My Mac keeps freezing (with the pinwheel). I went to run Disk Warrior to see if that helped, and it told me to delete a file that didn't exsist (com.Alsoft.diskwarrior.prefs... or something like that). I am at the end of my rope. Please help.
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
How much RAM does your mac have?
DiskWarrior is probably not justified right now. To determine what is causing the freezes, start with the basics: make sure your hardware is OK by running Apple Hardware Test.
Here are a couple more links to get you started:
General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide: Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Identifying resource hogs and other tips: Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
I would say pay special attention to John's link above regarding using Activity Monitor. Not enough ram could be your culprit.
OK, while you're looking at Activity Monitor, click the "System Memory" at the bottom of the page:
What are the numbers for "page outs" and "page ins"? See if you can report what they are when the Mac Pro appears to get bogged down.
I can't really tell. I haven't had luck having that screen in the forefront when it freezes.
Does anybody have any suggestions regarding disk warrior? I feel like it might help my situation IF I COULD JUST RUN THE THING!
OK, what are those numbers when it does not freeze? Report what they are when your system is as close as what resembles normal use for you.
I really don't believe Disk Warrior is justified right now. You have to rule out some basic things first. DW can fix specific disk corruption problems but is not a magic talisman that will restore operational bliss.
If you want to do something that is likely to result in useful information try running Apple Hardware Test. Find your original system install DVD and boot from it while holding the D key. Not only is 2 GB very little, marginal or out of spec memory will cause what you're describing. There are several more potential causes.
Here's a screencap about 30 seconds before it froze again. I don't have the start up disk - I inhereted this computer from my parents (who might have the start up disk).
OK thanks. With the exception of the Disk Warrior dialog, everything looks completely normal.
I recommend doing as it says - find Disk Warrior prefs and drag it to the trash. Most likely you will find it in your user's Library folder. To find it navigate to your Macintosh HD, open the Library folder, and open the Preferences folder. Find the suspect file and drag it out of there.
Yours will not look exactly like the following but you shoud be able to figure it out:
You should also find a way to get rid of Disk Warrior. It is not helping and may be hurting.
Troubleshooting this problem will also be hindered by not having an original system install DVD. Without it you will not be able to run Apple Hardware Test, you will not be able to repair your hard disk using Disk Utility, and you will you be able to reinstall the OS, which is one of the suggested remedies in the link I posted earlier. I recommend you buy a replacement disk from Apple if for no other reason than to be able to reinstall an unadulterated version of Snow Leopard. It is only $30.
There are some other things to try.
Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems: Isolating an issue by using another user account
Starting the computer in "safe mode": Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
Read about what Safe Mode does before doing it - particularly, it will take longer to boot and some things simply won't work normally. However, if running in safe mode stops the freezes it will be a clue we can work with.
Unfortunately, the disk warrior pref it tells me to delete doesn't exist, so I can't exactly delete it.
Then I would concentrate on deleting Disk Warrior from your system, or at least prevent it from loading when you start the computer. I did a cursory search of how to do this and didn't get far. However, starting in Safe Mode will prevent it from loading. Do that and see if you can use your computer for any length of time without it freezing on you.
Did you check your User Library > Preferences or the HD Library Preferences folder? My DiskWarrior .plist is in my User Library which is hidden in Lion. To find it, hold Option key while going to Go in File menu. Once the Library is open, scroll down to Preferences - the plist should be there. If you're not running Lion, simply follow this path: Users (your name) > Library (as opposed to Mac HD > Library).
And, just to make sure: you do have Disk Warrior installed in its preferred location: Applications > Utilities?
No, I'm getting that message from DiskWarrior too and I definitely do not have a com.Alsoft anything in ~/Library/Preferences or /Library/Preferences. Repairing permissions has had no effect.
If you're launched DiskWarrior just once, it will have automatically created a .plist - all apps do. This is mine:
This is the first time launching DW from this boot volume.
I even tried copying com.Alsoft.DiskWarrior.prefs from another Mac but I still get the error. I'm contacting Alsoft support now.
Issues with freezing and now, Disk Warrior.
