Everything is screwed up.....HELP!!!!!

O

OS_X

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Running 10.2.8 with all current security updates.

Okay, last week my mouse cursor would randomly just DROP to the bottom of the screen. I igged it for a while, thinking it was nothing.

Last night, my Canon i450 keeps giving me printing errors from every application , including an out of memory error. The installer would quit for no reason.

Thinking I may have been hacked or gotten some sorta trojan (cable connection), I DLed the latest Virex definition..... and THAT installer quit too.

I moused around on here for a while, looking to see if anyone else had the same problem. Ran across a thread where someone else was getting the same error message and someone recommended they go in and delete all the Cache files in three different places..... needless to say, my desktop would now hang.

Got the install disks out, DEgraded back down to 10.2.2 (which is what originally shipped). In the process of recovering old files for mail and other stuff out of the 'Previous System' folder right now.

NOW, I ran Software Update, it tried to give me the combined 10.2.8 updater.... and 3/4 of the way through, it gives me an error message saying it couldn't be completed.

I manually went to Apple's site, figuring that I probably couldn't jump straight from 10.2.3 to 10.2.8, so I manually DL the 10.2.4 updater.....

NOW the Installer (ANY INSTALLER - the one for the Canon i450, OS 10.2.4) just opens up and sits there. I click on the 'about Installer' menu - I get 'Installer' ©2003 Apple Computer ----- that's for ANY installer.pkg I click on.

Oh yeah..... my lower volume, increase volume, mute and eject buttons don't work (but F12 works as eject *sometimes* , F16 gives me the lowercase letter 'a' all the number pad keys work).

I'm frustrated as hell right now - I have a TON of work and 30 kids to prepare for Monday morning and I am STUCK.

Please help me.
 
Yikes... I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but you may be at a point where you just may have to back up your stuff and reformat and reinstall OS X. Of course, there's always a way to salvage a currently malfunctioning system, but we may or may not get to the bottom of this and it may take until Monday to sort things out. I would say get out the CD-Rs and start burning the things you need as a backup.

I say this for a few reasons. One is that you deleted the cache files, and more problems arose -- but you didn't stop there. Then, you "downgraded" somehow to 10.2.2, I'm assuming via Archive and Install, then tried to upgrade to 10.2.8 which failed partway through -- yes, you can go straight to 10.2.8 via the "Combined Updateder" (that's what the "combined" updater is for, so you don't have to install one system update after another) -- but then you downloaded the 10.2.4 updater and it seems like it had problems as well. All that downloading and backtracking and installing and upgrading and downgrading probably screwed your system pretty good along the way, since that kind of abuse to any OS would make it come to a screeching halt.

At any rate, if you have your software CDs handy (PhotoShop, Office, whatever else you use) then it's really no big deal to reinstall if you've got a broadband connection. You can have a fresh, stable system in about 2 hours.

At any rate, you reserve the right to disagree with my approach, as I'm sure others will respond with other things to try. Good luck!
 
eMac G4 800Mhz, 512MB of RAM.

Well, the 10.2.4 update didn't take...because I needed 10.2.3
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Scratch that. I'm manually DLing the 10.2.8. combo updater.

The real 'pains' will be getting all of my mail filters back up correctly, all my in-boxes and all the other crap I had running. I think my comp's going to be OK.

If I could just figure out why the volume buttons aren't working..... :confused:

That.... and my eyes are burning (all of THIS happened on TOP of a LOOOOOOONNNNGGG day). I've never had a problem with my Mac before.

NEVER. In fact, I've been making fun of WinXPee users and their infamous 'blue screen of death' (BSoD™) and cursing all of the Dell's at work when I have to use them.

10.2.8's done. Let's see what happens..... worst case scenario, I'll reboot in OS 9 and get the CD-R's out....

Is there a way for me to get my mail rules back, so I don't have to worry about tons more junk mail for right now ?
 
Update. Single updates seem to be working.

Found out how to get my old mail rules back. *thank God!*

In addition, turns out two installers were fighting each other - 1.3.1 and 1.3.2. After updating to 10.2.4, this was no longer a problem. The combined updater for 10.2.8 is running in the background as I type this... so it's looking good.

I think this is my one and only warning to back up everything and stop procrastinating. The last time I didn't back up, I lost everything on my 6230CD.....

Still can't figure out how to get my extended keyboard working right. the volume and eject keys aren't working right. Do I need to reboot mouse and keyboardless ? Is the software automatically selecting the 'lower' keyboard setting (i.e.- any standard USB keyboard) when it sees my keyboard ? How do I make it recognize it's an apple keyboard ? how do I remap the keys ?

In honor of my computer's confused state, I have (after a year) finally come up with a name for HER..... Dory! (as in the confused blue fish in 'Finding Nemo').
 

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Maybe we can help Dory... If I just look at _some_ of the problems you're experiencing, I get the feeling that one or more of your USB connectors don't work right. Hardware, yes, that's what I mean. Are you using some sort of USB hub? Even if not, one USB port could be acting strangely. If it starts happening again (mouse cursor problem), or it already is (keyboard not properly working): Try connecting the keyboard directly to the eMac and on a _different_ port.
 
How about repairing permissions, running fsck, etc? Anyone think this may help some of the problems? Perhaps trashing some plists?
 
...to at least one of your problems.
The random mouse jumping can be caused by using an optic mouse on a pad that has lots of shapes and colours on it. The mouse can interpret these as you moving it much longer and faster than you want.
Good luck mate.
 
A little detail on stone's post -- more specifically, mousepads that have "printed" images on them can confuse an optical mouse, since printed images are made up of colored dots in a specific pattern, and those patterns layered on top of one another (similar to what's done in printing) produces a "moire" pattern and prevents the mouse from "seeing" where it is, since it's "seeing" a repetition of the same dots over and over.

Try using a mouse pad that is a solid color, does not have a printed image on it, or on a regular, wooden desk.
 
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