/sbin/fsck -fy ....Invalid Node Structure?

Hi,
I am new to the forum and find it very helpfull. Thank you for that!
I have been trying to recover my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.8.
I cannot boot. Power on, Grey apple screen....progress bar appears...then 1/10th of the way in it would hang then reboot and hang again then turn off.
I have tried different things posted on the forum, everything from clearng the memory to booting from CD. No luck.
I created a boot disk on an SD Card using another MacBook Pro. I them ran the boot option from SD and I was successfull in getting past the progress bar but then it hangs on grey screen spinning gears. I let that run for 4 hours and no luck.
I then ran "/sbin/fsck -fy". It came back with "...Invalid node structure (4, 25707) ** the volume Macintosh HD could not be varified completely. /dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8.
Any ideas?

3. User also do not recall where she left her recovery CDs.
Any attempt to repair the corrupted disk using Disk Utility is likely to be temporary, and replacing the HD will require reinstalling the operating system from the MBP's original discs. If the user cannot find them, obtain a replacement set from Apple. They will need the MBP's serial number. The cost is reasonable ($25 or so).

Similar Messages

'fsck -fy' yields "invalid extent entry, invalid node structure"

Hello all,
System seems unstable. Many different apps, including System Preferences, crash on launch.
In Single-User mode (Command-S at boot), ran 'fsck -fy' (multiple times) and the receive the following errors that cannot be repaired:
Invalid extent entry
Invalid node structure
Volume check failed
What options do I have to fix this? No claims by Alsoft (or other disk-fixing utilities I know of) that DiskWarrior works on Intel-based Macs to resolve an issue such as this. Are there really no disk-fixing tools for Intel Macs?
Is the only option to format and reinstall and if so do I have to "zero all data"? And if I have to zero all data, how long will it take?
Thanks for any insight.
Cheers,
Derek
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Thanks again, iVmichael.
Thanks for your suggestion... So I did boot off of Install DVD and ran Disk Utility from there and here is what it reported:
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid extent entry
Volume check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
I tried another suggestion I got from the EIMS-L list which was to use another Mac to repair the MBP in FireWire target disk mode. I did that and was able to run Disk Utility from my other Mac (1.33GHz PowerBook G4) but it reported same errors. On the other Mac I tried to run DiskWarrior 3.0.3 (latest) but it failed to "see" the MBP's disk even though it was mounted and Disk Utility saw it.
So I will probably reformat and reinstall everything!
Thanks for your suggestions...

Invalid node structure (4, 3980)

I just tried to install 10.4.6 on my imac 17inch falt panel. ( os from mac store , black disk )
First I ran "remember" to check the memory -all ok .
Then I ran the hardware check that came with the computer- all ok .
Then started an erase and install, choosing to install only the basic os ( no languages etc )
Every thing went smoothly, finnished installing and waited for 30 seconds for it to auto restart.
And it didn't restart .
So I started up in single user mode and ran /sbin/fsck -fy
then I get the message
disk0s3: I/O error.
Invalid node structure
(4, 3980)
**volume check failed.
so there you have it . Any ideas of what happened ?
Any Ideas of what I should do now .
Did I just fry it ?
thanks o-s-s-i

Thankyou for the reply.
and Thankyou for the link, I had never seen that before .
I'm sure it will come in use again some day .
Well, after doing what you said to do, things have improved a lot .
I ran "aht" and every thing was fine.
I don't have DW so I zero-ed out the data and reinstalled tiger.
So now for the first time I can see the beginning of tiger.
I can see the welcome words dance over the screen in 10 languages
and then it asks me to register , then as soon as I type the first letter of my name
it goes "boing" and welcomes me in 10 languages again.
So a vast improvment on - invalid node structure (4, 3980).
But still not in yet .
Maybe I'll zero again and install one more time .
Thanks again.

Problem when booting - Invalid Node Structure

Hey!
I decided to put my MacBook G4 up to date. So I installed several updates of my software. So far so good. Then I tried to check with Disk Utility wether there were any problems on the file system. I ran "repair Disk Permissions" and some errors where found and corrected. I tried "Verify Disk" and it announced there where some errors namely "Invalid Node Structure". As I couldn't repair the disk as it was the current boot disk I decided to run Disk Utility from a CD. Unfortunately I didn't have my original cd so I asked a friend to use his. He gave me his "MacBook Pro - Mac OS X Install Disc"s (Mac OS X 10.5) and I ran it on my PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.4 installed). It gave the same result like when I ran it from my hard drive. When I tried to repair it, it started and stopped after some seconds (between 20 and 40 seconds) saying it was unable to repair it.
After that the computer does not mount from hard drive (10.4 installed) anymore, only from cd. I tried booting in single user mode and executing /sbin/fsck -fy but I had the same result ("disk0s10: I/O error. Invalid node structure (4, 7698) **Volume check failed.").
I think I can resolve the problem by starting my mac in firewire mode, backing up my data and reinstalling Mac OS X (would a repair from 10.4 Disk Utility work?) but I would be happy if there were any faster / more elegant way to do so as I cant use my install cds for 10.4 right now as I am in an other country for some time.
Any help?

Hi Ja!, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately DU & fsck can't fix all that much, your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
If DW can't fix it, you might try Data Rescue II...
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
Or FileSalvage...
http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?%20mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
to recover what you can.
PS. Don't use Leopard Install Disk to work on Tiger Hard disks, it's always messed up my Tiger Disks ehen I did.
Also, not a good idea to even Repair Permissions if there are Disk problems like you have, you don't want to write anything to a disk that has problems, that means even trying to boot off it until you fix it.

MacBook pro stuck on start up, invalid node structure, diskos 1/0 error....

Hello.
After downloading steam and a few games my laptop froze, I tried starting it up but it goes no further than the blue start up screen.
I looked at some forms and used '/sbin/fsck -fy' to resolve the problem, but it says invalid node structure, diskos2 1/0 error... I don't hear and unusuial sounds coming from the harddrive. Other people simply replace their hard drives but I need to retrieve some recent important files that I had not backed up,        Is there any possible way of getting back my files or even fixing this problem ? Help please !

You have two options:
Buy Alsoft's Disk Warrior that will repair the problem.
Reformat the hard drive.
Option 1 costs $100.00. Option 2 requires having a current backup you can restore, erasing the hard drive, then reinstalling OS X, and restoring your data from your backup. If you choose Option 2:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Kernel panic/invalid node structure; please help retrieving my files!!

Hi everyone, thank you for your time in advance... if anyone has ideas about how to solve it, I appreciate this very much!
OK, here is how it began: while I was working on the airplane using PowerPoint, the gray spinning wheel appeared after which PowerPoint stopped working. I pressed the power button to exit (all applications froze). (So much for trying to get more work done...)
Next, I powered up the computer but it would not boot up, with only gray spinning wheel showing.
Next, tried to boot up while pressing power button and holding shift key. After some time (10 minutes), an error message appears. Researching it on discussion forums, I found that it is called “kernel panic”. Here is beginning of the message:
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x47f5ad): "Process 1 exec of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 8\n"@SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1504.15.3/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:3145
Debugger called: <panic>
[additional information here]
Also, message “You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again” is shown transparently in the middle of the screen over the “panic” message output.
I turned on and off the Power button many times, but I get the same error message.
I also tried Apple Hardware Test but it did not work (it did not generate any messages).
Next, I tried to use the Disk Utility using the Installation Disk that came with the computer. After I clicked “Disk Repair”, here is the log:
Verify and Repair volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid node structure
[many repeats of “Invalid node structure” ~ about 400 repeats]
Rechecking volume.
Checking Journaled JFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Missing thread record (id=18)
Missing thread record (id=110)
[many instances of “Missing thread record” ~about 200 repeats]
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk…disk, and restore your back-up files.
At the end, a window presented over the error log stated :
“Disk Utility stopped repairing “Macintosh HD”
Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your back-up files.
I need to retrieve my recent files!! Please Help!! Argh!! I promise that I will promptly back up my files now! I did not use Time Machine, and only some of my files are backed up.
From what I read on the discussion forum, I will probably need to erase the disk and then do a fresh installation, but could someone please guide me with regard to how to back up the data / retrieve the files? I may have access to another mac so I’m thinking that the FireWire Target Disk Mode may work. I also have spare external harddrive (formatted for mac) (not partitioned). Also, how do I retrieve the files from the other computer if the FireWire transfer works?
Also, the second step is to do a new installation, but is there any reason why “Archive and Install” using Disk Utility won’t help? I have some additional programs installed (Illustrator, Photoshop) so this means if I do a new installation, I will need to re-install those as well?
I did some investigation, and it looks like this problem is similar to this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18098343#18098343
But my main issue now is to retrieve the files!
Also, how do I investigate whether this problem is due to a failing hard drive or a natural file system corruption ? (so should I get a new harddrive or do a new install).
http://forums.macnn.com/t/459376/heart-attack-invalid-node-structure
I don’t know what is the OS version; it is Snow Leopard OS X ……. I bought it in September 2009.
I appreciate any help, thank you so much for your time…

Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Step by Step to fix your Mac
Most commonly used backup methods

Power Mac G4 - invalid node structure

I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Power Mac G4 - 933....we had a power outage and the Mac would not turn on...the power light lit up when pressed but the computer wouldn't boot...I reset the PRAM and all was good...except a file I had was corrupted and couldn't be opened....after that, a month later, another power outage. This time I had more trouble as resetting the PRAM didn';t work...I reset the logic board (taking out the battery for 30 minutes then replacing) and that didn't work either...I tried several combinations of the above to no avail...I finally took out the battery for over and hour, powered up the computer without the battery and it started...so the battery was corrupted. I replaced the battery (correct one of 3.6 volts) and the computer fired right up. I ran disk utilities to see if all was okay. Checking preferences was fine but when I tried to verify, Disk Utilities came up with the message that it could not complete verifying and that it found "Invalid node structure" and that it could not repair the disk. I then tried fsck to repair and to no avail...fsck gave me several messages depending on the repair options I tried including one that included that the problem was in "memory 4, 23412"....it said it could also not repair due to "os/10 i/o error" and the second run I took at it with a different method told me there was a problem with "DIMM 2/J23 memory"...Apple's website says that if I get an uprepairable message from disk utility that I should back-up, erase and do a clean install...but with these messages indicating the problem is in the memory, since the battery runs the memory, could it be in there instead? ...of important note, I do not have the original install disk...the operating system running it is Tiger 10.4.11...I don't have the orignal disk and I have an empty 10.5 Leopard disk box with no idea where the disk is...I have snow leopard, but that cannot be installed on the G4....after running the last fsck attempt, the computer shut down and is back to only having the power light lit when pressed but no computer booting...where should I start/what do I do? I am hoping you all have good suggestions for me because some of my files were bnot backed up (I know...don't judge) and I got them onto a flashdrive right before the computer went down again, but I have no idea if they took,...further, I love this old dinosaur...

Hi, only thing I've seen repair that is DiskWarrior, you'd need an older version...
http://supportdb.alsoft.com:591/FMPro?-db=alsoftsupport&-lay=main&-max=15&-forma t=AlsoftSupport-qa.html&-script=counter&-token=177&-Skip=96&-find
But it does sound like you have some bad RAM, but have you blown the dust out yet & tried reseating the RAM?

Invalid node structure. Free solution!

Invalid node structure. Free solution! Jan 2007.
Disk problem on an Intel Core Duo Macbook with 1.25 gig RAM and updated to OS X Tiger 10.4.8
Background.
About a month ago I ran into a problem with expose behaving oddly and after posting a question on this forum, the very helpful Dr Smoke advised me to clear my caches and to run 'repair disk.' from the installation CD. (This because I reported that a couple of times I had to do a hard reset.) I got expose fixed but discovered that my disk had serious errors in the directory structure, reported as "invalid node structure," and which Disk Utility could not repair. The laptop was running perfectly but several people posted advice that I should not leave this problem unattended to. Reporting this crisis again on the forum I was advised to buy Disk Warrior for a whopping $100 for what might be a once in a lifetime problem -or else I should back up my data and re-install everything. And I thought the Mac was more stable!! Up to 6 months ago I was a Windows user who often had such problems with the FAT but I was always able to cure them with Checkdisk or Scandisk. In fact MS Windows repaired it automatically after a hard reset. I feel that it is most unfair for Apple to not provide an effective utility to correct this kind of disk corruption. They bundle wonderful programs like iPhoto and iWeb but leave you in the lurch with a fundamental disk problem. With help again from Dr Smoke, I made my firewire disk bootable for Intel Macbooks (must be partitioned with the "GUID" option selected) and searched the forums for a way to get going again without forking out $100. I wouldn't mind if it was a program that did other useful jobs like on-the-fly partitioning but it was going to be an overkill for me. Learning a little from each of several other posts (sorry I didn't record the links) I put together the following solution which is easy to execute and the time consuming elements can be left to run at night or when away from the computer. You may see possible short cuts as you read through to make it even simpler, but here is my full story! Actually I was travelling around Eastern Europe and couldn't easily get disk Warrior or Tech Tools sent to me. I needed to find a solution from reading advice and downloading disk utilities off the Web.
I have a 40 gig ext. disk, mounted in a "hotdrive" enclosure which is useable either as firewire or USB 2. http://www.byteccusa.com.
My Bacbook disk is 60 gig but only 25 gig was in use.
My Macbook was up todate with every part of OS X including the firmware. except for Garage band which I do not use.
Step 1a. I downloaded 2 free disk cloning programs - Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. I preferred the latter. Step 1b I read about Migration Assistant - part of OS X Tiger.
Step 2. I partitioned the Firewire disk in two (32 and 8 gig) for future convenience, and zeroed the disk after Dr Smoke's advice.
Step 3. I installed the basic OS X package onto my 8 gig "Firewire 2" using only Install (DVD) disk 1 which takes up less than 5 gig. (In Setup one chooses to not install the additional programs - iPhoto etc.) I checked that I could boot from it and that it was healthy by running "verify disk" when booted from the internal hdd.
Step 4. While booted from my internal HD, I cloned Firewire 2 onto Firewire 1 (32 gig) I verified the disk (no problems) then booted from it and assured myself that I had a fully working copy of OS X.
Step 5. I booted from firewire 1 and used Migration Assistant to import EVERYTHING - files, programs, the lot, from my internal HDD with the node structure problem. My firewire disk was now 25 gig the same as my internal HD. It had now two users, both shown as administrators. I booted to my newly-imported user ID - the original one that was on my internal HDD. The only problem reported by Migration Assistant was that Missing Synch for Palm might need to be re-installed which would not be surprising given what it does. Later when all was done, I discovered that the migrated programs had been placed in a folder on my desktop so I opened it and moved them all into the 'normal' Applications folder created by my new basic install. (Some programs don't like running from anywhere other than the Applications folder.)
Step 6. I worked from Firewire disk 1 for a day, trying out every program and it was working normally. One thing I noticed was that iTunes seemed to import as the original tiger 10.4.6 version so I needed to install the update to 7.02 which I had kept in my download folder. I tried to install the OS X update to 10.4.8 but a dialog informed me that I could not do that on this (external) disk. I don't know why, but later on I updated to 10.4.8 overnight using Mac Update.
Step 7. Make sure all your data has been backed up somewhere, and that there is nothing of value on your internal disk. Take a deep breath, and wipe it!! I did this using Disk Utility (from Firewire 1) and took the chance to partition my HD into 32, 18 and 6 gig. I chose GUID partitioning and zeroed the disk. No going back!
Step 8. I booted into Firewire 2 and installed SuperDuper. Then, from Firewire 2, I cloned Firewire 1 onto my internal HD 1 partition of 32 gig. SuperDuper does not call it cloning but rather 'copying all files.' It booted and works fine (as of Jan 10). Then I verified the disk when booted from one of the firewire partitions and all was well. Phew!
I ran sofware Update and it offered to update Java, OS X for Intel, Garageband and Quicktime.
So my node structure is cured and my internal hdd is partitioned without spending a penny and without having to re-install my programs one by one.
Note: There may be a few things to re-install or some prefs to reset but in general this method worked well. I mentioned having ro re-update iTunes.I also had to reset the Quicksilver prefs, and maybe I will yet come across something needing to tweaked again. (QS is a free launcher.) Oh yes, FireFox did not run well so I re-installed it.
I share this in appreciation for the help of Dr Smoke and others who answered my questions and for those whose posts were helpful to read, and for the benefit of others who may find them selves in the same predicament as me. And, oh yes, the trouble was not enough to cause me to go back to that other OS! Louis J
macbook Intel 13" Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 Ghz model with 1.25 gig RAM

Invalid Node Structure is not a hardware failure, it never was (you may still have a hardware failure, but the Invalid Node error is not indicative of this problem.
Still, Disk utility will certainly fail to fix it, and DiskWarrior will probably fail too.
But don't despair. Try this, and don't give up till you've tried it at least three times.
First, get the name of the partition of the failing volume.   You can get it most easily by finding your disk in Disk Utility, selecting your partition (not the drive) and type cmd-i.    Look for "Disk Identifier" right at the top.
Then, open up Terminal, and type this:
sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2
substituting your disk identifier for the one already here.   Keep the "/dev/" part.   Enter your password, and wait. It may take a while. I have had this fail several times before finally working so its important to keep trying.   It's faster than a reformat!!!
If the afflicted disk is your startup disk, you will need to do this in recovery mode: restart the computer, hold down option, and wait for the disk options to appear.   Select that, then proceed to Disk Utility and then Terminal as described above.
Good luck, and always keep a backup!
chris watts

IMac (March 2009) - Invalid Node Structure problem

Hi All
I was using my iMac as normal yesterday, when suddenly the system ground to a halt (something I never seen since using OS X). As I had work to do, after about an hour, I restarted, expecting it to be an app misbehaving or something straight forward, but on restart the same thing happened almost straight away.
So, I restarted again, only for the iMac to get stuck on the blue screen which follows the grey 'cog' screen. After looking through these discussions, and some other Mac forums, I booted from the installer disk, tried to run Disk Utility, which found issues and couldn't repair the disk.
I then tried Safe-User mode and fsck, which reported the aforementioned Invalid Node Structure problem. After checking a few more forums, I thought I would try to Erase the disk and reinstall Mac OS. I restored from my Time Machine backup, and finally got it to start, but the system moved at a snail's pace, and wouldn't open any apps or files.
I've tried again with fsck, and also fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s2 but all I get is the same error message:
disk0s2: I/O error.
Invalid Node Structure
(4, 38403)
** Volume check failed.
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
So, does anyone know if there is anything I can do to save the iMac? Or does it need a new HD? It is my primary work computer, so I really need to get it back, and after buying it in the UK, am now in France for 6 weeks, so it's difficult for me to take it to an Apple specialist.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance,
Daniel

As the last user stated, Disk Warrior maybe able to correct it, however if you search the net, you will see there are more than one user with this problem. I had the same problem, however, my machine is out of warranty, It started like you are saying, I RAN disk warrior which corrected the problem long enough to boot the system. In a matter of 10 minutes or so, the system started pausing (apps hung, but in a matter of seconds recovered). I was checking the disk with fsck_hfs and fsck while booted from a USB drive with a maintenance install of 10.5.6. After running fsck the 5th time with different options suggested from the internet, I rebooted with my disk warrior DVD only to find the drive NOT mounted, Drive utility see's it (even can attempt to run disk repair, but it locks up the system when trying this). Disk Warrior doesn't even see the disk to run a directory repair, although in the "check s.m.a.r.t status it sees it as a sata device, and SAYS ITS NORMAL).
Since my iMac was out of warranty, I followed the online instructions to replace the hard drive (not too difficult) and everything is fine now.
The old drive still wont mount, but another utility I bought (data rescue II) has been able to quick scan it and access all the data, even though it wont clear a fsck fsck_hfs or disk warrior, anyways, get it back while you can, IT IS THE hard drive itself, and lots of other iMac users online with the same issue (can you say WHY is my iMac SOOO HOT on the apple in the back (right where the drive is and not sufficient cooling in my opinion, but hey, some people might want to lay their computers face down and fry eggs on the it or something... ))
-SD

Invalid node structure, files are visible in single mode

I did something stupid today. First i ran my mac until there was no disk space, resulted in failing booting up. Went into single mode and did a mount command and deleted some big files. And now the disk check is failing and still not able to boot ios. All the files showes up in single mode, but not sure how to proceed. When running fsck it gives invalid node structure error. Marry x-mas :) any ideas?

You might try using Disk Warrior to fix the error, but Disk Utility cannot. Short of DW you will need to repartition and reformat your hard drive unless the Recovery HD partition is still usable. If it is then you can do the following:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

I have an error of invalid node structure

I have an error of invalid node structure. Can I save my data from my hard drive? Is it even fixable?

Invalid Node Structure is not a hardware failure, it never was (you may still have a hardware failure, but the Invalid Node error is not indicative of this problem.
Still, Disk utility will certainly fail to fix it, and DiskWarrior will probably fail too.
But don't despair. Try this, and don't give up till you've tried it at least three times.
First, get the name of the partition of the failing volume.   You can get it most easily by finding your disk in Disk Utility, selecting your partition (not the drive) and type cmd-i.    Look for "Disk Identifier" right at the top.
Then, open up Terminal, and type this:
sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2
substituting your disk identifier for the one already here.   Keep the "/dev/" part.   Enter your password, and wait. It may take a while. I have had this fail several times before finally working so its important to keep trying.   It's faster than a reformat!!!
If the afflicted disk is your startup disk, you will need to do this in recovery mode: restart the computer, hold down option, and wait for the disk options to appear.   Select that, then proceed to Disk Utility and then Terminal as described above.
Good luck, and always keep a backup!
chris watts

Invalid Node Structure error

Hi All,
I need some information on how I might solve a problem. I ran my Disk Utility earlier today to verify the HD on my MacBook Pro because my computer just seemed a bit off. It froze the other night when I shut it down.
Here is the message I received:
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired
ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I booted the computer from the original OS X Install Disc and tried to repair the hard drive, which didn't work. That's when I started reading the Tiger Forum. I have since discovered that this error cannot be repaired from the Install Disc and probably will require an erase and re-install. However, I did read about a 'fsck' command.
I would like to give this a try, but am not at all comfortable with running commands. Would someone be willing to walk me through this and/or offer any other suggestion for fixing this?
Thanks

Michelle,
Sounds like you are really learning a lot in a hurry. That's good. I can't tell you how long it will be before your system "acts up." I would take this opportunity to backup any really important data to DVD/CDs while you are in the process of getting an external drive and Disk Warrior.
Good question about whether your file system error will be copied to you external drive when you clone with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. I don't know exactly but it will certainly be better to have a backup that may be slightly imperfect than to have no backup at all. Of course, after you fix the error on your internal drive with Disk Warrior, then you will reclone your repaired system to your external.
Regards,
Steve M.

Dreaded "invalid node structure" dealie

The MB had been running slowly and a lot of applications (particularly web browser) were having a hard time shutting down. I was occasionally required to do a hard restart. That being the case, I ran DU and got the "Invalid node structure" alert, saying the drive could not be repaired. I took it to a "genius" at the local Apple store and he said that such an error is due to a software issue and, as such, not repairable under warranty. "You have to get Disk Warrior or Tech Tool. That should fix it."
Well, I shelled out $100 for DW4 (which I know I should have, anyway) and it didn't fix anything. It said the directory couldn't be replaced due to disk malfunction (or somesuch). So, I figured it must be a bad HD, potentially. I even arranged for a take-in repair.
Well, today I decided to run an fsck in single-user mode, just to see what I could see. It, too showd the invalid node structure, as well as B-tree. It also stalled at the end. I thought, "OK, now I really did it." After a hard reboot, I ran DU again to verify disk. This time, it came up with no errors found, disk does not rquire repair, disk verified, etc.
I guess the question after all that - think I'm in the clear? What could the problem have been?
macbook 1.8GHz - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)
macbook 1.8G - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thanks for the response.
When I got home from work, I ran DW. Unlike prevous attempts, it was able to rebuild and replace the directory. Re-ran Disk Utility once again, to be sure, and it came up as all good. Also, both DW and DU gave an A-OK to S.M.A.R.T. status.
After rebuilding the directory, everything's running much faster and I no longer have to force quit all the time. Seems to be doing its thing.
Fingers crossed ...
macbook 1.8G - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Invalid Node Structure, Mac Not Starting

*THE PROBLEM*
My MacBook does not start. All I see when I press the power button is a gray screen with an apple logo and a spinning wheel.
*WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM*
I changed the input languages settings in international in system preferences to “Devnagari-QWERTY”. Then I typed my name in 'Devnagari' in Textedit and copied it. I created a new folder on desktop and pasted my name copied earlier. It worked. So I went ahead and tried renaming my startup disk (Macintosh Disk) in the same manner. I clicked on its icon, hit enter and command+v. Immediately my mac froze. Noting happened. Even commandoptionesc did not work. After a long time I pressed the power button for 5 sec and tried a restart. Now it won't start.
*SOLUTIONS I TRIED*
1. *Safe Boot (shift while startup):* No result, all I get is a gray screen, an apple logo and a spinning wheel appears after a minute and its stuck there.
2. *Tried Single User mode (command+s):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
Probe booting in single user .. do not match
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
3. *Tried Verbose mode (command+v):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
4. *Disk Utility from OS X Install disk:* Tried using repair disk. But it does not work either. All it says is
Verify and Repair disk “Macintosh Disk”
Checking HFS Plus Volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
“Invalid Node structure”
Volume Check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS Volume Checked
1 Volume could not be repaired because of an error.
*5. Reinstalling OS X from install disk:* I tried this as a final resort.
a) The normal install did not work because my startup disk had OS X 10.4.11 and my install disk had 10.4.6, so it gave an error that I have a “newer version installed”.
b) I can not do an archive and install because I have only 4 GB free space and it requires at least 15GB.
c) I do not want to do erase and install because I do not want to loose my data.
*MY MACBOOK*
1. I have a first generation MacBook, Intel Core Duo 1.83 with 512 MB Ram and 60 GB HDD with Mac OS X 10.4.11.
2. S.M.A.R.T status of the disk is verified
3. I can browse my files on the disk if I click on new disk image in Disk Utility from Install Disk.
4. There is no problem in mounting the disk.
LIMITATIONS
1. I am not at my university so I do not have any other external HDD or any other Mac for a “Target Disk Mode” for data backup.
2. All I have is my Mac and 10.4.6 install disk.
3. No broadband so can not download large files.
4. I can not loose my data.
Is there any way of fixing the Mac, given the limitations given above. Something using command line, or anything that will make it work again. How do I fix the invalid node structure. I really do not want to loose my data and I am in transit so I really need my Mac to work.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ambarish:
The article Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume gives more information about the issue you are experiencing. The reference in the article to a third party utility is the utility referenced by BGreg, Disk Warrior.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

Invalid node structure: What do I do from here?

Over the last week, my mac has been running out of the norm - constant freeze ups, etc. I looked around support sites and I learned to run disk verify.
Results:
   Invalid node structure
     Incorrect number of file hard links
     The volume Mac HD needs to be repaired
     Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed
From what I have gathered, I need to put in my installation disk and run repair disk. Also, I should back up my important data (which isn't much, just music and photos). If that fails, what do I do? I've read about other cleaning systems, but my lack of knowledge in computers makes me hesistant about which move to take.
Mac info:
Mac OS X
Version 10.5.8
Memory 2G
Leopard
THANK YOU

Hi Amyohno,
The error you get are directory structure errors, these can be fixed by booting your mac into single user mode and using the fsck command for repairing the damage:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
The one thing that is important is this, all the way down the bottom of this page:
Repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
Let me know how it works out!
Goodluck,
Jeffrey

/sbin/fsck -fy ....Invalid Node Structure?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for