User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Genius Bar »

OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Finder Contantly Restarts


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Finder Contantly Restarts
Thread Tools
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2012-08-17, 01:12

This is happening to my Mom's machine (running Tiger).

If you google "Finder restarts continuously" you'll see some people who've had the issue.

Several have had good luck removing an offending thingy from Stuffit.

However, hers does not have this thingy.

From the admin account I went into her account and moved the contents of her desktop a folder (on the desktop) named "Safe".

Leaving the ownership of her Desktop folder set to the Admin account I swapped accounts back to hers and PRESTO her Finder is no longer doing the constant re-start.

Of course she can't see her desktop because she doesn't have permissions.

So when I go back and deed permissions back to her and log back into her account the Finder pulls the same old crap.

Can anybody think of what might be happening here?

This started occurring out of the clear blue sky as far as she's concerned, but she may have created some invisible folder that I can't see.... what app can I put on the Admin account that will let me see the invisible files in her desktop directory?

I want to make a backup of all her shit and re-install the OS and recover her account from a backup now.

Jeepers.


....

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2012-08-17, 09:05

Some additional information:

When I was first introduced to her misbehaving machine I noticed that her Mail app automatically launched itself at start up, even though there was no such start-at-launch selected in her user account.

::FLASHBACK SEQUENCE::
Thinking back a few days I remember now that her Mail app forgot her account info and I had to re-populated the account info. Doing this allowed the app to reacquire all the existing saved mail and such and it seems that everything was back to normal.
::FLASHBACK SEQUENCE::


So last night while operating on her Desktop (folder) from the Admin account I threw away several things which she no longer needed.

One of the things I saw sitting out there was locked folder for the Mail app.

Just sitting there on the desktop!

Hmmm....


She's been trying to access other information on her machine right now and the beachball is spinning.... I suspect that the hard drive has had some sort of stroke.


...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2012-08-17, 09:28

What would happen if you just moved the Desktop folder, created a new one (same name) and then moved her Desktop items over in chunks to the new folder, until you find the one where once moved the reboot behavior kicks in again.

Otherwise, if you go to her account and check the login items, what's there? Remove 'em all.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2012-08-17, 10:01

All the login items have been removed.... let me try making a new Desktop folder - that idea had not occurred to me.

Either way, it does rather sound like her machine is about to lose its shit in a big way doesn't it?


...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2012-08-17, 10:11

Maybe. It does sound like the drive is acting funky, that's for sure. If you bring up Disk Utility, does it report any S.M.A.R.T. errors?

This app. used to offer a free scan on download, and you only had to pay if you wanted to use it running all the time. Might be worth checking out.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/14825/smartreporter/

If the OS were trying to launch something that it didn't have permissions for, but assumed it did, etc. it might behave like you're describing. I would think that a hard drive failure wouldn't be so specific, and I wouldn't think that a drive failure would cause constant reboots related to the Desktop folder, unless the machine was trying to launch something from the Desktop and then hitting a wall.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
MacMini restarts itself without any input from me rogera Genius Bar 12 2009-02-16 12:09
MBP restarts on close blehpunk Genius Bar 2 2007-04-11 22:06
Finder Wishlist (and why you think the current Finder sucks) JK47 Speculation and Rumors 151 2006-08-12 18:06
Finder restarts 60 times a minute! Urgent help needed! stevegong Genius Bar 7 2005-08-04 23:48
Finder Bar in tiger... rollercoaster375 Speculation and Rumors 22 2005-04-12 06:53


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 13:13.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova