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G5 DP 2.0 (2003) - right clicking on files causes finder to crash

I'm having a rather strange problem - I have a G5 dual 2GHz (2003) with a 160GB HD and a second 500GB HD. I installed 10.4 fresh with erasing the disk. I've upgraded with all the upgrades it's found. I daily fix permissions, etc.

Intermittently, when I right click on a file (say to open it with another program or something or just get info), the finder crashes. When it comes back, I'm able to right click on the file just fine.....until I try another a few minutes later and get the same results.

What I've done so far:
1. Fixed disk permissions
2. Ran disk utility to fix any disk problems
3. Zapped the PRAM (three chimes in a row before letting it boot up)

Still have the problem....help! 🙂

PowerMac G5 2 GHz DP, 3 GB RAM, 160GB HD, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 500 GB SATA, Pioneer DVR-106, (2) 60 GB Ipod Video, 1GB Shuffle

Posted on Jan 29, 2007 5:48 PM

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4 replies

Jan 29, 2007 6:21 PM in response to Jim Stembridge

If it is an issue with the Finder, then it is likely going to be in

~/Library/Preferences

... not with permissions (which looks at /Library/Receipts and could deal with a bad mouse or usb cable, but most likely something that looking for corrupt plists might find, or a new user account; sometimes just move/rename the Preferences folder helps. And I would use Applejack to delete the cache folders, always a likely source for problems and corrupt files and very active.

Hardware issues or changing hardware can result in corrupt nvram in which case a single or dual boot of PRAM/NVRAM reset is enough, or quicker still, a trip into Open Firmware (cmd + opt + of) will do the trick with

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all


... and I find quicker, but only when adding or changing PCI, RAM or disk drives.

If you use 3rd party mouse driver (USB Overdrive) then look in that direction.

I had a folder with 1000 items. No trouble. Let it grow to 2000, and still no trouble. But around 2400+ it would just cause the Finder to beachball if I tried to save to that folder, until I broke it down into smaller sub-folders of 500.

Disk Warrior 4 would be another tool to scavenge your drive for files and directory issues (Option click on the Repair/Rebuild button does a more thorough read of the hard drive's contents).

MacFixit has some excellent tutorials and 3 yrs of tips on CD even. There are a plethora of FAQs, too.

Jan 30, 2007 7:46 AM in response to The hatter

Okay, I found the answer. It has nothing to do with this pathfinder. Never even heard of that product and do not have it installed on my computer. Turns out it was Stuffit's contextual menu item that was causing the finder crashes. Follow the link in the post two up from this one and it will give you the link to stuffit's site where you can download the fixed contextual menu item for stuffit and it does work! 🙂 Problem solved.

G5 DP 2.0 (2003) - right clicking on files causes finder to crash

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