Apps constantly crashing - I've tried Repair Permissions :(

Create a new User, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> "+" (make it an admin acct) and test the apps in this new account if they work the problem is isolated to your User and not systemwide. If it works proceed to next steps, if not let us know:

Log back into your normal user account:

Here's the whole litany for thoroughly checking your home folder. It's not as daunting as it looks.

1. Navigate to ~(YourHome/Library/ Fonts - drag this folder to the desktop.

• Restart and test your applications.
• If they work start adding the fonts back few at a time.
( Likely suspects are Times RO & Helvetica Fractions, also if you do not use Classic you can trash the classic fonts.)

2. Check Preferences Thoroughly;

• Navigate to ~(YourHome/Library/ Preferences drag this folder to the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If this works, save the old preferences folder somewhere else or on disk, name it "old prefs" .
** Note: A very important file is the " com.apple.Mail.plist" preference file located in the Preferences folder which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences (hold this one and replace if your problem is not with Mail).
You'll have to go through some of your System Preferences and apps to set the preferences back to how you like them. (Or if you have the time and inclination, "cherry pick" through until you find the problem one or two.)

3. Check Permissions Inside Home Folder

• Navigate to YourHome/Library.
• Get Info (Command - i) on folders for apps you are having problems with.
• Open the "Ownership & permissions" disclosure triangle.
• Make sure you are the owner, with "read and write" access.
• Click on "apply to all"
• If this is correct, open the "Applications Support" folder and do the same procedure (Command+I) for the folders with the names of the applications you are having trouble with.
(Note:The reason to check this is because repairing permissions with Disk Utility doesn't touch permissions inside your home folder.)

4. Navigate to YourHome/Library/ Caches and drag this folder to the trash, then log out and back or restart. There is no need to replace this folder.

5. Check Login & Startup items. Startup in "Safe Mode" If that works go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to ~(yourHome)/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items.

Good luck, let us know.






-mj
macjack@gmail.com

Message was edited by: macjack

Michael Boylan wrote:
My G5 ... booting from the Leopard disc and repairing the disc - lots of errors found including missing headers - everything happily reported to be repaired, and running Repair Permissions - hundreds of thousands of corrections were made. Many more than had ever been made by running Repair Permissions from the startup disc.

It took the whole day and because tons of errors were reported to have been repaired I was convinced progress had been made and I was looking forward to welcoming my Mac back but this morning within thirty seconds of firing up Adobe Bridge it quit when renaming a few files.

It's a reasonably spec'ed G5 with 3GB memory and 40% of the HD is still free. No new peripherals have been added since it worked happily under Leopard, nor indeed since all the years it's worked happily under Tiger.

I despair. Am I looking at a complete reformat and reinstallation?

How old is this machine? These days, hard drives typically only last 3 years or less. With that many errors, you are likely to have scrambled the OS. The "file system" is repaired, but that doesn't mean your data is any good. I say just buy a new hard drive and reinstall Leopard. It should be good as new.

Michael Boylan wrote:
macjack, tnx for the prompt and detailed reply.
This new test account, why do you suggest it should be an admin account?

In case you need it.



-mj

Glad it's sorted!
Enjoy your Mac 🙂



-mj

etresoft wrote:
How old is this machine? These days, hard drives typically only last 3 years or less. I say just buy a new hard drive and reinstall Leopard. It should be good as new.

Easy for you to say!

Your solution is using a elephant gun to kill a mouse. You should try to present the least intrusive and least expensive methods first. There is also no assurance that his "files" would perform any better, after an A&I. This is not the indicated troubleshooting procedure for issues within a Home folder.

In addition what would make you leap to the conclusion that his hard drive was bad with no diagnostic testing and where do you get your information that HDDs last 3 years?



-mj

macjack wrote:

etresoft wrote:
How old is this machine? These days, hard drives typically only last 3 years or less. I say just buy a new hard drive and reinstall Leopard. It should be good as new.

Easy for you to say!

Not just easy to say, but easy to do as well! Can you imagine how quiet these discussion forums would have been if more people had bought newer, bigger hard drives when they upgraded to 10.5?

I'm always amazed when people would rather spend weeks of frustration and possible irretrievable data loss to save $94.

Your solution is using a elephant gun to kill a mouse.

No violent metaphor please 🙂

In addition what would make you leap to the conclusion that his hard drive was bad with no diagnostic testing and where do you get your information that HDDs last 3 years?

Since when is asking a question a "leap"? It is a perfectly valid question. A 3 year old hard drive that has been though a couple of OS upgrades, some backups, a few kernel panics, etc. probably does need at least a reformat. My information comes from 20 years of experience. Hard drives are designed to be cheap, big, and fast. They aren't designed to last long. Plus, they are perhaps the least expensive single component in a modern computer, the most likely to fail, and the easiest to replace.

I wouldn't recommend doing a clone anyway. If you have problems on the old system that would just perpetuate them.

Personally, I like cleaning things out and re-installing everything every 1-2 years. It probably does take a couple of weeks to get all the various parts sorted out, but the benefit I get from that effort justifies the hassle - for me at least.

One thing I do that simplifies the process is making disk images of all my installation disks as soon as I get them. I never install anything from a CD or DVD. I make a disk image, save the license code, and install from that. I can re-build my entire system in a couple of hours. The two weeks I quoted is just residual time to tweak all the system setting for the new environment.

I probably do spend more money on hard drives than most people. I toss them in the trash at the first sign of trouble. But also, my systems never crash or run slow. I've had, maybe, 4 kernel panics in 8 years.

etresoft wrote:
I toss them in the trash at the first sign of trouble.

Just send 'em this way 😉



-mj

macjack wrote:

etresoft wrote:
I toss them in the trash at the first sign of trouble.

Just send 'em this way 😉

Actually, I only trash a drive if I know it is bad (i.e. it makes a grinding noise or hangs up after a reformat and reinstall). Otherwise, I recycle them into portable, external enclosures. I don't use them as my primary backup, but they are good for other things.

When I upgraded to 10.5, my old HD was perfectly fine, but I swapped it out for a bigger one anyway. If there is one thing that a new OS always brings is more bloat. Your Tiger machine that was perfectly fine may suddenly have insufficient free space to run Leopard well. If you buy a new drive with a new OS, you get 1) a bigger, faster hard drive, 2) a potentially cleaner install and more stable system, and 3) an instant backup drive complete with installed OS and all your data. In all seriousness, I don't think I will ever do a major OS upgrade in the future without buying a new drive at the same time.