Finder not starting

[jimthorn]

Recently, I've noticed that the Finder isn't running when I start up my iBook and log in. The little arrow indicator isn't under the Finder icon in the Dock, and when I click on the Finder icon, it pops up a message that says something like "Finder is not running".

Strangely, the Finder does seem to be working, at least my idea of what the Finder is. I can open windows, move files around, etc. I can also bring up the Force Quit menu and Restart the Finder. After that everything looks OK. I tried Repair Permissions, thinking that might help, but this weird behavior still happens. Any ideas...?

One idea I'm considering is reinstalling Jaguar from the original CD, but I'm wondering: (1) will my user files be erased and (2) can I install 10.2(.0) over 10.2.6?

[jimthorn]

Here's how it looks in the Dock.

[rainman::|:|]

have you installed any hacks? especially dock hacks? beta software?

pnw

[jimthorn]

No, I haven't installed any hacks, themes, or anything like that. I think altering the OS is just asking for trouble.

The only beta software I'm running is iChat AV, but I haven't done much with it and I rarely run it. I also ran Safari when that was beta (though I never ran any of the "unofficial" versions).

There also aren't any error messages in the Console.

[mnkeybsness]

i had that same problem when i used the "minimize in place" hack that installed an old beta of the dock.

[benixau]

I had that problem too. But then I have no repercussion though - i hacked OSX.2 to hell.
On the other hand, Panther seems to be pretty good on its own so i have yet to hack it.

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
i had that same problem when i used the "minimize in place" hack that installed an old beta of the dock.

That gives me an idea. Maybe the Dock is my problem. How difficult would it be to delete the Dock app, pref files, etc and replace them with ones off the Jaguar CD? Can this be done easily?

[Nermal]

Just for a quick check, I've got 10.2.6 and have the following Dock and Finder files in my /System/Library/CoreServices:

Finder, 368 bytes, version "Mac OS X Fake Finder 10.0", date 14/7/02, 11:34 PM.

Finder.app, 10 560 787 bytes, version "Mac OS X Finder 10.2.1", date 22/10/02, 11:35 AM.

Dock.app, 585 510 bytes, version "Dock 1.1.1", date 22/10/02, 11:25 AM.

I installed from the 10.2.1 CDs and updated to 10.2.6. Take a look at your files and see if they're the same size and version.

Edit: Just looked at the permissions, all 3 files are set to:

Owner: system
Access: Read & Write
Group: wheel
Access: Read only
Others: Read only

[iJon]

well now that i look i have the same problem. but finder is working ok so i dont really care.

iJon

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by Nermal
I installed from the 10.2.1 CDs and updated to 10.2.6. Take a look at your files and see if they're the same size and version.

Thanks for all the info, Nermal. I'll check my files.

Originally posted by iJon
well now that i look i have the same problem. but finder is working ok so i dont really care.

Yeah, that's my basic feeling too. It seems to work fine. Actually, because it works, I'm really not sure how long ago this started. I just glanced at the Dock the other day and was surprised not to see the little black arrow under the Mac face. Now I'm problem-solving it just for an excuse to learn more about the workings of OS X.