Downloading MySQL has crashed my Mac

Comptstudent

Hi, am looking for any suggestions with the following problem:


yesterday I downloaded MySQL server from the website to my MacBook Air. I followed the instructions but something went wrong at the final instructions when I launched the terminal session from my utilities.

I entered the code cd/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
ls - al
sudo chown root: wheel *
cd ..
sudo chown root:wheel MySQLCOM
touch .bash_login

Then I stopped and closed my computer. When I put it on all my files had gone and the settings were changed. It has gone back to basi/original mode - all I wished to do was install MYSQL but the programme seems to have taken over the entire computer.

I have already contacted Apple who advised me to contact SQL support who in turn told me to contact Mac OS.


Totally frustrated and would be very grateful please for any help. I'm sure the entire problem can be rectified by someone who knows the "code" in just a few minutes.

oscarBravo

Comptstudent wrote: »

I entered the code cd/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM

I really hope you didn't enter it exactly like that: there needs to be a space between "cd" and the rest of the command. If you entered it like that, you will have received an error message, and the rest of the things you did will have had some very nasty unintended consequences.

Comptstudent

As far as I remember I left a space there.

Don't know how to regain original set up. Am apprehensive of entering any further codes in case makes matters worse.

oscarBravo

Moving from Open Source to Mac because it looks like you've broken your OS rather than MySQL itself. Hopefully some of the good people over here will be able to help you out.

gctest50

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718

Nemeses

Do you have a time machine backup? If so boot into recovery as gctest has posted and restore from one of your backups.

Failing that, Try reinstall the OS.

muggyog

Looking at the commands you may have just changed file ownership ( permissions) in the wrong directory. Before going for a reinstall try booting from the recovery partition and repair the permissions using Disk Utility application. To gain access to it hold 'ALT' key while booting.

Are you using these instructions?

Greentree_uk

I'd say you have changed permissions on the whole drive. only thing to fix this is a wipe and reinstall. your data should still be there so you will need to retrieve it first.

SpaceTime

You shouldn't need to go as extreme as to have to install the system from scratch. If it's just a permissions issue, it can be repaired relatively easily.

Simply turn your Mac off (hold down the power button if necessary until it stops)

If it's a relatively new version of OS X you will have a recovery partition on the drive.

Just hold down Command + R and and press the on button and continue to hold until it enters recovery mode.

Or, If you've a physical copy of OS X on a DVD, insert the DVD and hold down C instead of the above.

You should see an option to Launch Disk Utility.

Once you're in Disk Utility, find an option to "repair disk permissions" and run that on your Macintosh HD (or whatever you've named your system disk).
You select your disk on the column on the right, and then you should see Verify Disk Permissions and Repair Disk Permissions. You can skip the Verify option and just go straight to Repair.

That should fix everything. It will take it a while to trawl through all your system files and check and correct everything so expect to see it chugging away for some time.

After that I'd suggest learning some Unix command line stuff before attempting to use the command line in Super User mode like that again! There are some good tutorials online but you can do quite a lot of damage from the Command Line if you've granted yourself super user or root privileges.

This may also help :

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417

You shouldn't need to reinstall the system unless you've actually deleted part of it or something like that and even then it can be done non-destructively.

You shouldn't really grant yourself that level of privilege in the Unix command line environment if you' don't know what you're doing. Unlike in the GUI, you can really wreak havoc on the computer if logged in as a superuser or as root.

Comptstudent

muggyog wrote: »

Looking at the commands you may have just changed file ownership ( permissions) in the wrong directory. Before going for a reinstall try booting from the recovery partition and repair the permissions using Disk Utility application. To gain access to it hold 'ALT' key while booting.

Are you using these instructions?

Thanks. Yes those were the instructions I followed.

Comptstudent

Thanks for all the advice. No, unfortunately hadn't a Time Machine back-up.

I followed all of those instructions SpaceTime - the computer performed them all exactly as mentioned but when I shut down and restarted things were still the same.

muggyog

Can you start it up in single user mode ( hold down 'apple' and 'S' keys while powering up ). If you can then type the command sbin/fsck –f. See does it repair anything. Type exit to go to Mac login window

Maybe it's me but I am no wiser what your exact problem is.

When I put it on all my files had gone and the settings were changed. It has gone back to basi/original mode

things were still the same

Can you get into your account? Can you run applications? Can you create another account? How do you know the files have gone if you can't login? What settings?

You are going to have to be a bit more specific if you want useful help to fix this problem.

Greentree_uk

like I said, you cannot fix this problem with a reinstall you will need to reformat the drive. if your drive has enough space partition it and then reinstall on a new partition, once installed you can then retrieve your old data. if you do not have a backup and do not know what you are doing I suggest a trip to the professionals.

brav

After you have wiped your machine etc, and if you still want to install MySQL but are not that comfortable with terminal, should should try a script like the one below.

It will set up MySQL for you on your mac.

See instructions:
https://github.com/MacMiniVault/Mac-Scripts/blob/master/mmvMySQL/mmvmysql-README.md
Other scripts(for wordpress etc):
http://code.macminivault.com/

SpaceTime

You might need to get some assistance from someone who knows their way around a Mac or even Linux.

What exactly happens when you reboot?
Is it refusing to let you login? Or is it just freezing / crashing or reporting missing components?

If you don't know anyone who could trouble shoot OS X or even Linux, your local friendly Apple dealer might be able to sort it for you.

What part of the country are you in?

Comptstudent

It's not freezing - it's letting me log in but I can't access or use any applications once logged in. The desktop background even changed like to a default setting. The application icons are there - when I try to open an application it says e.g. "The folder "Desktop" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."

Am in Carlow.

brav

I think what happened is the chown command you entered was done in your main home folder instead of a sub folder.
This changed the ownership of all your folders to wheel, instead of you. This would explain you not having correct permissions etc, and your preferences being 'reset back to original' because it could not read your background settings etc so just used default setting.
You can reset them in terminal but at this stage may be better to use the following method:
Similar to instructions here
1. Restart your computer
2. Press and hold the option key after the chime
3. Boot from the Mac OSx Recovery partition
4. Launch the Terminal app from the “utilities” menu at the top
5. Type in “resetpassword” and hit return (all one word)
6. Password Reset Utility launches
7. Select the volume containing the user account
8. Select the user account from the popup list
9. Click the “Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs” button in the lower right.
10. When it is done, restart your computer.

May also be good to repair disk permissions in disk utility.

However if the chown command was run in the root of your HDD, I personally would wipe the machine and do a clean install as repairing disk permissions may only resolve some of the issues

Comptstudent

Thanks a million brav. I followed your instructions and they worked a treat. I'm back to normal - all my photos and files are there and intact too :-)

I really appreciate all the help people on here have given me. I've learnt a lot myself too!!:)