MAC 0S X 10.3.9 problems/crashes. Need help ASAP

[kevinbellamy]

This is my first post so sorry if this thread has been created in the wrong forum.

Anyhow, when I came into work this morning and booted up my Mac I noticed a few of my applications were not responding. At first, I didnt' think too much about it but now that I have researched the situation I have noticed the problem lies within Apple software.

I can not load any programs that came installed with Mac OS X - whether it be Text Edit, imovie or even the calculator.
However, I can run programs that i installed myself: Photoshop, Firefox, MSN Messenger, Quark, etc.

Some programs will load then freeze (not crash) within seconds, while other software will not load at all. I have to force quit every application.

Mac Addict published a tip of the month awhile back and it offers suggestions on how to 'fix an application that won't launch'. I remembered this and decided to give the suggestions a shot but i'm not having any luck.

1. updating prebinding. I attempted this and terminal would not allow it. surprisingly terminal will load.
2. activity monitor. This will not load at all nor will other programs listed in utilities.
3. preferences: erasing plist files from username/lib/pref. this does solve the problem for any of the programs. I attempted to fix ichat by erasing the pllist files pretaining to ichat and after i relaunched the program - it still froze.
4. clean cache. install a program such as tiger cage clean to perform system cache. Sounds like it may do the trick but - APPLE WILL NOT LOAD INSTALLER

Any suggestions?

If anyone wishes to contact me via MSN Messenger (kevin_r_bellamy@hotmail.com) during today, that will be awesome or you can simply reply to this thread.

[richparsnips]

Firstly, I am no expert but I can suggest a few things to try that shouldn't hurt and maybe help.

If this happened to me I would be thinking there would be a disk problem. Firstly back up all your data whilst you can? Then I suggest loading your install DVD then restarting the mac holding down c. This will then boot the machine from the DVD. When you pass the language selection, choose Utilities (I think) and run Disk Utility. Verify your disk and see what message comes up. Repair if you can.

Disk utility may not be able to repair some faults but commercial software is available that can recover most files and get you going again. The key question if there is a fault is how it occurred and will it happen again.

If the disk is OK, create another account and see whether the programs run.

Good luck.

[richparsnips]

Sorry but on re-reading, you should try repairing permissions first. This is usually offered as a cure-all but in most cases won't do anything to help. However in your case the symptoms could be as a result of corrupted/incorrect permissions - being able to run your own installed Apps but not the ones that came with the machine. This can be done via Disk Utility in Utilities folder in applications. Of course it may not run and I don't think you should repair permissions from utilities when booted from the DVD. In this case then, create another Admin user and see if it will run from there.