Folders don't open, they reset

M

Mikel

Registered
I've got an annoying problem that won't let me go into most of my folders. When I try to open those folders, Finder seems to relaunch. It keeps doing the same thing with the same directories.

It crashes with most folders that are nested 2 or 3 times in. But this pattern isn't constant. Some drectories that are small work well, while the bulkier ones almost always crash.

I had a related problem a while back when I tried to move more than one folder or file to another folder - Finder would seem to relaunch. For that problem I was advised to delete the com.apple.finder.plist file and it did the trick.

However, erasing the
/users/me/library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
file this time didn't fix this problem.

Anybody know what's going on?

---

I just did some searching and I found a similar problem with somebody who fixed it by moving the
/users/me/library/preferences/byhost/com.apple.windowserver.000393d97e96.plist
file to the desktop, erasing the system and user caches, and restarting.

I did this, clearing the caches with Cocktail (found at versiontracker.com), and it didn't help.

Since then I've moved my windowserver file back from whence it came (I think) and am still bummed out.

---

For the desperation of it I even tried the Disk Utility thing to repair disk permissions (whatever use that is for anything). Hundreds of things were fixed even though I never noticed any prior problems due to something called MillionMonkeys hehe.

I tried to see if my files could be seen by another user. I used the root user to check it out and it's okay. That's some relief, but I'm stumped still on how to get my account to access those folders.

---

I keep editing this message while I try new things. Umm, this time I tried rebooting and holding Command-S to get to Unix and use fsck -y -f (needed the -f to force it 'cause it said my drive was a journalist or something). It said my files are okay.

There were unusual files in the root (/) directory when viewed with the terminal : "User?", and "File Transfer Folder??". I removed that first one (I'm pretty sure it was named like I wrote it here), but this second one with two question marks is stubborn. I have never seen it before and think it needs a rub-out, but I'm not sure if that is what is causeing my folders to close in my GUI.


Help!
 
You have done a lot of troubleshooting. Is your user name set as Admin? Check the System Preferences>Accounts in the Security tab.

You may need to start up the computer with the OS 10.3 Disk 1. When the installer comes up, go to the Installer Menu and select Disk Utility. Run First Aide on the hard drive. You may want to run it several times.

Then quit Disk Utility, go to the Installer menu and select StartUp Disk, select your hard drive and click on restart. Give it a test run.
 
Cheryl said:
You have done a lot of troubleshooting. Is your user name set as Admin? Check the System Preferences>Accounts in the Security tab.

You may need to start up the computer with the OS 10.3 Disk 1. When the installer comes up, go to the Installer Menu and select Disk Utility. Run First Aide on the hard drive. You may want to run it several times.

Then quit Disk Utility, go to the Installer menu and select StartUp Disk, select your hard drive and click on restart. Give it a test run.
Click to expand...

Yup, I'm Admin.

Okay, I tried Disk Utility from OSX.3 Disk 1 a couple of times. Both the Repair Disk and Repair Disk Permissions. The Repair Disk reported no errors, but stated that the drive was repaired.

It didn't fix it. :(

---

I moved the file "??" from the "File Transfer Folder??" to the root's desktop (just to put it asside), and did the same to the directory. The directory dissapeared out of existence I think. I also moved a thing called "TheVolumeSettingsFile" (or something like it) to root's desktop to get it out of the way. Neither of these did anything..

Reinstalling OSX.3 is a freaky option and don't wan't to do it because there are just too many settings that would be wiped (well that's my feeling as a vet Windows survivor) that I might not remember what they are and that kinda thing screws EVERYTHING to high hell.

I'm gonna vomit.

---

I tried every previous "solution" again and again. Nothing good.

I just tried removing the whole Preferences directory. Nothing good.

I'm hoping that the hocus pocus I hear the computer doing at 4:30am will do something.

Besides that, my sanity is utterly in the hands of my begging for info. (That's what I'm doing now :) ).

---

There is something I noticed; if I try to go into a directory and it crashes, I can keep trying and it eventually works (seems the more I dig the more I have to retry). BUT, when I go to work in another directory, the ones that were just "learned" get forgotten and I have to try and try to get to the new one.

So far I've been able to get to 3 or 4 subdirectories in a single direction if I keep poking in that direction 3 to 4 times. Each time trying to get there, it seems like Finder is relaunched.
 
Doing an archive and preserve will not touch your application or home folder. It will preserve your settings and internet connection. Since all the suggestions did not work, I would do the re - install. The only items you will need to install fresh is Stuffit Expander, Anti virus and any other system apps.

Go here for step by step instructions:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
 
Yikes! No elegant solution to this?

I've only been poking at my keyboard for half an hour now, but things look and feel okay today. Perhaps it fixed itself. I wonder exactly what programs run in the early morning (there must be somekind of cron file somewhere with that stuff).

If all goes well today, my frayed nerve channels can relax. Then I'll puff some bowls as a final patch :)
 
Cheryl said:
Doing an archive and preserve will not touch your application or home folder. It will preserve your settings and internet connection.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is not NECCESARILY true. When you do an archive and install, there is an option to preserve users and settings. If you uncheck this, your old users will be moved to the archive folder along with everything else, and you will get a new, totally clean user setup and system. And regardless, all the apple installed applications in your applications folder will be replaceced. As with everything else, the old copies will be moved to the "previous systems" folder. True, any third party applications installed in the applications folder will remain, but unless you run them, they will not affect anything. Feel free to delte and reinstall them if you think they might be corrupted or something.
 
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