Recovering from repetitive login failures

Feb 26, '02 02:01:16AM

Contributed by: porkchop_d_clown

I updated to 10.1.3, and when I tried to log in, the Finder continuously crashed! After diagnosing and resolving the problem, I realized that this might be a general principle with "failed" updates in OS X.

So, here's a step-by-stop process for dealing with log in failures in OS X:

  1. Hold down the power button to force a shutdown, then start in single-user mode (hold down command-S until you see the "weird" black screen with Mach/Unix boot information scrolling down it)

  2. Repair the damage to your hard drive by typing:
    /sbin/fsck -y [hit return]
  3. "Mount" your hard drive by typing
    mount / [hit return]
  4. Delete your user's preferences folder. Do this by typing:
    cd /Users/[yourname]/Library [hit return]
    mv Preferences Preferences.old [hit return]
    mkdir Preferences [hit return]
  5. Reboot by typing:
    reboot
Note that this has the effect of restoring your account to the way it was the first time you logged in. Assuming this works, you can now (if you want) use Terminal to copy your old preferences files (one at a time!) into your new preferences directory. I would suggest that you reboot after each preference file, until you find the one that was giving you grief.

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