[liquidamber]

Hi everyone,

In the past two weeks I have been experiencing some major problems with all the primary applications as part of OSX. By primary applications, I mean most of the core programs that come with OSX 10.3.1.

At first I though certain applications had become corrupted and needed to be reinstalled. Firstly 'Safari' and 'Address Book' wouldn't launch and 'Calculator' would crash after 5 seconds of use. Then 'Font Book' would crash and lock up the Finder.

I didn't think much of this at first until I realised that all my design applications were running fine, but more and more OSX primary applications were note. Hence, I started to experiment with other applications like 'Disk Utility' and 'Software' update. All of the applications would launch okay, but as soon as I clicked on any object within each application, it would stop responding and I would have to force quit it.

This is a really wierd situation and I can't find any similar problems through my searching on the web. Have you folks experienced or heard about anything similar.

I tried to upgrade to 10.3.6 hoping it would fix the problem. But 'Software Update' stops respnding when I try to use it. I tried downloading the update manually from the MAC OSX Software page which was fine until I launch the installer and the typical install screen appears (big X off to the left and room for text on the right) but it appears empty.

I tried installing non-Apple related programs which all seem fine but anything Apple related seems to lock up in one way or another. For example, nearly all of the applications within the 'utilities' folder launch but stop responding when I try to use them. Therefore, this must be a OSX specific problem relating to system applications in one way or another???

I'd really apprechiate a solution to all this and dread having to reinstall OSX from scratch after backing up copious amounts of data.

Please let me know if I can supply more details which may be of assistance. Thanks for your time.

[JKT]

As a first guess I suspect that it may be a font related issue - have you deactivated any fonts or installed any third party ones at all? If so, that may be the issue - try manually removing them to e.g. the desktop or manually re-installing them if you have deactivated them. Restart and see if that solves the problem.

If not, try downloading something like Onyx and run the "cleaning" processes to clear your system caches etc.

If that is unsuccessful, then rather than trying to troubleshoot further, you can re-install OS X using an archive and install approach - this is one of the options early on in the install process. You don't need to wipe the hard drive to do this - it installs a new system (and preserves the old one in a "Previous Systems" folder) without removing any data from the drive and preserves your user accounts.

HTH

Edit: How much hard drive space so you have left? If it is less than a few GB, this may also be causing issues for you. You will need a good few GB of space left to do an archive and install.

[monkeybrain]

Apart from repairing permissions (in Disk Utility, which I'm guessing may not work either) a reinstall is the only option. However, it's not so bad. You can do an 'Archive and Install'. This means that everything you've added to your application folder as well everything in your home folder will be preserved while the OS will be completely reinstalled.

Just put your Mac OS X install disk in and restart and be sure to select 'Archive and Install' and preserve users folders. It's best to back up the most important data as well of course (but as everyone knows this should be routine anyway, but I know we're all guilty of not doing it that often). The reinstall should not take that long to complete, once it has, repair permissions and then run the 10.3.6. combined update to bring everything up to scratch.

[Randman]

Have you installed ram lately? Can you try and create a new user and see if the problems exist there as well? That'll tell you if you have a software problem or something else.
Also, from your comment, hopefully you have a sound backup plan in place. If not, you may want to start one, in case you need to do a clean install.

[Dr. Smoke]

Here's my general advice on the topic of multiple applications quitting unexpectedly or failing to launch.

---

1. In general, when multiple apps quit unexpectedly or fail to launch, it is often a font problem.

(a) If you recently installed any new fonts, remove them.

(b) If you disabled fonts with Font Book, particularly System fonts, re-enable them. I recommend everyone read Fonts in Mac OS X (note: this link is to a PDF) before using Font Book.

(c) If you recently installed some HP printer software, it carries a corrupted Times RO font that can affect Mail, Safari, Software Update, and possibly other apps. See:

- Mac OS X: Mail unexpectedly quits if Times RO font is installed

- Safari: Times RO font may prevent some pages from loading

- Mac OS X: Software Update unexpectedly quits when an update has a license agreement

Other possible causes include:

2. Disk, permission, or cache corruption: See my Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption FAQ.

3. Insufficient RAM or free disk space: See my Problems from insufficent RAM and free hard disk space FAQ.

4. Incompatible third-party interface modifications (hacks, haxies, etc. such as Unsanity code) or Menu Extras (the icons on the right side of the Apple menu bar). If you have such applications installed either:

(a) Check for updates to them.
(b) Disable them.
(c) Uninstall them.

5. Possible hardware problem: run the Apple Hardware Test that came with your Mac. I suggest you run the Apple Hardware Test that came with your computer. This is usually on a separate Apple Hardware Test CD, but with the latest Macs it may be on a special volume on the Software Restore and Install DVD, per this KB item. Run the Exended Test.

If none of the above solves the problem, I suggest you launch Console (in Applications > Utilities) and check both the console.log and system.log logs for messages that may be written therein after you notice the problem. To open these log files in Console, click the Logs tool in Console's tool bar to select these, or use Console > File > Open and select a log to open. If messages appear in these logs at the time the problem occurred, copy and paste them into a reply here for analysis.

Note that some of the information above is from the Fonts, Applications, and Console and Crash Logs chapters of my book, Troubleshooting Mac® OS X, Second Edition.

[liquidamber]

Thanks for your prompt feedback and suggestions everyone.

Stating this issue as a 'font problem' makes alot of sense as I have recently been installing a number of new fonts through use of 'Font Book'.

I just dragged a good portion of non-system fonts out of my 'font' directory and all of the primary OSX applications appear to function again. The strange thing is that I didn't touch any of the system fonts so I assume font manager just can't handle a large amount of fonts.

My advice to anyone would be...
"Don't use 'Font Book' to manage large amounts of fonts. Stick with another font management program like 'Extensis Suitcase' as it appears to do alot better job and doesn't copy fonts directly to your system font folder. Instead, it references fonts from whatever individal directories you wish."

JKT, Dr. Smoke and Co, you are legends. Thanks for the assistance. I thought this would lead to a much bigger problem. Netherless, I'll take a look at Apples 'Fonts in Mac OSX PDF.

I'm reverting to 'Extensis Suitace' from here onward and will need to take some time out to tidy up my fonts. I'll also use scan my disk to ensure everything is in working order.

Regarding other comments, harddrive space wasn't a contributing problem as I have 8GB free.

Cheers!

[JKT]

Originally posted by Dr. Smoke:
Here's my general advice on the topic of multiple applications quitting unexpectedly or failing to launch. Note that some of the information above is from the Fonts, Applications, and Console and Crash Logs chapters of my book, Troubleshooting Mac® OS X, Second Edition.

Cripes, moderators please make this one a sticky ASAP as it is an invaluable post!!

liquidamber - glad to hear it was something "simple"