Mac Help Please!!!

[MrBadExample]

I'm hoping someone out there more knowledgeable can help me.

My Mac died on me Sunday. I had just run System Optimizer and repaired all my permissions. Then I ran Software Update to update the OS, iTunes, Java and one other thing I don't remember. Okay, I came back after all of these had finished and it said one of these updates had failed and I should try again. But I also needed to restart after the other updates. Now Stupid Me didn't really look to see which one failed to update, I was just going to check after I restarted. Except I couldn't restart. I get to the screen with the grey Apple logo and it quits. I don't even get the progress bar. I can't even boot from the Tiger DVD. I was able to start it up in Firewire mode this morning and connect it to my work Mac but whenever I try use Disk Utility it tells me "invalid sibling link". I can't find anything on Apple's support page to help me. It won't boot up in any mode other than Firewire.

Most of my important files were on an external drive. The only thing I don't want to lose is my iPhoto files.

I was running 10.4.3 (trying to upgrade to 10.4.4) on a flat panel 17" iMac.

Any help would be greatly appreciated with +1 Karma.

 

[SteveMcQ]

Hmmm...I have no idea, but try out the MacRumors forums. They're pretty knowledgeable and helpful there.

 

[WebScud]

Peer Guardian OS X has been causing all types of shit with 10.4.4 upgraders. If you don't have that installed I'm not sure what to tell you.

The Apple Support forums are a good place too.

 

[diaeresis]

If you can boot it as a firewire drive, plug it into another computer and pull the iPhoto files from it.

There may be a recourse involving booting into a terminal and doing some sort of checksum, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I'd prepare to have to reformat via disk utility on your work (or another) Mac while you're researching.