Ibook not starting & "underlying task reported failure on exit"

My ibook is not starting up. It was having problems loading up and getting in interminable spinning ball fits as I tried to use the computer for basic things like surfing internet, word processing, itunes. I ran disk repair several times, and the problems would resume. Finally I left it on, afraid to turn it off, but my boyfriend unplugged it, and it eventually ran out of juice. Now I hear it power up, but it doesn't start up all the way (it's gotten to different points in start-up process after I took each step below, but never all the way).
What I've tried so far:
1. I've run disk repair from the start-up disk, and got the "The underlying task reported failure on exit" message.
2. I did the archive reinstall, did not work either. Tried disk repair again and still getting same message as #1.
3. Also tried starting up in single-user mode and running fsck, but getting message "root device is mounted read-only." Not sure what this means. Ran disk repair again after this, gets me same message as #1.
I'm hesitant to do a complete reinstall, as I have documents and music files that haven't been backed up. I have an external hard drive to move files if I could just start up my computer.
My questions:
1) Any thing else I can try short of complete reinstall to fix the problem?
2) Any way I can save my files if I can't get the computer fully loaded?
3) Would a 3rd-party disk repair program allow me to fix the problem without wiping out my files?
4) Why is fsck not running?
Any advice would be appreciated!
iBook G4 14 1.33GHz 768 RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Think it's 10.3.9, but can't verify. Bought ibook in '05.

Last question first, the command to shut down from Single-User Mode is:
shutdown now -h
Check out this Apple Knowledge Base article which addresses the exact problem you're seeing:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302411
DiskWarrior is likely your best bet for recovering your hard drive. Someone said it is available at Apple Stores, or you can use the online link I've provided here.
If you have another Mac, you may be able to access your hard drive via FireWire Target Disk Mode in order to retrieve your important files to the hard drive of the other Mac.
Good luck.

Similar Messages

Disk Utility will not verify disk because, "The underlying task reported failure on exit." Now what?

Disk utility will not verify disk because, " The underlying task reported failure on exit." The "repair disk" button does not light up. The report says that repairs need to be made to the hard drive. I have already checked permissions. What do I do next to get the repair process started? Also, I cannot find a defragmenting drive option in Disk Utility. Doesn't it exist?

You need to boot from the install DVD (or a clone of your internal) to run Repair Disk. Repair Disk will be grayed out, dimmed, because you can't repair from the same volume you are booted from.
EDIT: No, you do not yet need to use Disk Warrior or Tech Tool or do any reformatting. These steps might become necessary only if Repair Disk fails.
Unless you have very large video files, for example, there is no need to run any defragmenting utility. OS X does it all by itself on the fly.
Try Disk Utility
Start from your Mac OS X Install disc: Insert the installation disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume.
Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
If you don't have the install DVD, try a Safe Boot. Hold the Shift key down at startup and give it much more time to boot than usual. It's trying to repair the drive directory.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.

Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.
The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).

kauribill wrote:
" The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.
The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).
This is a directory issue that Disk Utility cannot fix. Although it manifests itself as a software issue sometimes it may be hardware based. See DiskUtility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing avolume http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1901?viewlocale=en_US". You can try using a utility like TechTool Pro, Drive Genius or Disk Warrior to repair and replace the directory. Another option would be to use the Archive and Install feature to reinstall. If the problem returns after correction you may have a failing or failed HDD.
cornelius

Disk Utility Error - "Underlying task reported failure on exit"

I've been having a problem opening Logic 7.1 (it will crash at startup every time) and I got the advice to repair disk permissions. Both 'verify disk permissions' and 'repair disk permissions' work, but when I go to 'verify disk' I get the following readout/error:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect block count for file 5AD8D6E5d01
(It should be 92 instead of 0)
hecking multi-linked files.",0)
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume bitmap.
,0)
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 2859750 instead of 2859751)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
So I can't complete a rapair because it has this error. I'm wondering how I can fix this and if it could be the cause of the error that I get every time I open Logic. Thank you all in advance for your help!

Al
Disk Utility cannot repair this type of error.Not sure this is always the case, Al. I've had "incorrect block count" errors repaired in the past, so it must be worth a try before spending money (although I regard money spent on DiskWarrior as good insurance!)
Cam
It has to be worth you at least trying to Repair the error.
I think the first thing you should try is a Safe Boot, which will automatically run the disk checking and repair routines: Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode. If the check during Safe Boot is unable to repair the disk, your system will shut down rather than continuing, otherwise it will have successfully repaired the disk.
If this doesn't work, you should try Disk Utility from the Install Disk. First read these articles: Mac OS X 10.4 Help: About testing and repairing a disk, and Using Disk Utility and fsck to resolve startup issues or perform disk maintenance.
Let us know how this goes.

MacBook won't boot - Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit

My wife's new MacBook won't start up. It crashed earlier today and when she tried to restart it, it got as far as the gray Apple logo and the spinning gear and then it reboots again. I booted it with the Leopard install disc and two strange things happened.
1. When the installer first opens, it gives me an error that says I cannot install Mac OS X on this computer. This is a 3 month old MacBook that shipped with Leopard, but it's telling me that OS X can't be installed.
2. When I run verify or repair permissions with Disk Utility from the Leopard disc, I almost immediately get an error stating "The underlying task reported failure on exit". When I try to verify or repair the disk, it says everything is fine.
The HD appears to be fine. I can access it from Firewire Target Disk Mode and everything is still there. I can also boot into Single User Mode, but not Safe Mode.
The night before the crash I made a change to the HD permissions via "Get Info". I copied the "Read/Write" settings to all enclosed folders because it was telling me that it couldn't install Flashplayer because I didn't have sufficient permission, even though she has an Admin account. After the change, Flashplayer installed just fine and everything was OK until this afternoon when she had a kernel panic while iChatting. iChat was the only program open at the time. She rebooted and hasn't gotten past the gray Apple logo since. I read in some other threads about people having the same issue after accidently setting HD permissions to "none". One suggestion was to use Firewire Target Disk Mode to open the drive with another computer and change the permissions back. I tried that, and the drive opened just fine, as I mentioned, but the permissions didn't appear to be set in a way that would cause problems. I set all of them to read/write and applied them to all enclosed folders just to be sure, but nothing changed when I rebooted.
Any other suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks!

ndelc wrote:
When I looked at the permissions for the HD in FW Target Disk mode, it was set to:
System: Read/Write
Admin: Read/Write
Everyone: Read Only
This is not your problem unless you have changed the r/w for special accounts elsewhere.
I have the same on my HD. But it's the individual files that are important.
Nothing there indicates that it should be locking her account out.
How do you create a new admin account from the Leopard DVD? It wouldn't allow me to do much of anything except Disk Utility.
I have not done it so I don't know, but there is a way to create a new administrator account using the DVD. Search these forums because I know others have done it.
Would it be possible to attempt to change things back by booting into single user mode? If so, what do I need to do?
I am not sure you can even boot into the Single User mode, or do you mean the Super User mode?
You have taken write privs away from everyone so I believe only a Super User can fix it. I am not even sure the Sudo will work in your case.
Thanks for your help!
If you find out how to access your drive from the Leopard DVD, you need to invoke SU privileges and undo whatever it was you did.
Were you using Time Machine? That would make fixing it a piece of cake. Just revert to the last backup before you made these changes.
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

The underlying task reported failure on exit - HHD problem

Hi !
I am contacting you because I have a little problem with my ibook g4.
As a matter of a fact, this morning - everything was normal yesterday, maybe a little bit too hot, but well, quite normal - I have noticed something a little bit weird (I am using Tiger, X.4.11), the clock won't appear anymore, as the w-lan logo,. on the upper bar of the desktop.
Well, I have launched Onyx, which says that it seems to be a problem.
Well, I run the Disk Utility, clicking on "verify Disk", and some moments later, a new window appears :
"Disk Utility stopped verifying “iBook” because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit"
And on the summary, it was written :
"Verifying volume “iBook”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link_
The volume iBook needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair"
So, I would like to repair by clicking on the repair button, but which wasn't avaible.
So I have tried a boot from the Tiger cd, and launched the disk Utility from there : it lauch, and it stopped at the same step, but the "repair" button was avaible. I clicked on, but the same message, ""Disk Utility stopped verifying “iBook” because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit" Appears also, so it seems impossible for the disc to repair it self.
So, I have tried something else, a boot in "safe mode", holding the Shift button during the booting. And well... the results are a little bit weird too : first one, the computer do not even mark it, the second time, the time I think it would have been proceed, the white screen with the searching apple appears, search, search for a while, and then, the computer just.... turn off.
So I am really disappointed, and in a hurry, beeing on my university exam time... I haven't really the time to fix it, but I haven't the choice, and I'm a little bit afraid that my computer has something really important...
Thanks a lot for helping,
Best regards,
T.
Message was edited by: Strapontin

Strapontin:
Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume is a directory error which DU is not able to repair. The article linked above suggests the use of third party utility. If you have access to one of the following it might help:
Tech Tool Pro
DriveGenius
Disk Warrior
This error is often, though not always, caused by a failing of failed HDD. Do you have the original HDD that came with your computer? If so you might want to consider replacing it, because even if the directory is repaired the drive may not be able to hold the format and the corruption may recur.
Here are some other suggestions you might try:
• Download and install Applejack
• Restart computer holding down Command + S
• When Command line comes up type in
applejack AUTO
Let is run all five functions.
Another option would be to back up your Home Folder, then completely erase and zero out your HDD, reinstall the OS and restore your data from the backup.
Also, take a look at Kappy on Error -9972 and the suggestions there.
Good luck.
cornelius

The underlying task reported failure on exit - what do I do next?

Hi,
I recently decided to verify my internal drive using Disk Utility. The programme went through the motions then I got the following message:
'First Aid failed
Disk Utility stopped verifying “Internal Drive” because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit'
In the progress window it read:
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume The volume I Drive needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I have no idea what this means or what actions I need to take next - can anyone help me out?
By the way, everything seems to be working just fine otherwise apart from Front Row which hangs whenever I try to access media
Your sincerely
Very worried of London

Hi there,
You need to boot from your Install disk to actually repair it.
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Tiger Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Disk Utility says "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit"

So I decide to play around with Bootcamp for the first time, and I go through the install but it kicks me out, telling me there was some kind of HDD error. It points me to Disk Utility, and I click on Verify Disk, and then I get the following error:
Verifying volume “MacBook”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Illegal name
Illegal name
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking multi-linked files.
g Catalog hierarchy.",0)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
Volume Header needs minor repair
0 %)
The volume MacBook needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
So I do some searching, and Apple tells me that I need to reformat! ***?! There is nothing wrong with my HDD, or at least so I thought. No clicks, no shutdowns, nothing. Does this mean that soon my HDD might die? And if not, how the **** do I go about installing Bootcamp now?
Here's Apple's support document:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302411
Thanks much.
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

You don't need to reformat.
Put your first installation disk in and reboot, holding down the C key when you hear the chimes. When the installation program starts, start Disk Utility from the menu and select your system drive, then do a verify/repair from there.
The reason it can't repair it is because Disk Utility won't do a low level repair on the system drive in case important system files are moved. When you boot off the CD, your system drive isn't in use and can be repaired easily.

Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1

    #!/bin/bash
      # Author : Bill Hernandez
    # Location : Plano, Texas
    # Updated : Saturday, June 6, 2009 (1:48 PM)
    # script name : setdisk_ownerenabled
    # make sure to set permissions to execute
    <hr>
    # Description :
    <hr>
    # I've noticed that sometimes when using disk utility I cannot repair permissions, or I might get :
    # ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1
    # This shell script seems to have solved the problem.
    # It worked very well for me,
    # IF YOU USE THIS SCRIPT, IT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK...
    # DO NOT USE IT UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IT DOES
    # After running it, it is best to restart before using Disk Utility again
    <hr>
    # Details :
    <hr>
    # After partitioning a disk using "Disk Utility", and then begin using it, at some point I would get
    # an arror message when trying to save to one of the partitions, yet when I looked at the permissions
    # everything looked fine. I would then try to use Disk Utility to repair permissions and end up with a
    # cryptic error that pretty much told me nothing.
    # I noticed that while in Disk Utility, if I selected a partition the lower LH corner of the dialog
    # showed : Owners Enabled : No
    # I tried selecting the partitions at the Desktop and doing a (CMD-I) and at the very bottom of each
    # info dialog there was a checkbox :
    # [ ] ignore ownership of this volume
    # which I would check, even after logging in as root, and I couldn't seem to get a consistent way
    # to get rid of the permissions dialog failure, so I found the vsdbutil command which can be used
    # as follows to get partition, or disk info :
    # $ vsdbutil -c /Volumes/driveor_partitionname
    # ----> Permissions on '/Volumes/driveor_partitionname' are enabled.
    # if it is not enabled you can enable the disk or partition using :
    # $ vsdbutil -a /Volumes/driveor_partitionname
    # It will set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
    # This below script loops through the mounted disks, partitions, etc. and gives you information.
    # You can leave the three flags below all set to TRUE, or selectively use what you want and change
    # the rest to false...
    <hr>
    # CHOOSE {"TRUE", "FALSE"}
    <hr>
    getvolumestatus="TRUE"         # get "Owners Enabled : (Yes|No)" status
    setvolumestatus="TRUE"         # set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
    list_volumes="TRUE"                   # show volume names
    <hr>
    # DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW HERE
    <hr>
    if [ $getvolumestatus == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$getvolumestatus'
     echo '============================='
     # get "Owners Enabled : (Yes|No)" status
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     vsdbutil -c $i
     done
    fi
    <hr>
    if [ $setvolumestatus == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$setvolumestatus'
     echo '============================='
     sudo echo -n
     # set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     sudo vsdbutil -a "$i"
     echo "setting Owners Enabled : Yes for ---> $i"
     done
    fi
    <hr>
    if [ $list_volumes == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$list_volumes'
     echo '============================='
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     echo $i
     done
    fi
    <hr>


As it turns out, this didn't completely solve the problem, it solved part of the problem.
Here is a summary to the root cause of the problem.
SUCCESS...
Problem Summary : The system crashed and would hangup during boot, tried many things, until I eventually erased the disk and started over again.
iMacG5 24 GHZ Intel with One internal disk partitioned into 3 logical drives
Cub_1 OS X 10.5.7
Cub_2 OS X 10.5.7 (Carbon Copy Cloner backup of Cub_1)
Cub_3 OS X Server 10.5.7 (standard os x server setup)
At some point after setting up standard preferences, OS X Server crashed.
When I tried to restart, the machine would hang up during boot.
Finally after several attempts, ran Disk Utility from install dvd and repaired Cub_3
When I tried to run "Repair Permissions" on Cub_3 from install dvd, I got an error
Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1.
Rebooted, and started in single user mode (CMD-S) during boot until I saw the unix commands on the screen
RAN : root # fsck -fy
Then I began seeing the same command filling the screen :
posix_spawnp("/usr/sbin/mDNSResponder") could not find file or directory
Called Enterprise Support and spoke to Frank Alcorn, he said this was most likely a permissions problem and asked me to try repairing permissions from the install dvd. I told him about the error, but nevertheless I tried it again and got the same Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1..
He asked me to try booting into single user mode again, and to try
root # chmod 775 /
root # reboot
During the reboot process the machine got hung up again, and could not get the single user mode to work at all.
Frank said the command needed to be :
root # chmod 1775 /
Frank asked me if I had changed anything in file sharing, and I told him I had. He asked me what I had shared, and I said the entire drive Cub_3. He asked me what I had done for permissions, if I had denied permissions to anyone. I told him that I had set myself up as the only user that could have access to it, and when he said that's where the problem was the lightbulb went off, and it made sense.
Shortly after I set the sharing preferences is when the server crashed. It all makes sense now...
Frank said not to share the entire disk, only portions (share points) of it. I had done this in Panther Server, and Tiger Server and it worked fine, but apparently Leopard Server works a little differently, maybe more secure.
It seems to me that if sharing the entire disk, which is what I needed would cause such a problem there should have been some sort of warning from the operating system, but there wasn't. I had run into this problem several times over the past three weeks since I had started working with Leopard Server, but in each case I ended up re-installing OS X Server and starting over again.
I told him I would try to reboot from the OS X partition (Cub_1) and try it from there.
He asked me to let him know if it worked, and I said I would...
Problem FIX :
I booted back into the partition containing OS X (Cub_1) and did the following via the Terminal.
$ su - root
$ chmod 1775 /
$ reboot
During the reboot process I held down the (OPTION) key, and selected Cub_3 (the os x server partition) and sure enough after a few minutes of holding my breath the login window magically appeared. So I logged in, and did not have to re-install the server. Hallellujah....
This solved the boot hang problem. It is great to finally have an answer. In retrospect it makes sense, but that's why its hindsight...
The reason for sharing the entire disk in my mind was that since I was the only user on the system, it was easier to have one disk mounted on my workstation rather than several folders. It made sense to me, it still does. I don't need a bunch of folders, just one disk is easier...

More Permissions Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit

PowerMac G5, OSX 1.5.1, 8.5 gig ram and MacBook Pro, 2.16 Ghz, 3 gig ram OSX 1.5.1
The end result: G5 will not boot. It stops at the start up screen (i.e. apple logo with spinning icon) the MacBook lost all user accounts and required a complete erase and install.
The preceding issues:
1. I had wanted to connect my many macs at home over my LAN. I was having problems getting my G5 and my MacBook to connect with each other over network. The G5 logo would show up as a device, but would not open.
2. The MacBook would allow some folders to be seen, but not others.
3. On the folders I could see, some would allow me to transfer a file or doc into them and some would say I don't have the permission. Sometimes authorization was asked for and it would transfer a file, other times it would not. When I was not allowed to transfer a file, I found that if I removed the file that would be overwritten from the folder, I could then transfer the file.
4. I tried to change the sharing and permission settings on these files with no success.
5. The end result, as noted above was the MacBook would not boot. It showed the hard drive logo on the desktop with a red circle with a minus sign in the middle. I did a erase and install of OSX and reinstalled everything from the original sources.
6. Now the G5 would see the MacBook, however 2 of the MacBook folders seen on the G5 had a circle with the minus sign. Everything else worked as expected.
7. I repaired permissions on the MacBook. (incidentally, it takes forever). I also ran the disk repair which showed no problems. Still, the folders had the circle and the minus.
8. I then ran permissions repair on the G5. Since, Leopard it takes hours on the G5, and went to bed. The next morning it was exactly as I left it an no progress had been made. I stopped the repair and restarted. The restart stopped at the apple logo.
9. I started from the OSX disk and ran permission and disk repair. Disk repair showed no problems, but permissions stopped immediately reporting "the underlying task reported failure on exit"
10. I have Time Machine set up, but it seem that all restoring the drive would accomplish would be to set it back to the state with faulty permissions.
11. I've read through the posts regarding this problem and have found no solution, save reinstalling OSX. It looks like there is something wrong with the permissions and sharing functions in Leopard, that Time Machine in not a complete solution to backup and that I will be doing a erase and repair on the G5.
LR

Repair permissions always reports a bunch of stuff. Ignore it if it says it completed successfully.
Also note that is it usually a waste of time (except maybe after a system upgrade).

Another "Underlying task reported failure on exit " Disk Utility Problem

So a Problem (at least for me)
I've got an old Powerbook G3 266mhz (headless) acting as a server. It had been up for 258days, and then 2 days ago we had a lightning storm. No big deal, except the cable line got hit, flew through the line and fried my cable modem. In the process of pulling out the modem, I accidentially unplugged my 'server' Plugged it back in, think it crashed, tried again, and then nothing. Thats the story anyhow here's what I've done:
1) managed to boot into the bootloader, did dev /hd .properties (or something like that) and it couldn't find my HD (oh boy)
2) Got out my 10.3 Install disks, booted off them and ran disk Utility, One partition is fine, the other (my primariy) is showing up as disk0s9 instead of 'Nitrogen' not mounting, and when I 'repair disk' it starts okay, and then does this:
-Checking catalog file
-<red>Invalid Key Length</red>
-<red>Volume Check Failed</red>
-<red>Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)</red>
3) I checked through the forums and the mentioned 10 different possible reasons for the 'underlying task' error, 'Invalid key length' was not among them.
I do have data on there I want to try to get off, (currently I am downloading ubuntu for PPC to see if I can boot off that, access the drive, and dump it to a networked drive.) As this is an old machine I don't actually have any computers with SCSI connections etc.
Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated
Thanks
G3 Powerbook 266 Mac OS X (10.3.9) (missing powerbook screen (it fell off long time ago)

For what its worth, I went and purchased a copy of Disk Warrior, and was able to get it mostly cleared up Here is what I did do.
-Tried to install Mac OSX 10.3 on the second partition: Said my mac was unable to install 10.3. Which is funny because I had 10.3.9 running on this computer.
-Installed Mac OS 9 on the second paritition. This worked though sometimes had issues on booting.
-Purchased DiskWarrior (download version): Tried to create 10.3 Startup disk, but for some reason couldn't get it to boot from it. The computer kept booting to OS 9. So I copied over the OS 9 Diskwarrior to the second parition.
-I had to reboot in 'extensions-off' mode (hold shift after boot chime) in order to get DiskWarrior to work.
-Disk Warrior recovered and fixed many issues, So I was able to reboot from OSX on the broken drive. However there still seem to be some remaining problems. I am currently in the process of trying to remove all important data and back up so that way I can wipe the HD and reinstall.
Hope this helps anyone else

Underlying Task Reported Failure on Exit

Hey,
When I follow Hawaiian_Starman's steps (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4365554&#4365554) for speeding up my extreamly sloooow computer I get the "Underlying Task Reported Failure on Exit" while trying to repair my disk.
I saw in a similar topic (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1040915) that a user had to replace his HDD and logic board. Is this the solution? How much would this cost out of warrenty?
Thanks a lot for any help.

You're welcome
Given the nature of the error, I suggest not using the machine until you can run either Disk Warrior, or have someone at the Apple store look at it.
Otherwise, I don't know the answer about the hardware. It's possible to check the state of your hardware by using the Apple Hardware Test, but it's rather a catch 22 not knowing if hardware inside the machine is compromised. (To use this feature, you need to start-up from your Installer DVD while holding down the option key. Eventually, the Apple Hardware Test icon appears. When it does, select it. After the start-up completes, first select the Quick Test. This will take about 10 - 15 minutes. If no errors are found, run the Extended Test.)
If you take it to the Apple Store, I suspect they will reinstall the OS, probably using the Archive and Install option, unless there is significant HD corruption, or a hardware problem is found, such as the HD or Logic Board. If the former (worse case), they would probably recommend erasing the drive. In that case, unless you have a backup of your system, or the Apple store can download the existing HD contents to an external media, you would lose your information.
Aside from the above, I use Disk Warrior. To me, it's an invaluable part of my maintenance strategy. As you'll see in the thread I referenced in my last post, there are certain situations beyond the scope of DW, however, I have never had a situation not repairable by this app.
Post back

"verify disk permissions" and "Underlying task reported failure on exit"

This is more of a "How I fixed this problem, so others can benefit" posting than a current problem.
I put my MBP to sleep yesterday, and then when I tried to come out, it just sat there. After about 15 minutes, I figured I'd just force it quit and then restart.
After hitting the power button, it came up with the gray screen and apple logo with spinning gear and basically sat there for 20 minutes. Several reboot attempts were failures; sometimes I got a blue screen with spinning gears, but basically not much else.
I tried rebooting with the install disk, holding down the C key, but it gave me nothing, tried rebooting in verbose mode, tried doing CommandOption+PR, nothing, etc. So, I tried rebooting while holding down the option key, and I could see the Disk Utility.
I ran the Disk Utility to verify the disk, and that all came back fine. So, I ran Verify Disk Permissions, and i spit out "Underlying Task Reported Failure on Exit". The phone support people suggested I try reinstall with archive.
So, I tried running install with Archiving, and that failed as soon as it verified the DVD was ok - basically it couldn't access the HD.
So, I rooted around and did the following. From the Install disk, I selected "Terminal". Then, I did:
cd /Volumes
ls -lt
There I noticed that for some odd reason, Macintosh HD was listed as the following permissions:
rwxrwx---
So, admin and group had read-write-exec access to the Mac HD, but others had nothing, which I thought odd. It seems like you should at least be able to boot the computer to the login screen, and if a user is not admin or admin group, you cannot login, but I guess that's not the way it's set up.
So, I tried:
chmod o+r Macintosh HD
Then, I reran verify disk permissions. Again, I got the same "Underlying..." error. So I tried
chmod o+x Macintish HD
I then reran verify disk permissions, and it ran fine and the suggested that the Macintosh HD volume permissions should be set to:
rwxrwxr-t
So, I had the Disk Utility repair it to the way it should be, and now it all seems fine.
This suggestion basically did not come from any Apple Support people or any forums, and it seemed like such an easy fix that I'm surprised nobody (at least nobody I've found) has had the same problem or needed the same fix.
Further, I think figured out what happened. I took my computer to my local tech support guys because I wanted to turn off sharing for this MBP. So, under Macintosh HD, somebody changed the permissions under "Everyone" from "Read Only" to "No Access".
It turns out that doing this basically creates the whole problem above by making the Macintosh HD unmountable or inaccessible.
I find it truly odd that it would be so easy to remove access to the computer for mounting purposes, but this is the only thing I can think of. The tech guy realized his error and apologized and was also surprised it was so easy to hose the computer.
Anyway, this is partially a warning to everyone as well as a possible fix for the blue screen problem, especially since it was a solution I could not find anywhere.
Maybe Apple Support will see this and for its next update at least make a warning box when people try to remove "Read Only" access for "Everyone".
Good luck.

If your Mac still boots and runs most applications correctly, but applying Software Update packages fails and you decide to run Disk Utility to Verify Permissions and it fails almost immediately with the "underlying task reported failure on exit" explore this posting. If you see other errors, have slow/varied disk performance, or hear nasty grinding/clicking sounds you have a much more serious problem this solution isn't for you.
Use Applications, Utility, Console and check the messages appearing there each time you try Disk Utility. If you see:
Failed to open database on '/'. Error 14, 13, Permission denied.
You may have had your permissions reset on the receipts db. Which is found in
/Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb
At this point you have to enter the dark world of the Terminal and use a unix shell (command line).
If you are not comfortable doing find a Unix/Linux power user.
The simple fix for me was to open Applications, Utilities, Terminal and do
sudo chmod 755 /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb
This allowed Disk Utility to read the file and move on to repairing permissions.
When things generate error messages in the GUI part of Mac OS X ...always go check the messages in the logs via the Console in Utilities. These messages are 'down a level' and get you much closer to the real problem.
Note that I did follow the instructions in Apple kb TS1901
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1901
which did not help at all. Same problem each time:
xxxx-imac:Volumes user$ diskutil verifyPermissions /
Started verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Macintosh HD
$<3>Error -9972: The underlying task reported failure on exit
$<3>[ + 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%..60%..70%..80%..90%..100% ]
Finished verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Macintosh HD
Error detected while verifying/repairing permissions on disk0s2 Macintosh HD: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)
Now I wonder what changed the permissions on the receipts database file? I am off to use find and date fields to see what changed the permissions file last (my is dated sometime in November!).
flatiswhereitsat

Disk Utility - First Aid - The underlying task reported failure on exit

Disk Utility -> First Aid -> Repair Disk Permissions provides in red
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit'
This was a nightmare for me to fix, but after I learned how it was easy. If you get this error and you have not already restarted your computer, open you sharing preferences and make sure you ahve not set the everyone group to 'no access'. If you have change it and retry to run the permissions repair. If you have already restarted you will need to startup using your install DVD and then open terminal. In terminal type the following to fix your permissions.
chmod 775 /Volumes/'Macintosh HD'
This will change your permissions and you should be able then to get past the grey screen.
Hope this helps someone.

Hi everyone, I believe my permissions are the problem.
I let someone change permission settings to share music files on their hard drive and mine and another mac (3 in total) yesterday. I seemed to work. I can't remember if I then shut down my mac or just closed it. Anyway last night I was trying to organise the music files and burn them to dvd. I also tried change the permissions as some of the files were read only. I though it worked. It seemed to be burning and the screen saver came up, I clicked to exit screen saver and it just went to black and back to screen saver and i couldn't go any further. I had to hold down the power button to turn if off.
I tried to turn it on and now it's stuck on start up gray screen with the loading wheel thing? just loading forever.
I used disk utility, verified volume and repair disk are ok, but verify permissions and repair permissions, I get an Error message "the underlying task reported failure on exit"
I opened terminal and typed in what tryjezus1 said,"chmod 775 /Volumes/'Macintosh HD'" and pressed return. Not sure if I should have pressed return or if I should have just closed the window?. Anyway I'm still stuck.
I only have the mac since march so I believe I still have phone support, but if anyone can help I'd like to try and sort this out myself.

External Hard Drive: Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit

I have a LACIE external drive (120GB/ firewire) which has had no problems. Recently, I reformatted to DOS so I could use with a PC. Now, when I plug into my MACBOOK Pro, the drive is not 'recognized. I've tried to repair with Disc Utility but I get the following messages:
+Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit+
and
+1 volume could not be repaired+
Reading up on the subject, seems I could purchase Disc Warrior but I've also read that there might be a problem with 10.4.10 which potentially could be alleviated by rolling back my OS.
Before I shell out for DW; does anyone have any thoughts on rolling back the OS or perhaps other ways to resolve? What is the correct method for rolling back to a previous OS?
Best,
Rod

Hi guys, I just received the same message on my G5 with a hard drive that I've been using for about two years. Today when I turned on my computer, I saw the icon for my second internal hard drive which is a Western Digital 250 Gb. When I clicked on the icon in finder, it didn't show me any files on my drive and soon after, the icon just vanished. I turned off my computer and made sure that all the connections where in properly and they were. I also tried other hard drive to make sure there was nothing wrong with the connectors, and they worked fine. When I go to disk utility, I see my hard drive but its not bolded, the title of the drive is faded and if I try to verify disk or repair, I get the Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972) 1 volume checked, 0 HFS volumes verified, 1 volume failed verification.
I've had hard drives die on me before and I know where they are going to go due to the sound that it makes but today my computer was as quiet as can be. What is the problem here and is there something I can do to get the hard drive to work so I can retireve my data?
Thanks

Ibook not starting & "underlying task reported failure on exit"

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