I am almost ready to go back to a PC

Dell

Do you have any antivirus installed? Get rid of it. It certainly sounds like you have some incompatible 3rd party software running all the time. Some flaky antivirus software could easily be the cause.

1. try creating a new user that is an Aministraor, log into it and try running the software updates.

Failing that you maybe looking at reinstalling a fresh copy of the OS, you can do this with out loosing datat though 🙂

1. I can not update to the newest version or down load anything from a the App Store. When I do it fails and says I do not have permission to down load.

I agree with most of what has been said. The last thing to do is make sure to repair permissions if nothing else works. Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility has the function for that in its First Aid section.

2. When I conect a camera to upload picture, It will not recognize any of my cameras. They never show up in devices on Finder, Iphoto, Apperture nor in the Utilities.

This can be a sign of a camera not complying with normal USB standards, or one that doesn't understand Energy Saver. Make sure to connect it only when the machine is plugged into the wall, and you have not closed the lid to the display, or allowed it to fall asleep during the current boot of the machine.

If the camera uses digital media card, it is better to use a USB Digital Media Camera reader, or the built-in SD slot (only supports SD cards), if the machine has one, or the Express/34 slot with an media card adapter if the machine has one. This will save the camera battery life, and be more compatible with your machine, and is easier to shop for compatibility issues.

3. Anything that I try to airdrop from my wifes computer fails.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4783 may show that one machine is not configured or right or isn't compatible with it.

4. Someone told me to delete a file called "Library/prefrences/com.apple.finder.plist. I did not delete it becuase it does not exist!

Note, there are three libraries. Check in each. Boot hard drive -> Library, Boot hard drive -> users -> yourname -> Library, and Boot Hard drive -> System -> Library

5. The whole system crashes frequently when working with Aperture or I photo.

When you say crash, do you mean you just get a spinning colorwheel? Have you tried command-option-escape to see if you can force quit the application if that's what it is doing? Granted you'll lose any unsaved changes, but at least you'll get back access to your system to try and clear it up. If you are getting a four language screen asking you to restart your computer now, that's a different story, known as a kernel panic. Don't panic if you get one. Rather read up on those*:

http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html

If a spinning wheel won't let you get the force quit window, it may be you have too much data on your hard drive. Make sure it isn't over an arbitrary 85% full, where Mac OS X typically has always had a bit of a hiccup trying to deal with*:

http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html

Also make sure the versions of Aperture and iPhoto are known to be Lion compatible. Since you say you are using AirDrop, it is obvious you are also using Lion.

This link has been a mainstay for people to check for Lion compatibility.

6. The apple store replaced the mother board over a year ago. They have rebuilt my photo libraries. The trouble is that I am overseas where there is not an Istore just an IStudio 300 miles away and I dont think they know that much.

Always a problem when you travel. Contact http://www.macsales.com/ for a portable 2.5" external hard drive to use for backup of equivalent size to your existing drive. http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html explains your backup options. Once backed up, we can examine if you actually have a hardware or software problem if none of the above solutions seem to work.

Dell contrary to popular belief isn't any greater than any other PC manufacturer. In fact you still have to deal with a much less friendly user interface, viruses, and spyware, much more so than using Mac OS X exclusively. And you are just as likely to find a hardware fault on a Dell as a Mac. Even my folks had a Dead on Arrival Dell. Just because there is a system issue on a Mac, does not mean all Macs behave that way, no more so than with any Dell. The point is, you should isolate your own issue, and not assume getting another computer will necessarily solve it. 99 times out of 100 the problem is between the keyboard and the chair. Don't feel bad, computers can get technical and finicky when you least want them to. It is best to have a backup plan if they do.

Sometimes this is suggested as a catch-all fix, but it just might be appropriate in your case.

Run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions on your startup drive.

If that doesn't help, you might need to look at log messages in Console.app

If all you truly have installed is Photoshop, you should not be seeing problems like this. Since your machine is old enough to have had a logic board replaced, perhaps it needs a new hard drive too. Those can be found just about anywhere and installed in minutes if you have a good backup.

rjrathbun wrote:

I dont think a new hard drive will help.

Why do you think this? Hard Drives can play up then crash at any given time on both Macs and PCs. Failing to address the issue and looking to lay the blame most often results in a massive loss of data and time if you are not very careful. If your wife's Mac works fine with the same system setup then.....................

Repairing permissions is a very basic step, that may fix some small permission issues but in general is not a major maintenance step. Have you tried checking the disk with the DiskUtility in the Lion Restore Partition? Or with DiskWarrior? Have you tried wiping the disk and zeroing out all sectors? Reinstalling the OS?

Good Luck

Pete

None of us work for Apple. However, AppleCare is a very nice thing to have. In addition to free phone support, you get an additional two years of warranty. if you machine is still under warranty, you can buy AppleCare.

Why did Apple replace your motherboard? What was it doing then?

Do you have a good backup? I think it might be a good idea to erase the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. That would either fix the problem or more clearly pinpoint it. You will need a good backup before that, which is a good thing to have anyway.

Here is the problem in a nutshell. There is nothing about a Mac that would cause it to behave this way. Something isn't right. Whatever caused it might just be bad luck on your part. Replacing the Mac with a PC will work because the chances of whatever went wrong going that badly wrong again are very small. You are just as likely to have good results replacing the Mac with another Mac.

There are really only two possibilities here:

1) You have installed something, perhaps without knowing it, that doesn't work right on Lion.

2) You have had a hard drive failure. Perhaps that is related to your motherboard failure.

Run Console.app and look for any scary looking messages. Anything repeated 3 or 4 thousand times is a good place to start. Post them here and we can tell you if they could be causing the problem or not.

Go through Linc Davis' debugging tips here in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3707264

You want the 2nd posted dated "Feb 3, 2012 10:06 AM". (I'm trying to talk him into making this a User Tip).

Report the results here.

3 hours to go? What update is taking three hours? Whenever internet downloads take more than 2 hours, it basically is a chance there are errors in the download, especially if it is any smaller than the Lion full install itself. You are better off going to an Apple Authorized service center with WiFi, or bringing your Mac to a WiFi hotspot that has a good speed connection. Many libraries have good internet speeds, and so do many hotel lobbies. MAC is the acronym for Media Access Control, a network device address. Apple Inc is the name of the company. No I don't work for them. Mac is shorthand for Macintosh, then name of the computers that are sold with the operating system by the same namesake. Anyone who calls it MAC has never worked with Apple's before, or is just a new person on the block.

You can see the expected download speeds for internet connections for Lion:

http://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2465

As for the issue happening with both iPhoto and Aperture, it may be related to the corrupted download you are getting from having too long a download. You haven't yet addressed the issue of disk space or if your data is backed up? Before reinstalling, let's get the details on those, since those may be critical to troubleshooting your issue.

you may try to make an Appointment at The Genius Bar at The Apple Store if they let you? I Did for My Mom's MacBook Pro & they never charged me & I Had No AppleCare Protection Plan so maybe i'm thinking they can help you if you Tried it? just trying to help you.