Can't enter Single-User Mode

I just bought tiger for my 12 inch powerbook G4. am unable to complete installation due to an error with my 10.2. The problem is I dont have the start up disks anymore and can't enter single-use or verbose-mode to fix the problem.
Any ideas on how to upgrade or enter single-use?
Thanks
Ben

An Open Firmware password is one thing that would prevent you from changing the startup disk, booting from a CD or starting up in single user mode. You would see a lock and a dialog asking you to enter your password. So, it doesn't seem that this is your problem.
If you have some file directory damage, you can use the Tiger install DVD to attempt to repair it. Put the DVD in the drive, restart and hold down on the "c" key (if you have one and then choose the language you want to use. At the next screen, do not continue to install but choose to open the Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. You can then use the Disk Utility to "repair disk" on your hard drive. The Tiger Disk Utility is pretty mature and can repair many problems.
-Doug

Similar Messages

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    Earlier, I went into Single User mode to run an application called Applejack. When my computer first loaded up, my fan became twice as loud as it normally does. I figured that would return to normal once I restarted my computer, but when I went back to my usual setup my fan is still incredibly loud. I attempted to restart my computer again, but that didn't help. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
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    And just to be clear, in Single User Mode the computer's feedback about temps is not functioning... so your Mac assumes the worst, and keeps those suckers going full blast.
    I find this to be the case when it has crashed and I re-start in SUM. But if I shutdown normally, usually you can start in SUM and be ok fan noise wise.
    Quad 2.5   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • HT1338 I have macbook without a firewire port, I have usb 2.0 port, now my os is not working I can not get through apple logo loading , I can not enter safe mode, I can only enter one user mode, how can I backup my data, I have very important data in my h

    I have macbook without a firewire port, I have usb 2.0 port, now my os is not working I can not get through apple logo loading , I can not enter safe mode, I can only enter one user mode, how can I backup my data, I have very important data in my hdd

    Here is what worked for me:
      My usb hub, being usb2, was too fast. I moved the wire to a usb port directory on my pc. That is a usb1 port which is slow enough to run your snyc.

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    Hi,
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         \change password\
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  • Can't exit single user mode

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    Some stories have happy endings and this is one of them.
    After a little head scratching I dig out the Tiger install DVD
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    Hi Steven, bit unclear on a couple things.
    When I went into single user mode the fans went wild. But I knew this to be normal and proceeded with repairing the disk
    Normal for fans to go wild in single user or when repairing the disk?
    I replicated the problem – applied the same fix and again every thing was normal.
    The problem being screaming fan and the fix being resetting SMU? (unplug for 15secs). So how did you replicate it, and is it really fixed now?

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    Thank you for your support! This reply is a little bit late, because I was to the camping this weekend.
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    What also came to my mind was that there also is a problem with the videocard (driver), because sometimes when I boot into Single-user mode, I can see some white pixels which aren't supposed to be there. And when booting from SUM you can see that some of the colors are different and there are weird patterns on the screen.
    I also tried to setup a NetBoot server on this computer (MacBook Mid 2010) with just Lion 10.7.4 on it, but I'm not that expert and I didn't really find the good posts on the Internet, although I tried it with the Server applications and both Server applications and DeployStudio. But I didn't succeed.
    I don't really like buying a new FireWire hard disk or external FireWire dvd reader/writer, except if it has USB support, because my MacBook doesn't support FireWire, and I really wanna make use of it then.
    If I know more or have fixed it, I will surely post again here with what I did to fix it (if no one else has posted here already ).

  • Unable to start in single-user mode - HD dead?

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    On the point of contacting the folks at Alsoft, I have found that they seem to be unobtainable on www.alsoft.com at present.
    I wanted to get in touch as I had a small problem with Diskwarrior on updating to 10.5.5 from 10.5.4 ,
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    I wonder if there were so many queries re this that they are unobtainable?
    I run 3 machines from a wireless router, an iMac, an HP laptop with XP and a totally obsolete Dell into which i have squeezed W2000, with a resultant mix of browsers but no contact with the folks at Alsoft.
    Am I in a minority of one here?

  • Boot Snow Leopard from Thumb Drive in Single User Mode on Macbook Air

    I'm trying to boot from a thumb drive that I transferred the Snow Leopard .dmg on. My macbook air only lets me get into single user mode. Every time I try to boot or enter safe mode or regular mode, the Macbook Air shuts down.

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  • ASAP Single User Mode Problem

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    When I try and enter single user mode I see scrolling words and then it pauses for about 5 seconds then some more scrolling then exits itself before I can type anything.
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    If any peripherals are connected when you try to boot in single-user mode, disconnect them and try again. Otherwise do as follows.
    Back up all data.
    Boot into Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.

  • Mac not booting normally after running '/sbin/fsck -fy' in Single user mode

    HI, I tried to log in to single user mode and run the '/sbin/fsck -fy' command. This command failed. So I rebooted my Macbook pro by 'reboot' command. On bootup I hear the chime shoud and can see the Mac Symbol but never reach the login prompt. The round circle keeps rotating over the gray screen and nothing happens.
    Then I again hard rebooted mac book and entered single user mode. I ran again '/sbin/fsck -fy' many times and after many attempts the command stuck and never returned.
    Then I tried using the recovery method to reinstall MAC OS X. It asked me to choose the Harddrive where to install MAC OSX. But the option of "macintosh HD" was disabled and message was " hard drive locked".
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    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
    Boot in Recovery again and open Disk Utility. Then, choose "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar and repair the hard drive. If it is repaired, restart and OS X should start correctly. If not, you will probably have to format the hard disk.
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  • Single user mode, Lost Admin Account, and Disk Permissions

    Okay, so I have quite a few issues here. I will start from the beginning.
    About a week ago, I tried to install some updates and I could not get the Admin account to work. I went to the users profile and noticed my Admin account was not there. Did a quick search and found Apple's outline of how to fix this via the Operational DVD and the root user. Tried this and it would never work, because as soon as I restarted the computer or changed screens it switched back to a standard account.
    Next up, I went into the terminal to check the Admin User group. As it turns out it is not there. So I find a discussion on there that outlines how to rebuild this in single user mode and the Unix prompt. So, I print it off and try to restart in single user mode. After trying two different keyboards and a sum total of 8 to 10 times, I can't restart in single user mode to get to the Unix prompt.
    One last thing, last night I went into the Disk Utility on the start-up DVD. I wanted to check the Repair Permission log and I got the following:
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    ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library/"
    ACL found but not expected on "Network"
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    first, the ACL messages can be ignored. if you can't get to single user mode you can't fix your admin group. the only reasons that I know why you wouldn't be able to do that is
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    2. you have a firmware password set. have you? you'd have to turn it off before you can get to single user mode.
    lastly when you restart in single user mode make sure you press command+s right after you hear the chime. do not press it too early or too late. lastly, I'm not sure which instructions you've found to fix the admin group but I have them in this thread
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  • Single-user mode: How to mount and access an external USB drive?

    My MacBook Pro HD is acting up. Cannot boot normally or into "safe mode". Cannot reinstall OS without wiping out the HD. Need to recover some critical files but DiskUtil First Aid and Restore options cannot successfully complete. Problem traced down to "invalid node structure" which means I either have a hardware problem or my filesystem partition directory structure is corrupted. I need to recover some files that are not backed up (timin issue with my regular backup process).
    I can boot into single-user mode, mount the root file system (/sbin/mount -uw /) and can see/navigate the rot filesystem structure via good UNIX command line. Here's what I would like to do (in single-user mode):
    1. Mount an external USB drive (250 GB already formatted as Mac OS X Extended)
    2. Copy various files and/or directories from my HD to the external USB drive (UNIX cp command)
    I realize I could go spend $$ for the Disk Warrior or Data Rescue products (or something similar) that SHOULD help me recover my HD or files, but it seems silly to do this when I can see, touch and taste them from within single-user mode....
    Comments? Suggestions?
    TIA --
    Trent
    P.S. Once I've recovered my files, I'll try to reformat the HD and then reinstall the OS. And THEN go have Apple look at my machine (thank goodness for AppleCare coverage)!

    Resolution:
    1) Boot system in single-user mode (SUM) with external HD attached.
    2) Execute the following UNIX CLI commands once SUM boot process is completed:
    # fsck -fy
    # mount -uw /
    # mkdir /Volumes/target_directory
    # mount -t hfs -w /dev/diskXXX /Volumes/target_directory
    # cp -RXv /source_directory /Volumes/target_directory
    Where XXX is the device-level name for your external HD's data partition. In my case this was /dev/disk1s2. It may take some experimentation to identify this device name if your system has multiple HD's.
    3) Verify contents were successfully copied onto the /Volumes/target_directory.
    Comments and observations:
    - Do NOT use "/" as your source directory - cp will make a second (redundant) copy of /volumes/target_directory
    - I was able to successfully copy ALL files off my HD despite the fsck command's "invalid node structure" error message with this simple procedure. YMMV, depending on the state of your HD.
    - The repeated disk0s2: I/O error warnings displayed during the SUM boot process did not seem to have a negative effect on this procedure. I also received this same error warning intermittently as I navigated the mounted filesystem did not seem to be a problem, either. Again, YMMV.
    Commercial software:
    I downloaded ProSoft Engineering's Data Rescue 3 product (trial version) before spending $99 to attempt to recover my "bad" HD's data via mounting to a good system with FW target mode. It could not successfully complete its "QuickScan" process and immediately hung on block 0 of 390M during its "Deep Scan" process. The product did seem to function properly on an operational system. ProSoft's technical support was responsive and helpful but had no answer for my "Deep Scan" error.
    I did not attempt to use Alsoft's Disk Warrior 4 product. I could not find any trial software available and was reluctant to spend $100 based upon the mixed reviews and comments on this discussion forum as well as other reviews. Alsoft does claim to address the "invalid node structure" error in their marketing materials. Hindsight being 20/20 - I saved $100 by using this simple procedure.
    Final note:
    Neither Leopard nor Snow Leopard's installation DVD could recognize the bad internal HD when trying to do a reinstall. While DiskUtil was able to "see" the bad internal drive it immediately failed when I tried to do an "erase and format". Took the system to my local Apple store and the Genius ran a tool called "SMART Utility" from Volitans Software (www.volitans-software.com). SMART utility confirmed that my HD was bad so it was replaced. AppleCare pays for itself (once again!).

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