Disabled System Profile and Disk Utility

I have just acquired an Ibook G4, unfortunately without any operating disks. If I try to go into the System Profile or Disk Utility I am told that this may be disabled or not installed. Will an installation of a new operating system, probably Leopard as that's the easiest one to get hold of, resolve this issue?

Either Tiger or Leopard. So long as they are full retail installers
and not someone else's old system disc for a specific computer
you do not happen to also have. Being careful to get one that
can install on any compatible and supported computer is best.
If you had the correct disc as was missing, a utility such as one
known as Pacifist could be used to get only the parts you need
from the correct install disc, and those could be put in separately.
In the absence of that, a full and totally new installation is one
way to be sure the drive can be tested (booted Disk Utility, zero
data on drive, reformat, install all new from scratch) & be good.
The nice thing about Tiger, if you can find someone who has
upgraded to Leopard and has a 'retail Tiger installer set' to
give you or sell at a low price, that is a good system and it
has all the other parts to upgrade from the retail installer,
on the internet. And any issues in Tiger are solved.
Since you do not have the original software packet which
the computer came with when new, some of the apps in
the computer now won't be in there if you do a major and
proper all-new installation of the new system on a wiped
or totally erased (over-written with zeros from the booted
full installer disc's Disk Utility options, then reformatted to
HFS+ or Apple Partition Map, then full system installed)
the old stuff from prior generations of use will be gone.
So will the old AppleWorks application and a few other
nice but no longer available items. The new iWorks is
a suitable replacement for AppleWorks in some ways;
and the free NeoOffice is adequate if you need an app
somewhat like MS Office X.
Without the OS X Installer disc set for the system in
the computer you have, you can't repair it nor can a
reset of the password or change of other features
be done properly. If the account you are using on it
is not an admin user account, some settings may
have been reduced for some lesser user level. And
if someone damaged the system somehow by taking
parts of the OS X out of the folders, it would need
at least an 'archive & install' with that old installer.
So, you can make use of the computer if you have a
full retail installer disc and the computer is supported.
There are requirements to be met for various systems
to work in a variety of computers, so you may need to
read in Support to see what the minimum requirement
is, for the OSX version you may get a deal on.
There may be other options, but they should start with
the proper install disc that is missing in the first place!
Good luck & happy computing!

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System Profiler | Startup Disk BSD Assigned Name

This is a recurring issue, although I'm not sure whether or not it matters.
My question(s): When run from within the OS (Leopard 10.5.8) on my HD - Why do both System Profiler and Disk Utility recognize my startup/boot BSD name to be = disk2s2?
I'm curious because, when run from my Leopard Install DVD, both System Profiler & Disk Utility recognize and display what I believe is (or should be) the correct startup/boot BSD name (disk0s2).
Does it make any difference?
Regardless, I still would appreciate someone who can explain why my startup/boot BSD name in the past always has been the same "disk0s2". Whereas now it's "disk2s2".
Again, in the past I've noticed this (difference) on more than one occasion after formatting/installing my OS on a brand new hard drive. Current info listed below:
Bay 1 = WD Caviar Black 640GB, 32MB Cache <startup/boot> Name: "Earth" System Profiler BSD: disk2s2 Mount Point: /
Bay 2 = Hitachi E7K1000 1TB, 32MB Cache, Name: "Studio", System Profiler BSD: disk1s2, Mount Point: /Volumes/Studio
Bay 3 = Hitachi E7K1000 1TB, 32MB Cache, Name: "Text", System Profiler BSD: disk0s2, Mount Point: /Volumes/Text

This is a recurring issue, although I'm not sure whether or not it matters.
My question(s): When run from within the OS (Leopard 10.5.8) on my HD - Why do both System Profiler and Disk Utility recognize my startup/boot BSD name to be = disk2s2?
I'm curious because, when run from my Leopard Install DVD, both System Profiler & Disk Utility recognize and display what I believe is (or should be) the correct startup/boot BSD name (disk0s2).
Does it make any difference?
Regardless, I still would appreciate someone who can explain why my startup/boot BSD name in the past always has been the same "disk0s2". Whereas now it's "disk2s2".
Again, in the past I've noticed this (difference) on more than one occasion after formatting/installing my OS on a brand new hard drive. Current info listed below:
Bay 1 = WD Caviar Black 640GB, 32MB Cache <startup/boot> Name: "Earth" System Profiler BSD: disk2s2 Mount Point: /
Bay 2 = Hitachi E7K1000 1TB, 32MB Cache, Name: "Studio", System Profiler BSD: disk1s2, Mount Point: /Volumes/Studio
Bay 3 = Hitachi E7K1000 1TB, 32MB Cache, Name: "Text", System Profiler BSD: disk0s2, Mount Point: /Volumes/Text

I have been taken over by a local network that has disabled my systems profiler and plug-ins. how do I break free?

I have been taken over by a local Network that has disabled my systems profiler and plug-ins. How do I break free?

If you are absolutely sure that this is the problem then you should turn the airport off.

External HD Disappeared on Finder and Disk Utility, but Still Appeared in System Report

I have two external HDs directly connected to the USB ports. One is working properfly. But the other one would disappear from the Finder and Disk Utility. However, it still shows up in the Hardware USB section of the Sysetm Report.
What does this mean? Thanks.

You are right. I need to select the device to show its details. The attached screenshots are from the good HD and bad HD. On the good HD, it shows more info.
Any explanation or suggestion? I contacted OWC and they are sending me a replacement. But how do I know it is a OWC HD issue or OS X 10.9.3 sleep issue?

Lion disables system info and software update in about this mac

hey guys I have problem with lion when I reboot lion,
it disables system info and software update in "about this mac"
actually it says "this button is disabled because there is no system profiler application" or "this button is disabled because there is no software update application"
and also everytime when I reboot my computer it always changes default applicatons. for example
it changes from VLC player to quicktime, from Archive utility to textEdit and so on.
each time i got to reinstall "Afloat application" if i want to use it.
for making them ok I just need to open software updater from system pref. and the button becomes visible again.
it is same with the system info. I gotto search system profiler via spotlight search and I run, button becomes visible again.
for the archieve utility i got to go to coreservices and open Archieve utility then automatically it becomes default app for .zip files again.
/___sbsstatic___/migration-images/170/17091900-1.png
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/screenshot20111225at659.png/

Did you just install Lion? If so, you might need to try to reinstall as something got messed up.
Alfoat uses SIMBL which will break at just about every update. The reason you may have to keep installing Afloat is because the Resume feature of Lion is not compatible with SIMBL. See here: http://roaringapps.com/app:383
SIMBL is a low-level system hack and may be causing your problems.

Software Update and Disk Utility no longer work (Leopard)

Hello. After upgrading yesterday from 10.4.11 to 10.5.0 then updating to 10.5.1 I find that repair / verify permissions no longer works (it just hangs after starting).
And the same with Software Update, it starts the check then just hangs. Grateful for any ideas!
Overall I am finding Leopard much slower in operation than Tiger. Peter

Create a new admin account with Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Accounts and see if the issue duplicates itself logging into that account. That will say if the issue systemwide, or just localized to the a bad user cache file. If the issue persists in the new user, you can try looking in the System -> Library and Library -> Cache, Applications Support, and ByHost folders for cache files relating to Software Update and Disk Utility. Once you find them, carefully extract them to comparable folders on your desktop you create (i.e. name one systemlibrarycache) so you know where you go them from, and restart your Mac. If the issues go away after two restarts then it is just one set of bad cache files. If the issues return after two restarts, you have something generating bad cache files which needs a more system wide repair tool.

Repair Permissions differences between Onyx and Disk Utility

If I repair permissions, there are a large number of 'repaired permissions' if I switch between using Onyx (10.6) and Disk Utility. Most of them are in
System / Library / CoreServices
System / Library / Java
System / Library / Frameworks
Why should this be? It makes me think that either Onyx or Disk Utility is doing it wrong. If I had to back which one it is, I'd have to say Onyx is the likeliest suspect. In other words should I avoid using Onyx to repair permissions and just use DU in future?

should I avoid using Onyx to repair permissions and just use DU in future?
Probably, but some permission results are always and repetitively wrong:
As long as the report ends up with 'Permissions repair complete' then, as far as permissions go, you are fine. You can ignore the various statements in the report:
Permissions you can ignore on 10.5 onwards:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448
Using 'should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r--' as an example, you will see the that the permissions are not changed, but the | indicates a different location. This is because an update to Leopard onwards changed the location of a number of system components.

Problems running Software Update and Disk Utility

I had automatic updating turned on in the Software Updates control panel, so I believe the system tried to apply the 10.4.6 automatically and somehow failed.
Ever since, when I try to run Software Update it hangs while trying to connect to the internet to get the list of available updates. I tried downloading the installer directly from Apple, but when I try to select a volume on which to install the update, it doesn't list my hard drive.
Finally, when trying to run the Disk Utility, I get an error about how the Disk Utility cannot be started because a background process is not running. I have to Force Quit to exit out of the Utility.
I was able to boot off the Mac OS X 10.4 installation DVD at which point I repaired the permissions and repaired the disk. However, upon restart the same problems remain.
I've seen several other people post about this issue; has anyone found a resolution OTHER than doing an Archive and Install (which I don't want to do if I don't have to?)
Thanks so much for help that anyone can provide!
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Create a new admin account with Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Accounts and see if the issue duplicates itself logging into that account. That will say if the issue systemwide, or just localized to the a bad user cache file. If the issue persists in the new user, you can try looking in the System -> Library and Library -> Cache, Applications Support, and ByHost folders for cache files relating to Software Update and Disk Utility. Once you find them, carefully extract them to comparable folders on your desktop you create (i.e. name one systemlibrarycache) so you know where you go them from, and restart your Mac. If the issues go away after two restarts then it is just one set of bad cache files. If the issues return after two restarts, you have something generating bad cache files which needs a more system wide repair tool.

IPhoto and Disk Utility Will Not Launch - Please Help!!

Hello!
The last week I have not been able to launch iPhoto. When I tried to troubleshoot last night by going through solutions on the forums, I realized that I couldn't launch Disk Utility either. I have since run the Disk Utility from the Mac OS Panther Install Disk, gone through several troubleshooting procedures (font cleanups, cache cleanups, hard-disk space cleanups, etc.) but with no success.
The last troubleshooting doc I went through recommended checking Console for a log of problems, and sure enough, the only comments in the Console Log were related to iPhoto and Disk Utility. Can someone please advise regarding the below comments and how to fix??
Thank you SO much!
-Sarah
Mac OS X Version 10.3.9 (Build 7W98)
2006-08-13 10:31:53 -0600
dyld: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto truncated or malformed library: /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecordingUI.framework/Versions/A/DiscRecordingUI (file is empty)
dyld: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto truncated or malformed library: /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecordingUI.framework/Versions/A/DiscRecordingUI (file is empty)
dyld: /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/Disk Utility truncated or malformed library: /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecordingUI.framework/Versions/A/DiscRecordingUI (file is empty)

Hi - I appreciate the assistance, but archiving and reinstalling does not help me determine why this happened, how to prevent it from happening again, and is a fairly elaborate process for something that might have a quick fix (what I was hoping for). I was trying to leave that as a last resort.
Also, I have no idea what Onyx is - would you elaborate?
Thank you!

Under Macintosh HD info I have 240.3GB available, but under bootcamp and disk utility I only have 70gb available?

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I have fixed this issue. Time Machine mobile backups, backups stores locally when the backup drive ins't available, was causing the conflicting readings. I have disables mobiles backups with a sudo command and the .mobilebackups folder has deletes (the folder was 146gb!!).
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I can't burn a dvd using any method, Idvd tells me that my super drive is missing, dvd studio pro quits when i click burn and disk utility keeps spitting the disk out when i click burn and enter the disk??? how do i repair my superdrive for imac

I can't burn a dvd using any method, idvd tells me that my super drive is missing, dvd studio pro quits when i click burn and disk utility keeps spitting the disk out when I click burn and enter the disk??? how do i repair my superdrive for imac, or how do I do whatever I need to do to get it working: I have already tried using a lens cleaning cd and also restored my nvram or something i forget what it was called but i restarted my computer holding down command+optoion+p+r and still nothing???
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Unless your iMac is still covered by AppleCare, get an external DVD burner.
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No laughing... I have a Canon ZR 300 camcorder. I can not see it when connected via firewire in system profile and iMovie doesn't see it either. Any suggestions?

I have an old Canon ZR 300 camcorder that I'm trying to connect to my 17" MBP via 9 pin firewire (its a 4 pin to 9 pin cable as the MBP doesn't have a 4 pin firewire - figured it was backwards compatible). Anyhow, iMovie 09 doesn't see the camcorder. I checked under System Profile and then under Firewire and it doesn't see it either. In fact I get some red letters about not seeing firewire devices. I'm running Lion. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Greg

Should using mixed wifi and ethernet clients on a timecapsule work? if so is it a feature I can use out of the box so to speak?
Thanks
No a TC cannot do what you want.. it is now in dumb stupid wireless join mode.. and it turns off the ethernet ports.. in case you want to use the TC as a wireless bridge to multiple clients which is plainly wrong.. (only airport express is allowed to do this since it has only one ethernet port).
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Safari, Mail and Disk Utility won't run unless Font Book is Open

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Hello buhrow:
That makes two of us that go back to the beginning of time and have never seen anything like that. Have you run the fontbook applications to eliminate duplicates and check for corrupt fonts? Offhand, I cannot understand why just having a program open would prevent other programs from crashing.
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Message was edited by: Barry Hemphill (spelling, no checker)

I am connected to time capsule via wi-fi but air port says not connected and disk utility does not see it

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Disk Utility will not "see" the Time Capsule, so no need to waste any more time on that issue.
but air port still does not see it.
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Hi,
ipod shuffle 3 : impossible to detect it on mac (finder, itunes and disk utility), but it works, I can listen music. Do you have a solution for me ?
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thanks
Fred

Does it still charge when connected? You said it still works with headphones.
It's possible that the connection port (the headphone jack) on the shuffle has become faulty. It has different connection points, so it's possible for it to work for headphones (and charging), but not for data. It's also possible that the USB cable is bad, if you have only one and no alternate way to test it and confirm it's working.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1655
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Disabled System Profile and Disk Utility

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