when i start my mac it goes to the desktop wallpaper but all that appears is the spotlight magnifying glass and nothing else
2007-10-17 20:22:04 · 1 answers · asked by bentonbakersouth 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Hmm... That is just about the moment that the drives mount. Do you have any external drives attached? Disconnect them and restart. If it still hangs, restart and hold the shift key for more than one minute. If that gets it up and running, look in the System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. Uncheck everything in that list and restart. If that gets it back to normal, some software that loads at login was rubbing the system the wrong way.
If none of that works, go to the web link below and find the section "III. Restoring from defaults ". Restart and hold two keys together: Command key (has an Apple logo and/or the 4-leaf clover-like symbol) and the "S" key. That starts the Mac in "Single-user mode". You'll know you are seeing single-user mode because the screen will fill up with white geeky text on a black background. Release the two keys when you see this. Wait until the last line says "sh-2.05a#" or other characters followed by #. Then go ahead with the steps in the article below, section "III. Restoring from defaults ".
As with all computer stuff, you could still loose data so if you don't have your data backed up, kick yourself three times and be sure to backup your data from this point forward.
2007-10-17 22:27:56 · answer #1 · answered by SilverTonguedDevil 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋