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OS 10.6.8

I have just noticed that there is a ? mark on my startup icon in system prefs.

It is the same in the backup. It is okay in El Capitan. With S/L , E/C and both backups on the desktop, only S/L and backup shows in the startup window.

Yesterday I used DW on all 4 volumes with no problem.

Even though the startup disk works ok, what should I do to replace that icon?

Or should I ?

jaybass

The startup disk preference pane is /System/Library/PreferencePanes/StartupDisk.prefPane and the question mark indicates it is either missing or damaged. IMO it is never a good idea to mess around in the System folder. If it were me, I would reinstall 10.6.8 on the theory that if one prefPane has been zapped it is possible there is other, as yet undiscovered, system damage.

joe,

When I purchased this computer, it came with OS 10.5.6 and later I purchased S/L
which I cannot find. I chatted with apple and gave them the order# and date but they said I would have to buy another one.

So I booted up from my mac S/L HD and inserted the leopard disk>click Mac OS install>click restart from disk. click language>mac leopard install window appears
>click continue>click agreement>click destination.

The S/L backup is now empty and shows with an exclamation mark on it. After clicking it it said I cannot install MacX on this volume but to open D/U from the utilities menu and repartition the disk as 'GUID Partition Table'

Opened D/U & selected S/L backup volume.

Note, the S/L backup E/C backup share the same external HD if that matters?

Clicked S/L volume. Volume format Mac OS extended journaled.

Name. S/L backup

From there I cannot find the option to partition as required.

Q: I downloaded the OS 10.6.8 combo which I have on a USB drive.

Is there any way I can install that combo onto the empty S/L volume?

Or could I install that combo over my existing Mac S/L HD? If so, how?

Jaybass

Just to be certain we are both calling an orange an orange. There are three terms everyone needs to understand...

1. Drive — the PHYSICAL storage device itself.
2. Volume — a LOGICAL structure used by the computer to organize data etc on the Drive
3. Partition — a segment of the physical drive set aside to contain a Volume. For all practical purposes a Partition and a Volume may be thought of as synonymous terms in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) format.

In Disk utility the Drive appears at the top and the Volumes/Partitions on that drive are indented below that. At the top of the Disk Utility window you will find an icon labeled "Partition" but it is only active WHEN THE DRIVE IS SELECTED. You can select the type of partition table when you partition the drive and you must select GUID if you want the drive to be bootable. Repartitioning and changing the partition table type is destructive and all partitions on that drive will be erased.

The combo updater is just that — an updater — and can only be installed on a drive that already has a a version of Snowy on it, but it could be installed on any drive that already has a version of Snowy on it.

Thanks for your response. I''ll get back to you after I try and figure things out.

jaybass

you're on the right track. How it's worked varies between versions of disk utility, but you need to ERASE the hard drive, not just erase the volume. Make sure you're selecting the root drive on the far left of the window. Then there should be an Options button for you to click on. Change the partition scheme to GUID. It will usually default to whatever the current scheme is, which is why you need to change it.

Joe, I bought a new snow leopard (6.3) and a new external HD.

I inserted the disk and restarted holding the C key down.

Select language, continue. Selected DU from menu. click HD entry in sidebar.
Select number of partitions, click options, select GUID, ok, set format. Quit DU return to installer, apply. Proceed with installation, follow included directions.

Computer restarts into setup assistant. After setup, installation completes with new OS. New software becomes available.

Lastly, download & install OS 10 6 8 update combo v1.1

I open system prefs only to find startup disk still has a ?mark on it.

I erased the disk and installed the disk again which is where it is now. About 7.47 gb used.

Why did system prefs remain unchanged?

jaybass

Just to be certain, have you tried unlocking your Startup Disk pane and selecting, i.e. clicking on, your startup disk?

Still locked, my pane looks like this ; does yours show any text similar to that in the red box?

The problem is that apart from the ?on the icon, when you click it, a blank window

appears and the only thing you can do is click "show all" and yes that window you

show did appear. I booted up from the new volume and the S/Ps was the same.

jaybass

Yesterday I erased again and downloaded from the install disk and I'm back to where I was.

I read that one can install S/Ps from the install disk using pacifist but I couldn't find the S/Fs. Where exactly are they located? I'd like to give it a try.

jaybass

I assume that S/F is a typo and that you meant S/P. In my setup, System Preferences.app is in /Applications.

and the System Preference panes (general, Desktop & Screensaver, users & Groups, etc. are in /System/Library/PreferencePanes. You have to have both.

You didn't tell us whether your pref pane displays any text similar to that in the red box in my screenshot, and if so, what it says, so I think your posting a few screenshots would be helpful:

1. Your Startup Disk pref pane first thing when you open it, i.e. with lock locked.
2. The pane after you've clicked on the lock.
3. The pane as you proceed, step by step, click by click.

(You can upload your screenshots very easily at http://imgur.com/upload, which allows you to add additional shots by clicking on the "+ Add another image" link at the bottom of the page. When you're done uploading, click on the "Copy" button on the right side of the page to get your page's URL to your clipboard. No need to become a member, log in, or anything else.)

Also, are you having any issues starting up, or does your Mac boot uneventfully and as quickly as expected?

You've already reinstalled Snowy more than once, and your issue has persisted, so I suspect that you're barking up the wrong tree looking to use Pacifist to reinstall the Startup Disk pref pane again from the same source; this is kinda beginning to smell like a possible hardware issue, but darned if I can guess what it may be.

It used to be that when I clicked on the S/P icon in the dock, it opened S/Ps and there was a ? mark on the icon, but now after opening, the ?mark has gone but the icon is there and after clicking on it, I get a blank window. Now I don't have the option of selecting which drive to boot from & therefore I have to use the "c" key at start up. Obviously, there is no pane.

I should mention that all of the items in S/Ps are there.

I ran D/W and checked the directory & hardware which was ok.

I also reinstalled with all the external drives closed but the problem is still there.
I don't understand why installing from the S/L disk, that can be.

There is no screen shot that would clarify anything.

I have contacted Alsoft and they are seeing if they can recover any data.

I should have said option key and not "c" key.



jaybass

I phoned apple and after about half an hour, he said to install the S/L disk over the existing Mac HD.

This solved the problem and he mentioned that the ? mark is common with some systems. Mine must be one of them because it's still there and so is my son's who also has S/L. It doesn't affect it's function so that's nice to know.

Thanks to those of you who responded.

jaybass