Problem with programs crashing

A

aloone1

Guest
Hopefully, someone can help shed some light on the subject for me:

I am using an eMac running OS 10.3.9. I turned the computer on a couple of days ago to find something amiss. Here are the symptoms:

- If I drag anything into the Trash Can and attempt to empty the can or Secure Empty the can on the Finder menu, it brings up the usual message asking if I'm sure I want to do that. Well, when I click 'Yes,' the infamous spinning pinwheel pops up and Finder immediately restarts. I can, however, empty the Trash Can by clicking on the can icon and selecting "Empty Trash Can" with no problem.

- I have tried to install some programs on my computer, including the OS 10.3.9 Updater. However, after I download the software and attempt to start it, a message pops up stating that the installer requires a program check, or something to that effect, and immediately shuts the installer down and pops up the "The application Installer has unexpectedly quit" dialogue.

- This is basically an all-encompassing one. Whenever I attempt to use ANY program that pops up a question box (Safari, Mail, TexEdit, etc.), that program shuts down immediately and prompts the "The program XXX has unexpectedly quit" dialogue.

I've tried to run DiskWarrior and Norton Disk Doctor (which has told me that there are some major errors on the HDD, but I do not have a disk from which to boot in order to run separate from the HDD). I have repaired my permissions on both OS X and Classic, cleaned my Caches, reset the PRAM and reset the nonvolatile firmware, all to no avail.

Is there a way to repair this other than reinstalling OS X? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Before you do that, there is one other thing you can try. Create another profile on your Mac and try doing the same things from there. If you still get the crashes, you know it is OSX and not your profile. If it works from the new profile, you know it is your profile and not OSX. You could then simply migrate your stuff to the new profile.

If you want to reinstall, I’d do an “Archive and Install” as that will simply put a fresh copy of OSX on your machine but keep your profile intact. If it doesn’t happen in the new profile, either migrate your profile to the new one, or do a clean install and rebuild your profile from scratch.
 
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A

aloone1

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Thanks

Thanks a lot for your help. I will try what you suggested and post my results.
 

rman


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If you decide on a re-install of your OS. I would try a installing Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9 on top of your current installation first, to see if that resolves your problem first.
 
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A

aloone1

Guest
Still having troubles...

:mad:

OK, after a few days off, here's what I've done in the past day to try and solve my problem:

-I used my eMac Software Recovery disk to reinstall OS X 10.3 onto my computer and upated to 10.3.9.

-I created a new profile and moved my files and preferences to that profile.

After doing this, my problem with the Trash Can not working has been solved. But I still have some problems and now, a new problem:

- Programs are still crashing upon a question box popping up, especially Installer. I was trying to reinstall the drivers for my digital camera's USB Card Reader. The Installer program is crashing on the question box that tells me that the computer will need to restart after installation. Some other programs have also been doing the same thing.

This is getting extremely frustrating. Anyone know what I can do other than a complete wipe and reinstall?
 
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A

aloone1

Guest
Also...

I forgot to add that now, Classic Environment won't fully open. The meter comes up on the screen and fills up, but Classic never opens. It just sits there.

Any help would be greately appreciated.
 

rman


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After re-installing, did you repair permissions using the disk utility?
 
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A

aloone1

Guest
Problem solved, I think...

Ok, it seems like I've fixed the problem and it was something that was pretty easy to do after all.

I simply moved my "Preferences" folder from the User/Library folder to the desktop, logged off and logged back in. This basically "reset" my OS. I then opened the "Preferences" folder on the desktop and manually dragged in the important preferences that I needed to the newly created "Preferences" folder. This seems to have fixed the problem, as I'm not seeing any of the symptoms I had before.

Thanks to rman and baggss for your help on this matter.
 

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