Thanks Daniel.

I opened the box and found the PMU button. Pressed it with a paper clip, though it didn't seem to go 'in' at all. Started up again, same result.

Thanks for the reminder about the PRAM. I was trying to remember that process last night. Tried it just now, same result.

The power doesn't seem to be the problem. It starts up fine, chimes happily and goes to the white screen. The little counter-clockwise 'loading' symbol spins and then it goes to the blue screen, the 'loading' symbol spins and then it goes to the black, dos-like screen.

"Darwin/BSD (Bj-K-Ts-Computer.local) (console) login:"

I try logging in with my computer name and osX password but it keeps saying that the login is incorrect. Then, it goes back to the blue screen with the loading symbol and then back to the black screen with the login prompt.

I've never set a password for the overall system, that I know of.

I have to go to an all-day workshop in about a half hour, but if you have any other ideas, I'll give them a try when I get home.

Could this be a virus issue?

I downloaded a pdf from TechRepublic on Friday and things went a bit wonky after that. But, it could have been coincidental as the system as been slow for a while.

I removed a bunch of stuff from the hard drive and ran disc repair a couple of months ago, but nothing showed up.

I've been using Macs for 20 years and I've never seen anything like this before.

I am sincerely in despair.

Thanks flea!

Okay, I feel dumb-- the new version of Safari is already built in to Leopard, so no need to download.

Oops.

"Darwin/BSD (Bj-K-Ts-Computer.local) (console) login:"

Have you tried just hitting return?

Alas, I must go to work now. Perhaps others will have suggestions.

Perkins, perhaps you can delete the Safari application and reinstall from the installer disk.this article from Apple is for Tiger, but the same should work: [link]

I didn't even need to do that. I just had to delete the old version and click on the icon for new one.

New toys are fun!

I want to know how I can network my desktop and laptop together. Both are PC, my desktop is several years old and an HP , runs Windows XP, McKay the Laptop is shiny and new and runs Vista and is wireless. My desktop is not, however it is attached to the router.

I'm not sure what else I need to tell you but any help would be great.

Also I'm thinking about getting a docking station for McKay, I use the laptop almost exclusively now and have it hooked up to my monitor. But using the trackpad is starting to hurt my wrist. I'd also like something that I can hook my speakers up to if at all possible. I'll have to look and see what kind of speakers they are (they are several years old at this point). Any advice on that would be helpful.

bonny, that's what I was seeing when my iMac was acting up a couple of weeks ago. My problem turned out to be a corrupted Framework file, which my husband found and fixed.

He says cd /var/log let him look in the log file system.log (edit or vi) and if you can get to that it will tell you what is failing.

For logging in, you may have to use a truncated username (ie, my user name is tskaredoff but I had to use tskaredo to log in on the "Darwin" screen).

-t, you have provided some hope, thank you so much.

::quietly setting down the straight razor::

Now all I have to do is set the system to give me the Darwin screen again. I'm just getting the blue screen with the spinning symbol. And I have to unplug every time. This could take a while.

But it is hugely helpful to know that you overcame this issue...or that it MIGHT be possible to over come it. Right now, my head hurts too much to keep unplugging and poking the machine. A bath, a good cry and bedtime. I'll get back on it tomorrow.

Thanks again. It really is a comfort...

As I'm reinstalling apps and getting my iMac back up and running from the HD failure, I can't help but notice Firefox download manager is acting strangely. Anytime I download something, it does not show up in the download manager, and it saves it with some random nonsense name. As if it was a temp file. Half the dmg's d/l'd don't download completely and I get a "corrupted zip file" type of warning when I try to open it. Things download fine with Safari, but I prefer using Firefox, so I don't think it's a MacOS thing.

Any thoughts? I've already tried re-downloading Firefox and Reinstalling. Still have same problem.

I bet you need to create a new profile in firefox and reinstall your extensions.

I have had to do this every 1-2 months with firefox because I'm running dozens of extensions on it. It's my fault, but I backup my firefox weekly so it isn't a problem if I have to reinstall it.

Mozilla has a really set of instructions on how to move stuff over to a new profile:

[link]