I'm Having Darwin Problems

Hello,

I have been using graphics applications on the Mac
for close to 9 years and have never had to deal with
the underlying programs. I restarted my Ibook G3 after
making some modifications with privileges on my hard
drive and...BAAM. My machine looks like it is going to
start up with the blue screens and the rotating
circular lines and then everything goes black. First,
I get some white text asking me for my login and
password, so I do. Then, it says welcome to Darwin!
How do I get the system that I am used to back? Please
help. Do you have any commands that can get me back to
where I want to be and feel more comfortable? I am a
student and do not have cash to send this machine in
for repairs, I hope you have good news.

Thanks for your time,

Greg

reboot holding down option on the keyboard, at the screen it gives you, choose your mac os x or desired installation system, then it should boot fine. sounds like you accidentally booted into a unix based mode like single user mode or open firmware.

I'll give it a go!

Macman said:

reboot holding down option on the keyboard, at the screen it gives you, choose your mac os x or desired installation system, then it should boot fine. sounds like you accidentally booted into a unix based mode like single user mode or open firmware.

Click to expand...

Thank you!

Greg K said:

Thank you!

Click to expand...

so that was it?
youre welcome, and welcome to the forums.

No Dice

Macman said:

so that was it?
youre welcome, and welcome to the forums.

Click to expand...

Well, that didn't work. All that came up when I held the option key down is my hard drive with a OSX logo. When I took my only option it did the same thing as before. Any other suggestions? Even though it didn't work I really appreciate your help.

Greg

These guys might be able to help
http://www.lowendmac.com/

torchy said:

These guys might be able to help
http://www.lowendmac.com/

Click to expand...

Have you used them for email support or did you actually send them your machine? It appears to be a repair shop which makes me think...they might not give me free advice. Do you think I'm wrong? I just don't have cash because I am a fulltime student. I need my old OSX back, I'm starting to get the shakes and I can't sleep at night knowing that all my files could be lost in the darkness forever. Someone help me... neye:

if its your files that is the most worrying to you you can check if theyre still there(they probably are). if you have a usb drive you should be able to copy the files onto it and reinstall if neccessary.
go to a unix tutorial site and learn some of the commands youll need.
mv (move)
cp (copy)
etc
let us know

failing that try typing "fsck -y" without quotes at the prompt. then type exit.
might also work

go and get a linux LiveCD mate then you can back up your files using that

then if the worst comes you still have all your files avaliable to you

Thanks!

Thank you all for trying to help out! I will go home tonight and try the options ya'll suggested. I have a gut feeling I will have to do a reinstall of the system in the very end. I put up a good fight so far with all of your help.

Thanks again,

greg