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I think I changed the permissions for the hard drive and now my MacBook Pro won't load. I can access the terminal using the OSX install disc.

What are the commands required to reset the permissions for the hard drive?

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Maybe the answers to this older question can help you? – Percival Ulysses Oct 6 '12 at 16:23

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Start up from the install disc, run Disk Utility (it's under the Utilities menu), then select your regular startup volume (the volume, not the entire disk) in the sidebar, select the First Aid tab, and run Repair Disk Permissions.

That should fix things to the point where you can boot normally, but it may not be quite right because the version of Disk Utility on the install DVD is probably not the version you're actually running. So, after you restart of the hard disk, rerun the repair procedure on the live system, using the Disk Utility on the volume you're fixing.

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Thanks for your reply Gordon – F1- Oct 9 '12 at 23:35
Unfortunately running repair disk permissions hasn't alleviated the problem. I've run repair disk, repair disk permission and even re-installed the operating system. When the computer loads, it makes it past the grey screen with the apple icon and then goes to a blank blue screen - when it gets to this screen it occassionally flickers to another blue screen which is a different shade of blue... help! – F1- Oct 9 '12 at 23:43
*** I think what I've done is change the permissions for the startup disk from "everyone" to "user only" or something. What commands can I type in terminal to correct this, as running repair disk permissions didn't work? – F1- Oct 9 '12 at 23:47
@F1- repair disk permissions should fix permissions on the volume itself, and on the files that're part of the operating system. From what you're describing, it sounds like you may have some third-party software installed that's trying to load at startup, failing, and crashing part of the OS in the process. perms repair doesn't fix third-party software. I'd try verbose boot (Command-V at startup) to see if it gives any hints what's going on, and maybe safe boot (Shift at startup) to turn off third-party startup stuff and get to the point where you can remove/fix/reinstall the problem sw. – Gordon Davisson Oct 10 '12 at 2:39

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