Billabonger.net

This one came to me from a guy who's daughters Mac Mini was stopping on the OSX Startup Screen. It would load (blue bar) all the way to the end but would never go any farther. No Desktop, No Finder.

Now I tried EVERYTHING I could think of and find on Google. I zapped the Pram and tried every startup option I could think of. I used Disk Warrior, Verified the disk and repaired permissions. I used single user mode to delete the network settings and preferences. I renamed the users Library and Preferences. Needless to say, nothing worked. lol The system wasn't freezing at startup up, it just wouldn't go any further. Eventually the system would even sleep the display.

I should have just done a Archive and Install from the beginning, but I had never done one before and I didn't want lose any of the users data. But it ended up being the only and best option.

In my case there was a CD in the Optical Drive. First I had to get it out. I couldn't get into the Finder to eject it and I was using a PC Keyboard. (So I had no eject key.)

If you ever find yourself with a similar situation, you can press and hold down the mouse button (left click if you have a 2-button mouse) as soon as you power on the computer. The CD will eject.

Insert your Mac OSX Install DVD, Restart. Then press and hold down c. This will make the system boot from any bootable CD/DVD in the Drive.

When the Installer launches, it will prompt you for the language that you would like to use when installing.

After reading or printing the information, click Continue. The Software License Agreement window appears.

An agreement sheet appears. If you agree with the license agreement, click Agree. The Select a Destination window appears.

Select Archive and Install. Make sure that Preserve Users and Network Settings is checked.

Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed. There is usually only one unless you have an external drive attached or have multiple hard drives.

This will reinstall the Operating System without overwriting or destroying your User Folder, Preferences or Applications.

In my case, this fixed the problem. (which I am assuming was a problem with the Finder) The system rebooted and from what I could tell, everything was intact. I had deleted the network settings as part of my pre-Archive and Install troubleshooting, so the system had to rebuild those settings when I went to connect to the internet. But that was of no consequence.

Questions, Comments, Corrections or Suggestions? Send them to us at tips@billabonger.net

Made on a Mac. Written using Coda. Designed using Web Standards. Tested with FireFox.

If you're using Internet Explorer 6, stop now and download either Firefox, Safari, or IE7.

Internet Explorer 6 is 7 years old, upgrade.

Bryan's Tips and Tricks

Problem with your Mac Freezing or not starting up? (Mac OS X 10.4.10 Tiger)