Applications won't launch

I can't launch applications other than browsers (safari & firefox). the icons just bounce on the dock. I tried repairing disk permissions; of course, that didn't help. Occasionally, after restarting i can launch app's...but, the problem has been getting worse and worse.

I'm on a new MacBook Pro, running 10.6.4.

Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Try restoring to an earlier point where your system worked fine. Or take the easy way out and reinstall OSX. Reinstalling will not delete anything, it's more like repairing.

thanks for the response. I'm a new mac user, so forgive the dumb question, but..Is that something i can do without access to my back-up drive or disks (I'm traveling)?

Is there anything else less involved worth trying first? Something in-between the routine "permissions" move and a full reinstall of the OS?

Unfortunately if you're traveling and have not taken along your original install media, there's not much you can do to run a check on the machine. However, if you're near an Apple store in your travels, go on in and let them check things out for you. Your machine is still under warranty. Or, wait until you get home and have the machine looked at by Apple.

thanks very much- good suggestion. i'll definitely bring it by the apple store. I've also been having problems recovering it from suspend.

In surfing misc blogs on the topic of app's not launching, i see numerous references to pre-binding. So i tried a few variations on the terminal.

First, I typed in:

Sudo update_prebinding -root / -force

...And, I received the following response:

Sudo: update_prebinding: command not found

I then tried:

sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force -root /

...And, I received the following response in the terminal:

update_dyld_shared_cache: warning mismatched install path in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iLifeMediaBrowser.framework/Versions/A/iLifeMediaBrowser for /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib
update_dyld_shared_cache: warning mismatched install path in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iLifeMediaBrowser.framework/Versions/A/iLifeMediaBrowser for /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib

Does this shed any light?