Hi Bob, First off, whatever approach you try, if you have an up-to -the -minute back-up then losing the wife's folders and files shouldn't be a worry. If you haven't then I'd be looking at doing that as a first priority.
Assuming you have another Mac to hand (yours?) and a firewire cable, boot the Emac in target mode and clone it's drive to somewhere, eg: - spare external drive (ideal) - disk image on an external drive (with enough space) - disk image on your machine (again with enough space) Now, I'd feel safe to address the problem. As Bob says, sometimes the stand-alone Combo update often works best for updating - and the fact that you used Auto update doesn't stop you running the Combo update over the top of this - and you shouldn't lose any info. Since the problem only appeared after the auto update, it seems highly likely (though not certain) that this is the root of your problem and so running the Combo updater over the top may be all that's needed to fix it. Good luck Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on 27/10/08 9:01 AM, Robert Miller-Eves at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Emac G4 1ghz running Leopard 10.5 > Bought this computer about a month ago. Computer is in excellent nick > and has been running perfectly. My wife installed a system update at > the weekend (Auto Update) > Now the finder won't load (Endless spinning wheel),No folders or disc > images onscreen-only desktop picture. Have tried repairing > permissions (Can only access disc utility via spotlight) The dock > shows but does not activate anything except Dashboard. Spotlight > indicates that all wife's folders and files are there. Zapped the > PRAM - tried repairing permissions via disc utility on my Tiger > install disc all to no avail. Am contemplating archiving Leopard and > installing Tiger instead but am concerned about losing wifes folders > and files. > CAN ANYONE HELP? > Bob Miller-Eves > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>