Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Lab Report

Software Updates, Murphy's Law, Failure to Boot, and a MacFixIt Forum Rescue

- 2004.11.03

I finally decided to catch up on some old software updates that had been accumulating over the past few weeks, given the news about various worms and so on that are beginning to afflict the Mac OS X community. I ran all the recent ones, including Security Updates from September 7, 16, 30, and October 27.

To my dismay, after rebooting I discovered I could not log in. The boot screen stayed at "Starting login window..." and never got past it.

I tried all of the usual fixes. Starting in Safe Mode (hold shift key down) got stuck at the same place. Starting in Single-User Mode (Unix mode) got me to a Unix prompt, but I didn't know what to do from there, so I just typed "reboot" and borrowed my wife's computer (also running OS X) so I could track down the problem.

You know how these things go. I spent most of a Sunday afternoon reading and trying things. My purpose in writing this is to point out two things: An interesting reference from Apple's site that didn't work but looks instructive, and what worked in case you have this problem someday.

First, most references pointed me to Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X in the Apple Knowledge Base, which I did find informative.

This article discusses a series of increasingly arcane fixes you can do to a computer that won't boot properly in OS X. If you experience a computer that won't start, displays an empty blue screen, gets stuck, displays a broken folder or a "stop" sign (circle with a slash) or a kernel panic, you should read this article. Lots of good stuff all in one place.

Unfortunately, none of it worked for me, even though "stuck at a login window" was specifically mentioned in a later step.

On to Google, which eventually led me to the venerable MacFixIt forums, where I discovered the following at the end of a thread discussing this problem:

"...I looked at the system log and saw that loginwindow kept dying, then checked /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/loginwindow.crash.log. It was complaining about a missing dependency (/System/Library/Frameworks/Appletalk.framework/...) And effectively, this Appletalk.framkework folder was empty. Copied it from another machine, and now everything works fine."

Well, thanks to tormod (who didn't have an email address in his/her MacFixIt profile), everything is running again. What these instructions effectively said to do was

Connect two Macs (mine and my wife's) together using FireWire Disk Mode. Hers was the boot machine; mine was the FW Target (use T to boot with a FireWire cable connecting the Macs.)
Do a find on "loginwindow" on the wife's machine, find the application, and copy it on top of the application on my machine in the same directory.
Same thing with "Appletalk.framework".
Unmount my machine from my wife's directory and reboot. It worked!

So thanks, MacFixIt, for once again saving my bacon three days before grades were due.

Lesson learned: Don't run Software Update until after grades are turned in!

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

Recent Mac Lab Reports

Microsoft Word 2004 vs. iWork Pages 1.0 for writing a book, 01.10. Microsoft Word is great for technical writing, powerful yet slow, while Pages lets you concentrate on just writing, making it great for novels.
iWeb a great tool for quickly creating an attractive website, 09.11. Apple's iWeb software isn't just easy to use, it also integrates nicely with .mac and other programs in the iLife bundle.
Use your Bluetooth phone to control your Mac? Maybe, 02.27. Salling Clicker software turns many Bluetooth phones into remote controls for Bluetooth-equipped Macs.
Two more markets the iPhone could conquer, 02.01. How Apple could redefine the ebook and calculator markets with a pair of free apps for the iPhone.
More in the Mac Lab Report index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: PCI PowerMacs covers pre-G3 Power Macs and clones with PCI slots.
March 18 in LEM history: 02: The case for a 'Book - More on living Microsoft free - Prep your low-end Mac for Linux - 03: How good a value is a WallStreet? - 05: How the iPod trounced the Walkman - 08: 13 port USB 2.0 hub
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Intel iMac Deals, 03.17. Used 17" from $600; 20" from $750; 24" from $825; refurb 21.5" nVidia, $999; new, $1,099; refurb Radeon, $1,299; new, $1,399; refurb 27" 3.06, $1,499; more.
Best G5 iMac Deals, 03.17. 17" 2.0 GHz, $380; 1.9 GHz iSight, $479 shipped; 20" 1.8 GHz, $509 shipped; 2.1 GHz iSight, $549 shipped.
Best Time Capsule Deals, 03.17. Close-out 500 GB, $140; new 1 TB, $279; used 2 TB simultaneous dual-band, $400; new, $455. Shipping included.
Best iPad Deals, 03.16. 16 GB iPad, $499; 32 GB, $599; 64 GB, $699; 16 GB with 3G, $629; 32 GB 3G, $729; 64 GB 3G, $829. Free ground shipping.
Best iPod classic Deals, 03.12. Used 20 GB, $119; 40 GB, $139; 60 GB, $159; 30 GB video, $129; 60 GB, $159; 80 GB, $169; refurb 120 GB, $189; new, $214; 160 GB, $228 shipped.
Best G3 iBook and AirPort Card Deals, 03.12. 366 MHz 12" clamshell, $89; 466, $125; 500 white CD, $100; 600, $199; 800 Combo, $239; 14" 900, $225.
Best Xserve Deals, 03.12. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $499; 2.0 dual G5, $599; 2.3, $749; refurb 2.26 4-core Nehalem, $2,499; new, $2,699; 8-core, $3,449; refurb 2.66, $4,299; new, $4,799; more.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Mac Lab Report copyright © 2000-08 by Jeff Adkins. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.