Can't Restart or Shutdown from Apple Menu

Question

Level 2

186 points

Can't Restart or Shutdown from Apple Menu

Hi everyone

Out of the blue, I can't restart or shutdown my mac from the Apple menu (though I can put it to sleep). To restart or shutdown, I have to go back to the login window and do it that way.

Anyone got a solution?

Many thanks
WG

iMac ipod ibook, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Nov 30, 2005 1:30 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Francine Schwieder

Level 6

19,052 points

Dec 3, 2005 10:20 AM in response to writergirl2

I been seeing reports of this problem a lot lately. One thing that used to cause a failure to shutdown was MirrorAgent, the automatic dotMac sync program, although I think they may have gotten it fixed. Generally if something is running that refuses to stop it can foul up shutdown. Try launching Activity Monitor from your /Applications/Utilities folder, show all processes, then click on the column header for "Process ID" to arrange in numeric order. Quit all your programs except Activity Monitor, and take a look to see what is still running that has a higher number than the Finder. Anything that is could be the culprit. Items that do not have a little icon are system processes. There should be two mdimports running plus mds (these are all Spotlight goodies) that launch after the Finder starts running. Try quitting anything else--Activity Monitor includes pmTool so don't quit them. You can quit by selecting the item, then click the Quit Process icon. After you've quit everything else, go ahead and quit AM normally and try to shutdown.

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 2

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

Dec 3, 2005 7:14 PM in response to writergirl2

Hi, W.G.

1. Any chance you are running Fruit Menu? If so, either disable it, check for updates, or uninstall it.

2. As a general checkup, I suggest you run the procedure outlined in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

---
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:

I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

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Answer 3

Dec 3, 2005 7:40 PM in response to writergirl2

Repair Disk Permissions. Launch /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and select you HD and repair. Cheers

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Answer 4

writergirl2 Author

Level 2

186 points

Dec 20, 2005 4:02 AM in response to David Roland

Hi everyone

Well, I tried repairing Disk Permissions and repairing the disk from the startup disk but that had no effect. I used Cocktail to clear the caches and perform disk maintenance. No joy. I'm not running Fruit Menu. I ran Activity Monitor and quit all applications. The only app that I couldn't quit was something that's called System UI server, although I clicked for it to quit it wouldn't. Obviously this is some mac application though I've no idea what it is or does. Could it be the culprit?

This is driving me crazy!

WG

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Answer 5

hyphen

Level 6

15,499 points

Dec 20, 2005 6:26 AM in response to writergirl2

writegirl

Do you have speed tools installed?

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Answer 6

writergirl2 Author

Level 2

186 points

Dec 20, 2005 6:42 AM in response to hyphen

No...at least I don't think so, I never heard of it!

WG

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Answer 7

Dec 20, 2005 6:59 AM in response to writergirl2

So you are able to restart or shut down by other methods, just not through the Apple Menu... what actually happens when you try in the menu?

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Answer 8

hyphen

Level 6

15,499 points

Dec 20, 2005 6:55 AM in response to writergirl2

writegirl

You cannot quit the SystemUIServer process, only force quit it but it will restrt staright away. I do not believe that this is the culprit. When you started Activity Monitor, did you notice any process hogging your cpu usage?

Additionally, can you create another admin account and check whther the problem manifests there as well?

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Answer 9

writergirl2 Author

Level 2

186 points

Dec 20, 2005 7:00 AM in response to Robert Williams3

Hi Robert

Yes I can access the login window because I can switch users. So when I click on my name at the top rhs of screen and pull down the users menu which includes the login window I can shut down or restart from there. (But the thing about that is that it doesn't cler up the excess space used by Fire Vault if I use that route and also it means I have to type in my user name and password each time I want to restart.)

thanks for your time on this!

WG

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Answer 10

hyphen

Level 6

15,499 points

Dec 20, 2005 7:08 AM in response to writergirl2

Are there any active users when you try to shut down? Turn them off/log them out. Does it work like that?

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Answer 11

writergirl2 Author

Level 2

186 points

Dec 20, 2005 7:13 AM in response to hyphen

There aren't any other active users. The only other account is my nephew's so that he can play games when he comes to visit me and he hasn't been here for a while! So there isn't any other account running. However I did try to use the shut down-restart menu through his account (to see if it was only a problem with mine). It didn't work on his either which makes me think that it's an overall system problem.

WG

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Answer 12

hyphen

Level 6

15,499 points

Dec 20, 2005 7:24 AM in response to writergirl2

writegirl

When you switch form your account to your nephew's do you log out from your's first? Similarly, do you log out from your nephew's when you switch to your's? Have you tried to turn Fast User Switching off and then try to shut down or restart?

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Answer 13

Dec 20, 2005 7:42 AM in response to writergirl2

Hi writergirl2,

Oh, no, I meant are restart/shutdown greyed out or something in the menu?

You said you can sleep your computer so I guess that command in the menu is selectable.

This is not a fix for Apple Menu, but does the Control-Eject route work for you?

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Answer 14

writergirl2 Author

Level 2

186 points

Dec 20, 2005 7:50 AM in response to Robert Williams3

Restart, shut-down and log-out aren't dimmed under the apple menu. But I can't use any of them. Only the sleep option. However, fast user switching brings me to the log-in screen and so I can restart/log-out from there. If I disable that, then I've no way of shutting down the computer other than by the power switch! (Nobody else is logged in under any other account name at the moment, just me.)

WG

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Answer 15

Dec 21, 2005 4:22 AM in response to writergirl2

Did you recently download any Updates?

Similar problem here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=277364&tstart=0

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