Extreme Finder Buginess

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Level 1

99 points

Extreme Finder Buginess

I have a 2020 iMac 27" i9 10-core with Catalina (currently 10.15.7).

Since the day I got this thing from the factory, Finder has been the most unreliable, buggy instance I have ever experienced. I have used Macs since 1986, bought dozens of them. I have never had one so buggy as this particular setup. I have a 2013 iMac 27" also running Catalina 10.15.7 which has never exhibited any problems.

The problems:

Items saved to the Desktop do not show up on the Desktop. This includes files started in an app like Pages and saved to the Desktop, or dragging a URL from Safari to the Desktop.
Items which I drag and put into the Sidebar disappear. I'm not talking about Show/Hide — AirDrop, Apps, Home, etc all remain visible. I'm talking about my folders that I drag and put there. Sometime they all disappear, and sometime only some of them disappear.
Open folder windows will stop allowing files to be dragged into them, or for a visible file to be dragged out. In these scenarios, a vague error message (to the effect of "Can't do that") and negative number is often displayed (forget what details now, but I researched and found nothing relevant).
These manifestations are intermittent. Things will work well for days or even a couple weeks, but since setting this system up in November, one or more of these usually occur a couple times a week.

The Workarounds:

Sometimes, for the not-visible Desktop files, if I open the Desktop window, that actually causes of refresh of the Desktop background.
Usually, the only solution is to Force Quit Finder.
Occasionally, I have to reboot as the only way to fix the problems.
For the Sidebar items, once they're gone, they're gone. I have to add them back (original files are not disappearing, just the list items in the sidebar itself). They disappear so often, I've given up using them.

The Attempts:

Disk repair (from the restore startup volume)
Delete Finder preferences
Delete Sidebar preferences

I've searched for hours, but not found anything helpful yet. (Very high volume of content related to Show/Hide and how to modify Sidebar, but not fixing problems like these.)

I'm hoping this reaches someone with some deeper technical knowledge of Finder and its workings to give me some new things to try.

Many thanks for reading my lengthy post, and TIA for suggestions.

— greg

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Apr 6, 2021 11:32 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,733 points

Apr 6, 2021 3:30 PM in response to Greg Willits

First, boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and check again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

If the problem continues download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.

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Answer 2

Greg Willits Author

Level 1

99 points

Apr 6, 2021 3:59 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks Old Toad for the suggestions and details.

I understand the purpose of the Safe Mode test, but have avoided it assuming these things:

It will turn off enough key OS assets to essentially render key apps I use as non-productive (I'm just guessing from how modes like this worked many years ago).
It's primarily to diagnose persistent, or at least repeatable, on-demand, problems and whether the OS/Startup process is involved.

Since a problem may not show for days, and if my key apps are affected (VMWare, Adobe, Omni, "iWork"), I just don't see that being a sustainable option to try to wait for a problem to occur. But I'll give it a try and see what I can do with Safe Mode active. It may be days before I have any useful information from trying that.

I'll prep EtreCheck and check that out— thanks for that lead. Would it be productive to start with that given the intermittent manifestation of the problems?

Thanks again. Rebooting...

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,733 points

Apr 7, 2021 9:44 AM in response to Greg Willits

You don't have to run all of your 3rd party apps to get the benefit of a Safe Mode boot. It's the boot itself and the cleaning of caches and fixing directories that are important. Just boot into it, try some of the Apple apps and see if you get any of the Finder weirdness. Then reboot normally and run a more definitive test.

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