10.4.3 Disk Utility problem

[Mikuro]

I mentioned this in the general 10.4.3 thread, and I thought it solved itself, but the problem is creeping back.

When I load Disk Utility, it hangs in the "gathering disk info" stage, before the contents are displayed. I have to force-quit it, which takes two or three tries to work, and when it finally does disappear, its icon stays in the Dock for some reason. (Activity Monitor shows that it's not loaded.) I have to force-quit the Dock to get rid of the icon.

After force-quitting Disk Utility, subsequent attempts to load it cause an immediate error message, before the icon even appears in the dock. "An unexpected error occurred (error code -600)"

The process repeats every time I log out & log back in. The problem happens with more than one user account, and it happens with or without disk images mounted.

It worked fine yesterday, but now today it's not working again. I can't think of anything that's changed. I never had any similar problems prior to updating to 10.4.3 (I used the combo updater from 10.4.2).

I've already repaired permissions and run a verification (using my Tiger boot DVD).

Any ideas? And has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Satcomer]

I am not sure why it is doing that, especially on another user account on the machine. This tells us that it is not a simple user (your user account) Preference file. This is the time you WISHED you had done the proper computer knowhow and done a backup before updating. Oh well, you will know better next time.

 

[Mikuro]

This is the time you WISHED you had done the proper computer knowhow and done a backup before updating. Oh well, you will know better next time.

Haha. No, I'll probably take my chances again next time. It's just not practical to do a full system backup every time I apply a minor update. Besides, even if I did have a full backup, I wouldn't be so quick to go through a lengthy downgrading process.


Today Disk Utility is working fine again. Go figure! So far, the most logical reason I can come up with is that it only works on even-numbered days of the month.

I did some searching for "error code -600", and I found that there are brief error code descriptions in system header files. Specifically, in the file MacErrors.h. (/System/ Library/ Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/ Versions/ A/ Frameworks/CarbonCore.framework/ Versions/ A/ Headers/ MacErrors.h — spaces inserted for decent wrapping) The entry for -600 reads:

procNotFound = -600, /*no eligible process with specified descriptor*/

I'm not sure exactly what to make of that. Any ideas?