TITLE
    At Ease: Flashing "?" and Drive Not Mounting on Workstation
Article ID:
Created:
Modified:
24622
9/23/98
4/17/00

TOPIC

    This article describes how to identify if the disk is locked by At Ease and how to unlock it.


DISCUSSION

    There are many conditions under which this could occur. If your workstation is running At Ease for WorkGroups and the security feature "prevent the user from starting up with a floppy disk" is enabled, the hard disk may be locked by At Ease. When something happens to the system folder on the startup volume and this feature of At Ease has been activated, the startup volume will not mount when you boot the workstation from a bootable floppy disk, CD, another hard disk or drive partition.

    Start up your workstation with the CD or disk tools disk that came with your computer. If the startup volume appears on the desktop, then the volume is not locked by At Ease. Follow the troubleshooting tips in the following Tech Info Library article to determine the problem your workstation is exhibiting:

    Article 13784: " Flashing Question Mark on the Screen: Causes and Cures "

    Note: Blinking question marks can be caused by many things. For example, separating the Finder and System (moving one out of the System Folder), can cause a blinking question mark. Improperly connecting devices to the SCSI port on your computer can also cause a blinking question mark.

    Solution
    If the startup volume does not appear on the desktop run the Disk First Aid utility. Disk First Aid sees the drive if the hard disk is functioning and allow you to verify and repair the drive. If after verifying or repairing the drive it still does not mount on the desktop, try unlocking the drive with the At Ease Unlock utility. The utility prompts you for a password which can be obtained through the Apple Assistance Center.

    The utility must be on a floppy disk or removable media. If necessary, the At Ease Unlock utility can be installed by means of a custom installation of the Apple Network Administrators Toolkit software and selecting "At Ease Unlock".

    Additional TIL articles you should read:

    Article 22090: " Drive Setup 1.3.1: Read Me "
    Article 22101: " Global Product Flash: Drive Setup 1.3.1, 1.4 and At Ease "
    Article 30200: " At Ease 4.0/5.0: Flashing Question Mark "

Document Information
Product Area: Apple Software
Category: At Ease
Sub Category: General Topics

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