Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 22, 2008, 11:12:14 PM
No Clock, no Time Machine, PathFinder, current user name, etc.I decided something was wrong!
And thought it best to Restart. 
After half an eternity, I decided that the machine wasn't going to even Shut Down, much less restart! Finally used the power button. Then experienced the other half of eternity waiting for the log in screen. Or anything besides the blue screen!
Tried Safe mode and nothing much changed. So I started looking through all the printed tips, tricks and methods and found one suggesting I use Safe mode. So much for the printed matter!
But that did slow me down enough to see that the Start Up had finally reached the Log In screen. As long as we were up and running, I ran Disk Utility and it reported one modification. Instead of running it again, I tried another Restart. Same slow as molasses results.Now I'm really getting ticked off. Found the Single User mode method: Command-S. Much faster if not as pretty. Noticed a "...timing out!" line on the screen. About 30 seconds later, same "...timing out!" message. Didn't make much sense and that's not what I was looking for, anyway. So, the real deal here is to let the utilities in Unix do some checking/repairing of the disk. OK! I type "fsck -y", press Return and notice that another of those timing out messages came in as I was typing and corrupted my command.
Tried again and got it typed and then got a message that no checking had been done since the drive was Journaled. OK, I knew that, so what. Type the command again. Same results. No kidding!Then I noticed some text that said I should use "-f" with the fsck command to "force" checking. What else could I do? All the time the stoopid timing out message kept coming along at the most inopportune times...but the checking finally completed and said no problems were found, the disk looks OK.
So, if your drive has Journaling enabled (standard ops in Tiger/Leopard AFAIK) you'll probably need to use "-f" instead of "-y" to get fsck to run. That's the way I see it, anyway. Why haven't I seen this before?
Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 22, 2008, 11:20:49 PM
On a whim (I always have several of those laying around) I carefully reread the message and decided it must have something to do with my USB stuff. The message actually said, "AppleUSBEHCI[Ox413f000]::Found a transaction past completion deadline...timing out!"
OK, while I'm still in Single User mode, how about disconnecting some of the USB stuff. Only had a couple of things, other than the keyboard and mouse. One cable went to the external drive that has a pass through USB service, one IN and two OUT. The OUT went to a little four port USB brick-powered outlet. Only one item actually drawing any power in this set up. I had placed my Shuffle on the charger late yesterday. Once I disconnected it the 'timing out' messages quit!
Could a fully/over charged iPod cause problems? Apparently it did on my system. Who'd a thunk?! 
Post by: Paddy on March 23, 2008, 09:53:49 AM
I'm beginning to think that an Archive & Install might not be a bad idea - given the weird things that you've experienced since the "meltdown."
Just a thought...
And apparently the fsck -f thing has been around ever since journaling became standard or available with Jaguar:
http://forums.macworld.com/message/172821
Post by: gunug on March 23, 2008, 11:21:01 AM
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107250
FSCK is something from UNIX times and every version of LINUX I've run has a number of different "switches" available. I'm sure there must be a manual page (accessible via Terminal?) that details all the OS X switches! I like Applejack instead and full support of 10.5 by Applejack is one of the reasons (along with not good enough resources) I'm not using it on a regular basis on the machines I "use!"
Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 23, 2008, 03:30:39 PM
Anytime you want to do that for me, let me know and I'll leave the front door unlocked and a light on beside it. Please don't enter after 10 PM. Thanks! 
That there is an "-f" switch is obvious, now. But I keep seeing (apparently) old tips that say to use the "-y" switch. I assume that "-y" simply tells Unix to go ahead and run the fsck routine, "Yes." I think it would help to have the 'new' switch mentioned somewhere more obvious, like on the edge of my monitor!
OTOH, it was on the screen once I calmed down enough to actually read it.
Post by: cdub1988 on March 26, 2008, 09:40:23 PM
the -f option has been around for awhile to .......
Your -y just tells fsck to automagically fix errors it finds.
The -f is more of a brute-force (forgive my lack of better description) method of getting fsck to complete it's task....
From man fsck:
QUOTE
-y For some filesystem-specific checkers, the -y option will cause the fs-specific fsck to always attempt to fix any detected filesystem cor‐
ruption automatically. Sometimes an expert may be able to do better driving the fsck manually. Note that not all filesystem-specific
checkers implement this option. In particular fsck.minix(8) and fsck.cramfs(8) does not support the -y option as of this writing.
ruption automatically. Sometimes an expert may be able to do better driving the fsck manually. Note that not all filesystem-specific
checkers implement this option. In particular fsck.minix(8) and fsck.cramfs(8) does not support the -y option as of this writing.
And yet another....
QUOTE
command syntax:
fsck [ -F fstype] [-V] [-yY] [-o options] special
-F fstype type of file system to be repaired ( ufs , vxfs etc)
-V verify the command line syntax but do not run the command
-y or -Y Run the command in non interactive mode - repair all errors encountered without waiting for user response.
-o options Three options can be specified with -o flag
b=n where n is the number of next super block if primary super block is corrupted in a file system .
p option used to make safe repair options during the booting process.
f force the file system check regardless of its clean flag.
fsck [ -F fstype] [-V] [-yY] [-o options] special
-F fstype type of file system to be repaired ( ufs , vxfs etc)
-V verify the command line syntax but do not run the command
-y or -Y Run the command in non interactive mode - repair all errors encountered without waiting for user response.
-o options Three options can be specified with -o flag
b=n where n is the number of next super block if primary super block is corrupted in a file system .
p option used to make safe repair options during the booting process.
f force the file system check regardless of its clean flag.
Take care, all.
Chris