Losing User Accounts on many machines. Cannot boot from Disk. Help!

As many of you know there is a bug going around where the OS “forgets” what user accounts are on the machine. The only user at login is “Other”. This has happened on 10.6.5 and 10.6.6. In the past I have been able to fix this issue by booting from the Snow Leopard disk, change the root password, login using root and re-add the user accounts back under system pref’s. The issue I’m currently having is that two Mac Pros will not boot from disk, external HD, or into single user mode. None of the key commands work at boot up.
The computers do not chime at boot and the apple logo shows up very quickly. I’ve tried resetting PRAM and the logic board. I now have two BRICKED machines and cannot afford to have any more go down.
Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

gregfl wrote:
The issue I’m currently having is that two Mac Pros will not boot from disk, external HD, or into single user mode. None of the key commands work at boot up.
I just had a very similar problem this morning on my iMac. Plain white screen on boot-up. No Apple logo. No booting from my SuperDuper clone, no booting from the DVD, no booting into Startup Manager by holding down the option key, no booting even into Apple Hardware Test. I was getting ready to take it in for service.
What finally fixed it was resetting PRAM three times. Hold down command, option, P, and R, and keep them down until you hear the third startup chime. That's what finally breathed life back into my iMac.

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Win 7 pro installed on hp touchsmart 320-1030, the machine cannot boot from installation DVD. Assist

I have installed Win 7 professional on hp touchsmart 320-1030 with an OEM DVD to overwrite Win 7 premium preinstalled from factory.
I want to reboot the machine with the same DVD after completing the installation, to test for possibility of reimage in case of crash. Although in bios, I specify cd\dvd as firts boot media, the machine cannot boot from installation DVD. I have 20 machines that behave this way. Can anyone assist?
Note: I had to delete all partitions on the PC before doing a fresh installation of Win 7 pro as Premium can not joing domain.

Hello,
So, you installed Window 7 Pro with a DVD, you boot with it to install the O.S, and now it does not work?
Have you tried to load the BIOS default values or even updating the BIOS?
If it had work before, cant understand why it does not work now...
Let me know.
Thanks,
I work for HP! Please remember to provide and if this helped click ON

Problem with kernel panic message - Cannot boot from disk or usb

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering if someone could help me with a problem I've been trying to tackle for the last few days. I have a 24" iMac 2.33 Ghz Dual Core, with 2 gigs of RAM. A couple of days ago my computer crashed, and when I tried to boot up again I got the infamous grey screen kernel panic message ("You need to restart your computer..."). What's worse is that I get the same message when I try booting from my external drive and the installation disk itself.
I've basically planned on formatting since it's been a while anyway, but since I can't boot from my external drive or the installation disk that came with my computer these are not options at the moment. I can only get into the computer via safe mode. I've used disk utility to verify the disk, and it comes up with no errors. Anyways, I'd really appreciate if anyone had any advice on this. I've scoured the internet for advice about kernel panic messages, and they all suggest booting from disk or external drive etc., which is not a possibility for me right now.
Thanks

If you get a panic when trying to boot from the installation disc, and the disc is not scratched or dirty, then you have a hardware fault.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to bare metal from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Cannot boot from Disk Warrior 4.0

Is any one having this problem ? When I try to boot from the Disk Warrior disk it just goes to the apple icon then restarts. I must have tries for 20 min holding the "c" key watching my system restart over and over again never mounting the disk. It has been totally unsuccessful using DW 4.0. Its a bummer because I am a fan of this product.

-mio- wrote:
DW dose not boot with the new intel macs!
As you noted you cannot boot an intel Mac from DW 4. Disk Warrior 4.1.1 is the intel version and now boots a version of Leopard from the DVD (the previous version booted into Tiger). If you can't get it to boot using the keyboard at startup try going to System Preferences - Startup Disk and setting to boot from the DVD and restart. If your Mac still refuses to boot from the DVD then as others have already indicated you may have a hardware problem.
Have a look at the Disk Warrior Support Page to get the free update to 4.1.1
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html
Message was edited by: Noiseboy2006

Corrupted user account on Time Machine- recovered Snow Leopard

After changing the hard disk on my macbook and recovering my user account on afresh Snow Leopard installation, it seems the account got corrupted and now I can't repair permissions and some programs aren't working properly (Manga Studio can't export images, for example)...
Is there any way to fix this besides reinstalling everything and creating a new user (which would mean losing all my mail messages and keychain info)? Is there a proper way to backup (at least) the keychain info?

Carlos CD wrote:
I used the setup assistant, so there wasn't another user account when geting the old one from Time Machine
Rats. I was hoping it was the other way, which we could probably fix fairly easily.
There are a couple of possibilities:
The backups might be corrupted. You might want to try repairing them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If that finds and fixes things, a full system restore (per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions) might solve the problems.
If not, why did you replace the HD? If it was failing, it might have corrupted some things, and the damage got backed up. So Setup Assistant would have brought the damage right back. A possible fix for that would be to do a full system restore from the backups, but select an earlier one (Setup Assistant doesn't give you a choice -- it automatically uses the latest one).
Oh, and I'm really sorry if I'm a bit vague on the details: I'm an absolute noob!
Not a problem. Nobody was born knowing all this stuff!

CS2 Problems with multiple user accounts on 1 machine

I have been having this problem since I first installed CS2 in my Mac lab. I have 8 G5's and I have loaded the exact same software (all licensed of course) on all 8 machines, in the same order. The problem occurs when trying to use CS2 in a second user account on the machines.
All software works fine for the original admin account. Then when I try to open and use in a second account I get crashes and errors, nothing consistent. AND some computers work just fine. HUH? I have called Apple and they suggested repairing permissions, that doesn't work.
I have tried uninstall and reinstall. I have tried making the second user an admin user. I have tried 2nd and 3rd users. I have tried a total system reinstall. I have tried changing the order in which I install. I have tried installing both before and after creation of the second account.
It doesn't seem to matter. On some machines it works, on others it doesn't. The only account the software will work in is the original user account.
The reason this matters is it is a student lab. I have implemented a server and students can't use the software through their server accounts either. Currently the server is a 40lb paperweight until this problem is fixed.
Any clue?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Amy O.

This has to do with permissions in the non admin accounts. A solution was posted a while back you could do a search or somebody will pop in with the solution soon.

Help: Cannot boot from leopard disc anymore, everything else fine

I was working on an ibook and messing with it in firewire mode and was going to install leopard on it that way from my macpro. (just letting you know the context)
I tried to restart my machine(mac pro) and boot leopard both by pushing C and by running the installer.
I get the "You need to hold the power button panic message" everytime I do this. I unplugged external devices and tried this also and it has the same problem.
I cannot boot from the dvd anymore. If I eject the disc, osx loads normally.
Any ideas what I can do? (I have tried safe boot, pram clearing and hold option on boot to check options)
Here is the kernel panic when it finally loads into osx.
here is the kernel panic log when it reboots into OSX
Sat May 17 14:13:09 2008
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A7BED): Kernel trap at 0x894ec373, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000018, CR3: 0x00df8000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x00000000, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x0a5a1004
CR2: 0x00000018, EBP: 0x817c3bc8, ESI: 0x0a4c5c00, EDI: 0x0a4c5c00
EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x894ec373, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x0a3c0010
Error code: 0x00000000
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x817c39d8 : 0x12b0e1 (0x4555b4 0x817c3a0c 0x133238 0x0)
0x817c3a28 : 0x1a7bed (0x45e568 0x894ec373 0xe 0x45dd24)
0x817c3b08 : 0x19e517 (0x817c3b20 0xa83c980 0x817c3bc8 0x894ec373)
0x817c3b18 : 0x894ec373 (0xe 0x48 0x10 0x10)
0x817c3bc8 : 0x894db540 (0x0 0xa83c980 0xa4c5c00 0x1)
0x817c3c08 : 0x78d45139 (0xa4c5c00 0x1 0x0 0x13)
0x817c3c68 : 0x78d3e940 (0xa4c5c00 0x2407 0x817c3d2c 0xa4c5c00)
0x817c3c98 : 0x40c515 (0xa4c5c00 0xacd8130 0xacd8130 0x0)
0x817c3ce8 : 0x437535 (0xa4c5c00 0xacd8130 0xacd8130 0x0)
0x817c3d48 : 0x18c8aa (0xa4c5c00 0xacd8130 0x0 0x0)
0x817c3db8 : 0x12d165 (0xa525c78 0xaa76b90 0x817c3df8 0x11ee04)
0x817c3df8 : 0x126247 (0xa525c00 0xa2f9254 0xaad84b0 0x0)
0x817c3f08 : 0x196afc (0x817c3f44 0x0 0x0 0x0)
0x817c3fc8 : 0x19eb34 (0xab382a0 0x0 0x1a10b5 0xa63f208)
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffff378
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.NVDAResman(5.1.6)@0x894d8000->0x89704fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.5)@0x78cc5000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0x78ac0000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.5)@0x78d36000
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.5)@0x78d36000->0x78d51fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0x78ac0000
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer
Mac OS version:
9A581
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0: Tue Oct 9 21:35:55 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacPro1,1 (Mac-F4208DC8)

I really appreciate everyone's help.
I am certainly not above taking the machine in but I will say this.....
I have been building and working on PC's for 15-20 years. I have never once used or had the need for a repair shop. It is my hobby. I recently switched to osx to give the mac a try and I love it.
I will say that vista/xp has four times as many problems but at least i can fix whatever comes my way hardware or software.
Any more ideas how to settle this without making my first trip to the repair shop ever?...
Chad

Cannot boot from osx or cd, help

Hi,
I have a problem. My macbook 5.1 boots only to windows, not to cd or osx. I am not sure what has happened but I think I installed the latest security update. I have a backup with time machine (osx) and vista with windows backup. I can wipe the whole disk clean (I do this only if I am absolutely sure it will work, CD is now unresponsive, what about if network fails...).
However, I cannot boot from CD, to verbose mode or to single user mode. None of the keys work (eject, c, s, v, cmd+c, cmd+v, cmd+s) anymore at startup. My installation dvd is stuck into the cd-rom. The eject button does not work in windows (otherwise the vista works perfectly). Also the refit screen has disappeared.
This problem is caused (to my knowlege) due to following actions:
1. security updade => failure to boot osx (hangs to apple-logo and shuts down)
2. recovery from time machine to 2 days old configuration (last known working)
3. current status, no cd, osx or startup buttons
This is my work computer and I need the linux (osx) part on monday. Please help.
Juha
Technical details:
- refit
- osx leopard
- macbook 5.1
- vista created with bootcamp
- timemachine 500Gb

I got the problem worked out. Now that I have the possibility to boot from cd I used the recovery from timecapsule again. Now it worked more properly. There is some issues with some programs and data (missing), but thats another story.
Last time I left the recovery program calculating the space needed (step 1) overnight, as takes a lot of time. I finished the step 2 (choose recovery date and copy the files) in the morning. I was not at the computer when it did the thing and I only saw the text 'recovery complete'.
Apparently there is a 'feature' that if you lose the connection between steps 1 and 2, the recovery program copies the network path that is empty (connection lost -> empty path). The program thinks everything is copied and gives 'recovery complete' message.
The problem is now mostly solved, some programs are not recovered. This is seen as question mark icons in the tray. Overall I have succesfully recovered from the latest security update.
Juha
P.S. My original login name has disappeared from this forum. I am the same guy as Dv3. Could some admin mark this as solved.
Message was edited by: dve_

I was using my flashdrive, then ejected. 5 min later I reinserted to be told "this machine cannot read the disk" Why would that be ?

I was using my flashdrive, then ejected. 5 min later I reinserted to be told "this machine cannot read the disk" Why would that be ?

Unfortunately I tried that and it didn't work. Thanks for the help though. I tried to uninstall and it said I couldn't because the file is corrupt or something, but I think I finally got it uninstalled and/or deleted or whatever, but now I try to reinstall/download it again from the beginning and I can't. No matter what I do I can not get Firefox working again. No matter how many times I try to redownload it. Any other suggestions?

CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code: 5

When I attempt to boot from my Windows 7 install disc, I get this message on a black background:
CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code: 5
I'm using a late-2008 13-inch aluminum MacBook running OS X 10.7.
I've attempted burning the install .iso file multiple times (creating a couple of useless DVDs) at the slowest speed possible (which seems to be 2.4x, according to Disk Utility), and that has not solved the problem.
I haven't been able to find any help on this issue for a Mac user who doesn't already have Windows installed. (There seem to be solutions for people who are already running Windows).
Can anyone help?

Hi,
I had the verry same problem and I did multiple things I thought that could fix this problem.
Point one, the burning speed has nothing to do with the quality of your boot disk, you only have to lower burning speed if your burning process fails. So remind this for future burning problems.
1: I did the Lion software update.
2: I got another .iso file, burnd it and made a new partition in bootcamp and ran the setup again.
This time it worked really fine. But I'm not shure wether it was the SU or the new .iso... I checked the SU summary for the lion system update, but there was nothing to find on a boot camp bug and since they've improved boot camp it should work better
I have a 27" imac with the 2TB drive and Solid state so I was thinking that maybe it depended on which fysical drive I made the firtual bootcamp drive. But I tested the new W7 Boot disk on both fysical drives and it worked on both.
UPDATE: I found the reason... I compared the two copies of windows 7 boot disks and the one that works had a different name... Your boot disk should be called "CD_ROM" if not, the bootsequence will not recognize your DVD as a CD which appears to be nescesary for the installation process.
Sorry for the incomplete english, I'm from Belgium.
Message was edited by: Lonely Alien

HP 2000 cannot boot from cd rom

I have made a DVD boot disc, but cannot get my HP 2000 to boot from CD ROM. I altered the bios setup to enable boot from CD ROM and I made CD/DVD the first boot option. I also have tried F9 to enter the boot options menu. I do not see an option to boot from CD ROM. How can I get my HP 2000 to boot from CD/DVD?
I am messing around with the TAILS operating system. My ultimate goal is to boot TAILS from the DVD drive. I also have tried booting tails from USB, but after reading a while on this issue I have read that some HP machines do not support booting from USB.

I need to resurrect this thread. Still cannot boot from the CD drive. I have verified my boot disc, so the problem is with the laptop. Same setup as I noted above regarding bios and OS.
Laptop is HP 2000-2d60DX
Bios is INSYDE F.45, 2/10/2014
My basic problem is still that when I enter the boot options menu, boot from CD/DVD is not an option.
While researching I did come across this post, http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Recovery/How-to-boot-from-USB-with-the-new-uefi-bios/td-p/2552... It states that legacy boot needs to be enabled. However, when begining to enable Legacy Boot I receive the warning that the laptop will not be able to boot the OS (Windows 8.1), so I cancel changes. I would prefer not to have to enable/disable legacy boot everytime I try to switch between Windows and TAILs.
At this point, it would help to confirm that I have the needed version of the Bios (guess I should call it UEFI). Also, clarify if enabling Legacy Boot is needed.
Thanks.

Portege Z830 - cannot boot from DVD

I have a Portege Z830-11F. I upgraded my machine to Windows 8 and but i didnt like it. So i decided to make a clean setup of Windows 7.
I downloaded the .iso file from internet and burned it to a DVD.
I plugged in my external DVD player, restarted, entered BIOS and changed the boot order and restarted again.
All went well and i was able to install Windows 7.
But i didn't had the drivers, (thought the OS would recognize the LAN driver at least, i was mistaken)
So i upgraded to Windows 8 again (without restarting) just to download the drivers for Windows 7.
I did so, but now i cannot boot from the DVD.
When i enter the boot order section, sometimes the DVD is listed, sometimes not.
In both cases the machine boots to Windows 8 straightly, does not allow me to boot from the DVD.
The strange thing is i was able to boot from the same DVD in the first place.
What can i do to boot from the DVD?

At first I must say that I dont understand why you didnt create recovery media before you have changed anything. Using preinstalled Toshiba recovery media creator you could create recovery USB and the whole situation would be not so complicated. This recovery image is activated but now if you install own OS version you will not be able to use product key that you got with your notebook.
Anyway, now perform complete Win8 shutdown and after doing this start notebook and use F12 to enter boot menu. Of course your external DVD must be connected before you start your notebook. it can be that external drive will be listed on USB boot option like on my U940.

Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

Which keyboard layout you were using? German, French ... I suppose your layout is reset to the default: US and you are unable to find the "?" or "/" ...
Please have a look into the keyboard viewer, to see how the layout of your keyboard is actually.
marek

I cannot boot from HDD nor CD/DVD drive - Satellite C

I want to recover my laptop & i need to boot from cd.
I pressed F12 first time & boot from cd but i discoverd that i have put another cd just when i restarted (correctly) i could not boot from cd neither hdd.
When i log in bios hdd was detected but not available in boot priority menu. Just network adapter was there & now i cannot boot from hdd nither cd/dvd. Bios version is 1.30
PLEASE HELP ME

> When i log in bios hdd was detected but not available in boot priority menu. Just network adapter was there & now i cannot boot from hdd nither cd/dvd.
Does this means that neither HDD nor CD/DVD drive appears in the BIOS boot option?
Strange what notebook model do you have?
Did you try to set BIOS to default?
If not do this (press F9 and save the changes in BIOS)

I replaced my hard drive and used time machine to boot from but it installedthe unrepaired disk permissions of the faulty previous drive would this cause problems on my new drive?

I replaced my hard drive on macbook pro and used time machine to boot from but it also installed the unrepaired disk permmissions of the other drive, would this cause problems to my new drive?

Can you remember what the permissions problem was that you had before? You may need to reinstall OS X from scratch and not reinstall anything from your Time Machine backups. To be on the safe side you should reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, as well. Then only restore from your backup your document/data files.

Losing User Accounts on many machines. Cannot boot from Disk. Help!

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