS X. In theory, shouldn't there also be a desktop icon for OS X? Has my computer somehow lost its "connection" or "map" to my OS X desktop? I ran fsck again today so that I could look at logs/parse failed/plist/etc (an article I found here on apple.com) and following those steps, I noticed there was a line that said "root device is mounted read-only." So I can only assume that has to do with the fact my OS X desktop doesn't load.
So, with all that being said (it's a lot, I know, and I hope it all makes sense) ... Is this problem something simple that I can fix myself, or do I need to take it into the shop and have a technician look at it? As you can imagine, this is all getting very frustrating, with limited access to an old version of Photoshop, SimpleText, and a very old web browser that only works on a few sites (and thankfully Apple.com is one of them). I miss my OS X.
Thanks again for reading this, and for any advice/assistance you may be able to provide.

Answer 1

Thanks, Anna. Excellent work. Everything seems fine, except, of course, the booting OS X part.
First try Resetting the PRAM
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously later.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys immediately after the startup chime.
• Hold keys down until you hear the startup chime for the third time.
• Release the keys and immediately and allow computer to boot.
The fact that you can boot in Safe Mode suggests that you may have a Login item that conflicts with the startup process. If resetting PRAM does not work try this:
Boot computer in Safe Mode.
If you are able to get into the Login items (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items) make a note of all the log in items (write it down). Then delete them all by selecting each one in turn and clicking the minus sign under the list. Shut down and try booting the computer normally. If you are able to boot successfully add the Login items on your list one by one and try rebooting each time you have added one. This should help you isolate the offending item.
I hope one of these methods works. Post back and let me know.
cornelius