wingog

Q: Finder constantly needs relaunching, is freezing (Macbook pro running with Mavericks)

I have a macbook pro running on 10.9.5 Mavericks. I've had it for a couple years? Pretty smooth sailing, knock on wood, except that for the past few days whenever I try to use finder it freezes and the screen gets corrupted-looking (like so; this is an image of me trying to access my applications folder).

Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 12.41.14 PM.png

If I use force quit to make finder relaunch, it will work for the first couple items i try to find, then do this again. I've tried deleting the finder plist and restarting, but no dice. Is there anything I can do?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Mar 16, 2016 10:45 AM

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Q: Finder constantly needs relaunching, is freezing (Macbook pro running with Mavericks)

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  • by iEvan 3.0,Helpful

    iEvan 3.0 iEvan 3.0 Mar 16, 2016 4:27 PM in response to wingog
    Level 1 (104 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 4:27 PM in response to wingog

    Wow, never heard of that before. Nice new computer, too.

     

    Try logging in as a Guest (or any other user account) and see if the same thing happens.

    • If you don't have a Guest account enabled (you'd see it on your login screen), open System Preferences and go to Users & Groups.
    • Click the lock at the bottom left and enter your admin password.
    • Under the Other Users section at the left of the window, click Guest User.
    • Check off "Allow guests to log in to this computer."
    • For ease of use, click Login Options at the bottom and check off "Show fast user switching menu as ...." The option there doesn't matter.

     

    Click your username at the top, near the Spotlight Search, and select Guest User. Find out if the Finder does the same thing there … then you can log out of the Guest user account and return to your current account.

  • by wingog,

    wingog wingog Mar 16, 2016 4:28 PM in response to iEvan 3.0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 4:28 PM in response to iEvan 3.0

    Thanks for the reply! As a guest, finder works fine, but when I switch back it's the same problem. Additionally, ive noticed that this happens only when I click the default folder tabs at the left-hand side of finder; "Airdrop" through "pictures"- finder is fine otherwise.

  • by iEvan 3.0,Helpful

    iEvan 3.0 iEvan 3.0 Mar 16, 2016 7:42 PM in response to wingog
    Level 1 (104 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 7:42 PM in response to wingog

    Again, that's really odd. Just to clarify, if you navigate to the same folder while not using the sidebar, Finder is fine, right? E.g. from the Go menu, choose an option like Airdrop that is also in the sidebar.

     

    Maybe go to Finder's preferences and uncheck several items from the Sidebar tab, and then re-check them. See if the ones you uncheck and re-check work right in the Finder window.

     

    This is totally a shot in the dark since I have never seen this before, but what happens if you go to ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.finder.savedState and drag the contents in there onto the desktop (so you can restore them later if necessary)? After doing that I'd restart the computer and see what happens … I don't think this should break anything but I don't actually know for sure. If you have a backup I'd try it.

     

    If none of that works and you happen to have an Apple Store nearby, consider taking your MacBook in to the Geniuses there and see what they think. It doesn't cost anything to have them look at it.

  • by wingog,

    wingog wingog Mar 16, 2016 8:15 PM in response to iEvan 3.0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 8:15 PM in response to iEvan 3.0

    Tested a few things- if I navigate to one of the folders using "go to", finder still displays the same problems. Checking and unchecking preferences solves it for a few clicks, and then it reverts. Alongside the default folders in my sidebar, I have a "google drive" folder on which all my backups are stored- interestingly, this never has the problems that I'm having with the other folders; even when the other tabs freeze I'm able to search and navigate subfolders and my google drive tab

    Additionally, it works fine when uploading pictures to the web and using the tabs, in browser popups (I don't know if these directly utilize finder or are just styled the same).

    Moving the ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.finder.savedState didn't work, but it didnt break anything either. I'll take it to my school's help desk, if i find out any more info I'll update it here. Thank you for the advice!

  • by Eric Root,Solvedanswer

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 17, 2016 9:54 AM in response to wingog
    Level 9 (70,011 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 17, 2016 9:54 AM in response to wingog

    If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account.  Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

                   

    Safe Mode

     

    Safe Mode - Mavericks

     

  • by wingog,

    wingog wingog Mar 17, 2016 12:00 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2016 12:00 PM in response to Eric Root

    I THINK it's solved (knock on wood).

    Before I saw this, I looked around on a few other forums and also came upon the suggestion to try safe mode. I did so, and the problem was not present in safemode. While there, I also trashed a few unnecessary apps/old plists and emptied the trash "securely". Upon restart, things seemed mostly fine- it didn't have the same problem, at least.

    However, it had a different issue: finder would refresh every minute or so and relaunch itself. This was better than before but still super inconvenient. Luckily upon googling, I found that it was a much more common problem than my original issue, and to solve it I uninstalled google drive, restarted, and reinstalled. So far no problems, fingers crossed it stays that way. Bizarre, though- it seems the two problems are related but google drive was the only thing that worked during the original issue, and according to most sites that talked about the google drive bug there was an update released in november that was supposed to solve it. I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on things. Thank you!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 17, 2016 12:20 PM in response to wingog
    Level 9 (70,011 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 17, 2016 12:20 PM in response to wingog

    You are welcome.