Can't see option menu when booting from startup disk

Apologies if this is in the wrong thread.

The screen on my Mac was broken recently so I've been using an external display. I haven't had any issues with this setup until now. The audio on my computer has been of sync and I need to perform a repair to (hopefully) fix the problem (a problem I've had once before in the past and easily fixed with a simple repair). However, when I boot from the startup disk I get the astral background as usual, but there are no menus or dialogue boxes of any kind. Just the background, that's it (and the background is centered so it doesn't seem to be a mirroring problem). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Whoops! I meant booting from the install disc, not the startup disk! (In my defense, it is 6:30 in the morning and I'm in desperate need of caffeine). I'm trying to repair the startup disk to fix an audio problem using the install disc.

- IMO there is no fix for that other than that you memorize the keystrokes or....
- a much more easier way is to, if you have access to another Firewire-equipped Mac, remotely boot the DVD and repair from there,
after you have connected both Macs using FW800.

I'm sure there's some article on the www that can shed some light on the matter for you.
Check back if you can't find one, or if you don't have the resources to execute step 2.

Ibanezi

Thanks for the quick reply.

I looked around quite a bit before posting here and the only solution I could find (possibly the only solution that exists) is the one you just pointed out, but as luck would have it I don't own another Mac or have access to one for the time being. Unfortunately this also means that I can't memorize the keystrokes and attempt to repair the disk that way. I don't suppose anyone knows the exact combination of keystrokes or a website which might contain that information? Grasping at straws here.

You mention the audio being out of sync, is this when playing movies only or music, or... everything?

Everything: VLC, YouTube, Netflix, etc. Music doesn't really matter since there's no video for it to be out of sync with, but it's definitely a pain as the dialogue in video clips is up to a couple of seconds off. As I mentioned in my original post, the last time I had this problem, which seemed to pop up after installing a trial for a program called Softick Audio Gateway, a disk repair was all that was needed to resolve the issue. Coincidentally I had just registered this same software after the trial ended a few weeks ago and that's when the audio problem started up again, or soon after.

It's been a while for me, but I seem to remember a tool, like onyx, only it was called TechToolPro that enabled me to create a partition on the harddrive to boot off of, so I could check and repair all other disks on my Mac.

I don't know if there's a free alternative for that, as TTP cost me like 40 bucks at the time.
Not the ideal solution, I think I would make friends with someone that has a Mac with FW 800, cause the Target Disk Mode is in all instances the best way to get the results you want, unless I'm missing something myself.

Ibanezi

Ibanezi said:

I think I would make friends with someone that has a Mac with FW 800, cause the Target Disk Mode is in all instances the best way to get the results you want

Ibanezi

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. Seems this isn't going to be the quick fix I was crossing my fingers for. Ah well. I'll check out that program you mentioned in the mean time. Thanks for your help.

I would try Onyx first, as that one's free of charge.
I don't know if that will do the trick, but hey.... if it does, it beats spending $ 99 (TTP got more expensive!)
BTW. I'm not sure if TTP is still supported under ML.

GL, Ibanezi

Hmm, how would I go about repairing the disk with Onyx? I did try repairing disk permissions (that was one of the first things I did), but no luck there.

I downloaded AppleJack earlier today hoping I could perform a repair with just the keyboard in single user mode, but I can't seem to get the computer to actually boot in single user mode; I hold down command + S but it just proceeds to the log in screen when I let go of the keys. Sigh!

I'm sorry mate, I just found out that Onyx doesn't repair disk, only disk permissions.
You must use Disk Utility for that or some other util like Disk Warrior.

But most likely the only DU you have at your disposal is the one form the boot system you're working with, so no joy there.... what you could do is use Carbon Copy Cloner and simply clone the drive to another drive (for instance a USB stick of 16 GB), test that the clone is working.

Then erase your normal boot volume followed by restoring your clone to the just-erased volume.

BTW I have no experience with AppleJack...

Check back with your findings, Ibanezi

Good news! Booted up Mac earlier and found that the audio problem has resolved itself. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Thanks for all your suggestions, Ibanezi.