App store hangs up any time I try to download something

I've tried disabling all the items in the startup but drop box. I've also tried fixing the permissions while in safe mode. Does anyone have any other ideas? I'm new to troubleshooting mac problems, so I'm not sure what else to do. In safe mode it works fine.

If this is the Mac App store you are taling about then this is a known problem. To get round this problem and have it working normally again, logout of your app store account then close the app store, logout of OSX, log back into OSX, open Mac App Store, try to download something, sign in when prompted.
That should sort it, it worked for me and loads of other people.

- Simon

That didn't seem to do anything.

What EXACTLY happens when you try to download something?

- Simon

The mouse goes to the spinning wheel and I have to force close it.

I'm wondering if you are just being impatient. Next time the "spinning mouse wheel" comes up in that situation, walk away from the computer and go play with that cute kid you seem to own for ten minutes or so.

If it's still spinning when you get back, then yes you have a problem. If not, it just needed some extra time to get through that process for unknown reasons and should now work properly.

If that didn't solve the problem, you might consider downloading the 10.6.6 combo update (available from Apple's support site) and re-applying it, followed by a restart and permissions repair.

I did reinstall the update, although I didn't uninstall it first. After reinstalling I did the restart and permission fixed. I also let it run all night to try and download it. When I'm booted into safe mode it downloads immediately with no problems.

Is this something I could call apple care for?

Ah, thank you for that valuable bit of info.

If the app is working properly in safe mode, then what that's telling me is that in fact the system (and the Mac Store app) is working perfectly -- something else in YOUR account is bolloxing up the process.

You can verify this by creating a second admin-level account and trying it there. By your description, it should work perfectly.

If so, then there is something you missed that is running and interfering with the Mac App Store. By any chance have you EVER installed something called Speed Download, even if you no longer have it, on that machine?

No, never anything like that. I'll disabled everything but dropbox, I'll try disabling that as well.

There's more that runs in the background on Macs beyond just Login Items. I have Dropbox and the Mac App Store so I doubt that's the issue. Try that "second admin" suggestion of mine and let us know if that works.

Created a new account, and it hangs the same as on my primary account.

Ah, okay, now we're getting somewhere at least. So we know it's nothing unique to your (primary) user account.

Have a look in /Library/StartUpItems and report back.

The only thing in there was a folder for parallels. Since I don't use it anymore I took the folder out, rebooted and tried again. It still hangs. I do have a bootcamp partition in case that matters.

Have you got an antivirus running on that machine?

No, nothing like that.