Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard

In article <080120082225353169%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
<SallyShears.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:

> Leopard... Finder crashes every 2 seconds making it completely
> impossible to do anything in this user account. Other user accounts on
> same machine are OK.
>
> Help! What file do I trash to get rid of Finder preferences? Any
> other ideas? I could also reinstall the 10.5.1 updater.

did you happen to use quicklook on a file prior to this ? or perhaps
download something?

there's a known bug where the finder can crash while trying to generate
a preview, and if it's in the download folder, finder is going to try
to create it for the dock icon each time it relaunches, at which point
it will crash again.

if so, find the file and trash it, or at least move it to someplace
where finder won't keep trying to read it.

otherwise, look in console for why it's crashing.
 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

In article <080120082225353169%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
<SallyShears RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> Leopard... Finder crashes every 2 seconds making it completely
> impossible to do anything in this user account. Other user accounts on
> same machine are OK.
>
> Help! What file do I trash to get rid of Finder preferences? Any
> other ideas? I could also reinstall the 10.5.1 updater.

Following up my own...

1. I was able to regain a bit of use in this account by hitting
Shift-Cmd-Q repeatedly during the Finder crash loop. No Finder, no
Dock, no desktop, but I could run applications from Recent Items in the
Apple menu. Able to run Terminal in my own account, for example.

2. In another admin account, I was able to copy a few critical files
from my main user account. Without Finder in main user account, it's
very difficult to access your files.

3. Removed ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and the crash
loop has now stopped. Whew! The old file was 22k; upon restart, the
replacement for this file is only 600+ characters. The size makes me
think the old version was indeed corrupted, but looking in the file
it's got a lot of reasonable looking stuff.

4. Just before the crash loop started, I noted funny delays when
opening one of my folders. Haven't tried to reopen it since regaining
the Finder.

5. No, I was not doing anything with Quicklook and the Dock item for
the Downloads folder doesn't seem to be a problem.

-- Sally

--
Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
SallyShears RemoveThis @gmail.com -or- Sally RemoveThis @Shears.org
SallyShears (at) gmail (dot) com
 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

Solution down below...

In article <080120082311442026%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
<SallyShears.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> In article <080120082225353169%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
> <SallyShears.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Leopard... Finder crashes every 2 seconds making it completely
> > impossible to do anything in this user account. Other user accounts on
> > same machine are OK.
> >
> > Help! What file do I trash to get rid of Finder preferences? Any
> > other ideas? I could also reinstall the 10.5.1 updater.
>
> Following up my own...
>
> 1. I was able to regain a bit of use in this account by hitting
> Shift-Cmd-Q repeatedly during the Finder crash loop. No Finder, no
> Dock, no desktop, but I could run applications from Recent Items in the
> Apple menu. Able to run Terminal in my own account, for example.
>
> 2. In another admin account, I was able to copy a few critical files
> from my main user account. Without Finder in main user account, it's
> very difficult to access your files.
>
> 3. Removed ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and the crash
> loop has now stopped. Whew! The old file was 22k; upon restart, the
> replacement for this file is only 600+ characters. The size makes me
> think the old version was indeed corrupted, but looking in the file
> it's got a lot of reasonable looking stuff.
>
> 4. Just before the crash loop started, I noted funny delays when
> opening one of my folders. Haven't tried to reopen it since regaining
> the Finder.

This was the problem folder; more below.

> 5. No, I was not doing anything with Quicklook and the Dock item for
> the Downloads folder doesn't seem to be a problem.

This problem has been called "looping finder crash" in a couple of
other postings. Leopard 10.5.1

After all the above, still a problem opening one folder. It will open
in icon and column view but strangely causes a repeatable Finder crash
when I switch to list view. In the period of the looping Finder crash,
this folder was open on the desktop, so displaying it was probably the
cause of the Finder crash. Not sure, but it was probably in list view.

On a hunch, I suspected the last updated file in that folder, a MS
PowerPoint file. In Terminal I made a copy of the file and rm'd the
original. This resolved all the problems.

Conclusions:
1. A bad file in a folder open on the desktop can cause a looping
Finder crash which is very hard to work-around. You'll have to remember
which folder(s).
2. Somehow, Shift-Cmd-Q got me some use of the account (without Finder
windows or desktop icons) so I could run Terminal.
3. Alternatively, use Terminal and sudo from another account.
4. Trash ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist so the Finder
will forget which folders were open on the desktop.
5. Open folders and change views till you see a Finder crash. Hope it
won't start a looping Finder crash. Quarrantine recent files from that
folder till you find the culprit.
6. Copy the culprit file and delete the original.

Hope this helps someone out there... Thanks Michelle and nospam for
your replies.

-- Sally

--
Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
SallyShears.RemoveThis@gmail.com -or- Sally.RemoveThis@Shears.org
SallyShears (at) gmail (dot) com
 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

You might have had a corrupt .DS_Store file. They're invisible so you
have to delete them from the command line with "ls -al".

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 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

Sally Shears wrote:

> Leopard... Finder crashes every 2 seconds making it completely
> impossible to do anything in this user account. Other user accounts on
> same machine are OK.
>
> Help! What file do I trash to get rid of Finder preferences? Any
> other ideas? I could also reinstall the 10.5.1 updater.
>
> TIA.
>
> -- Sally
>

com.apple.Could be a cache file (~/Library/Caches; you can probably safely
delete them all) or a preference file
(~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist). It could also be a startup
item; I'd check that first, since it's so easy to do. :)

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106756>
 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

In article <080120082337325326%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
<SallyShears.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> Solution down below...
>
> In article <080120082311442026%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
> <SallyShears.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <080120082225353169%SallyShears@gmail.com>, Sally Shears
> > <SallyShears.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Leopard... Finder crashes every 2 seconds making it completely
> > > impossible to do anything in this user account. Other user accounts on
> > > same machine are OK.
> > >
> > > Help! What file do I trash to get rid of Finder preferences? Any
> > > other ideas? I could also reinstall the 10.5.1 updater.
....snip...

After another episode and a visit to the Genius Bar, we found that the
problem is invisible damage in a folder open on the desktop. The
problem in in the folder itself, not .DS_Store, and not a problem with
any file in the folder.

Revised Conclusions:
1. A bad file in a folder open on the desktop can cause a looping
Finder crash which is very hard to work-around. You'll have to remember
which folder(s) were open.
2. Shift-Cmd-Q got me some use of the account (without Finder
windows or desktop icons) so I could run Terminal.
3. Alternatively, use Terminal and sudo from another account...
Install a second admin account now if you don't already have one.
4. Trash ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist so the Finder
will forget which folders were open on the desktop. This should stop
the "Looping Finder Crash"
5. For each problem folder:
- Create a new folder
- Move all the files from the problem folder to the new one
- Delete the problem folder
6. Other options: Disk Warrior, or restore from Time Machine

Hope this helps someone out there...

-- Sally

--
Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
SallyShears.DeleteThis@gmail.com -or- Sally.DeleteThis@Shears.org
SallyShears (at) gmail (dot) com
 >> Stay informed about: Finder Crashes Every 2 sec -- Leopard 

In article <060320081554435054%SallyShears@gmail.com>,
Sally Shears <SallyShears.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> 5. For each problem folder:
> - Create a new folder
> - Move all the files from the problem folder to the new one
> - Delete the problem folder

I would love to know what it is about the folder that is "bad"!

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sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter.

JR
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