[Macpartners] Major problem: Mac OS X Server won't start up

[Roger Donaghy]

I am having a problem starting up a machine running Mac OS X 10.4  
Server. Here's the sequence of events that led to this problem as I  
remember them.

1. I arrived this morning to update software on the machine and  
noticed that the display did not respond when I moved the mouse or  
typed on the keyboard.
2. Since I could not see anything on the screen, I forced the machine  
to shut down by holding down the power button.
3. I connected a new display, and pressed the power button to turn  
the machine back on.
4. I heard the startup tone, the display turned on, and the normal  
Mac gray screen appeared with the gray apple and gray spinning  
progress wheel.
5. After a few seconds, a black rectangle appeared in the middle of  
the screen over the gray apple.
6. The screen remained stuck in this state for a few minutes before I  
shut down.

Since then, I tried booting the machine from the Mac OS X Server 10.4  
Install Disc 1 and got the same result as in steps 4-6 from above.

I also called the help desk and spoke to someone who recommended  
turning the machine on and trying to ssh remotely while the server  
was stuck in the startup sequence. When I tried that, I received an  
"Operation timed out" message.

Does anyone have any other procedures I can follow to get this  
machine started up or in a state where I can access its files? At  
this point, I am very worried about data extraction because there is  
some critical data on the server.

I appreciate any help you can offer.

Roger Donaghy
MIT News Office
617 253 1683
rdonaghy at mit.edu


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