Argh!  I spent something like 5 hours trying different things to get my computer running.  I booted into Single User Mode, which is the Unix terminal before the MacOS loads and used unix commands to move around and look at directory lists and the hard drive was fast and responsive.  Then I ran the TOP command and it was seeing all 3GB of RAM, so I don’t think it’s a bad memory card.

I booted from my trusty, handy-dandy TechTool Disc and it ran all test EXCEPT Directory.  Disk Warrior would be really good right about now…

I can’t boot it from the original OS DVD to run AHT (Apple Hardware Test) because my machine won’t load DVDs anymore, and it won’t boot from the Disk Warrior CD.  I was successful in making a data backup, though, so that is really good news.

Next I tried booting from the backup disk via FireWire, but it Kernal Panicked, so that didn’t work.  Next I tried attaching my external DVD burner with the OS disk in it, but it wouldn’t see that disk.  I have been using Stephanie’s backup disk for editing purposes (it has two partitions), and it would see that on the FW800 bus, but every time I try to boot it naver gets past the grey Apple screen.

I also tried booting it in Verbose mode and I could see it just stop.  It was loading the APE extention and then reporting how many Apps ‘died’.  It would get to 6 and stop.  I was able to attach it to the old 17″ via Target Disk Mode and removed the APE Framework, but this time no apps ‘died’ and yet it still got to the same point and died.

So I am going to take it back home (I was doing all this at the office) where my tools are.  I want to disconnect my internal hard drive and try booting it that way.

I am at the TV station now, at 11:20 PM, having loaded the lastest basketball game and the pre-town meeting & bond vote onto the braodcast computer.

Town Meeting Day is coming up on Tuesday, it’s one of the two biggest shoot days that HCTV has, the other being Spring Festival.  And I am dreading the Girls Basketball Playoffs, because it will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, and given my luck recently I am expecting it to be Tuesday…