6 replies to this topic

[Julie Falling]

Hey, all –

I'm having problems with my machine. Accordance has been hanging, and other applications as well. Some just quit. I have run disk utility then restarted. I have restarted and then run disk utility. My machine is a 2.53 GHz Core Duo with 4 GB memory; 320 G HD with ~180 G available; OS 10.6.3; purchased late 2008. I know that 10.6.4 is on the horizon, but the problems are occurring with greater frequency. When Accordance is quit and restarted, I don't always get the same windows I had when even though that is what I have chosen in my prefs. Should I just erase and reinstall, restoring from Time Machine? Will I lose anything? Would I just be reinstalling the problem when I restore?

A bit frustrated here. I have reformatted my G5 when it gave me fits. There the problem was a conflict between architecture and Leopard. The G5s were the only machines I know of that started kernel-panicking when Leopard came out. The updates to 10.5 fixed the problem. We have never had any problems with the G4 iBook and Leopard. With a laptop this new as my MacBook Pro, I don't think I should be having these problems with Snow Leopard.

Thanks for any advice, instructions, encouragement!

Julia

[Ron Webber]

Hello Julie,

This sounds like a permissions problem to me. When you say you have run disk utility, do you mean you have also chosen the "Repair Permissions" option?

If not, run Disk Utility from the startup drive. Select your Hard Drive from the list on the left. Choose the "Repair Permissions" button.

This may correct your problem.

Best regards,

Ron

[Julie Falling]

Ron –

Thanks. Sorry for not being more specific. That is what I did. Disk Utility says permissions were repaired.

Another symptom is that when I'm working on a note/document in Text Edit, I frequently get the message – "This document could not be autosaved because you don’t have write access privileges to the folder that it’s in." This happens before I've saved it for the first time. That also sounds like a permissions problem. I am the administrator on my machine.

I have archived and reinstalled within the last 6 months because of that problem and an inability to encrypt using File Vault (it tells me there was a writing error).

All this stuff seems like software, not hardware, to me.

Julia

[jpkang]

If you have the ability to boot from an external boot drive by USB or Firewire or another Mac in Target Disk Mode (http://bit.ly/Y7PnJ), you could possibly rule out hardware issues (RAM is a likely culprit for especially random freezes or crashes).

And if you have AppleCare and problems persist even with a fresh install of OS X, you will probably want to have a Genius check the hardware out.

[jpkang]

Re: the write access error, you might try the "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs" option from the OS X install/restore disc.

The kind of permissions that Disk Utility repairs does not cover user folders (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1452).

[Helen Brown]

I agree that bad RAM can cause random crashes (happened here recently). Another option, especially if you migrated from an older Mac, is that the user files are corrupted. If you create a new Admin user and try running as that user, that may help to pinpoint the problem.

[Julie Falling]

Hey, all –

When in doubt, I go for thorough. I went ahead and erased the hard drive, reinstalled, updated, and restored from Time Machine. Didn't lose a thing in the way of apps, files, or even drivers. I booted from the Snow Leopard disc, reset the password then "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs". I have also updated to 10.6.4. So far, so good. The only thing not working is the Kindle app – it hangs – but I think the problem is on their end. It's only out in beta and Amazon needs to get the thing finished. I'm not having the Text Edit problems now.

Thanks for the help and very useful suggestions. If I run into problems again, the hardware (memory) will be the most likely suspect. We don't have an Apple Store handy. The nearest one is in Knoxville. I may look at updating TechTool Pro. It checks hardware, directories, etc., and fixes stuff. It served me very well for years and my Macs seemed to have fewer problems when I was running it regularly. Anyone have any experience with version 5?

One more thing. When I run Disk Utility, I get, "Warning: SUID file System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ ARDAgent .app/ Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent has been modified and will not be repaired." Apple Support says that the message can be safely ignored. If it can be ignored, why does it start with, "Warning .. "? However, since Apple says I can ignore it, I'm going to ignore it.

Julia