ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) (01/24/89)
A professor on campus has a Mac II with a 40 meg internal HD, and it appears to have contracted severe desktop problems. The Mac told him that it had a broken desktop file, and then it couldn't rebuild it. He says he tried the option-command trick when loading Finder, using MacTools, DiskFirstAid, and the test function of Apple HD SC Setup, though nothing seemed to work. The Mac won't load the Finder anymore, and when booting from a floppy, it gives the same error and won't mount the hard disk. The disk, he says, is about 3/4 full (30 megs or so of files), and he'd like to avoid reinitializing it if he can. Any suggestions? Might Symantics Utilities be able to fix the disk? John O'Malley / Macintosh / Purdue University / (317) mace.cc.purdue.edu!ajq / Specialist / Computing Center / 494-1787
aberg@math.rutgers.edu (Hans Aberg) (01/25/89)
Suggested action plan: 1. Re-initialize the disk. 2. If that does not help, contact the manufacturer; ask how to re-format the disk. 3. If that does not help, the disk probably needs repair.
xxiaoye@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Xiaoxia Ye) (01/25/89)
In article <1550@mace.cc.purdue.edu> ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) writes: >A professor on campus has a Mac II with a 40 meg internal HD, and it >appears to have contracted severe desktop problems. The Mac told him >that it had a broken desktop file, and then it couldn't rebuild it. > >He says he tried the option-command trick when loading Finder, using >MacTools, DiskFirstAid, and the test function of Apple HD SC Setup, though >nothing seemed to work. > [deleted...] >John O'Malley / Macintosh / Purdue University / (317) >mace.cc.purdue.edu!ajq / Specialist / Computing Center / 494-1787 Try DiskExpress. It has a compact desktop option that actually rebuilds the desktop. Once I had a desktop file problem that I could't rebuilt it from finder. Moments before I decided to reinitialize the hard disk, I gave DiskExpress a shot, and it worked like a miracle (for me at least). I gave this advice to a friend of mine when he also had a desktop file problem and and it worked. Besides being a desktop file "repairman", DiskExpress is an excellent hard disk defragmentation program, which is this program's main function. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with AlSoft, the publisher of DiskExpress... blah blah... "VOX CLAMANTIS IN DESERTO" -- ahh, who else do I speak for! __________________________________________________________________________ Xiaoxia Ye Internet/Bitnet xxiaoye@eleazar.dartmouth.edu Dartmouth College /UUCP: Xiaoxia.Ye@dartmouth.edu
hold_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Loring Holden) (01/26/89)
The INIT29 virus stores code in the Desktop file so it doesn't allow the
desktop to be rebuilt. This could be your problem, it's a slim chance but you
never know.
Info on the INIT29 virus can be found by anonymous ftp to sumex-aim.
stanford.edu. Anti-virus files are in /info-mac/virus.jdevoto@Apple.COM (Jeanne A. E. DeVoto) (01/28/89)
[Finder cannot rebuild desktop file on a hard disk] While the Finder will attempt to repair a damaged desktop file, if the file is damaged too badly, the repair operation will fail. In this case, probably the best course is to delete the desktop file altogether; the next time the Finder mounts the drive, it will build a new desktop file from scratch. To delete the desktop file, make a boot floppy with the startup application set to some program that can see and delete invisible files, and does not use the desktop file itself (e.g. ResEdit, fEdit). You will be able to delete the desktop after booting from this floppy; since the Finder is not the startup application, the desktop file is never accessed, and its damaged state cannot cause problems. After deleting the desktop file, quit the application to re-enter the Finder. The Finder will take some time to rebuild the desktop, and user-entered Get Info comments will be lost, but (if the damaged desktop is the only problem) the drive should now mount successfully. Immediately after mounting the drive, do a full backup and keep it up to date (both on general principles and in case this is a symptom of a more serious problem). jeanne a. e. devoto