"preparing to empty the Trash" eternally until Force Finder to Relaunch?

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"preparing to empty the Trash" eternally until Force Finder to Relaunch?

New install of SL on MacBookPro, updated to 10.6.1. Dialog "preparing to empty the Trash" sticks eternally. Repaired Permission from CD; Repaired disk from CD. No joy. Is there a simple fix of which I'm not aware?

Details of environment are:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP11.0055.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.2f10
Serial Number (system): W8626 *VWX
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CB8D99B6
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

<edited by host>

Power On Self-Test:

Last Run: 11/7/09 1:42 PM
Result: Passed

2GB RAM

MacBook Pro, G5 8-core Mac Pro, G5 Dual 2 GHz, G4 TiBook, G3 IceBooks, old iMacs, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 7, 2009 10:47 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 7, 2009 10:51 AM in response to Greg Heuer1

HI Greg,

Try holding down the Option key when emptying the Trash.

Solving Trash Problems

Try deleting this file also.

com.apple.finder.plist

~/Library/Preferences. Move that file to the Trash and restart your Mac.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 2

Greg Heuer1 Author

Level 1

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Nov 7, 2009 10:58 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn - Thanks for the advice. Did both (separately) but neither helped solve the problem. Dialog box, blue stripes roll "Preparing to empty the Trash..." decorates my screen.

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Answer 3

Nov 7, 2009 7:55 PM in response to Greg Heuer1

Hello Greg:

Try reinstalling OS X 10.6 (upgrade) over your existing system.

Barry

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Answer 4

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Nov 8, 2009 3:21 AM in response to Greg Heuer1

1. You should not list the serial number of your Mac in an open forum like this one. I have reported your post to the moderators, asking that this bit of info be removed from it.

2. Sometimes hangs while emptying trash can be fixed by relaunching the Finder: either use the Force Quit option from the Apple menu to relaunch it or option click on the Finder's Dock item to do so.

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Answer 5

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Nov 8, 2009 3:27 AM in response to Greg Heuer1

It may be Finder but it may be Trash itself. Try rebuilding your .Trash...

Go to /Applications /Utilities/Terminal and launch it.
At the prompt, copy and paste this command

sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash

Press Return.
You will be asked to enter your admin password. It will be invisible.
Enter it and press Return.
Log out and back in or restart.

Let us know.

-mj

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Answer 6

Greg Heuer1 Author

Level 1

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Nov 8, 2009 9:07 AM in response to R C-R

Thanks for the tip on the s/n. I hoped it might help with diagnostics to know what sort of old MBP it is. I'll remember in the future.

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Answer 7

Greg Heuer1 Author

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Nov 10, 2009 8:47 AM in response to Greg Heuer1

Well, rebuilding the Trash did not help, but this work around from my son did:

"Is there a bunch of stuff in the trash? Thats an odd problem. I would take everything out of the trash, put it in to one directory (call it stuff), put it back in the trash, and remove it using Terminal. Here is the command, you can copy and paste in a terminal window:

sudo rm -r ~/.Trash/stuff/

Enter your admin password, and poof. Stuff gone. No argument. Use rm -r only as a last resort, and as always, make sure your backup is current."

Now I will download the 10.6.2 combo and hope that fixes it.

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Answer 8

Greg Heuer1 Author

Level 1

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Nov 12, 2009 11:21 AM in response to Greg Heuer1

Installation of the 10.6.2 combo solved the problem, which appeared to be related to some glitch in the Finder. Not only could I not empty the Trash, but also I could not Cmd-d duplicate a small .rtf on the desktop - spinning beach ball. All is well now.

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