mac will not boot from disk

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Mac (2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Xeon Leopard 10.5.8) will not boot unless "C" key is pressed during booting.
(otherwise black screen or blinking folder icon with ?mark.

i checked the drive with Disk Utility and found the option for "Repair" to be greyed-out.
so I selected "Verify".

Results:

"invalid volume file count.
(it should be 1076381 instead of 1076382)
invalid volume count.
(it should be 245339 instead of 245338)
the volume XXXXX needs to be repaired
ERROR: filesystem verify or repair failed."

So i attempted to do a repair with Disk Utility by booting from my OS X 10.5.6 startup/installation disk.

inserting a startup/installation disk: Leopard 10.5.6 (I notice I am running OS X 10.5.8 .... was the 10.5.8 a web upgrade?) I select Quit installation and then select the 10.5.6 disk as a startup ... but arrive again at the same installation window .. a loop I can only break if I select the original startup drive with OS X 10.5.8 which will then boot as if nothing is wrong. (even holding the "C" key will not shift the restart to installation disk)

However, Disk Utility has shown that there is an error:

"invalid volume file count.
(it should be 1076381 instead of 1076382)
invalid volume count.
(it should be 245339 instead of 245338)
the volume XXXXX needs to be repaired
ERROR: filesystem verify or repair failed."

It does not appear to me to be anything major ... i can continue on pressing "C" when booting up ... but fear that this minor corruption will lead to more problems down the road.

How can I restart with the OS X 10/5.6 startup/installation disk?

.... or does the OS X 10.5.8 "trump" the older sytem making the start-up disk inaccessible?
 

chscag

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Your original Leopard install DVD should work to boot the machine even though you're running a later version of Leopard. Is the install disk you have the original that came with the machine?

inserting a startup/installation disk: Leopard 10.5.6 (I notice I am running OS X 10.5.8 .... was the 10.5.8 a web upgrade?) I select Quit installation and then select the 10.5.6 disk as a startup ... but arrive again at the same installation window .. a loop I can only break if I select the original startup drive with OS X 10.5.8 which will then boot as if nothing is wrong. (even holding the "C" key will not shift the restart to installation disk)

When you quit the installation as you indicate above, you should then click on the top menu "Utilities" and select "Disk Utility". Is that what you're doing? I'm not sure from your post how you're going about checking the hard drive to make repairs? Because if the boot disk you're using is the correct one, you should at least be able to access Disk Utility.
 
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Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
In short, start her up however you can, pop in the Leopard black DVD, full retail install and not a silver/grey model specific disc , reboot and hold down 'C" after the chime. When loaded go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, select Disk Utility and run Repair Disk from there and advise what is reported.

You cannot repair a disk you are booted from, hence the need to boot from the Leopard install disc to access Repair Disk.
 
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Floatcat
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booting call

THAT"S the problem .... the leopard disk I am trying to boot from is OS X10.5.6
... the original Apple disk with the purple galaxy graphiocs on it ... not the model-specific grey one. Yet, even while holding down "C" while restarting the mac will NOT boot from the disk .... instead it goes to a dialog box asking me to install. I select "quit install" from the Mac menu which gives me a choice of startup disks: my previously nonbooting hard drive or the OS X disk. i choose the OS X disk and the senario repeats itself ... over & over & over ... until I choose the previously unbootable hard drive ... which then boots up nicely, thank you.

So i never get to repair it .. as I can't seem to make it boot from the OS X disk.

And tonight upon arrival home ..... it booted right up from the hard drive like it was never a problem.

However running Disk Utility brings up an error:

Verifying volume “XXXXXXXXX”

Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume file count
(It should be 1076595 instead of 1076596)
Invalid volume directory count
(It should be 245335 instead of 245334)
The volume XXXXXXX needs to be repaired.

Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.

Who knows if it will boot up tomorrow?

isn't there an icon that is tearing its hair out?
 
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Floatcat
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bad boot

I apologize ... How embarrassing ...... reread your instructions (as anyone with ADD should) and lo & behold .. the hard drive is repaired and boots up nicely.

Thanks

FC
 
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Floatcat
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now ......

if I can only figure out how to put my hair back in .......
 

chscag

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:Smirk: Glad you got it figured out. Have fun and visit often.
 
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Recovery disks won't work

Hi,
can anyone help me to restore a mac book pro back to factory settings. I have the original disks, but the machine is not responding when you start it up. it just hangs with the apple logo page and the wheel turning. I have tried everything I know and now need serious help?:Confused:
 
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Honestly, it sounds like you need a new hard disk. This may only be a temporary fix.
 
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Hi,
can anyone help me to restore a mac book pro back to factory settings. I have the original disks, but the machine is not responding when you start it up. it just hangs with the apple logo page and the wheel turning. I have tried everything I know and now need serious help?:Confused:

Keep holding C until the screen changes. It's loading from a DVD, so it can take a while. It's not exactly SATA speeds, here (despite it being connected to the board via a SATA connection, it's still gotta read the super slow DVD media).ß
 

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