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Time Capsule comes back from the dead....

I have a usb drive (WD 2TB) that I have repurposed. It used to be originally attached to my Airport Extreme and served as external drive for my time machine backups. I replaced it with a QNAP TS-451 NAS. The old drive (WD 2TB) was then reformatted and is now attached as an external usb drive to the QNAP, with a different name. I was good for about two months.


After I installed El Capitan the following pop up keeps coming up.

User uploaded file



The name, that I have whited-out, is that of the old usb drive (WD 2TB)....keep in mind this drive has been removed and I was with no error messages like this for over two months.


So my question is how can I get rid of this, permanently?


Feels like my mac is hung up on some old reference that was woken up by El Capitan


Thanks !

iPhoto '11, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 6:18 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 7:26 PM

There are many possible causes for this issue, and it may be hard to resolve. Please take whichever of the following steps is applicable that you haven't already tried. Back up all data before making any changes.

If you get the alert in the login screen before you log in, stop here and ask for instructions.

Step 1

If you get the alert as soon as you log in, it's probably caused by one of your login items or by software that otherwise loads at startup or login. Common offenders are "1Password" and "Adobe Resource Synchronizer," but there are many others.

Select the Login Items tab in the Users & Groups pane of System Preferences. Delete any suspicious items. If you're not sure which ones to delete, double-click each to test it.

To avoid confusion, note that checking or unchecking the box next to a login item does not inactivate it. You have to delete the item from the list.

Step 2

If there's an icon representing the server in the sidebar of a Finder window, hold down the command key and drag it out.

Step 3

You may have created aliases to files or folders on the server. If you don't know whether you did that, you can find all aliases as follows.

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

kMDItemContentType=com.apple.alias-file

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

In the Finder, press command-F to open a search window, or select

File Find

from the menu bar. In the search window, select

Search: This Mac

from the row of tokens below the toolbar. Below that is a popup menu of search criteria, initially showing Kind. From that menu, select

Other...

A sheet will drop down. In that sheet, select

Raw Query

as the criterion, then click OK or press return.

Now there will be a text box to the right of the menu of search criteria. That's where you enter the raw search query. Click in that box and paste the text you copied earlier by pressing command-V.

The search window will now show all aliases on mounted volumes. You can see the target of each alias by selecting it and opening the Info window. Delete any that refer to the server.

Step 4

Open the Printers & Scanners pane in System Preferences and delete any network devices you no longer use. If in doubt, delete them all and add back the ones you want.

Step 5

Copy the line below to the Clipboard as in Step 3:

~/Library/PDF Services

In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return. A folder may open. If it does, move the contents to the Desktop, or to a new folder on the Desktop. Log out and log back in. Test. If there's no change, put the items you moved back where they were and continue.

Step 6

Open the folder

~/Library/Preferences

as in Step 5 and move the file named "loginwindow.plist" items in that folder to the Trash, if it exists (it may not.)

Log out and back in again, and test.

Step 7

Other possible causes are references in the iPhoto, Photos, iTunes, or iMovie library pointing to the server, bookmarks in the Preview application, and PDF files created by Adobe Acrobat with embedded scripts.

Try rebuilding the iPhoto library, or the Photos library, if applicable.

If you get the alert when connecting an iOS device with iTunes, re-create your iTunes library and playlists. See also this ASC discussion.

If you get the alert when selecting a screen saver, you may have moved your iTunes library to the file server.

Step 8

Resources such as images or sounds stored on the server may have been added to various applications. Examples would be pictures added to Contacts and custom sounds added to Mail. The range of possibilites is practically infinite, so I can't be more specific. You might get a hint by launching the Console application and looking for error messages that appear at the same time as the alerts.

Step 9

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up. Start up in safe mode. Test. After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Step 10

Launch the Directory Utility application. Depending on what version of OS X you have, you may be able to do that by entering the first few letters of its name in a Spotlight search. If that doesn't work, triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

/System/Library/CoreServices

Right-click or control-click the selected text and select

Services Open

from the contextual menu.* A folder named "CoreServices" will open. The Directory Utility application is in that folder, or in a subfolder named "Applications".

In the Directory Utility window, select the Directory Editor tool in the toolbar. Select Mounts from the Viewing menu in the toolbar, and /Local/Default from the node menu, if not already selected. On the right is a list of names and values. By default, the list is empty. If it's not empty, post a screenshot of the window and stop here.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

Step 11

Open the following file as you did in the last step:

/etc/auto_master

It will open in a TextEdit window. The contents should be exactly this:

#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master # Use directory service
/net -hosts -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home auto_home -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers -fstab
/- -static

If there are any other lines in the window, post them. Otherwise, close the window.

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 1, 2015 7:26 PM in response to SKG23

There are many possible causes for this issue, and it may be hard to resolve. Please take whichever of the following steps is applicable that you haven't already tried. Back up all data before making any changes.

If you get the alert in the login screen before you log in, stop here and ask for instructions.

Step 1

If you get the alert as soon as you log in, it's probably caused by one of your login items or by software that otherwise loads at startup or login. Common offenders are "1Password" and "Adobe Resource Synchronizer," but there are many others.

Select the Login Items tab in the Users & Groups pane of System Preferences. Delete any suspicious items. If you're not sure which ones to delete, double-click each to test it.

To avoid confusion, note that checking or unchecking the box next to a login item does not inactivate it. You have to delete the item from the list.

Step 2

If there's an icon representing the server in the sidebar of a Finder window, hold down the command key and drag it out.

Step 3

You may have created aliases to files or folders on the server. If you don't know whether you did that, you can find all aliases as follows.

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

kMDItemContentType=com.apple.alias-file

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

In the Finder, press command-F to open a search window, or select

File Find

from the menu bar. In the search window, select

Search: This Mac

from the row of tokens below the toolbar. Below that is a popup menu of search criteria, initially showing Kind. From that menu, select

Other...

A sheet will drop down. In that sheet, select

Raw Query

as the criterion, then click OK or press return.

Now there will be a text box to the right of the menu of search criteria. That's where you enter the raw search query. Click in that box and paste the text you copied earlier by pressing command-V.

The search window will now show all aliases on mounted volumes. You can see the target of each alias by selecting it and opening the Info window. Delete any that refer to the server.

Step 4

Open the Printers & Scanners pane in System Preferences and delete any network devices you no longer use. If in doubt, delete them all and add back the ones you want.

Step 5

Copy the line below to the Clipboard as in Step 3:

~/Library/PDF Services

In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return. A folder may open. If it does, move the contents to the Desktop, or to a new folder on the Desktop. Log out and log back in. Test. If there's no change, put the items you moved back where they were and continue.

Step 6

Open the folder

~/Library/Preferences

as in Step 5 and move the file named "loginwindow.plist" items in that folder to the Trash, if it exists (it may not.)

Log out and back in again, and test.

Step 7

Other possible causes are references in the iPhoto, Photos, iTunes, or iMovie library pointing to the server, bookmarks in the Preview application, and PDF files created by Adobe Acrobat with embedded scripts.

Try rebuilding the iPhoto library, or the Photos library, if applicable.

If you get the alert when connecting an iOS device with iTunes, re-create your iTunes library and playlists. See also this ASC discussion.

If you get the alert when selecting a screen saver, you may have moved your iTunes library to the file server.

Step 8

Resources such as images or sounds stored on the server may have been added to various applications. Examples would be pictures added to Contacts and custom sounds added to Mail. The range of possibilites is practically infinite, so I can't be more specific. You might get a hint by launching the Console application and looking for error messages that appear at the same time as the alerts.

Step 9

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up. Start up in safe mode. Test. After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Step 10

Launch the Directory Utility application. Depending on what version of OS X you have, you may be able to do that by entering the first few letters of its name in a Spotlight search. If that doesn't work, triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

/System/Library/CoreServices

Right-click or control-click the selected text and select

Services Open

from the contextual menu.* A folder named "CoreServices" will open. The Directory Utility application is in that folder, or in a subfolder named "Applications".

In the Directory Utility window, select the Directory Editor tool in the toolbar. Select Mounts from the Viewing menu in the toolbar, and /Local/Default from the node menu, if not already selected. On the right is a list of names and values. By default, the list is empty. If it's not empty, post a screenshot of the window and stop here.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

Step 11

Open the following file as you did in the last step:

/etc/auto_master

It will open in a TextEdit window. The contents should be exactly this:

#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master # Use directory service
/net -hosts -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home auto_home -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers -fstab
/- -static

If there are any other lines in the window, post them. Otherwise, close the window.

Oct 1, 2015 7:32 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you very much for a truly comprehensive set of options.


I believe that Step numero 6 took care of this. The pop up message has not re-appeared, but I will give it a day before I can say for sure.


Thank you again for the list of options and the speed with which you responded. I am kicking myself for all the times I tried for hours to solve a mac related problem on my own, when there are so many knowledgable and helpful people out there.

Oct 3, 2015 6:37 AM in response to Linc Davis

Ok looks like this issue is still here, but I am working on it. After I deleted the "loginwindow.plist" the message went away for a good while. Then yesterday morning it re-appeared.


I have since rebooted and the message was displaying, last night, every minute or so. Now I am starting to think it has something to do with screen saver pictures, admittedly it's not consistent but I am heading in that direction. I re-pointed the screen saver to the default Apple options and re-booted. Now I have my fingers crossed that it won't come back. If there is a away to clean up the equivalent of a plist of preferences for pictures, please advice. When I select pictures that are on my laptop, so clearly there, it never seems to get past "loading".


Once again thank you for your help.

Oct 7, 2015 9:10 AM in response to Linc Davis

Ok looks like this issue is still here. I have narrowed it down to an issue with my screensaver. Here are the symptoms/steps I have followed in trouble shooting this. Any help with permanently fixing this is appreciated.


1) If I bring up the screen saver panel from system preferences the message comes up of not being able to find the drive, which is no longer there. This will continue periodically to happen, which I attribute to the screen saver trying to kick in.

2) I try and change the "source" and it is stuck in loading, so I can't. I suspect looking for a non existent link. The only way I get passed the "loading" in the Source: is to select "Shuffle Slide Order" which then allows me to pick a folder.

User uploaded file


3) I pick a local folder on the desktop of my laptop and then try to "preview" still stuck on loading.

4) So effectivly I am pointing to a local folder and it still is looking for something or is hung on looking for something.

5) Just for good measure I have tried this both connected to the network and also with ethernet and wifi turner off. Still no luck


Perhaps the answer is in deleting all plists related to the screen save if that is where this info is store.


As always thank you for your advice in advance.


SKG23

Time Capsule comes back from the dead....

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