Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Okay. I'm getting freaked out here. Trying to remain calm. When I went to bed last night, my Mac (dual 1.25 G4 running 10.3.3) was working in its nominally fine way. No one touched it overnight. When I got up this morning, it started acting odd, and I can't seem to fix it. So... HELP ME! SOS! And so on. Here's what's up. 1. It starts up just fine and sees all my files (this is good). 2. I can get online (this is also good). And many of my applications (Photoshop, Word and so on) are fine as well (again, good). 3. HOWEVER: when I try to open many of the apps contained within OS X (Mail, Safari, even Mac Help), I get either nothing at all, or it just freezes and starts the little spinning rainbow cursor. I have to force quit those apps to keep working. Here's what I've done so far: 1. A fresh install of OS X 10.3. I then used "software update" to make sure everything was the latest and greatest. NO HELP. 2. I ran the "disk utility" off the software install disc, and my drives were verified as being fine. NO HELP. 3. I pulled out the 1GB stick of RAM I'd added, and restarted. NO HELP. 4. The only new ANYTHING I've added this week was one new font. I guess I'll pull it, but I can't imagine one font screwing things up this bad. ALSO, I installed and used that font on Wednesday, andf the compujter was fine all yesterday. I can't imagine that's it. ANYWAY... any advice from my Mac friends would be aprpeciated. I can tell this isn't a huge problem. It's starting up fine, seeing all the files. But why aren't my applications working? it's gonna drive me nuts. Help, please. - Jeff Right now, I'm using IE to post this message 9as well as to look at Apple's site for any help). Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerJay Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Try "Repair Permissions" with the disk utility. This sometimes works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Geezer Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Jeff...can't help much since I'm still stuck with 9.2.2....(not a Luddite.....just that we dont want to spring for 12 upgrades of Quark Photoshop etc $$$$$) 10.3.3 doesn't have the "Classic" 9.2.2 boot option does it? Like maybe Safari isthinking it's in "Classic" Mode? Anyway...good luck, i'll leave it to the osXers Lynn G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 14, 2004 Author Share Posted May 14, 2004 Thanks for the help thus far, but I don't think I'm going in the right direction here. Think... - All of my non-Apple apps are working fine, in both Classic and OS X. I'm using the Mac right now (with IE). It's functioning. - Most of my Apple apps are screwed up. Mail, Safari, Help, Preview, Address Book and so on. Even the Calculator freezes after a second. Mostly, they won't show their usual start screen. When I go to "force quit", they look like they're running, though a few times it said "Mail (or whatever) not responding" in the "force quit" menu. - However, iTunes works fine. Font Book seems to work. Please tell me one of you OS Xperts can think of an easy solution. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songrytr Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 There was someone with this problem recently on a digest I get...they don't archive (unfortunately) but I *think* they were calling this a "kernel panic." Solution is to reset Permissions. Now I'm still running 9.something so I'm pretty clueless about X. "kernel panic" mac osx in Google brings up a number of promising listings. Good luck! this house is empty now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryrobinett Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 That doesn't sound like a kernel panic. That's when the screen goes dark and tells you in several languages that you have to restart or quit. I would suggest reparing your disk permissions. Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility. You might trash some prefs too and re-start. I'd like to help you more Jeff but you'd have to make some major Laker concessions first. All the best, Henry Robinett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 I just repaired the permissions in Disk Utilities. Although it seemed to fix a bunch of stuff, it didn't fix my problem. Any other ideas? Anyone? - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeVW Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 Jeff, A couple of things. First, go over to Version Tracker and grab a copy of Cocktail. Use it to clear your application caches. Second, you might want to trash the preference files (.plists) for the apps that are having trouble. Clean those caches every couple weeks or so. Apparently a number of people saw similar symptoms after the last Security Update, and cache clearing mostly seems to have fixed the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaptain Karl Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 It could be related to a firmware update. Check apples site for your particular G4. Also may be related to this http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25508 I've relied heavily on Tech Tool Pro in the past for things similar to this. I would recommend it highly. Cocktail as mentioned above is a good one too. "When I look at the smiles on all the children's faces,,...I just know they're about to jab me with something." -Homer J. Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 Well, guess what? I just trashed the one thing that was different... a font that one of my clients had me install and use for a recent ad. And now stuff is working again. A font. That was it. Isn't that crazy? In any case, I'm going to start clearing my application caches and preference files more often. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 Originally posted by Jeff Da Weasel: Well, guess what? I just trashed the one thing that was different... a font that one of my clients had me install and use for a recent ad. And now stuff is working again. A font. That was it. Isn't that crazy? - Jeff Músico, Productor, Ingeniero, Tecnólogo Senior Product Manager, América Latina y Caribe - PreSonus at Fender Musical Instruments Company Instagram: guslozada Facebook: Lozada - Música y Tecnología www.guslozada.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 Well, hell...I obviously didn't get here fast enough, but yes, a single font can fuck up your day. If that thing is torqued in any way, ANY application will try to access the font and hang until it does. A bit like the stone in the giant's shoe, but there it is. I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 I guess I shouldn't be shocked. The weird thing was, Offramp, that I'd installed and used the font a bunch on Tuesday. Used the computer all day Wednesday and Thursday with no problems. then it takes the proverbial crap on Friday morning? Why? Was it a time-release font bomb? How come it wreaked no havoc for two days? Know that I know the culprit, I may reinstall it and see if I can replicate the problem. But first, I'm doing some serious cache cleaning. Might as well sweep up everything while I'm in there. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 I would back up everything before you reinstall that font. And I don't know very much about computers really, but a font causing that many problems sounds mighty strange to me!! I guess you just never know! Cool hanging out with you yesterday for the Lakers game!!! Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 Originally posted by Ken/Eleven Shadows: I would back up everything before you reinstall that font.Already on it! Cool hanging out with you yesterday for the Lakers game!!!Absolutely, it was a blast. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 Originally posted by Jeff Da Weasel: I guess I shouldn't be shocked. The weird thing was, Offramp, that I'd installed and used the font a bunch on Tuesday. Used the computer all day Wednesday and Thursday with no problems. then it takes the proverbial crap on Friday morning? Why? Was it a time-release font bomb? How come it wreaked no havoc for two days?Look back on your habits, here; do you shut the computer down when you're done or do you let it sleep? I have the same G4, only single-proc, and I have more problems getting this thing to behave normally after sleeping than I do when I shut it off. Hell, I had my first kernel panic in 9 months earlier today...all sleep-related. Despite their power, these things are probably every bit as finicky as the old machines. Go into system prefs>energy saver, and uncheck "put hard disk to sleep whenever possible". You'll more than likely be surprised at how much grief goes away. Another thing to consider is when you did a permissions repair. Was it before or after the beach ball episodes? If the font was phuqued, not running a permissions repair would be likely to not give the computer 100% certified receipt of the font; when permissions repair is run, then the font becomes "official", and starts poking yer butt. Regardless, this kind of stuff has a really limited shelf life before it starts manifesting itself in bitchy ways. Kinda like seeing how long you can drive your car without changing the oil. I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 Well, I knew the font thing seemed too easy. This morning, it was back to the spinning beachball when I tried to launch Safari or Mail. Grrr! So, thanks to the advice of GeorgeVW, I grabbed a copy of Cocktail and just went to town. Fixed permissions, prebinded the whole system, cleared every bit of cache of any kind, dumped plists. Shut down. Unplugged. Waited thirty seconds while praying silently to the digital gods. Powered back up while keeping my fingers crossed. Everything rocks. Cool. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henchman Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 I thought Mac's were supposed to be idiot proof. Sorry. I just couldn't resist. Bad me. I'll go to my room now. IMDB Credit list President George Washington: "The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian Religion." President Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my religion." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHAN Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Originally posted by Henchman: I thought Mac's were supposed to be idiot proof. .Nobody ever said anyhing about them being "JEFF PROOF". So Many Drummers. So Little Time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 Another thing to try is "File System Check" . Hold down "command+S" then type "fsck - - y" (that's fsck-space-minus-y). Repeat until it comes up clean. And something that was causing kernal panics for me was some USB devices. Unplug 'em and restart. The font by itself shouldn't cause any problems. Got to be something else happening. What font is it? Where did it come from or who made it? Sly Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 Sly, I gotta politely disagree. If a font's resource data fork is blonked, the system will have a fit worthy of a 2nd grader in ToysRUs. The system is looking for the font as a resource, and when it can't reconcile or access, you get this kind of crap. I'm rather interested to know where the font was installed. I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 I greatly appreciate your politeness. I guess I was basically saying that if the font is causing problems I would make it leave the room. Sly Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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