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

[John Harthorne]

Caution: I have never used Mac OS X 10.4 Server (but I have been  
using non-server Macs forever).

You can try starting it in firewire mode and can extract data off it  
from another mac. I have found this very helpful in similar situations.

During startup, hold down the T key on the keyboard.
The server should start itself up in "target" mode. It won't launch  
OS X, but it will render the hard drive accessible via firewire. You  
can then connect it via firewire to another mac and it will appear to  
be an external hard drive. That way you can at least extract data  
from it or back it up before continuing to troubleshoot it.

There are other startup shortcuts that may come in handy too. See:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

- John
________________
John Harthorne
MBA Candidate, Class of 2007
MIT Sloan School of Management
Cell: 617.894.3425
jharthorne at sloan.mit.edu



On Dec 19, 2006, at 10:05 AM, Roger Donaghy wrote:

> 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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