[GreatProtector]

I am a probie when it comes to Mac trouble and troubleshooting. I have owned my iMac Graphite for 7 years without a problem except for Epson printer communication. About two weeks ago my whole system crashed in the midst of an AppleWorks 6 save. I was in OS 9 because that is the only place my printer actually works, but I was saving through the Users folder into OS X. I rebooted with the OS X startup disc and went to Disc First Aid to try to verify and repair whatever had just happened. Verify said, "invalid node structure" "the volume HD needs repair" and of course the repair option was greyed so I could not click it.
I then went to the public library and began reading about Jaguar troubleshooting in a Mac Upgrade and Repair Bible. I came upon a whole new world of programming that I didn't even know existed on my computer when I went into single user mode and ran "fsck -y" and got back the same message (invalid node structure) and more (4, 5023). So the book suggested that I run it again until I get the message that the volume had been repaired. I did, and this time I got a new message: disk Os5: 0x8 (UNDEFINED). That message repeated over and over until I finally shut the computer off.
I am very sad to see my beautiful graphite friend sitting idle now for several days and no answer in books or on the internet as to what all this means and what to do. I guess my affair with the iMac is over since all of the tech's have moved on to the new stuff.

[GreatProtector]

This is part two of my on going saga with my iMac graphite. I went on line again and found a Just Answer website and got some additional information from a Mac Tech. He said the (hard) drive has suffered a fatal error in its Directory and First Aid cannot fix it. Also fsck is also First Aid, only the command line version, and usually won't do anything. I assume he's referring to the boot directory. He recommended that I get a copy of Disk Warrior, but it is only available in a DVD version that my machine does not support. I have a CD-Rom slot load only, not a superdrive, which I have been planning to upgrade to. I am at this point hopeful that there is an answer and that with a little patience I will find it. If you can help me please do. Meanwhile I will keep posting and researching for answers to the "invalid node structure" and the new command line repetition: diskOs5: 0x8 (UNDEFINED)

[Yankee Rose]

Hi there:

Have you tried this? I've read that it has been successful for INVALID NODE STRUCTURE problems:

1.Reboot into Single User mode (restart, and press and hold Command-S). You will see a black screen with a command prompt.

2.Type fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s2 and press Enter. This will repair the error, and will take a while (~10 minutes). Wait for the operation to complete i.e. until the command prompt appears again.

3.Type fsck -fy and press Enter. This will check the filesystem again, and confirm that it is now OK. Again, wait for the operation to complete i.e. until the command prompt appears again.

4.Type reboot and press Enter. This will restart the system to normal.

Hope that helps!

[GreatProtector]

I don't know how to contact you directly so I am using the public forum to just say I got the message and now I am off to try your simple solution. I have been scouring command line abbreviations all day hoping to stumble on a solution as simple as yours. I was just about to give up for the day when I got this message that you had responded! From the responses I had read previously from you to others, I knew you knew what I should do, even last week. Thank you so much for reading and responding. I'll post a response next weekend when I go back online as to the results ... but I am so excited and hopeful . . .

[Yankee Rose]

Well, here's to hoping it works. Good luck!

[zoombini]

In addition to YR suggestion, you could also try Tech Tool Pro, which will rebuild your hard drive structure. You used to be able to use Symantec Norton Utilities on Jaguar, although it sometimes caused more problems than it solved. It worked for me a few times though.

If you can get hold of another mac, you could try booting it into Firewire target mode, and see if the drive is picked up. That will allow you to get any files from it (if not backup up). If it isn't picked up in FTM, then it will be dead

good luck

[GreatProtector]

To Yankee Rose:
I regret to inform you that it did not work as you predicted and as I expected. Here is the message I got back twice...on two different days this week...two days apart; I kept reading about UNIX and command line arguments, man pages, etc. to keep me busy. So here goes: the shell 'sh-2.05a#' replied immediately with, "can't stat /dev/diskOs2" Then it waited a few milliseconds or so and printed, "can't stat /dev/diskOs2: no such file or directory"
In all of my three books on Mac OS X and Unix, nobody has mentioned these messages.

Also, FYI, the week before I tried your fix, I was experimenting with trying to shutdown the computer from the command line by simply typing 'shutdown now' and it came back with the following which may give you more information on what to do next.
shutdown [ pid 45 ]
wall: can't open temporary file
Jan 8 19:06:39 shutdown: shutdown by root:
System shutdown time has arrived
bootstrap_look_up( ) failed (ipc/send)
invalid destination port
(repeated 3 times!) (and then I powered down)

Also the calendar 'date' comes up as Sat Jan 3 09:34:08 PST 1970
Help!

[Yankee Rose]

Hi GreatProtector:

Hey, as far as shutting down from Terminal, instead of the command shutdown now, try shutdown -h. See if that works.

Back to your initial problem - hmmm, sorry that fix didn't work for you. Are you familiar (and comfortable with) opening your system and reseating the hard drive? Perhaps the pins have been jarred loose.

Another idea - when you run the Disc First Aid, what does your hard drive capacity/available say? Generally you need about 10% of your total drive free for the OS to store information properly.

Just throwing some ideas/options out there - hope they help.

[GreatProtector]

Thanks again,
I will try to do both. I replaced the PRAM Battery last month, since it was long overdue, so now I know how to get inside without breaking the plastic tabs and put it all back together. I don't remember what the capacity / available space number was because it was so long ago and I didn't write it down. I'll add a reply next weekend. Yankee Rose, you're the best. I appreciate you not giving up on me and my graphite.