[teszeract]

So how do you do it? I'm experiencing random application not respondings, including the finder sometimes. But it happens every session more or less. Its driving me nuts. Eventually I have to reset .

Permissions have been repaired with Disk Utility.

Without an extensions manager where you can not only shut off extensions but also see what widgets are installed on your computer, I cannot figure a way to selectively turn off extensions (eg windowshade, resuruxxion (sp?)). I think my troubles started after I installed the Wacom tablet software, but although I have now uninstalled it, the troubles are still continuing. Please help!!

[teszeract]

How about this?


from macattorney

The most common thing that has been implicated in causing the Spinning Pizza-Wheel Of Death problem is having just about any Symantec/Norton product (e.g. Norton Utilities, Norton System Works, Norton Anti-Virus.) installed on your hard drive. (I've also been told, by the way, that Norton Anti-Virus can conflict badly with MicroMat's Drive 10.)
http://www.micromat.com/drive10/index_drive10.html
(Note: For those who have asked, yes, I am referring to the latest versions of Symantec's Norton products which are billed as being OS X-savvy. Using older versions of Norton products on a system that these products were not designed for is very dangerous!)

Anybody have an opinion on this?

[chabig]

That sounds like good advice. It's also good advice to avoid software that modifies the foundation of your operating system, like the Haxies from Unsanity.

If I were you, I'd...

1) Remove all traces of Norton
2) Remove all your Haxies and the APE
3) Run the 10.3.2 combo updater
4) Boot from your install CD and repair the disk
5) Boot from the hard drive and repair permissions

That will probably fix your problems.

Chris

[Terri]

I'm guessing you already know better then to be running with a thousand fonts active.

You will find a folder named "PreferencePanes" in both your user folder and the root library folder. A lot of the 3rd party stuff ends up in those two. You can disable everything in here without causing problems.

Unfortunately some things do install stuff in other places and Mac OS X is like a house with a thousand closets. Everything is in multiple folders named library.

First thing you want to do is create a new user and see if the problem is still there when logged in as this user. If the problem goes away then it is something in the user folder.

If not then it is something either in the root library folder or in the System/library folder.

You can pretty much turn off stuff in the root library folder be renaming the folder. You can rename your whole root library, restart the machine, and a new one will be created. If this fixes the problem then start moving things back in.

If things are still not fixed then it is something that got put in the system.

You can mess around in the system, but your Mac may not start after messing with it and can turn into a real hassle.

An archive and install takes about one hour and gives you a clean system with your old one in a folder for you to go through. It does put some stuff back in the root library folder for you like the Adobe stuff and some others, but leaves out the Quark stuff.

[teszeract]

Originally posted by Terri:
You will find a folder named "PreferencePanes" in both your user folder and the root library folder. A lot of the 3rd party stuff ends up in those two. You can disable everything in here without causing problems.

Unfortunately some things do install stuff in other places and Mac OS X is like a house with a thousand closets. Everything is in multiple folders named library....[snip]

Hey Terri

Thanks for this reply. This is exactly what i wanted to know - a process to follow. I am a little richer in knowledge now.

Thanks, chabig too. Although I am still running Jaguar.

[Developer]

How to Troubleshoot a Software Issue

[teszeract]

A success story, in the end.

Removing Norton, Macjanitor-ing, Dragster-ing, and closing all Suitcase fonts did the trick. Mac is well again.

I think that it was a corrupt font.

Ta to all for the input.

[Appleman]

Glad for you everything is working good again!

Anyway, DiskWarrior from Alsoft is the very best when having problems and very often solves where other products fail.

[HouseSold]

I read and learned some things from this thread.

I was hoping to find an answer to a problem that occurred on our FP iMac after running the recent Java and Safari updates from software update panel just tonite.

The letter 'a' disappeared from use on the keyboard. It doesn't function in any application; it does however function in root, but not in terminal.

Only this one letter.
Anyone ever hear of this or can anyone offer a suggestion on how to fix this short of a reinstall. Panther 10.3.2

Thanks for any help.

[CharlesS]

^ ^ Make sure you've got the right keyboard layout selected in the International preference pane?

[Developer]

I remember someone else having this problem, and believe it was related to some haxie or so.

[typoon]

The 2 most important Apps for your Mac.

TechTool Pro 4.01
DiskWarrior 3.01

[Nai no Kami]

Originally posted by HouseSold:
I read and learned some things from this thread.

I was hoping to find an answer to a problem that occurred on our FP iMac after running the recent Java and Safari updates from software update panel just tonite.

The letter 'a' disappeared from use on the keyboard. It doesn't function in any application; it does however function in root, but not in terminal.

Only this one letter.
Anyone ever hear of this or can anyone offer a suggestion on how to fix this short of a reinstall. Panther 10.3.2

Thanks for any help.

I assume you verified your keyboard settings.

If it works for root, it may be an uer-related problem.

*Try to verify if the problem persists in other user's account (if necessary, create one).

*remove any haxies you have installed.

*If the problem is affecting your user only, try renaming the ~/librery/preferences folder. If the problem is gone, Try passing the preferences onw by one and lon out and back in. It may be a time consuming work, but you should pass them in groups.

*Try littering the caches, located in ~library/cache

[HouseSold]

Thank you all for the various ideas; I learn alot from all your posts here.

I backtracked on what occurred and what I was running when the problem started.

Safari was running when the software update was updating Safari and Java.

During the update, Safari conflicted and force quit itself and some messages about updating keychain occurred on screen. Apparently some data in certain folders were relocated or changed during this process.

After optimization and restart is when the letter 'a' disappeared from use as I mentioned before.

What I did is log out, make a new user, restart, log-in and update keychain.

Then the letter 'a' was re-instated.

Don't know what went on, but glad to have the 'a' back.

Any explanations to satisfy curiosity and to learn from is appreciated.

Why letter 'a'?