What's causing these power-up and login problems?

Question

I recently switched from Tiger to Leopard (installed by the repairers) and have encountered some power-up and login problems. Basically, my set up is that the computer automatically logs into a non-admin account, launches a Safari page, and then that's it - after checking the webpage, I logout of that account, into my main account, and work from there.
In Tiger :
A few times quite recently the computer would freeze, either while Safari was launching / opening the webpage, or when I tried to logout. Force Quit didn't work (total freeze) so I would force power-off and switch on again, and things would be fine.
In Leopard, one of the following has begun to happen, about two weeks after I began using it:
• The computer reaches the grey screen with an endlessly rotating gear wheel. (Power off / on again)
• The computer logs in to the account; after selecting 'Log out...' I log out, but instead of giving me the login screen, it logs straight back into that account, and this happens every time I try 'Log out...'. (Use Fast User Switching instead to reach main account, where one or two software glitches prompt a Restart) This has happened twice.
• This morning, the computer reached the blue screen where the pointer appeared - faded - appeared - faded etc endlessly (Power off / on again).
Clearly it is not the System - experiencing problems in both Tiger and Leopard proves that. Nor is it my HD - I've had a new one installed. It must therefore be a setting in my login account, though it's hard to see what : I only use that account for login, and a single launch of Safari, and it's been ok for years.
Should i create another login account and see if that solves the problem? By the way, the repairers did not give me any Leopard install disks, so please don't suggest that method of diagnosis. I only have the original Tiger disks.

Answer 1

christopher rigby1 wrote:
2. I don't know what Apple app(s) you refer to? As I said I've upgraded all the free ones, and iLife '06 is working (and I have the disks).
Look in your Applications folder: Any Apple app there, except for the ones you've mentioned. And all the built-in parts of OSX.
3. They told me that I CAN do a full restore from a Time Machine backup (via Disk Utility apparently).
That should tell you something about the quality of their advice.
See: [Mac OS X 10.6 Help Recovering your entire system|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15638.html].
Or the *Restoring your entire system from a backup* section, towards the bottom of [Mac 101: Time Machine|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427].
Or look up +*Time Machine+* in Mac Help.
Or #14 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
And if there's a problem with your installation of OSX (which seems likely), or the Apple apps, you can't reinstall them, either.
4. Having spent hours and hours getting the machine to work properly (upgrading Mail and sorting out Mail problems, upgrading Safari, re-upgrading iTunes and sorting out problems), I'm not prepared to spend hours and hours doing the whole thing in reverse to restore Tiger, including learning HOW to do that.
Correct; unless you have backups of the Tiger system, that's impractical at best.
So unless anyone has a reasonably simple, straightforward answer as to what this problem might be, it looks like I must live with it.
You have some sort of problem with your Mac and it's not going to get better on it's own. Most likely, it will get worse.
If you haven't, try the things recommended by Dale.
Also try running the +Apple Hardware Test.+ It's on one of the disc(s) that came with your Mac, and is tailored to it's particular hardware. The disk should have +Apple Hardware Test+ and instructions for running it printed in very tiny type.
I sympathize with your situation, but the repair shop violated the Apple license, and put you in an untenable situation. If they won't correct it by supplying the Leopard disc, you really should report them to Apple.
You need to purchase a retail copy of Leopard (not the gray discs that came with another Mac; they won't boot yours). They're not shown on the Apple Store website anymore, and eBay and other sellers get a premium for them, but AppleCare should have them for the original $129.