Startup disc problem/ software failure

I first noticed that when i opened up any microsoft office program (for mac) on my ibook that it wouldn't opend and would just come up with an error. also when i opened programs, the setting to which country the computer is in (the flag sign at the top of the screen) would change form uk to america. i ran the disc utility and it came up with an fault in the startup disc which needed to be repaired so i put in the mac osx install disc so i could use that as a startup disc so i could repair the actual startup disc. anyways when the computer was starting up i held down the option key (alt) and it gave me the choice of which one to start up with so i clicked on the install disc but then it came up with text and a in the back ground a box saying that i need to restart my computer, in several different languages.
that may not make much sence but does anyone know what i can do to sort out this mess. thanks

Hi James,
I'm going to have to bow out of this one, now. I don't use any M$ apps at all. To answer your question, though, I think it's more likely to be a failed/corrupted Office installation than a problem with your OS. In the absence of any other advice I would put the Office disk back in and see if there is an uninstaller. If there is, run it, eject the disk, restart again in Safe Mode, restart in the usual way then do a permissions repair before retrying the Office installation followed by another permissions repair. (Maybe unnecessary but can't hurt…)
Just an afterthought:
You aren't installing a full version over a 30 day trial are you? If you are, I think you're supposed to uninstall the trial first.
Best of luck,
Adrian
Message was edited by Adrian: Oh, and Explorer is buggy at best and dangerous at worst, use Safari, Firefox, Camino, Shiira, anything but Explorer. It hasn't been updated by MS for ages & is not even available as a download from their site any more.

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Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Moving libraries off the boot disk while doable is not very viable. It creates many new problems in backing up your data, as now you have more than one source to backup. See my backup FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
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I am having major problems installing Mountain Lion. After downloading successfully and attempting to install the process froze after restarting - ended up hanging on the OSX Recovery screen. Wouldn't restart properly without me selecting a startup disc.

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I interrupted a software update and my macbook pro will not boot. I have tried to reboot using the startup disc, I have tried to verify the disc, and repair the disc. It tells me I need to erase and reformat the hard drive then reinstall the operating sys

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Re-installing software with startup discs

We have a MacBook 13in machine. During software update the machine shut down, and now it starts and gives only the apple icon and a spinning time wheel. Noting else. We are going re-install software starting with the original startup discs but the machine doesn't do anything with the disc. Please advise.

Sometimes a really messed up or dying Hard Drive will prevent booting up.
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Holding Option/alt key at bootup.
Holding SHIFT key at bootup.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

What do I need to do when I receive the message ". . . your startup disc is full, you need to make some room by deleting some files"

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Thank you for your help
Memalyn

Hi Memalyn
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Don't worry about "cleaners" for now - they don't save much space and can actually cause problems. Deal with the large file situation first and see how you get on.
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Hi! Have you followed THIS advice? If the drive is having problems it could take a long time to run the check routine. Tom

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Seems you must've had the Option key held down.
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Did you try the PRAM reset & wait for 5 tones?
1-software restore cd says version ssw version 9.0 691-2466-A for imac dv models
Can't find the number, but if this doesn't boot with the c key, then no go.
2-software install cd says for imac dv models ssw version 9.0 691-2465-A
No Go.
3-cd mac os9 w/sherlock version 9.2.1 1z691-3283-A mac os 9.2.1 update cd.
Not an Install CD & not Bootable...
http://www.welovemacs.com/1z6913283a.html
You need something like...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Mac-9-0-Software-CD-9-1-9-2-1-9-2-2-9-2_W0QQitemZ11023 2258071QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110232258071
Or...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-OS-9-2-1-Install-CD_W0QQitemZ160217041341QQcmdZViewItem? hash=item160217041341
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Installed 10.3, Now no Disc Burner Software

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Hi Peter,
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External HD's no longer appear as startup discs

Hello,
I've just updated to OS 10.8.4 from 10.6.8. I've been using 3 external firewire Hard Drives for years, in SL they showed as Startup discs in System Preferences, and there wasn't any problem using them as such. Each disc is partitioned (GUID) into 4 partitions and formatted (Mac OS Extended Journaled).
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One programme - printing software which came with my Canon printer doesn't function any more. I checked on the Canon website and it says that it doesn't support Mountain Lion.
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3) I re-booted while holdong down alt/options but then only the Mac HD and a Recovery disc were given as choices.
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Information on Superdrive troubleshooting.
CD/DVD Loading Problems
CD/DVD Sharing
CD/DVD Drive - Troubleshooting
CD/DVD Drive - Troubleshooting (2)
Other options. See post by MlchaelLAX
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Hello everyone! I am very new to the mac community, in fact, this is my first! My best friend gave me her husbands old imac G3, it is a really pretty blue color. He had it before they met, and it never got used so I got it. The only problem is, there is no manual, no software/cd's, and there is an old user account on there that I would like to get rid of. Is there a place to get the startup discs, can i delete the original owner off of it? Please help, any suggestions would be great!
Thank you!

I would advise extreme caution before deleting any thing. Getting the replacement OS software for these machines will be difficult.
Do not delete anything.
What version of Mac OS do you have?
Report system info
Blue apple > about this Mac
If the apple has mulitple colors, you are running classic.
What iMac do you have?
Report system info
Blue apple > about this Mac
click on more info
click on hardware
do not copy your serial number

Ok so my MacBook Pro has begun saying the startup disc is full after importing photos, so I deleted done and the message went away. now my computer won't go passed the login page it gets stuck after I login and goes to a grey screen. Can anyone help?

Startup disc full

Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
d. 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.
Step 2
You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.

After upgrading to mountain lion i keep getting an error message saying my startup disc is full. it shouldnt be full because there is barely anything on there and i was running windows with bootcamp prior to this with no issues

after upgrading to mountain lion i keep getting an error message saying my startup disc is full. it shouldnt be full because there is barely anything on there and i was running windows with bootcamp prior to this with no issues. my computer now freezes and programs close randomly. The usual command for opening windows with bootcamp doesnt work. once in restarted my computer after it froze and it rebooted in windows automatically. i really just want to know if there is a way to take the upgrade off my laptop because it is very annoying.

Hi Memalyn
Essentially, the bare issue is that you have a 500GB hard drive with only 10GB free. That is not sufficient to run the system properly. The two options you have are to move/remove files to another location, or to install a larger hard drive (eg 2TB). Drive space has nothing to do with SMC firmware, and usually large media files are to blame.
My first recommendation is this: download and run the free OmniDiskSweeper. This will identify the exact size of all your folders - you can drill down into the subfolders and figure out where your largest culprits are. For example, you might find that your Pictures folder contains both an iPhoto Library and copies that you've brought in from a camera but are outside the iPhoto Library structure. Or perhaps you have a lot of purchased video content in iTunes.
If you find files that you KNOW you do not need, you can delete them. Don't delete them just because you have a backup, since if the backup fails, you will lose all your copies.
Don't worry about "cleaners" for now - they don't save much space and can actually cause problems. Deal with the large file situation first and see how you get on.
Let us know what you find out, and if you manage to get your space back.
Matt

How do I move music files from the startup disc to iTunes in the other internal hard disk os 10.5.8?

How do I move music files from the startup disc to iTunes in the other internal hard disk os 10.5.8?
The music I want to move was in iTunes but is now just files. I had to reinstall a new iTunes and lost all my old music.
Thank you!

That article is about using your iPod as an external hard drive, to move files from one computer to another computer. It is not related to your question.
You can't use iTunes to move song files from iPod to computer, except for songs you purchased from the iTunes Store (and you can also re-download purchases). However, there are third-party methods and utilities that can move song files from iPod to computer. If you do a Google search on something like "ipod transfer," you should get some links.
Once the song files are on your current computer, add them to that computer's iTunes library by dragging the files (or folder containing the files) to the iTunes window. After confirming everything is there (and fixing the data issue you mentioned) you can sync the iPod. You may want to do a Restore on the iPod, if it might have a data corruption issue, which will erase the iPod's hard drive, re-install the latest software, and set it to defautl settings.

Startup disc problem/ software failure

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