Ticket Options

Question Details

TICKET ARCHIVE -> The iTunes application could not be openened. The disk could not be read from or written to.

Maxime D. - Jul 22, 2006 - 3:59 pm

I get the following error when I start iTunes 6.0.5:

"The iTunes application could not be opened. The disk could not be read from or written to."

I reinstalled, gone to old versions and if I use a different user on the same PowerBook, everything is fine. I'm really stuck...

I have tried deleting the com.apple.iTunes.plist in the Library/Preferences without any result...

thanks

Max

ishan - Jul 22, 2006 - 9:38 pm

Repair permissions on your drive using Disk Utility. This clearly sounds like a permissions problem. You could also do a Get Info on the iTunes app and manually change the permissions...but I'd let Disk Utility do the work because there's a lot of files in that .pkg.

HTH and please let us know what happens. Thanks.

Maxime D. - Jul 23, 2006 - 2:33 am

Hi Ishan,

The Permession repair using Disk Utility does not change anything. Here is the output:
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Determining correct file permissions.
Permissions differ on ./Library, should be drwxrwxr-t , they are drwxrwxr-x
Owner and group corrected on ./Library
Permissions corrected on ./Library

Permissions repair complete
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

Any ideas what to try next?...

If iTunes is working for another user on the same machine, wouldn't it be due to some config or log file hanging around somewhere....?

thanks

Max

ishan - Jul 23, 2006 - 6:11 am

Run the check permissions again, until you get a clean bill of health, then restart; if it still doesn't work, you can delete the .plist file for iTunes and see if that helps.

Maxime D. - Jul 23, 2006 - 7:48 am

Clean permission check:
Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Determining correct file permissions.

Permissions verification complete
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

I restarted and then same error. I then deleted com.apple.iTunes.plist, and still always the same error. Any other plist files for iTunes? I don't see any.

really stuck... thanks

Max

ishan - Jul 23, 2006 - 9:56 am

There's a lot of things you could do-delete system/user caches with Yasu, Onyx, Cocktail etc. (all shareware apps), reinstall iTunes, download the last combo update installer for the version of your system you're running, etc. However, I'm going to reopen the question because I'm not sure this is a system software problem or an iTunes-specific problem (I suspect it's the former).

philippe99 - Jul 23, 2006 - 10:08 am

Max, could you try the fsck maintenance command:

To run fsck, you first need to start up your Mac in single-user mode. Here's how:
1. Restart your Mac.
2. Immediately press and hold the Command and "S" keys.
You'll see a bunch of text begin scrolling on your screen. In a few more seconds, you'll see the Unix command line prompt (#).
You're now in single-user mode.

Now that you're at the # prompt, here's how to run fsck:
1. Type: "fsck -y" (that's fsck-space-minus-y).
If the 1st pass says that nothing has to be repaired, try "fsck -fy"
Option "-y" forces a "yes" response to every question of the system, which is very important because answering "no" to a fsck question will stop the process !
Option "-f" forces fsck to chack a system that this command seems to have find "clean"
2. Press Return.
The fsck utility will blast some text onto your screen. If there's damage to your disk, you'll see a message that says:

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

If you see this message--and this is extremely important-- repeat running fsck. It is normal to have to run fsck more than once -- the first run's repairs often uncover additional problems..

When fsck finally reports that no problems were found, and the # prompt reappears:
3. Type: "reboot" to restart,
or type "exit" to start up without rebooting.
4. Press Return.

Your Mac should proceed to start up normally to the login window or the Finder.


Regards
Philippe

Maxime D. - Jul 23, 2006 - 12:19 pm

the fsck -fy did not find anything wrong... Here was the output:

** /dev/rdiskos3
** root filesystem
** checking HFS plus volume
** checking Extents overflow file
** checking Catalog file
** checking multi-linked files
** checking catalog hierarchy
** checking volume bitmap
** checking volume information
** The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK **

I rebooted and still get the same error message when I start iTunes... ????

what do we try next?

Max

philippe99 - Jul 23, 2006 - 12:27 pm

My last idea: install the COMBO update corresponding to your running OS.
For instance, if your run 10.3.9, download the COMBO 10.3.9 from Apple site and re-apply it over your existing 10.3.9

Phil

Maxime D. - Jul 24, 2006 - 3:18 am

No luck! Applied Combo update 10.4.7 without anything. I found a guy with similar problem on macos.com through google. Al Baker had the same problem in November 2005. However, it does not say how he solved his problem.... I emailed him but no response yet. The that dealt with him might know the solution.

Otherwise, is there a way to run the iTunes executable with -verbose option from the terminal to see what file or what is actually going on when starting iTunes?

Anybody else has a suggestion?

thanks

Max

philippe99 - Jul 24, 2006 - 5:49 am

Well, no idea with iTunes i verbose mode.
I repool the question
Philippe

Maxime D. - Jul 28, 2006 - 3:43 am

Ran TechTool Deluxe on the volume structure and repaired what had failed. I still have the same problem...

max

TechSupport - Jul 31, 2006 - 10:40 pm