When should you reinstall system software?
If you have a problem with your system software, you may see this icon in the middle of the screen:
If this icon appears, follow the instructions in “Repairing a Damaged Disk” earlier in this chapter to test your startup hard disk and repair any damage.
If repairing the disk doesn’t help, follow the instructions in the next section, “Installing System Software,” to reinstall system software on your startup hard disk.
Installing system software
Follow the steps in this section to do what is commonly called a “normal” installation of system software.
If you’re installing system software on a hard disk for the first time, make sure that your hard disk has been initialized, a process that prepares the disk to store information. If you see the hard disk’s icon on the desktop when you start up the computer, the disk has been initialized. If no disk icon appears when you start up, see “Initializing a Hard Disk” earlier in this chapter for instructions.
To do a normal installation, follow these steps:
1Start up your computer from the Disk Tools disk or the
See “Starting Up From a
2Find and open the Disk First Aid icon.
You may need to look in a folder called Utilities to find Disk First Aid.
