Why can't I sign in on my G4?

Question

I'm sure that I have done something terribly stupid, so here goes: I decided to decrypt my vault file (hoping to save memory), which took about an hour. The computer asked for my Mac OSX sign in. I inserted the short form of my administrator's name and what I am quite sure is my administrator's password. The computer ponders for a couple of seconds and gives me a message which reads "You are unable to log into the user account "xxxxx...." at this time". There is no other message and the computer does nothing else. I have tried this with the hard drive version of OSX (all updated) and with the disc version that came with the computer. Same result. If I try any other user name or password, the screen gives the characteristic little shake and is ready to accept different input. What can I do? At this point I am unable to access the computer at all! Thanks for all suggestions! Bill

Answer 1

Hi Bill!
If the decrypt went without any interruptions or anything that looked like an error then your computer is probably OK. The fact that none of your accounts can log in leads me to believe you may some corruption somehwere else.
Find your software installation CD or DVD that came with your Mac or that you purchased in a store and insert it into the drive. You can boot to it by holding down the "C" key at startup.
After you pass the initial screen for language you'll see the software installation page. Ignore this. Instead look under the menus for Disk Utility. Run Repair Permissions and Repair Disk. Restart and try to log in again.
If that doesn't work then restart from the disk again and look for the menu option to reset an administrator password. If you can get into just one admin account then you should be able to reset passwords for any others.
If resetting an admin password doesn't work then I suggest you look into using a third party tool such as DiskWarrior from Alsoft <http://www.alsoft.com>. It is an excellent tool for repairing disk problems. If you have Apple Care then you may have also receieved a CD for TechTool. You can run that as well.
Hope this helps!
bill