Can't force quit Finder

Question

Can't force quit Finder

I can't Force Quit Finder. When I'm in the Force Quit Applications window the Finder is in red and in parenthesis it says, not responding, when I click on it the only option is to Relauch which I hit and nothing happens (The other programs I have open do have the option to force quit). The spinning wheel prevents me from reaching anything in the finder. Can't reach the Disk Utility and can't see any icons or harddrive on my desktop. The only things that work are the programs in the Dock and the options under the apple.

I ran the check for problems from the intall disk yeserday and it said there were no problems. When I re-stared the finder problem still existed.

Can you help? Pleaaaaseeeee!

Power Mac G5, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on May 3, 2006 9:43 AM

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Answer 1

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 3, 2006 10:46 AM in response to Maria Kosanke

Maria,

1. Shutdown...from the Apple Menu.

2. Start up in " Safe Mode" and locate the com.apple.finder.plist file in your /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences Folder, drag it to the Desktop and restart. Let us know what happens. ( What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X))

;~)

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Answer 2

May 3, 2006 12:24 PM in response to Ferd II

Hi, I shutdown and started up w/shift key down. It shows it was in Safe mode, but still the spinning wheel that won't let me access anything in finder or see any icons or hard drive on desktop. Ahhhh! Any other options?

Maria

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Answer 3

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

May 3, 2006 12:34 PM in response to Maria Kosanke

Hello Maria, and Welcome to Apple Discussions.

The finder Does not have a Force Quit only a relaunch
at least my finder in the Flat panel 10.3.9, did not have a force quit in the 2 years &1 month i had it running, Never seen a force quit for the finder nor in Tiger.

I ran the check for problems from the intall disk yeserday and it said there were no problems. When I re-stared the finder problem still existed.

When you booted from disk after restart , holding the c key down, and go to Disk Utility , click on the top Drive was there a S.M.A.R.T Verify there on the right corner, under disk repairs oblong button, # of files, etc. let us know. Okay?

Best of luck.Hope that Ferds suggestions helps get your finder back in working order.

Eme

Message was edited by: Eme

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Answer 4

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 3, 2006 12:57 PM in response to Eme

Maria,

1. Can you restart normally? Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X (Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier)

2. What applications or folders do you have on your Dock?

3. Can you get to your Utility Folder via the Dock?

4. If you can get to your Utility Folder, open "Activity Monitor" and use the "Quit Process" command for Finder.

5. DiskWarrior may be helpful.

Eme is correct, the Finder will only "Relaunch," but that is obviously not happening in this case. Answer her question regarding S.M.A.R.T. status.

;~)

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Answer 5

May 3, 2006 2:06 PM in response to Ferd II

to shut down I have to open an application in the Dock then put my mouse over apple button then I can choose shut down ect. Message says do I want to shut down and I push yes. It does not shut down so I hold the power button down for a few seconds then it shuts off. When I restart my screen comes up and my dock appears when my mouse is over it. I can see tool bar with apple, Finder, File ect. but I can't push them because the Spinning wheel. Also no icons on desktop.

Stuff in Dock: Finder (can't access) Mail, Safari, address, Itunes ect...Quicktime, System Preferences, Office 2000, Stickies, IChat

Can't get to utility folder from dock.

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Answer 6

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 3, 2006 2:23 PM in response to Maria Kosanke

Maria,

If you do not have DiskWarrior, I would recommend an Archive and Install of Panther, followed by an update with the Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9.

;~)

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Answer 7

May 3, 2006 8:56 PM in response to Eme

Hi,

I was able to add Disk Utility in my System Preferences-accounts-start up menu then added to the Dock so I could access it. I shut down and restarted in in Safe Mode. I ran disk utility (repair permissions) on my HD.

Yes there was another option above the HD called 76.3 GBMaxtor 6y080mo. I ran the repair permissions on that too. It did say S.M.A.R.T. status-verified. Also had Total Capacity: 733GB (81,964,302.336 byles) Write status: Read/write

I tried to add the Hard drive to my Dock so I can pull the com.apple.finder.plist from the Library Preferences out to the Desktop but Hard Drive won't show up in Dock.

So unless you can think of anything else I will purchase the software that was reccomended and it will hopefully fix problem otherwise I will take to the person who put my computer togther and see if he can fix.

Thanks so much for all for all your help 🙂

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Answer 8

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 3, 2006 9:31 PM in response to Maria Kosanke

Maria,

Great idea regarding the addition of Disk Utility to the Login Items.

Take that one step further and add Activity Monitor the list, and and use the "Quit Process" command for Finder.

Since you can add applications to the Dock, perhaps someone may have some suggestions regarding Terminal commands you can try.

Good Luck.

;~)

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Answer 9

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

May 3, 2006 9:46 PM in response to Maria Kosanke

Maria,

Thanks for posting back. :`) with the results. Good Job getting it together!

there was another option above the HD called 76.3 GBMaxtor 6y080mo. I ran the repair permissions on that too. It did say S.M.A.R.T. status-verified.

Is that not a beautiful thing to see S.M.A.R.T Verified !! I'm very happy for you,sounds like it will be fine. No i have no other suggestions, best of luck with the fix.

Thanks so much for all for all your help 🙂

You are welcome, i did nothing, other then ask more questions:~) Thanks for the answer again.hope you do not need this infirmary much, let us know how you fare.
Regards
Eme:~{)

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Answer 10

May 4, 2006 10:25 AM in response to Ferd II

Hi,

FYI - I did add Activity Monitor to Dock and did a Force Quit. When I go back out to desktop spinning wheel starts up again. When i looked back in Activity Monitor, it went back to - Finder (Hung) in red. So I can't fix it that way.

Arrggghh! Will try your other suggestions and let you know what happens.

Thanks mucho!

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Answer 11

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

May 4, 2006 10:42 PM in response to Maria Kosanke

Hello, Maria

I googled:unix command to remove com.apple.finder.plist

Though this is a problem stemmed from QT. This article might help on deleting the com.apple.finder.plist.

Look here

Command on permission repair in terminal
sudo diskutil repairPermissions

You can copy & paste these, they are copied here exact as i received them.

Command on dumping DS_Store
sudo rm .DS_Store

Best of Luck & regards.
Eme

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Answer 12

nifflerX

Level 4

2,826 points

May 5, 2006 7:34 AM in response to Maria Kosanke

If you have another Mac and a firewire cord, you could boot your machine into Target Firewire mode, and then remove the offending plist file from your other machine. For more info on setting up Target Firewire mode see here. HTH.

-NifflerX

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Answer 13

May 5, 2006 10:16 AM in response to Eme

Eme.... Using Terminal to repair Permissions on my computor running 10.3.9.... required adding a <space> and (/)

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

george

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Answer 14

nifflerX

Level 4

2,826 points

May 5, 2006 11:13 AM in response to George Orville

Not that it matters too much in this instance, but if you are an administor you don't have to run diskutil with a sudo command. You can just run it and it will repair disk permission.

-NifflerX

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Answer 15

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

May 5, 2006 3:13 PM in response to George Orville

George, Thank you for the correction.

I wonder how this error transpired from the copy and paste,
i see here on my desktop. Yet another rabbit hole for me.

Sorry ! Maria I hope the error did not cause any additional problems for you.

Eme

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