10.5.8 unusable after Garageband crash

Question

For whatever reason, 10.5.8 hung up on me about an hour ago while using GarageBand. It was a complete hang up with only the sound from GB playing. I was unable to access Force Quit or Activity Monitor to kill processes. The only recourse was to shut the power down. Now, whenever I boot up the iMac, it is completely unusable. Booting to the login screen takes approximately 5 minutes (compared to 1 minute before). After clicking on my user name, I am able to enter my password a minute later. 5 minutes after hitting enter, my wallpaper shows up. Once the OS is completely booted, any commands, clicks, etc take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to register. Programs will not launch. Eventually, I end with a black screen (which could just be the SS trying to start and taking 15 minutes or more).
I have a bootable backup from this afternoon that works fine. I'd like to use it to figure out what's wrong (as opposed to simply restoring). Any ideas?
Message was edited by: Xian Rinpoche

Answer 1

HI,
Try booting from your install disk and verify the startup disk for errors.
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window where you see Capacity and Available. Make sure there is always 10% free disk space. Not enough disk space can cause directory corruption.
If you cannot boot from your install disk, try booting in Safe Mode
What is Safe Mode
Carolyn