why my Mac freeze when PDF files in the FINDER

Wish I could help but I'm looking for some answers on this exact problem also. I'm running on a new iMac with 10.5.5, this has happened to me several times and like you said it locks my computer and and only a hard reboot will do. I think it has something to do with the fonts.

I have some scanned .pdf files (that are receipts) and have japanese characters in them that I need to turn in for travel claims. I'm having all kinds of problems with reading them in Adobe or Preview but preview is the only on that is locking up my computer so far. Also I have had the computer lock up when just browsing to folder with finder before making Adobe the default reader.

In reading some other discussion people are having similar issues but claim it only started with the 10.5.5 update. I don't know about this but it sounds like we are not alone on this problem. Very annoying as I don't have this problem on my PC. Hopefully someone can help.

I confirm the same unfortunate situation: Since the update to 10.5.5 I have this problem.

My observation:
- Linked to 10.5.5
- Occurs when opening pdfs or simply opening directories with pdfs
- The freezing is progressive: at first I might be able to view like 5 pdfs, then the mac starts to freeze when opening just one. At last it freezes when simply opening the directory.

Measures taken:
- Disk utility repairs
- Disk Warrior full repair
- Complete formatting of HD and complete reinstallation
- MAC Hardware test tool
- OnyX full repair suite

Result:
- 10 nights of work, lots of frustration an settings lost, functionality not reestablished

I wonder how long it will be till Apple publishes a statement and/or workaround.

Well, same problem here since yesterday.

I did a clean install and still got the same problema in a specific folder. I can't say with sure that is the pdf files that are freezing Finder...

Anyone has any hint how to fix it?

Same problems. Any attempt to view PDF files locking up my computer after 10.5.5 update (using Preview or just hitting the space bar). The only way to use computer is to do a hard reboot....
APPLE ARE YOU LISTENING????

Exactly! Are you listening Apple?! The first note seems to be dated in early October. For more than two months now there has been a critical error in the system!

I've had all the problems described above, and more. And already for a long time now. The latest is that Safari closes down every three minutes. This note I had to pre-write , copy and paste quickly into Safari.

I've tried many things: Update Adobe, handle the files with Readiris Pro 11.6 (USD 60.00), do every trick with TechTool Pro (USD 99.00), copy and paste and copy the files around. After 160 dollars and countless hours, nothing helped.

The pdf-files are ok because they open easily in Windows. (Apple! You hear that! WORKS BETTER IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS!) The problem is in MacOs 10.5.5.

My guess is it's related to SCANNED PDF files. But that's only a fact, not an excuse for Apple.
I remember seeing somewhere a comment that this could be caused by third-party software, maybe HP scanner software. I have an HP (all-in-one) scanner. But as I've had it for more than a year and it used to be ok, that's no exuse for Apple, either.

It was nice to see I'm not alone with the problem. No it's Apple's turn to do something. At least could you, please, tell us that you recognize the problem and that you're working on it?

Whoops. I see the first post is from October, but since it's recently been bumped...

I've encountered this myself, though not very often. As it turns out, QuickLook is the culprit. QuickLook is that handy piece of software that peaks inside photos, text documents, and other visual media, and generates a thumbnail icon of the contents so that not every single PDF and JPG has the same identical postcard icon.

I'm not sure how the exact issue crops up, but it seems to mostly affect PDF documents when Adobe Acrobat is present. Before jumping to conclusions over who's responsible, I'm not sure if it's Apple's fault or Adobe's; it's a pain regardless. There's a couple different ways to kill it. The brute force way is to simply trash the following three folders:

/System/Library/Frameworks/QuickLook.framework/Resources/Generators
/System/Library/QuickLook
/Library/QuickLook

A far more finessed way for those comfortable with shell scripting can be found here. If the browser doesn't jump to it right away, search for a post by eddie420. For extra QuickLook disabling tastiness, add that script to your Login Items and it will fire every time you reboot so that if you accidentally re-enable QuickLook, a reboot will cut it down a size.

Hope that helps. A bug fix would be even better, but this should get the job done in the meantime.

EDIT: As an aside, outright deleting QuickLook can have some "drastic side effects," so the shell script may be the better bet.

Message was edited by: Duo

Thanks for the tips. And you're probably right that they help.

I just don't think it's a good enough solution to shut down some of the features of the OS. Fact remains that there's something wrong in it.

But thanks, really. That was absolutely the best try so far!

Welcome to Apple Discussions..

Try this... delete these files; com.adobe.acrobat.pdfviewer.plist and com.adobePDFAdminSettings.plist

They are here; /Uses/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag those files from your Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and reboot.

Also, *it's VERY important to run Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions BEFORE and AFTER ANY software update.* You will avoid these problems if you do this.



Carolyn 🙂

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Since this is happening in the Finder... try this:

Locate this file: com.apple.finder.plist /Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag that file from the Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and reboot.

If that didn't do the job, do a Spotlight search and look for any .pdf files you have downloaded and saved and DELETE them. Somewhere in your system you have a corrupted .pdf file.

And, check the hard disk. Even if you've done this already, try again:

Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.

Insert your Mac OS X Install disc in your computer’s optical drive or an optical drive connected to your computer, and then restart your computer. When you hear the startup tone, hold down the C key until you see the progress indicator, which looks like a spinning gear.

Follow the onscreen instructions until the menu bar appears with the Utilities menu in it, choose Utilities > Disk Utility, click First Aid, and then click Repair Disk. When it's finished, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Disk. In the Startup Disk window select MacintoshHD 10.x.x and click Restart.

Also, the best way to have Apple be aware of these issues is to send them crash reports. Here's how to do that:
Reporting problems to Apple
When an application quits unexpectedly, you see a dialog that gives you the option to submit a report about the problem, called a “bug report,” to Apple.

When you submit a bug report to Apple, it includes information about the problem and your computer’s configuration. Many problems are directly attributable to the hardware and software configuration.

No personal information is gathered about you or your computer. No information that can be used to identify your computer is sent, such as volume names, network addresses, or hardware addresses. For more information, click the link at the bottom of the page to see Apple’s customer privacy policy.

To submit a bug report to Apple:
Connect to the Internet.
In the dialog that appeared when the application quit, click the Submit button.
Type a description of what you were doing when the application quit. List the applications that were open when the problem occurred, and any steps or hints to reproduce the problem.
Review the report in the Crash Report window.
Click “Send to Apple” to submit the report.

You won’t receive an immediate response, but Apple greatly appreciates your taking the time to submit a bug report. As the software is revised, these reports are reviewed to help improve the software.

Your computer also records details about the problem in a log file. You can use log files to troubleshoot problems with an application, or you can send a log to the application’s developer if it is requested.

You can view the logs in Console, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.



Carolyn 🙂

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

I have an occasional desktop "freeze" problem, but it does not seem to be necessarily triggered by pdf files (although I use Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 a lot and usually have the application open for viewing files). The symptoms I have (which may be different from yours--AND ONLY OCCUR OCCASIONALLY) are that I can access files in open applications (and open new applications from the dock), BUT I cannot select, or operate on, any icon on the desktop.

This is not related to disk permissions as I have carefully repaired permissions and had it reoccur prior to installing or updating any new software. I have also run the hardware repair utility from the Leopard install disk, and no errors were detected.

In this situation I have opened up Activity Monitor to view the processes and see if anything was using up resources (using up all the "threads" or memory), and found nothing amiss. I have then shut down all open applications, and after each application was closed I then tested to see if I could operate on a desktop icon (and could not).

I can always correct the situation, at any time, by going to the Apple Menu and selecting Force Quit and then Force Quitting the Finder (I don't have to re-boot the computer).

One other thing I noticed is this: I do have Techtool Pro and when the situation occurs if I start Techtool Pro (open the application) and then quit Techtool, the problem resolves itself. So, whether it is related to Techtool or whether something in the Techtool startup process just corrects the situation, I don't know.

My particular problem only occurs only occasionally (maybe once or twice a week), and as I describe, it is easy to deal with. Yours may be totally different. Just thought I would post this finding of my situation in case it assists you.

I have had the exact same problem with PDF documents created by my HP OfficeJet 7410 scanner and it has really annoyed me.

Today I installed the OS X 10.5.6 update and all problems solved. I can even rebuild my spotlight index without it hanging halfway through the process.

First of all, thanks Carolyn and Barry for you help. I did most of the things Carolyn suggested but they didn't really (i.e. at all) help. Anyway, I really appreciate that you put so much time trying to find a solution for the problem.

Fact remains that there was a bug in the OS. After I updated earlier this week to 10.5.6 all pdf-related problems were solved. Bad news is that during this lengthy process I managed to screw up Safari so that it only works for a minute and then shuts off. It's account related so there no bug. I installed Firefox instead and use that. Even better.

I've heard before that the pdf-problem has something to do with HP software. Weeks ago I, too, deleted all HP software. That didn't work for me. So how do we know that HP (in connection with 10.5.5) is to blame?

Anyway, after six months of agony, with Mac Os X 10.5.6 life is beautiful again. Next time I'd really appreciate if Apple, after recognizing a problem, could inform us that the fix is on its way. They must have known of this for some time.

Carolyn, I almost fell in love with you after reading your message that sounded too good to be true. And it was just that. Did not help.

But thanks!