please someone help. my finder is blocked..!

[Jamelia]

hello,
its been since last Friday that my finder isnt working, all the icons on my screen dont come out and the computer is continuously loading, some of the applications work but some dont! for example msn doesnt work, neither does my music download program..
When I right click the finder icon it says APPLICATION NOT RESPONDING, relaunch...
what is happening? can someone help me?

 

[GimmeSlack12]

This happens whenever you boot the computer? Or have you just let it sit there since this began? You are going to want to relaunch the finder if the button is there and available for you to push. Or just restart the machine. Did you just load something on your machine before this happened? Usually the key to figuring out a problem like this is re-tracing your steps as to what you were doing on the machine Right before this problem occured.

Does holding shift during startup do anything? I've never had a problem with OS X like I used to in Classic, so I doubt that holding shift would help much. ANyone else?

 

[Jamelia]

This happens whenever I boot the computer, i've tried rebooting a million times and it keeps on doing it. It keeps on loading..
I've tried relaunching the finder about a million times as well but it just goes back to how it was before..!!!
I didn't download anything before this happening, it just happened one morning and it hasnt stopped since.
I'm really starting to be frustrated...someone help!

 

[jsw]

Try opening Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility, select your hard drive in the left panel (near the top), then click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button (lower central area), then, when that's done, select "Repair Disk".

That might help, and won't hurt.

 

[Applespider]

Have you tried deleting your Finder preferences ?

 

[Jamelia]

But i cant do that, i cant open Macintosh HD to then open applications cus i dont have any icons on my desktop!!!! any other way to get to applications?

 

[eva01]

have you tried booting into single user mode

 

[Jamelia]

its not working,some weird writing comes out...

 

[eva01]

do you have another computer? can you go into firewire mode on the problem computer then try to delete the finder preferences?


EDIT: or boot from CD and repair drive from OS X disc??

 

[Jamelia]

how do i go into FIREWIRE mode? Is there any other way i can get into Finder preferences without going into Macintosh Hd?

 

[Applespider]

If your Mac is covered by Applecare, you're probably best to call Apple and get them to talk you through various solutions.

Did you try booting from the CD and repairing the HD as suggested above?

Which Mac is it you have? What version is it running (Apple Menu > About This Mac)?

Firewire target is only going to help if you have another firewire drive with Mac OS X installed on it (ie another Mac or a bootable external drive)

The link I gave you above gives you an option to delete the preferences from the Terminal or from Single User Mode.

 

[Quartz Extreme]

Option 1. Start up with the <SHIFT> key.
That'll take you to Mac OS X safe mode.
There run a permissions repair, delete the Finder preferences and check the logs for anamolies.

Option 2. Start up with your OS X disc in the drive holding down <C>
Try repairing your disk and fixing permissions. If that doesn't work, then reinstall OS X using the Archive and Install option.