10-17-2005, 07:14 PM

The other night I restarted my laptop cause it was lagging a bit. When I turned it back on I got a login screen. Ive never had one of these before. So I entered in the name I named the computer (I didnt make a PW when setting up OSX) and when I hit enter the rainbow wheel just spins and spins. It doesnt do anything.... But when I enter in anything (random login) it try to login and then become blank (showing me I entered the wrong login). I tried to reinstall OSX but my CD-Rom drive doesnt seem to be working. I put in the OSX disc and hold down C and its spins real fast likes its going to boot off the disk then it just switches to OSX and loads it up and then I get the login screen. Im lost... :bandage:

10-17-2005, 08:05 PM

nevermind i did not read the whole post

10-18-2005, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by rgivans

So I entered in the name I named the computer (I didnt make a PW when setting up OSX)

It would be your username,...the name of your home folder. Not the computer name. If you don't know your username, boot holding down cmd+s. at the prompt type cd /User followed by typing ls. This should show you a list of folders in the Uses directory. Most likely there are only two. Shared and your home folder. The name of your home folder is what you use for a login name.

10-18-2005, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by MacsWork

It would be your username,...the name of your home folder. Not the computer name. If you don't know your username, boot holding down cmd+s. at the prompt type cd /User followed by typing ls. This should show you a list of folders in the Uses directory. Most likely there are only two. Shared and your home folder. The name of your home folder is what you use for a login name.

Thanks alot man. Ill try this when I get home from work. Any idea why this login screen would randomly show up though? Ive had the laptop for a few months and never had to login til a week ago.

10-18-2005, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by MacsWork

It would be your username,...the name of your home folder. Not the computer name. If you don't know your username, boot holding down cmd+s. at the prompt type cd /User followed by typing ls. This should show you a list of folders in the Uses directory. Most likely there are only two. Shared and your home folder. The name of your home folder is what you use for a login name.

I tried exactly what you said and all I got was bad commands. Then when I try and login with the name of the main folder the rainbow wheel just spins. I want to shoot this thing! :rolleyes:

10-18-2005, 07:05 PM

i believe if you want to lookup the usernames by the terminal interface, you should type

cd /

that will take you to the main directory., then

ls -al

will list all the files and folders in the main directory.

i believe the folder name is users.

cd /users

will put you in that folder, then

ls -al

will list all the files and folders again.

those will be the computer users and a shared folder.

10-18-2005, 07:13 PM

cd ~ will that you straight to your home directory.

10-18-2005, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by rman

cd ~ will that you straight to your home directory.

even if he boots into single user mode?

10-19-2005, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by rman

cd ~ will that you straight to your home directory.

Sorry for this..... So I type "cd ~" to get to my home directoy? Im an avid Windows user (IT Tech for a company) so Im not familiar with these commands at all. Pure newb I know haha...

10-19-2005, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by fearlessfreap24

i believe if you want to lookup the usernames by the terminal interface, you should type

cd /

that will take you to the main directory., then

ls -al

will list all the files and folders in the main directory.

i believe the folder name is users.

cd /users

will put you in that folder, then

ls -al

will list all the files and folders again.

those will be the computer users and a shared folder.

I did this as described with no luck. The wheel just keeps spinning. Sad to say but Im just gonna part it out and buy a Windows lappy. Thanks for the help everyone.

10-20-2005, 06:03 AM

If you can boot from the CD, then why not just do a reinstall? FWIW when you boot from CD it can take a while sometimes. I tend to keep my finger pressed on the C for quite a few seconds until I see the screen change.

10-21-2005, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Kyomii

If you can boot from the CD, then why not just do a reinstall? FWIW when you boot from CD it can take a while sometimes. I tend to keep my finger pressed on the C for quite a few seconds until I see the screen change.

Ive done this many times and the CD does not boot up. It spinds but it acts as if it isnt reading it. Laptop is sold anyways. My new Vaio is on the way. Thanks for the help.

10-21-2005, 01:24 PM

Sounds like your CD was not bootable. Congrats on your new Vaio system.