Thread
Installed Shapeshifter, Mac Mini won't boot
Hi. I just installed shapeshifter by unsanity on my mac mini, running Tiger 10.4.1. After installation , it required a restart, which I did. After restarting though, all I can see is my desktop, with no icons, menu bar or dock. I can move my mouse around, but that's it. Tried restarting again, but no dice. I'm new to the mac, so I'm not sure if there's any kind of "safe" mode like on the pc where I can go in and uninstall the shapeshifter program. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Kevin
Kevin
Sorry about that, just wasn't sure which forum would be best and wanted to make sure I got an answer.
I didn't install any themes yet. Just the Shapeshifter application. After the installation completed, it requested a restart, which is where I'm at now, with the blank desktop.
I didn't install any themes yet. Just the Shapeshifter application. After the installation completed, it requested a restart, which is where I'm at now, with the blank desktop.
Better to do a search, Apple F. Search for shapeshifter and trash anything with it.
The creator of the app lurks around here from time to time. You may want to email him and see if he can help further, or answer any questions.
And, doesn't SS have an uninstaller? If you can run that, you're better off.
The creator of the app lurks around here from time to time. You may want to email him and see if he can help further, or answer any questions.
And, doesn't SS have an uninstaller? If you can run that, you're better off.
A "Safe Restart" is a good option indeed, like Fonzie says.
But, the same thing happened to me after the 10.4.1 update. After having been on the phone with AppleCare trying all kinds of stuff, the problem was diagnosed as the os being unable to find the Home folder. I had to Archive and Install without taking over previous user settings
But, the same thing happened to me after the 10.4.1 update. After having been on the phone with AppleCare trying all kinds of stuff, the problem was diagnosed as the os being unable to find the Home folder. I had to Archive and Install without taking over previous user settings
No idea about your problem (sounds more like an OS problem then a shapeshifter problem - the same thing happened to me back on Panther when I updated to 10.3.3, it would boot and log me in but just beachball and not load anything such as the dock or Finder (I even left it on for a few hours to see if it was just being slow)), but I thought I'd point out you don't need to restart to "finish" installing ShapeShifter, just log out and then back in.
As esXXI says, this sounds like a general problem with your OS, not a specific ShapeShifter issue. Gerrit's anecdote about the OS suddenly "losing" the home folder or the preferences folder seems to be a common failure mode for OS X. I'd imagine that rebooting after installing ShapeShifter exposed an existing problem.
An Archive and Install is the easiest, but most time-consuming fix. If instead, you'd like to try disabling ShapeShifter to see whether it's responsible, do the following:
Another option is to use the Accounts preference pane to create a new Administrative user. You can log in as the new user and use that to see whether your original user's home directory was renamed, or whether its Library or Preferences folder were renamed, or something along those lines.
An Archive and Install is the easiest, but most time-consuming fix. If instead, you'd like to try disabling ShapeShifter to see whether it's responsible, do the following:
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu
- Choose the Application Enhancer preference pane
- Choose the Application Enhancer tab
- Press the "Disable Temporarily" button
- Quit System Preferences
- Choose Restart from the Apple menu
Another option is to use the Accounts preference pane to create a new Administrative user. You can log in as the new user and use that to see whether your original user's home directory was renamed, or whether its Library or Preferences folder were renamed, or something along those lines.