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DEXTERITY

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 14, 2004
683
363
Here we go again. Can someone please help me figure this out.

I just installed two new hard drives on my old G4 because they were pretty much shot. In addition, I was having this problem before and assumed it was because the hard drives were bad. Well here I am again.

Wen I run Disk Utility it goes about 1/4 of the way through and I receive the following message "Disk Utility has lost its connection with the disk management tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch disk utility."

I ran Disk Warrior and still nothing. Does anyone have any clue what is going on? I am running OSX 10.3.2. Before I had 10.3.9 and it still did it.

Thank you.
 
I didn't touch anything. I did a clean install, re partioned my hard drives and I'm back to the same problems I had with the old hard drives (well they were barely working also).
 
Try dragging your iTunes app to the Trash (don't empty) and then repair permissions again. Does it work this time?

Oh, and put iTunes back in the Applications folder once you're finished. :)
 
wow, it worked. WTF lol. Thank you very much. So how did you figure that one out lol (it seems like the last thing I would try)? Any reason why itunes caused this error?

Is this going to be something that happens from now on or is it just a one time freak thing? Thanks again!
 
That was just a check. Now, go to your receipts folder (in your System's Library) and drag everything iTunes related to the Trash except for iTunes.pkg, iTunesPhoneDriver.pkg and iTunesX.pkg.

From memory, it's the iTunes4.pkg package that's the culprit but remove all older versions of iTunes' receipts to be safe. They're not needed anymore anyway.

Don't empty the Trash, but try repairing permissions again (this time with iTunes in the Applications folder) and see how things go. Hopefully this'll give you a long-term fix.

FWIW, there was a problem with later versions of iTunes (5.0 and 6.0) on Panther and repairing permissions. :(
 
thank you. The only thing Itunes related I see is Itunes, ItunesX and Ipod if you consider that part of it. I ran repair permissions again for the heck of it and it didn't work (nothing was in trash). Attached is a pic of my receipts. Thanks again.

View attachment Picture 3.pdf
 
I didn't install it because it slowed down Safari last time If I remember correctly (or maybe it messed up my pro tools). I think I had it on my computer prior to reinstalling everything. But I'm not sure if those items you mentioned were there or not. I guess I have nothing to lose. I will install it later and hopefully those are related to 10.3.9 and I can try what you suggested. I will keep you posted and thanks for your help.

edit: I checked my G5 and those items you mentioned are there. so they must be related to 10.3.9. I will install it on the G4 and let u know how it goes.
 
The packages should really only be there if you have had iTunes 4.0 on your system at some stage. I'm not sure why you don't have the iTunes4.pkg file since you must have had iTunes 4.0 when you did the clean install. :confused:

This problem was pretty prevalent when people on 10.3.9 updated iTunes to version 6.0 which is why your scenario has me a little confused. :eek:
 
I updated to 10.3.9 and I still have the same two packages: itunes, itunesX.

I wonder if it's a G5 thing? I see them on the G5 but not the G4.. what would happen if I deleted one or both of the ones I presently have?

leave it to me to have problems which are out of the norm.
 
DEXTERITY said:
what would happen if I deleted one or both of the ones I presently have?


The system wouldn't be able to figure out iTunes' permissions. In lay terms, this means iTunes would start behaving quite erratically.

I don't think it's a G5/G4 problem. However, I really have no idea why you don't have that file. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

I think if you reinstall iTunes, it'll reinstall the receipt (PKG file) and therefore, you might be able to delete the current iTunes packages, reinstall iTunes and see how things go. I wouldn't actually delete these files though, just in case. I'd keep them somewhere safe.

So, in short, drag these packages out of the receipts folder and onto the Desktop. Delete the iTunes app from your Applications folder. Re-download it and reinstall it. If the receipts aren't there, then drag them back from the Desktop and you shouldn't be any worse off than you are now.

This is a long shot and I'm really not all that confident that it'll work. It's up to you whether the effort is worth it. :)
 
Thanks, it's worth a shot. Appreciate your time in trying to help me.. I will let u know how it goes lol
 
Okay, good luck. Most apps will reinstall their packages/receipts however iTunes is embedded in the system so I'm not so sure. Maybe drag everything to the Trash but don't empty. This way, OSX won't have access to the files but you can still get them back. :)
 
interesting upon the re-install I ended up with Itunesphonedriver and ItunesX, no regular itunes package. I left the itunes package in the trash and rain the disk repair and it worked. wonder if that is safe to delete? itunes worked ok for the one mp3 i played. Maybe I will hang onto it just in case it starts acting up.
 
Hang onto it just in case. It may be a matter of months before you need it (if ever) but it'd be a pain if you didn't have it. Store it away for a rainy day and if ever iTunes starts being weird, put it back in the Receipts folder and see how things go. Of course, if having it in the Receipts folder means you can't repair permissions then it's a bit paradoxical keeping it.

If you put it back momentarily, will permissions repair? If not, then I guess you can trash it because you can always get another copy from someone else's system. I'm guessing that putting it back will probably break Disk Utility again. :(

Okay, in summary (I think I digressed), it's probably cool to delete it but check if it works first. :)
 
Thanks again for your help.. what an odd problem which is kind of a pain. It's funny usually a few people chime in, I guess no one else ran into this problemo before.. Only time will tell how things go lol..
 
yes and itunes runs with it (itunesx) in the trash. haven't tried to delete it yet.
 
you know what thats actually how I have it. I confused myself, lol. thanks
 
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