system prefrences wont open

Question

system prefrences wont open

Hi, just before I start describing my problem I will list my system specs that I think are useful in this scenario, I have a 2013 macbook pro running yosmite 10.10.2 which has been installed on a 100gb SSD, one day my mac just decided that it wont display system prprefrences, I dont know why or exactly when, but it was recent, I normally go into wifi settings to remove and add àn automatic proxy configuration for school wifi, but now I cant turn it off for my home wifi because system prefrences wont open, it wont open from the dock, the apple menu top left, nor wifi prefrences, when I click force quit, then try to open it from the dock it freezes for a few seconds then the dock goes back to normal but nothing opens, no little dot uunderneath or anything, when I click show all window it shows a blurred out screen of my desktop and when I click the blurred screen it goes back to my desktop, I really need a fix to this badly otherwisr I have no wifi on my laptop which would make it useless to me, I dont want to have to re install anything or do any of that I only bought the laptop a montjmonth ago, second hand... but the seller did re install a fresh copy of OSX yosmite. If there is any other info that is needed I will be more than happy to include it and any help is greatly appreciated

Lee Tzilantonis

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on May 7, 2015 2:26 AM

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Answer 1

thunderzzz

Level 6

8,452 points

May 7, 2015 2:31 AM in response to PandaAssassin

Hi. You may try restarting your Mac in Safe mode:

- Shut down your Mac

- Wait until your computer turns off and after that press the Power button

- Right after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key

- Release the Shift key when you see a grey Apple sign and the progress bar below this sign

- Once you see Desktop, start a Disc Utility scan to detect and repair file system errors (don't forget to choose your main hard drive)

- Click on Verify Disc and then, if asked to fix problems, on Repair Disk

- After this, click on Verify Disc Permissions and then on Repair Disc Permissions

- After the process is finished, shut down your Mac and turn it back on after about 30 seconds

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 7, 2015 6:54 AM in response to PandaAssassin

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try to open System Preferences. Select any lines that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

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Answer 3

May 7, 2015 2:15 PM in response to Linc Davis

I Have followed every step that you have given me, linc and this is what I got, can't open system preferences from spotlight, and your going to have to wait another hour for me to get internet to show you the line that popped up when I oppened system preferences when console was empty

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Answer 4

May 7, 2015 3:25 PM in response to Linc Davis

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1344\cocoasubrtf720

{\fonttbl\f0\froman\fcharset0 Times-Roman;\f1\fnil\fcharset0 HelveticaNeue;}

{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}

\paperw11900\paperh16840\margl1440\margr1440\vieww10800\viewh8400\viewkind0

\deftab720

\pard\pardeftab720

\f0\fs24 \cf0 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0

8/05/2015 7:11:49.885 am networkd[173]: -[NETProxyLookup pacLookupComplete:proxies:error:] PAC evaluation error: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 "The operation couldn\'92t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)" UserInfo=#x#fce###ec#f0 \{kCFGetAddrInfoFailureKey=8\}\

\

8/05/2015 8:14:14.247 am KernelEventAgent[67]: Network file systems not responding\

com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.netfs.nonresponsive_servers\

com.apple.message.signature: /Volumes/ not responding\

com.apple.message.result: noop\

SenderMachUUID: 9E27CCCF-######################################\

\

\pard\pardeftab720\sl320

\f1 \cf0 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0

8/05/2015 8:14:16.651 am airportd[29]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.wifi.internal.scanning\

com.apple.message.error: No Error\

com.apple.message.duration: 2\

com.apple.message.process_name: com.apple.wifi.proxy\

com.apple.message.mac_address: ##:ce:#f:##:fa:a#\

SenderMachUUID: 19F41714-##################################\

}

# = Number I do not wish to show, and I belive they are not needed for this

There are 3 different lines from 3 different times I tried to open system prefrences, the top one might not be relevant but I included it just in case

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 7, 2015 3:59 PM in response to PandaAssassin

Back up all data before proceeding. You'll need to recreate your settings in the Network preference pane after taking these steps.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password. Restart the computer and empty the Trash.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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Answer 6

May 7, 2015 5:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

So a new problem has arisen... i have done everything you said, but now that isn't the problem, i go to restart and my computer is now telling me that i cannot restart because SYSTEM PREFERENCES is not responding, so i go to force quit it in any way i can, form the dock, from the apple menu, but nothing happens it just won't quit, so now i can't restart or shutdown, i can only close the lid to put it to sleep, so i think its just that my system preferences is not responding for some reason but how do i get it to respond xD?

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 7, 2015 5:23 PM in response to PandaAssassin

Press and hold the power button for a few seconds until the power shuts off, then release, wait a few more seconds, and press it again briefly to restart.

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