Problem when booting - Invalid Node Structure

Hey!
I decided to put my MacBook G4 up to date. So I installed several updates of my software. So far so good. Then I tried to check with Disk Utility wether there were any problems on the file system. I ran "repair Disk Permissions" and some errors where found and corrected. I tried "Verify Disk" and it announced there where some errors namely "Invalid Node Structure". As I couldn't repair the disk as it was the current boot disk I decided to run Disk Utility from a CD. Unfortunately I didn't have my original cd so I asked a friend to use his. He gave me his "MacBook Pro - Mac OS X Install Disc"s (Mac OS X 10.5) and I ran it on my PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.4 installed). It gave the same result like when I ran it from my hard drive. When I tried to repair it, it started and stopped after some seconds (between 20 and 40 seconds) saying it was unable to repair it.
After that the computer does not mount from hard drive (10.4 installed) anymore, only from cd. I tried booting in single user mode and executing /sbin/fsck -fy but I had the same result ("disk0s10: I/O error. Invalid node structure (4, 7698) **Volume check failed.").
I think I can resolve the problem by starting my mac in firewire mode, backing up my data and reinstalling Mac OS X (would a repair from 10.4 Disk Utility work?) but I would be happy if there were any faster / more elegant way to do so as I cant use my install cds for 10.4 right now as I am in an other country for some time.
Any help?

Hi Ja!, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately DU & fsck can't fix all that much, your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
If DW can't fix it, you might try Data Rescue II...
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
Or FileSalvage...
http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?%20mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
to recover what you can.
PS. Don't use Leopard Install Disk to work on Tiger Hard disks, it's always messed up my Tiger Disks ehen I did.
Also, not a good idea to even Repair Permissions if there are Disk problems like you have, you don't want to write anything to a disk that has problems, that means even trying to boot off it until you fix it.

Similar Messages

Startup partition dies in the middle of booting, Invalid node structure?

Hi! In the last few weeks, possibly since I last upgraded Lion and Safari, my iMac has been performing very badly. It's been sluggish, Safari and Finder repeatedly freezing and crashing/rebooting. Last night it escalated, and I launched Disk Utility to repair permissions. Ten hours later and no problems found. Not ten minutes later, the FInder crashes badly and I have to force a shutdown. When restarting, I get the grey progress bar, but it only reaches about 10%, then the hard drive whirrs and clicks a few times, and the computer shuts off. This happens every time I try to restart.
So instead, I boot into the recovery partition, and launch Disk Utility from there. Repair disk says the boot partition has an invalid node structure and I have to backup and reinstall. Now, I do have a Time Machine backup (a few days old since I don't have my Drobo on all the time due to the noise it makes), but since it's 800 GB of data I'm a bit reluctant to commit to that, hoping there is a simpler/faster solution. I'll see if I can try Disk Warrior. Or do you think I'd be better off to just nuke the entire drive and start from scratch?
The strange thing is that I have a Bootcamp partition with Windows 7, which works fine and actually can browse the files on the Lion partition. What does that mean? Can I use that to my advantage? If I do restore from Time Machine, will that affect my Bootcamp partition?

Disk Warrior confirmed that there were problems, but couldn't repair the node structure, possibly because of bad blocks. Support at the local Mac store (we don't have Apple stores here) said I should just try reinstalling the system, so that's what I did. It didn't work the first time, but then I reformatted the partition and since then everything has worked allright. I have now restored everything from the TM backup (which took about a day). I'm now guessing that the whirring was not actually some mechanical problem with the drive, but on the other hand DW wasn't too happy about the drive, so maybe I still have to replace it? I'm using it now and it seems better than before, but I won't do any serious work on this computer until I have a new TM backup in place.
(On that note, is it possible to "link" the restored system to the old TM backup that it was restored from? Or do I have to start over with a completely new TM backup, losing all the versioning of the old backup?)
UPDATE: Just ran Disk Utility, which now reported an erroneous block count in a file. Crossing my fingers hoping it's nothing critical adn that DU can repair it ...

IMac (March 2009) - Invalid Node Structure problem

Hi All
I was using my iMac as normal yesterday, when suddenly the system ground to a halt (something I never seen since using OS X). As I had work to do, after about an hour, I restarted, expecting it to be an app misbehaving or something straight forward, but on restart the same thing happened almost straight away.
So, I restarted again, only for the iMac to get stuck on the blue screen which follows the grey 'cog' screen. After looking through these discussions, and some other Mac forums, I booted from the installer disk, tried to run Disk Utility, which found issues and couldn't repair the disk.
I then tried Safe-User mode and fsck, which reported the aforementioned Invalid Node Structure problem. After checking a few more forums, I thought I would try to Erase the disk and reinstall Mac OS. I restored from my Time Machine backup, and finally got it to start, but the system moved at a snail's pace, and wouldn't open any apps or files.
I've tried again with fsck, and also fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s2 but all I get is the same error message:
disk0s2: I/O error.
Invalid Node Structure
(4, 38403)
** Volume check failed.
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
So, does anyone know if there is anything I can do to save the iMac? Or does it need a new HD? It is my primary work computer, so I really need to get it back, and after buying it in the UK, am now in France for 6 weeks, so it's difficult for me to take it to an Apple specialist.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance,
Daniel

As the last user stated, Disk Warrior maybe able to correct it, however if you search the net, you will see there are more than one user with this problem. I had the same problem, however, my machine is out of warranty, It started like you are saying, I RAN disk warrior which corrected the problem long enough to boot the system. In a matter of 10 minutes or so, the system started pausing (apps hung, but in a matter of seconds recovered). I was checking the disk with fsck_hfs and fsck while booted from a USB drive with a maintenance install of 10.5.6. After running fsck the 5th time with different options suggested from the internet, I rebooted with my disk warrior DVD only to find the drive NOT mounted, Drive utility see's it (even can attempt to run disk repair, but it locks up the system when trying this). Disk Warrior doesn't even see the disk to run a directory repair, although in the "check s.m.a.r.t status it sees it as a sata device, and SAYS ITS NORMAL).
Since my iMac was out of warranty, I followed the online instructions to replace the hard drive (not too difficult) and everything is fine now.
The old drive still wont mount, but another utility I bought (data rescue II) has been able to quick scan it and access all the data, even though it wont clear a fsck fsck_hfs or disk warrior, anyways, get it back while you can, IT IS THE hard drive itself, and lots of other iMac users online with the same issue (can you say WHY is my iMac SOOO HOT on the apple in the back (right where the drive is and not sufficient cooling in my opinion, but hey, some people might want to lay their computers face down and fry eggs on the it or something... ))
-SD

Macbook Leopard 10.5 is not booting up and not even getting Verified Error : Invalid Node Structure

Hey, I am using Macbook Leopard 10.5, Yesterday while i was working it was on low battery i thought to connect it later, but all of a suddent its stopped fucntioning and everything goes blank. I thought it might be a Battery problem, but even after connecting charger for 2-3 hours, its not booting up. Only the Apple screen comes and then it goes shut down automatically.
I even tried to fix it using Apple CD, Disk utility, When i tried to Verify the disk It shows following error :
Disk cannot be repaired or verify.
And details : Invalid Node structure
Volume needs to be repaired error : Filesystem verify or repair failed.
I have very important Data on this disk, so i cannot even erase it.
Suggest me somehting. It have enough space to install new OS but System shows you need erase it.
I have tried to use Apple Hardware test by Holding D key, But its not working.

Helloi
http://supportdb.alsoft.com:591/FMPro?-db=alsoftsupport&-lay=main&-sortfield=Dat e&-sortorder=descend&Keywords=node&Product=%22%22&-op=lte&Date=%2F%2F&-max=15&-f ormat=AlsoftSupport-qa.html&-script=counter&-token=177&-Skip=0&-find

Huge problems with my MacBook: Invalid Node Structure and More!

A couple days ago I was browsing the internet, and when I closed Safari, the system froze. I couldn't even force quit out of anything, so I had to shut it off manually. When I tried to turn my computer back on the next day, I couldn't get past the Apple screen. The little wheel would keep spinning, but I could never get anywhere.
Then, I tried to boot from the Leopard DVD to possibly reinstall Leopard, hoping it would work. At first, no drives would show up to install to, but for some reason, they eventually showed up. Problem is, I don't have enough free memory to reinstall Leopard. Furthermore, I've tried to fit it on the space I have, and it says that the install failed, so I can't reinstall Leopard.
I also went to Disk Utility from the DVD and tried to repair the disk. The only option available was to Verify Disk, but when I go there, that fails, and it says "invalid node structure."
I'm not sure what happened to my computer because it seemed to come from nowhere. To sum up, I cannot log in to OS X, or even XP on a separate partition, I can't reinstall Leopard, and I can't repair the disk. I've read about how DiskWarrior might help, but I can't get in to OS X. Does anyone have any idea what happened or what I can do? I haven't backed anything up, so if I'm screwed, then so be it, I guess. Just wondering if anyone has any explanations or suggestions. Thanks.

Interesting how many people have this same issue. A friend of mine has brought me her white Macbook Intel Core 2 with Leopard and it had a folder with a question mark instead of the apple at startup. I was able to boot using the Mac Install DVD and ran Disk Utility. It said something like "Invalid Node Structure" and "Cannot Repair". Unfortunately DiskWarrior will not fix this. I tried it to no avail. I'm resigned to the fact that a new hard drive is necessary.
The HD in there is a Hitachi 120GB.
It also wouldn't let me erase the disk nor partition it. Then, one morning I woke up and it was able to erase! So I erased, then installed Tiger. It seemed to be working fine. So I rebooted from the Leopard drop-in disk and installed Leopard. Then I restarted, and BAM! back to the question mark folder. Now I'm back to where I started. Other threads
I forgot to mention that my friend had photos and music on the HD that she couldn't do without and I was able to recover that data using Data Recover II. First I had to use SuperDuper to clone my own computer onto an external drive so I could use it as a boot drive.
For now the only solution is to buy a new internal hard drive and reinstall the OS. And regularly backup!!
So I guess this issue has not really been solved, but hopefully you have warranty. Unfortunately for my friend, this happened a week after her warranty expired.
Good luck.

Invalid node structure and Boot Camp 1.1.2

I downloaded Boot Camp 1.1.2 and during the installation of Mac Drivers I kept getting dialog boxes that the software i'm installing did not pass Windows Logo testing- I just ignored it.
After that Windows XP didn't recognise my keyboard, airport, ...
I prepared a new instalation with Boot Camp Assistant and i had an error message when the disk partition was processing.
I run Disk Utility from my Mac OS X install disk DVD and I got the following:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Please give me some help to repair my disk and to understand what happened.
MacBook Pro 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If you are unable to repair the drive you will need to repartition and reformat the drive.
I recommend a cloned backup to an external FW drive. You can use this procedure:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
3. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
4. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.
You will only have to reinstall your third-party applications. All standard OS X applications will be reinstalled except for bundled applications such as iMovie, iDVD, Garageband, etc. These can be reinstalled using the Bundled Applications installer on the OS X Installer Disc.
If you make a cloned backup all your data will be on the backup. You can restore it afterwards by copying the folders to their respective locations on the startup volume.

Invalid node structure error when verifying hard disk, please help

My 27" Mid 2011 iMac is having hard disk issues. I attempted to repair the disk but received an error that said the disk cannot be repaired and needs to be re-formatted. I have all my files backed up to an external hard drive so I erased and formatted the disk. After reformatting, I ran the verify disk function and got the message saying the HD appears to working properly. I reload OSX Lion and within a day, my computer freezes up and acts as if something is wrong. When I run the verify disk, I get the Invalid Node Structure error multiple times and then the message saying the disk cannot be repaired and I need to reformat the drive. I have completed this process several times and have had no luck. I have looked at a few forums with people who have had somewhat similar problems but am still unsure. I have seen people recommend programs like Disk Warrior to repair issues the hard disk utility cannot but I don't want to spend $100 dollars on this program if my hard disk is damaged and needs to be replaced. Any suggestions? Thank you

Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional — ask if you need guidance.

IMac Won't boot...Invalid Node Structure

My iMac is just...screwed up. It is a 2008 intel iMac that had worked fine for the last four years until lion. Everytime there was and update or I rebooted, my Mac would freeze at some point of the login. A permission repair or just repair disk would solve the issue an everyone and a while, a restore from backup. Recently my Mac started to slow down to the point it froze for several hours and force quit would never open. I held the button and since then I have been in trouble. The repair permissions had a ton of errors but successfully repaired. But when I repaired the disk, it's hit a couple of errors but ultimately failed right after "Invalid Node Structure" that error has been consistent every time I have attempted a fix and it failed.
I tried restoring from a backup to no avail. Then I wiped the drive and installed Lion (after a convienient 5 hours download) an it booted. I tried using it but it was extremely slow, let it sit over night and came back to it frozen. I had assumed it was slow due to indexing but after 12ish hours this didn't solve the issue. I clicked the apple button and it took a while to finally show up an restarted. Fro
There is wouldn't complete the boot. Froze at the apple logo or white screen with spinning mouse. Left that for several hours and stayed there. Tried repair and same issue. "ivalid node structure" redtating aftet that it just reboots and turns off a little bit after the chime. I have tried everything I could find on different forums without any success. I tried single user mode with the fsck commands and that failed also. I downloaded lion and made a recovery flash drive from another computer. I have since installed several new installations of lion after an erase and repartition. I took it to the apple store and they installed a fresh install of lion and it worked for a day then slowed down and froze. I would like to try everything possible before claiming the hardrive dead. Any other suggestions? (
I forgot to mention I have done PRAM resets in between the events I described as well as the SCM i think reset by unplugging. I have left it unplugged for over 12 hours, also have taken out all peripherals minus keyboard and mouse.

Oh I forgot to add, don't restore from TM or reverse clone, your data might have been messed up, rather cherry pick your good files from backup.
About much would a fix/Harddrive replacement cost?
You might want to get a estimate from Apple, while inside they can clean the filters and run a check.
If it's too much for you, then there are online services
OtherWorld Computing can replace the drive in iMac's
the new 2011's have the certain Apple drive heat for iMac software, not 2009, my mistake.
http://blog.macsales.com/10146-apple-further-restricts-upgrade-options-on-new-im acs
you might find a local service, Apple reseller might do it too, save the shipping costs.

Power Mac G4 - invalid node structure

I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Power Mac G4 - 933....we had a power outage and the Mac would not turn on...the power light lit up when pressed but the computer wouldn't boot...I reset the PRAM and all was good...except a file I had was corrupted and couldn't be opened....after that, a month later, another power outage. This time I had more trouble as resetting the PRAM didn';t work...I reset the logic board (taking out the battery for 30 minutes then replacing) and that didn't work either...I tried several combinations of the above to no avail...I finally took out the battery for over and hour, powered up the computer without the battery and it started...so the battery was corrupted. I replaced the battery (correct one of 3.6 volts) and the computer fired right up. I ran disk utilities to see if all was okay. Checking preferences was fine but when I tried to verify, Disk Utilities came up with the message that it could not complete verifying and that it found "Invalid node structure" and that it could not repair the disk. I then tried fsck to repair and to no avail...fsck gave me several messages depending on the repair options I tried including one that included that the problem was in "memory 4, 23412"....it said it could also not repair due to "os/10 i/o error" and the second run I took at it with a different method told me there was a problem with "DIMM 2/J23 memory"...Apple's website says that if I get an uprepairable message from disk utility that I should back-up, erase and do a clean install...but with these messages indicating the problem is in the memory, since the battery runs the memory, could it be in there instead? ...of important note, I do not have the original install disk...the operating system running it is Tiger 10.4.11...I don't have the orignal disk and I have an empty 10.5 Leopard disk box with no idea where the disk is...I have snow leopard, but that cannot be installed on the G4....after running the last fsck attempt, the computer shut down and is back to only having the power light lit when pressed but no computer booting...where should I start/what do I do? I am hoping you all have good suggestions for me because some of my files were bnot backed up (I know...don't judge) and I got them onto a flashdrive right before the computer went down again, but I have no idea if they took,...further, I love this old dinosaur...

Hi, only thing I've seen repair that is DiskWarrior, you'd need an older version...
http://supportdb.alsoft.com:591/FMPro?-db=alsoftsupport&-lay=main&-max=15&-forma t=AlsoftSupport-qa.html&-script=counter&-token=177&-Skip=96&-find
But it does sound like you have some bad RAM, but have you blown the dust out yet & tried reseating the RAM?

Invalid node structure. Free solution!

Invalid node structure. Free solution! Jan 2007.
Disk problem on an Intel Core Duo Macbook with 1.25 gig RAM and updated to OS X Tiger 10.4.8
Background.
About a month ago I ran into a problem with expose behaving oddly and after posting a question on this forum, the very helpful Dr Smoke advised me to clear my caches and to run 'repair disk.' from the installation CD. (This because I reported that a couple of times I had to do a hard reset.) I got expose fixed but discovered that my disk had serious errors in the directory structure, reported as "invalid node structure," and which Disk Utility could not repair. The laptop was running perfectly but several people posted advice that I should not leave this problem unattended to. Reporting this crisis again on the forum I was advised to buy Disk Warrior for a whopping $100 for what might be a once in a lifetime problem -or else I should back up my data and re-install everything. And I thought the Mac was more stable!! Up to 6 months ago I was a Windows user who often had such problems with the FAT but I was always able to cure them with Checkdisk or Scandisk. In fact MS Windows repaired it automatically after a hard reset. I feel that it is most unfair for Apple to not provide an effective utility to correct this kind of disk corruption. They bundle wonderful programs like iPhoto and iWeb but leave you in the lurch with a fundamental disk problem. With help again from Dr Smoke, I made my firewire disk bootable for Intel Macbooks (must be partitioned with the "GUID" option selected) and searched the forums for a way to get going again without forking out $100. I wouldn't mind if it was a program that did other useful jobs like on-the-fly partitioning but it was going to be an overkill for me. Learning a little from each of several other posts (sorry I didn't record the links) I put together the following solution which is easy to execute and the time consuming elements can be left to run at night or when away from the computer. You may see possible short cuts as you read through to make it even simpler, but here is my full story! Actually I was travelling around Eastern Europe and couldn't easily get disk Warrior or Tech Tools sent to me. I needed to find a solution from reading advice and downloading disk utilities off the Web.
I have a 40 gig ext. disk, mounted in a "hotdrive" enclosure which is useable either as firewire or USB 2. http://www.byteccusa.com.
My Bacbook disk is 60 gig but only 25 gig was in use.
My Macbook was up todate with every part of OS X including the firmware. except for Garage band which I do not use.
Step 1a. I downloaded 2 free disk cloning programs - Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. I preferred the latter. Step 1b I read about Migration Assistant - part of OS X Tiger.
Step 2. I partitioned the Firewire disk in two (32 and 8 gig) for future convenience, and zeroed the disk after Dr Smoke's advice.
Step 3. I installed the basic OS X package onto my 8 gig "Firewire 2" using only Install (DVD) disk 1 which takes up less than 5 gig. (In Setup one chooses to not install the additional programs - iPhoto etc.) I checked that I could boot from it and that it was healthy by running "verify disk" when booted from the internal hdd.
Step 4. While booted from my internal HD, I cloned Firewire 2 onto Firewire 1 (32 gig) I verified the disk (no problems) then booted from it and assured myself that I had a fully working copy of OS X.
Step 5. I booted from firewire 1 and used Migration Assistant to import EVERYTHING - files, programs, the lot, from my internal HDD with the node structure problem. My firewire disk was now 25 gig the same as my internal HD. It had now two users, both shown as administrators. I booted to my newly-imported user ID - the original one that was on my internal HDD. The only problem reported by Migration Assistant was that Missing Synch for Palm might need to be re-installed which would not be surprising given what it does. Later when all was done, I discovered that the migrated programs had been placed in a folder on my desktop so I opened it and moved them all into the 'normal' Applications folder created by my new basic install. (Some programs don't like running from anywhere other than the Applications folder.)
Step 6. I worked from Firewire disk 1 for a day, trying out every program and it was working normally. One thing I noticed was that iTunes seemed to import as the original tiger 10.4.6 version so I needed to install the update to 7.02 which I had kept in my download folder. I tried to install the OS X update to 10.4.8 but a dialog informed me that I could not do that on this (external) disk. I don't know why, but later on I updated to 10.4.8 overnight using Mac Update.
Step 7. Make sure all your data has been backed up somewhere, and that there is nothing of value on your internal disk. Take a deep breath, and wipe it!! I did this using Disk Utility (from Firewire 1) and took the chance to partition my HD into 32, 18 and 6 gig. I chose GUID partitioning and zeroed the disk. No going back!
Step 8. I booted into Firewire 2 and installed SuperDuper. Then, from Firewire 2, I cloned Firewire 1 onto my internal HD 1 partition of 32 gig. SuperDuper does not call it cloning but rather 'copying all files.' It booted and works fine (as of Jan 10). Then I verified the disk when booted from one of the firewire partitions and all was well. Phew!
I ran sofware Update and it offered to update Java, OS X for Intel, Garageband and Quicktime.
So my node structure is cured and my internal hdd is partitioned without spending a penny and without having to re-install my programs one by one.
Note: There may be a few things to re-install or some prefs to reset but in general this method worked well. I mentioned having ro re-update iTunes.I also had to reset the Quicksilver prefs, and maybe I will yet come across something needing to tweaked again. (QS is a free launcher.) Oh yes, FireFox did not run well so I re-installed it.
I share this in appreciation for the help of Dr Smoke and others who answered my questions and for those whose posts were helpful to read, and for the benefit of others who may find them selves in the same predicament as me. And, oh yes, the trouble was not enough to cause me to go back to that other OS! Louis J
macbook Intel 13" Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 Ghz model with 1.25 gig RAM

Invalid Node Structure is not a hardware failure, it never was (you may still have a hardware failure, but the Invalid Node error is not indicative of this problem.
Still, Disk utility will certainly fail to fix it, and DiskWarrior will probably fail too.
But don't despair. Try this, and don't give up till you've tried it at least three times.
First, get the name of the partition of the failing volume.   You can get it most easily by finding your disk in Disk Utility, selecting your partition (not the drive) and type cmd-i.    Look for "Disk Identifier" right at the top.
Then, open up Terminal, and type this:
sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2
substituting your disk identifier for the one already here.   Keep the "/dev/" part.   Enter your password, and wait. It may take a while. I have had this fail several times before finally working so its important to keep trying.   It's faster than a reformat!!!
If the afflicted disk is your startup disk, you will need to do this in recovery mode: restart the computer, hold down option, and wait for the disk options to appear.   Select that, then proceed to Disk Utility and then Terminal as described above.
Good luck, and always keep a backup!
chris watts

Invalid Node Structure error

Hi All,
I need some information on how I might solve a problem. I ran my Disk Utility earlier today to verify the HD on my MacBook Pro because my computer just seemed a bit off. It froze the other night when I shut it down.
Here is the message I received:
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired
ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I booted the computer from the original OS X Install Disc and tried to repair the hard drive, which didn't work. That's when I started reading the Tiger Forum. I have since discovered that this error cannot be repaired from the Install Disc and probably will require an erase and re-install. However, I did read about a 'fsck' command.
I would like to give this a try, but am not at all comfortable with running commands. Would someone be willing to walk me through this and/or offer any other suggestion for fixing this?
Thanks

Michelle,
Sounds like you are really learning a lot in a hurry. That's good. I can't tell you how long it will be before your system "acts up." I would take this opportunity to backup any really important data to DVD/CDs while you are in the process of getting an external drive and Disk Warrior.
Good question about whether your file system error will be copied to you external drive when you clone with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. I don't know exactly but it will certainly be better to have a backup that may be slightly imperfect than to have no backup at all. Of course, after you fix the error on your internal drive with Disk Warrior, then you will reclone your repaired system to your external.
Regards,
Steve M.

Invalid Node Structure, Mac Not Starting

*THE PROBLEM*
My MacBook does not start. All I see when I press the power button is a gray screen with an apple logo and a spinning wheel.
*WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM*
I changed the input languages settings in international in system preferences to “Devnagari-QWERTY”. Then I typed my name in 'Devnagari' in Textedit and copied it. I created a new folder on desktop and pasted my name copied earlier. It worked. So I went ahead and tried renaming my startup disk (Macintosh Disk) in the same manner. I clicked on its icon, hit enter and command+v. Immediately my mac froze. Noting happened. Even commandoptionesc did not work. After a long time I pressed the power button for 5 sec and tried a restart. Now it won't start.
*SOLUTIONS I TRIED*
1. *Safe Boot (shift while startup):* No result, all I get is a gray screen, an apple logo and a spinning wheel appears after a minute and its stuck there.
2. *Tried Single User mode (command+s):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
Probe booting in single user .. do not match
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
3. *Tried Verbose mode (command+v):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
4. *Disk Utility from OS X Install disk:* Tried using repair disk. But it does not work either. All it says is
Verify and Repair disk “Macintosh Disk”
Checking HFS Plus Volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
“Invalid Node structure”
Volume Check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS Volume Checked
1 Volume could not be repaired because of an error.
*5. Reinstalling OS X from install disk:* I tried this as a final resort.
a) The normal install did not work because my startup disk had OS X 10.4.11 and my install disk had 10.4.6, so it gave an error that I have a “newer version installed”.
b) I can not do an archive and install because I have only 4 GB free space and it requires at least 15GB.
c) I do not want to do erase and install because I do not want to loose my data.
*MY MACBOOK*
1. I have a first generation MacBook, Intel Core Duo 1.83 with 512 MB Ram and 60 GB HDD with Mac OS X 10.4.11.
2. S.M.A.R.T status of the disk is verified
3. I can browse my files on the disk if I click on new disk image in Disk Utility from Install Disk.
4. There is no problem in mounting the disk.
LIMITATIONS
1. I am not at my university so I do not have any other external HDD or any other Mac for a “Target Disk Mode” for data backup.
2. All I have is my Mac and 10.4.6 install disk.
3. No broadband so can not download large files.
4. I can not loose my data.
Is there any way of fixing the Mac, given the limitations given above. Something using command line, or anything that will make it work again. How do I fix the invalid node structure. I really do not want to loose my data and I am in transit so I really need my Mac to work.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ambarish:
The article Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume gives more information about the issue you are experiencing. The reference in the article to a third party utility is the utility referenced by BGreg, Disk Warrior.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

How can you repair "invalid node structure and invalid b-tree node size"

I have a MacBook Pro 17" and the original install disk is Mac OS 10.4. I have an update 10.6 install CD, but I cannot use it to boot up my computer. My computer had been running on 10.6 when the problem occurred.
It seems my harddrive has crashed. It only boots to apple logo and spins. I have reset the pram. Started up in safe mode with shift pressed down and started up on the start up disk, where I did repair disk and got this "invalid node structure invalid b-tree node size". Then it said repair failed to complete. I tried booting again but it still failed. I thought doing a restore might solve the problem. I have a month old backup with time machine which is on a lacie external drive, but when I try to restore using my original 10.4 install disk, I can only choose the lacie hardrive icon (by dragging) and cannot choose the folder in the backups with the latest backup. When I tried to restore, it says my source is not a valid option. Is this because it is a 10.4 startup disk.
Basically I have two questions: Is there a way to fix my problem without doing a restore and if I have to restore, how do I restore my time machine backup? Will I need to do a reinstall with 10.4 and then update to 10.6?
I really hope to find a way to have my computer back to how it was when it started spinning and if not, at least as it was when I did the latest backup 3 weeks ago.
Please help me!!!
Rebecca

You should be able to boot to the Snow Leopard upgrade disc — you had to do so to install the upgrade in the first place. If you can't boot to it now, either the disc is scratched or dirty or your drive's lens is dirty; for the latter problem, a drive cleaning disc is an inexpensive, frequently-used and often successful remedy, available at any store that sells DVDs.
Because you're running Snow Leopard now, you should repair your hard drive directory using the Snow Leopard version of Disk Utility, not the one on your Tiger installer disc. If you aren't able to do so even after trying to clean your drive, you could buy and use DiskWarrior to rebuiild the damaged HD directory. But DW costs nearly $100, and though it would probably do the trick, that's a bunch of money. You'll have to weigh its cost against the value of the new or changed data on your drive that hasn't been backed up in the last three weeks. If you can get along without that data, then erasing your hard drive and restoring from your last backup is the no-cost, immediate (as opposed to waiting for a DW startup disk to arrive in the mail) solution.

What's an invalid node structure?

I dropped my ibook and now it won't start correctly -- it gets stuck on the apple with the loading sign. I took it in for service where they said my hard drive was damaged and possibly my logic board too. Since that repair was going to be too expensive to be worth it, I took the computer apart myself to try and replace the hard drive. But the hard drive works perfectly when plugged into another computer. So I backed up all my files, put the ibook back together again and tried to fix it. Disk Aid says I have an "invalid node structure." Does anyone know what that means for my poor laptop?
If I start up my computer now I get the Mac smiley faces and a folder with a question mark on it. I tried resetting PMU and PRAM but that didn't seem to accomplish anything.

The Smiley Face with ? indicates the computer cannot find a system boot partition when trying to discover a bootable system device. Since you say the HD is AOK based on it working just fine in another computer then a good guess is that the problem lays elsewhere. Try booting your computer from your install disc by inserting it and holding C key down and starting system (press and hold power button down briefly). If this works then at least the system can find your CD-ROM disc drive and can boot up from it. It could be that the disk controller hardware has been damaged and therefore the computer simply cannot access/read the HD.
If you can startup using the installer disc try launching Disk Utility to see if it can see the HD.
My guess is that the severe shock to the computer when it was dropped has damaged some portion of the hardware that's necessary for the proper functioning of the HD. If this is the case only a good repair shop will be able to help you.
Another idea is that maybe the memory DIMM or DIMMs have been damaged in the drop. Remove the top DIMM and try booting. If you have an AirPort card remove it also.
Good luck.

Hard Drive Invalid node structure - Disk Utility Repair Failed -

Disk Utility returns
Invalid node structure
(4, 27237)
Repair Failed Unable to unmount Drive
I can still boot from the drive. So should I start looking for a new hard drive? or is the problem not that serious.
Thanks

SuperDuper is safe and reliable backup program to clone a drive.
For 500GB I would go with a pair of WD RE2.
Makes an excellent boot RAID.
Seagate in a RAID but not for boot drive.
10.4.6 DVD? that is the latest version. 10.4.0, not so good.
Always have two backups. AND have one partition on another drive just for emergency.
Once you have a good solid system, back it up. Put it somewhere safe.
A lot of problems tend to get created and grow from cache files and folders. Fonts, system, extension cache, web browsers, even temp files left over from printing.
Put all your updaters somewhere safe on another disk.
Burn them to DVD.
Don't use Software Update.
Use standalone updates and keep them handy, then apply when you need to. Many or most can be run in succession without restarting.
Can you install OS X to the other 250GB drive? well, maybe not until you are sure it is safe, backed up etc.
From the DVD, Disk Utility, the Restore tab lets you select the source drive and destination drive and will copy everything over.
Finder: Get Info on target destination, look to be sure "Ignore Ownership" if NOT selected (won't be bootable and permissions will be wrong).
Would be nice to have a 32GB emergency boot partition (large enough for burning DVDs as well as system).
If you had a FW drive you could download and buy Disk Warrior.

Problem when booting - Invalid Node Structure

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