Q: App Store and others Not Responding in Mountain Lion
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Aug 21, 2012 10:04 AMby Andy Staines,Thanks for the response. I guess I liked the days of a CD and a 14 minute install instead of the nearly 4 hours this took..
Especially when - upon completetion - nothing has changed. Still no App Store. Still no Privacy/Securiy panel. Still no Address Book. Still stops responding in Mail snd I bet I could find a few more places if I started to look for them.
So - thanks. But. Any other ideas anyone?
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Aug 21, 2012 10:10 AMby mende1,Create a backup before
1. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528
2. Login as root, open Finder, select Go > Go to Folder, write /Users/user/Library. In user write your user name. Right-click in Preferences > Get Info and rename it to Preferences-old
3. Reboot and login in your user
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Aug 21, 2012 1:08 PMby Andy Staines,Thanks for sticking with me here but alas no - that didn't do it either.
I had considered this course of action although it is a bit like taking the proverbial sledgehammer and all that.
If it is of any help in diagnosis then it all works when logged in as root. But when logging in as my usual admin user - with all prior prefereces absent - it is just the same.
A relief in some way as I didn't fancy having to trawl through eveythign and rebuild preferences!
But sadly the asnwer still lies elsewhere so - any other ideas wopuld be welcomed.
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Aug 21, 2012 10:20 PMby Jonathon,Andy,
Sorry this is so long...just trying to help and support your efforts. I for one am not convinced your install was damaged (because of my experience below!) but it COULD be. I think mende1's suggestions were a good start.
Not knowing what MBP model and previous OS you have it's difficult to say at this point exactly WHAT the issue is with your upgrade. I have heard the upgrades to Lion and Mtn Lion from anything previous can be problematic, depending on various things and/or how it is done. But usually, the older the MBP model and OS are (or any other Mac for that matter, assuming it CAN be upgraded of course), the more issues there can be.
However, I CAN tell you that I JUST discovered TWO significant bugs in the SysPrefs on a BRAND NEW MBP 2.6Hz, Mid-2012 I received last week, with pre-installed Mnt Lion 10.8 and NO other non-native software installed yet. And sure enough...I JUST returned from the Apple Store where I was able to reproduce the bugs on ALL their computer models, ALL of which were using the 10.8 OS (...and which I am about to report to Apple, but only AFTER replying here first, as I had intended and wanted to do last night, except that I FIRST needed to confirm if they were reproducible and legit at the store, which they are). So you may have discovered additional new bugs (or not), but obviously you won't know until or unless you do additional testing (ugh - I know!).
I would say your issues are a possible combo of the age of your MBP, the upgrade, and POSSIBLY other bugs in 10.8 that are as yet unknown. Only additional testing and time will tell for sure. At the very least I would back everything up, do a complete wipe via Disk Utility (for good measure) and reinstall 10.8 clean to help rule out possible "upgrade" issues (ie, over a previous OS), then go from there.
I also miss the good ol' DVD days as well and am not a fan of the new install paradigm with much less control over various parameters. Not to mention the fact is REQUIRES an internet connection. But here we are. (What if I'm in the middle of Borneo when my Mac goes down without an internet connection??! LOL...but seriously.)
Regardless, and for what it's worth, here are the two new SysPref bugs I just discovered in 10.8 and was able to confirm at the Apple Store. As far as I know they are as yet unknown and do not appear anywhere else on this forum. Furthermore, the functions described below work perfectly in 10.6.X and 10.7.X OS (I have another Mid-2007 MBP with 10.6.8 and a 2011 iMac running 10.7.4 for comparison).
Bug 1- Desktop OS contextual menu does not function properly under certain circumstances. Right-click on desktop and select Change Desktop Background. If you're lucky the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window opens. If it DOES, quit and repeat. The second time it will NOT open - despite the fact SysPrefs actually IS activated (ie, upon the second attempt, assuming it opened the first time and you quit/closed it, the SysPrefs icon bounces in the dock and displays the white orb beneath - indicating it is active - however, the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window DOES NOT OPEN/APPEAR). In other words, it is open but HIDDEN (bug no.1).
At this point, repeat the selection above again OR...Command-Tab over to the open but hidden SysPrefs icon and voila - the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window finally APPEARS. Now, quit SysPrefs, and repeat the selection above a THIRD time. Again, the SysPrefs icon bounces but nothing appears. Repeat the selection above again OR Command-Tab over to it's icon and voila - the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window now APPEARS.
Needless to say, the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window should ALWAYS open immediately (using the right-click contextual menu selection process above) the FIRST and every time thereafter. But it doesn't in 10.8. Also note that ONLY THE FIRST TIME this is attempted AFTER Restarting the computer OR logging out/in will the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window appear. Thereafter, it will not - as described above.
Bug 2 - Added folders to the Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window do not stay put. Open the SysPrefs Desktop & Screen Saver dialogue window (opening process doesn't matter) and ADD at least 2-3 other folders to the Folder section below using the + button (regardless of whether or not they contain pictures, for demonstration purposes only). This function obviously allows one to specify NUMEROUS OTHER folders that contain pictures to be used as possible desktop backgrounds, in addition to the default Pictures folder that is there, and the default pics Apple provides above. Now, note the LAST folder that is added to the group of folders (regardless of how many were added) that now appear under Folders. Close/quit SysPrefs. Re-open the Desktop & Screen Savers window again and note that only the LAST folder that was added now resides under Folders and all others, except the defaults, have disappeared (bug no.2).
Not sure if this will be much help Andy but wanted you to know you are not alone and it may not all be you! So much more to say but good luck getting this resolved. It took me forever to figure this out and the full story is so much longer, but I will spare you the boring details. Suffice to say, only trial and error will get you closer to an answer, as frustrating that process can be, but I would start with a clean install and take it from there (despite the transition hassle that route obviously presents - argh!). Hang in there and please let me/us know how it goes.
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Aug 22, 2012 3:10 AMby Andy Staines,Gosh Jonathon - that took some reading over my morning tea! Let me say straight out in case anyone else is reading - my problem remains unresolved. And this is going to be long reply I guess.
Stupid, stupid of me - I should know better than this. My machine is a 2011 unibody MBP 17 inch top spec. It was running Lion and has been since about two weeks after Lion was released - and I somehow wish it still was! If nothing else the new and **** awful Gatekeeper wont let me run an app I need to try because I can no longer access the privacy/security prefs. And I can't update a couple of apps because I can't get into the App Store.
Oh - and next time I have to go through this process I am most definitely going to farm off a copy of the OS dmg file for re-use once it has downloaded!
Maybe this is relevant 1: Maybe not but who knows. I do recall that when I installed Lion - the first to be downloaded and installed via the questionable App Store process - at some point that I no longer recall with any accuracy - but I believe it was during the reboot after install - my Mac fell asleep because I was not sitting in front of it at the time. The only way I could get it back was actually to power off/on and Lion was not totally kosher. In particular the machine would not turn itself off. Nothing else seemed to be actually wrong but I had this vague sensation that it wasn't quite right either. So a few days later I reinstalled Lion and it seemed to be OK after that and ever since. I was kind of shocked to discover actually that installing a new OS neither automatically turned off the power-save settings or turned off time machine as it also started a TM backup at some point.
Maybe this is relevant 2 but I very much doubt it: As a convert to the Mac back in 2003 and coming from being a Windows programmer the one thing I really disliked and still do - is Finder. It *****. It is so under-featured that I was really struck dumb when I first started to use it. It actually very nearly halted my conversion right there. But my future Mac life was miraculously saved by the discovery of the outstanding Path Finder which I use (and keep up to date) to this day. Finder now only gets started up when I need to go into Time Machine backups for any reason, so this is rare.
Now to your bugs: In the spirit of trying out your bugs I removed Path Finder and other 'startup' items from my login apps and rebooted. And was immediately surprised to discover that I have no 'desktop'. No icons. no connected server icons. No anything. And - what's more - no right click menu on the desktop. Yes - the Finder prefs are set up OK which is not that hard to do as there are so few of them! Just big, empty swathes of nothingness on the desktop. So I can't even try your first bug...
My sledgehammer solution: That's a joke actually. Getting rid of everything and starting again is not an immediate option. This machine is used for software development and there is far too much to do for a complete rebuild at the moment. But I have solved the issue in one respect in that I have ordered a new, shiny Retina MacBook. Ok - I was going to do that anyway - I just bought the purchase forward . My main worry there is that will the transfer from this machine to that just copy the problem across.. I guess I will find out.
This doesn't negate the need to solve my issues on this machine however. It's going to take a couple of weeks for the new MB to arrive and meanwhile I still need to work.
Thanks again for your input to this. If any of the above rings a bell with anyone I am all ears!
