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Zimwy · Oct 27, 2007, 01:12 PM

Hello!
After upgrading my G5 to leopard it seems to be pretty much dead. The Finder just hangs with a spinning beachball and none of the files on my desktop appear. Once it mentioned something about a Tablet Driver not being loaded so I sshed into and removed all the wacom tablet driver stuff from /Library/Startup\ Items and rebooted. It didn't help.

I can open programs (the dock is still alive) except they all hang and are unusable. There's nothing in ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Finder.crash.log.

Does anyone have any advice for unbeachballing my Finder and OS? Running Top shows some hefty mds import usage so maybe once that's done it'll revive itself? I guess only time will tell unless anyone has any good ideas.

Thanks,
Gabe

JZ · Oct 27, 2007, 08:03 PM

I have the same issue. Once I sign-in to Leopard the finder never seems to finish loading -- I just get the beachball.

I unplugged everything and have rebooted in safe boot, but that doesn't seem to be improving things. Mine is a 2.0ghz G5 iMac. I'm going to let it spin for awhile and see if its something simple like the spotlight indexing.

Zimwy · Oct 27, 2007, 08:08 PM

I found the answer! You'll have to either get to a terminal, or log in via ssh, but this fixes it:

cd /Library/Application\ Support
sudo mv DivXNetworks DivXNetworks.prev

then restart. You should be good to go!

Gabe

JZ · Oct 27, 2007, 09:17 PM

Thanks for posting that fix - that took care of it for me.

Much appreciated!

deviantflux · Oct 27, 2007, 10:29 PM

thanks for the fix, worked here for me...

davver79 · Oct 28, 2007, 03:48 PM

Hi , I'm having exactly the same problem, only I don't have a clue about how to use Terminal! Could somebody please post a step by step process of how to fix this?

I can't access terminal from my desktop with the crashed finder.

Please help!

Zimwy · Oct 28, 2007, 03:55 PM

Hi Davver,
Sure I can walk you through it. Seems you have two choices if you can't access the terminal:

1) If you have another computer, a network, and remote login was enabled you can SSH (a way of remotely logging in from one computer to another via the terminal).
2) Start up from the Leopard CD again. Don't install anything, but one of the menus in the installer lets you run the Terminal from there. I'd go with this one if you're unfamiliar with terminals.

So once you've booted from the leopard CD and launched the terminal you should have a command prompt. Type this line:

cd /Library/Application\ Support

and hit return. What that does is move you into your Application Support folder just like if you had gone their with the finder. For education's sake, if you like, you can then type ls (LS but lowercase) and hit return. You'll see a list of folders and files. Those are the same folders and files that you would see if you went to the Application Support folder with the finder.

Next, type this command and hit return:

sudo mv DivXNetworks DivXNetworks.prev

It will ask you for your password. Enter it and hit return. What this does is just rename the DivXNetworks folder to be named DivXNetworks.prev. Once that's done just reboot your computer and you should be good to go. Let me know how it goes.

Gabe

davver79 · Oct 28, 2007, 04:11 PM

Hi Gabe,

Thanks for that.

I tried this by booting from the DVD.

I got to terminal, typed in the first line 'cd /Library...' in the window that came up, hit return. This went onto a next line (starting with bash 32 or something!?). I then typed in the second line 'sudo mv...' pressed enter and it told me that 'sudo' was an invalid command or something? Is this something I'm doing wrong?

I just typed straight into the terminal window that came up. Sorry for being a bit dumb here - first time I've used terminal!

Thanks for your help,
David

Howzat Newbee · Oct 28, 2007, 10:56 PM

Hi David
I had the same problem with my G5. Gabe's advice worked but if you use Terminal after the DVD boot you need to type
cd ..
That will take you to the root directory /.
Then type ls (i.e. LS lower case)
You should recognize your MAC HD (mine was just called Macintosh HD).
cd into that directory
Then follow Gabe's instructions and you should be fine.

-Howz

leadbased · Oct 30, 2007, 10:32 AM

HI All I am having the same problem and have been trying for several days to resolve it...I found your suggestions here and thried them to no avail.

After I Terminal into: cd /Library/Application\ Support
and hit ls I get only Apple
And when I type: sudo mv DivXNetworks DivXNetworks.prev
I get: -bash-3.2# sudo: command not found

Has anyone any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

-Chad

smnation · Oct 30, 2007, 02:26 PM

After searching all night for a solution I awoke in the morning to find this post. I want to thank Zimwy for pointing me in the right direction.

For anyone having the same problem:
I booted from CD and opened the Terminal.
From here type "cd YOURBOOTDIRECTORYNAMEHERE/Library/Application\ Support"
and then "ls -la" to get a list of files. Confirmed the existence of "DivXNetworks"
finally I typed "mv DivXNetworks DivXNetworks.prev" to rename the file
rebooted and all is well.

granitephile · Nov 10, 2007, 10:56 AM

I did the mv in multiuser and then restarted the finder - all good even without a reboot.
Simpler and faster than having to boot from cd and then rebooting.

I have a question though - what have we disabled with this patch? Does anyone use this optional video codex? Is the new one ok? Is Apple fixing this? I was in an Apple store and one of the Genius chaps said he'd not heard of the problem and suggested I bring my box in. This while possible would have been pretty inconvenient.

My grateful thanks for the post. I was stymied.

Gavin · Nov 10, 2007, 04:37 PM

DIVX is a proprietary video codec based on MPEG4. Is very popular with windows users.

The latest version works fie for me, but I have an intel mac, so I don't know about G5s.

get the latest here:
DivX Video Player - DivX Video Codec - DivX Converter

form those of you having trouble with the terminal, notice the backslash:
cd /Library/Application\ Support

it is there to "escape" the space in the folder name. If you get it wrong funny things can happen.

Also before you 'cd' (change directory) you can look around to make sure you are in the right place. ('directory' and 'folder' are the same thing)
ls (LS for list) will show you the contents of the folder.
pwd (print working directory) will show you where you are.

ls /something
will show you what's in the 'something' folder

ls /something/more
will show you what's in the 'more' folder inside the 'something' folder

fish around until you find the Applications Support folder before you try to cd there.

also hitting the tab key will finish typing the folder name for you!

type: ls /Library/Ap
hit tab
and you get: ls /Library/Application\ Support

if there is more than one thing starting with 'ap' it will show then to you

JKT · Nov 10, 2007, 05:00 PM

Fwiw, you don't need to use terminal to do this. Just hold down shift as you log in, and it will disable all third party software. You can then delete or uninstall it without the need to use the Terminal or another machine. If the issue is a driver or kext that is loaded prior to logging in, do the same at boot up - hold down shift.

Kevin · Nov 10, 2007, 07:00 PM

Ok I thought we stopped using extensions in OS 9 because of this?

Gavin · Nov 11, 2007, 12:16 AM

Good point!

1niceguy · Nov 13, 2007, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by smnation

After searching all night for a solution I awoke in the morning to find this post. I want to thank Zimwy for pointing me in the right direction.

For anyone having the same problem:
I booted from CD and opened the Terminal.
From here type "cd YOURBOOTDIRECTORYNAMEHERE/Library/Application\ Support"
and then "ls -la" to get a list of files. Confirmed the existence of "DivXNetworks"
finally I typed "mv DivXNetworks DivXNetworks.prev" to rename the file
rebooted and all is well.

when your booted from the CD was it the original OS or the Leopard cause i'm having this same issue and i can't get to the terminal

1niceguy · Nov 13, 2007, 07:11 PM

if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated

i upgraded my tiger to loepard and now i get the spinning beachball and it doesn't stop. i'm unable to connect to it via firewire cause i don't have one. i tried booting off the leopard dvd but that doesn't work. what other choice do i have

1niceguy · Nov 14, 2007, 12:31 PM

I did you had advised on to rename the DivXNetwork to DivXNetwork.prev logged off and re-logged in and bingo i'm in. thanks for that posting worked like a charm.

if anyone is having issues trying to get to rename this folder or is unable to terminal in. i suggest inserting the install dvd reboot, hold the letter C key until you see the gray spinning wheel and let go. go to utilities - reset password and reset the root password to something simple for you to remember. logoff and you should have the option to login as other click on other and type root as the name and enter your password. now you should be able to browse to
/Library/Application Support/ and rename DivXNetworks to DivXNetwork.prev log out and login as your username and you should be set.

enjoy your new Leopard I know I will.

Kevin Scott · Dec 26, 2007, 02:46 AM

I seem to have the same problem, but in terminal I get
-bash-3.2#
when I enter something as suggested in this forum, I get command not found or no such file or directory

I have entered
cd
cd..
cd imac g5 hd
etc....
any suggestions???

Big Mac · Dec 26, 2007, 03:29 AM

It's cd .. with a space between the d and the dots.

Kevin Scott · Dec 26, 2007, 03:35 AM

I believe I tried that too

but I will try again in the AM
is it correct that it is saying bash 32????

Kev

Big Mac · Dec 26, 2007, 03:46 AM

Yes, it's fine - Bash is one of the terminal types.

Kevin Scott · Dec 26, 2007, 01:04 PM

things are working better in Terminal,
When I enter pwd, I am at Library/Application Support
when enter "ls", I get "Apple"
when I rename Divx, I get no such file or Directory
??

TETENAL · Dec 26, 2007, 01:46 PM

You don't need to use the Terminal as has been mentioned already. Hold down the shift key to boot and log-in in safe mode. Then trash DivX and APE stuff using the Finder.

If you don't have those folders you have another problem. Apple has a list of possible issues with their solutions:

Mac OS X 10.5: Troubleshooting installation, startup, and login issues

Kevin Scott · Dec 26, 2007, 09:41 PM

Well, after booting in Safe Mode, I found the DivX file, and deleted it (could not rename it)
re-booted and all is fine, works great.

just a hint about safe mode. hold down shift just after chime sounds, and hold until spinning gear. Log in, and just after entering password, hold shift again.

thanks for all help
Kev

G5man · Dec 27, 2007, 04:49 PM

Would it be a good idea to rename the folder before the installation of Leopard is done?

Chuckit · Dec 27, 2007, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by G5man

Would it be a good idea to rename the folder before the installation of Leopard is done?

If by "the folder" you mean the stuff that's been causing problems in this thread, then yes, that would be a good solution. I wouldn't rename the whole Application Support folder, though, because there's probably a lot of stuff your apps need in there.

G5man · 06:51 PM

Well I just installed Leopard and finder is not loading any windows so I can't get to stuff, does anyone know of that symptom?

EDIT: Restart and update did the trick. But now for some reason anytime I try and move something from finder to the trash, I get prompted for my password even though I am the main user any reason why that is?

karimcz · Dec 28, 2007, 12:08 AM

I found a new way, just connect to another computer, such as a laptop with a cable firewire to firewire, and boot your stupid mac holding T, it will only booth your hardisk, and you will see your mac hardisk, then go change that stupid divx file name, and you done...
: )
Karim

Tricericops · Jan 6, 2008, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin Scott

things are working better in Terminal,
When I enter pwd, I am at Library/Application Support
when enter "ls", I get "Apple"
when I rename Divx, I get no such file or Directory
??

I'm having the same issue with this fix. When I list all it gives me is "Apple."

You said it worked for you when you booted in Safe Mode but when I do that my Finder still doesn't work so I can't navigate to the file. When in Terminal, am I doing something wrong?