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TICKET ARCHIVE -> all apps fail to stay open; system screwed up
RobinS - Jul 24, 2006 - 1:08 pm
The spellcheck in Mail is hilarious. They think email is not a word. Oh the irony. Is there a way to get the spellcheck to learn or ignore certain words?
earthsaver - Jul 24, 2006 - 2:07 pm
The spelling service is not specific to Mail; it's used by any Cocoa application that desires access. Right-click, Control-click, or otherwise spawn the contextual menu on the word and Learn Spelling.
The problem since Tiger has been that the built-in system-wide dictionary does not have all the same words as the built-in Oxford American Dictionary, so we're left with discrepancies such as "email," which in other American dictionaries requires a hyphen while Oxford has incorporated "email" hyphen-free.
The problem since Tiger has been that the built-in system-wide dictionary does not have all the same words as the built-in Oxford American Dictionary, so we're left with discrepancies such as "email," which in other American dictionaries requires a hyphen while Oxford has incorporated "email" hyphen-free.
RobinS - Jul 24, 2006 - 6:45 pm
If I could start Mail I could check this but my system is royally quite screwed right now. Tons of apps won't start - they look like they're starting then vanish. I'll reinstall tomorrow if I can't figure it out in the next few hours I guess.
Thanks for the quick reply though. As long as I can get the system to "learn" the acceptable spelling, that's cool.
Thanks for the quick reply though. As long as I can get the system to "learn" the acceptable spelling, that's cool.
earthsaver - Jul 24, 2006 - 6:51 pm
What happens if you create a second administrative user and try to open the applications while logged in as it?
RobinS - Jul 24, 2006 - 7:17 pm
I couldn't do it in System Pref so I used Terminal. The user is in Finder but the oddest things are happening. If I click the blue Apple on the top left, then any of these:
Force Quit
Restart
Shut Down
the system logs off and logs on - not asking for a password or user name. At first I thought it must be my keyboard but its working fine here.
I tried copying the user/Library but it said one or more items have special permissions and cannot be copied. Should I skip them? I don't want to make the mistake I did before, not backing this area up. Also Application Support. Anything else? Or should I backup the whole user folder?
Force Quit
Restart
Shut Down
the system logs off and logs on - not asking for a password or user name. At first I thought it must be my keyboard but its working fine here.
I tried copying the user/Library but it said one or more items have special permissions and cannot be copied. Should I skip them? I don't want to make the mistake I did before, not backing this area up. Also Application Support. Anything else? Or should I backup the whole user folder?
earthsaver - Jul 24, 2006 - 7:42 pm
I think you should use a backup utility like Psync to handle the backup rather than dealing with fussy permission issues yourself. What mistake did you make last time? You still haven't told me whether you did Archive or Erase last time, etc.
What happens if you choose to Log Off?
What happens if you choose to Log Off?
RobinS - Jul 24, 2006 - 11:33 pm
> I think you should use a backup utility like Psync to handle the backup rather than dealing with fussy permission issues yourself.
How about Superduper? Or does that just clone the whole works? I guess it doesn't matter so much as I've got lots of hard drive space at the moment.
> What mistake did you make last time? You still haven't told me whether you did Archive or Erase last time, etc.
Erase - but I backed up the users/me/library beforehand. The strange thing is it was fine initially. After a couple of weeks, I erased it as I didn't need it. Maybe that was an error.
So you have no suggestions? The problem is I can't even start most of the diagnostic programs. Disk Warrior asks for the admin password, I enter it, then it vanishes....lol. Maybe its possessed.
How about Superduper? Or does that just clone the whole works? I guess it doesn't matter so much as I've got lots of hard drive space at the moment.
> What mistake did you make last time? You still haven't told me whether you did Archive or Erase last time, etc.
Erase - but I backed up the users/me/library beforehand. The strange thing is it was fine initially. After a couple of weeks, I erased it as I didn't need it. Maybe that was an error.
So you have no suggestions? The problem is I can't even start most of the diagnostic programs. Disk Warrior asks for the admin password, I enter it, then it vanishes....lol. Maybe its possessed.
earthsaver - Jul 25, 2006 - 7:40 am
Have you tried repairing your disk? from Disk Utility on your OS X Install disc, or from Single User Mode. I guess you could try running DiskWarrior from its CD and hoping a directory rebuild fixes whatever glitch took place. You could even try booting from an installation of Tiger on another partition or disk and reinstalling 10.4.7 combo on your main volume.
I honestly don't know what's so screwed up that none of your apps will open. I imagine you're not the first to experience it and it might be documented by Apple or appear in an Apple or MacFixIt discussion. I'll reopen your question and hope that another tech knows what's up.
I honestly don't know what's so screwed up that none of your apps will open. I imagine you're not the first to experience it and it might be documented by Apple or appear in an Apple or MacFixIt discussion. I'll reopen your question and hope that another tech knows what's up.
RobinS - Jul 25, 2006 - 10:23 am
Update: so I noticed after repairing permissions with the DVD that it repaired more permissions the second time. This was a first. Usually once is a enough. Has this ever happened to you? You repair, then repair again and instead of it telling you all is well, it does more repairs. From now on I'll always do it twice to make sure I guess.
Since repairing permissions helped before, I just kept at it this time. Then when I restarted, I did it again after Mail started. Is it better to repair permissions when the apps that need the repairing are closed? So often when you adjust something pertaining to an app it asks you to close it first. I wonder if this pertains to repairing permissions?
And yes - I did try to repair the disk but it was ok. Does Repair Disk only pertain to hardware hard drive issues or can it be software related too? I thought it was only hardware related.
I have DiskWarrior on the hard drive only. Can I transfer it to a CD? Or do I need to get another version for booting off the CD? I had forgotten about using it seperately from the hard drive.
Yes - please reopen the question - but title it mentioning the 10.4.7 update in case that is related. It didn't happen right after, but it was close. What was closer however was a software update for Airport (which I didn't bother with before because I don't have it installed) and iTunes (which I never use.) But I realize now that the updates affect interactions as well as the sole performance of singular apps so its probably better to get the whole works.
Philippe mentioned another option is to wait only for the combo updates as these may have been more carefully checked. Or simply ignore updates or a few weeks and read the feedback first before installing. Since Apple updates are usually not security related, it should be no big deal if one installs them now or a month from now. So very different from the panic I use to be in with Windows and the vulnerability one feels once an update has been released and you haven't gotten it yet. Do you recommend waiting a bit and installing updates a little later?
So back to the original problem (by the way - that is a funny title you've adapted for this progblem - very appropriate):
All programs so far seem to be working.
I would love to know the reason why this probably happened though.
I was thinking it might be better to use the system for a day or so to see if its truly ok. That way we can post more accurate info. This was quite an adventure. So much for the people that scoff at Repairing Permissions.....
Since repairing permissions helped before, I just kept at it this time. Then when I restarted, I did it again after Mail started. Is it better to repair permissions when the apps that need the repairing are closed? So often when you adjust something pertaining to an app it asks you to close it first. I wonder if this pertains to repairing permissions?
And yes - I did try to repair the disk but it was ok. Does Repair Disk only pertain to hardware hard drive issues or can it be software related too? I thought it was only hardware related.
I have DiskWarrior on the hard drive only. Can I transfer it to a CD? Or do I need to get another version for booting off the CD? I had forgotten about using it seperately from the hard drive.
Yes - please reopen the question - but title it mentioning the 10.4.7 update in case that is related. It didn't happen right after, but it was close. What was closer however was a software update for Airport (which I didn't bother with before because I don't have it installed) and iTunes (which I never use.) But I realize now that the updates affect interactions as well as the sole performance of singular apps so its probably better to get the whole works.
Philippe mentioned another option is to wait only for the combo updates as these may have been more carefully checked. Or simply ignore updates or a few weeks and read the feedback first before installing. Since Apple updates are usually not security related, it should be no big deal if one installs them now or a month from now. So very different from the panic I use to be in with Windows and the vulnerability one feels once an update has been released and you haven't gotten it yet. Do you recommend waiting a bit and installing updates a little later?
So back to the original problem (by the way - that is a funny title you've adapted for this progblem - very appropriate):
All programs so far seem to be working.
I would love to know the reason why this probably happened though.
I was thinking it might be better to use the system for a day or so to see if its truly ok. That way we can post more accurate info. This was quite an adventure. So much for the people that scoff at Repairing Permissions.....
TechSupport - Jul 31, 2006 - 10:40 pm
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