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FYI: If you have a flaky Finder or get beachballs it may be DivX

Chupa Chupa

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
After I installed 10.5 on my PB the finder went into beachball mode. My HDs would not show up and the top menu only partialy appeared was was locked up. Apps launched from the dock to some degree.

Initially I removed APE, but that did not fix the issue. I later found this thread on the Apple Discussions board which DID fix the issue: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5650727&#5650727

The basic fix is to rename the DivX folder in /Library/Application Support

I was going nuts with this last night, so hopefully this will save some people a lot of aggravation. Once installed, 10.5 rocks!

I'm kinda surprised with all the beta releases this and the APE issue were not discussed much before now.
 
It worked!!!

YOU ARE AMAZING!

Thanks so much. I've been up all night trying to get my finder back and kill the beachballs. I simply renamed "DivX Networks" to "Divx"... and everything's perfect now! Phew, this is such a relief. Leopard's awesome! :D:D:D
 
I'd love to take the credit, but that has to go to the OP on the Apple Discussion board. I'm glad my post helped though.
 
My gosh, somebody sticky this thread!

I was facing the same problem. Chased my tail for 5 hours before I found this solution. Booted into Single User mode, set the drive to readwrite, renamed the folder, and Boom

Suppose I could have done that via Target Disk Mode too

To boot into Single User mode: Restart the machine and hold down Command S

To mount the drive so you can write it:
/sbin/mount -uw /

Go to Application Support:
cd /Library/Application\ Support/

To rename the folder:
mv DivXNetworks DivX

To restart:
shutdown -r now


Of Interest: I had to rename this on a G4 iBook, but my own PowerBook already has the folder called "DivX" so I guess this doesn't hit everybody. Older versionsn of DivX perhaps?
 
This did the trick for me, too. I booted from an external drive and simply renamed the DiVXNetworks folder to DiVX, rebooted in Leopard, and all the problems had disappeared. Not after looking for a clue what went wrong for hours, though. I can't understand why something as simple as a folder name can completely lock up the Finder. But most of all, I am very relieved that this worked. Thank you!!!
 
BTW, this seems to affect only PPC systems. My Intel iMac had the DiVXNetworks folder present, but no problems there. My PowerBook G4, however, wouldn't launch the Finder properly without the renaming. From what i read in the various threads it appear to be only G4 and G5 machines that present the problem. (I'm happy it's solved, but I'm still trying to figure out what happened...)
 
Such a weird thing

You'd think with all the beta testing, this would have been caught. Didn't they beta test this thing on PPC's? I mean, this is a major thing, not a simple bug.
 
I had the same problem after moving an account from the back up drive (did an erase & install on the dual G5 PowerMac). This solution worked - thank you! :)
 
stuck finder solved

ditto...

I didn't get the blue screen when I upgraded my Powerbook, but sure did on my dual G5. it was making me crazy.

I used the firewire cable from my iSight camera and went into target disk mode (using my Powerbook). I then deleted the entire Divx folder. Rebooted the G5 and got right into Leopard with no further problems.
 
so removing DivX before installing and then reinstalling it after you install Leopard would work just as well?

or

Does DivX screw it up even if you download after you have Leopard installed?
 
The quickest way for me...

Since I didn't have a Finder at all, all I just downloaded PathFinder (finder alternative) and used Spotlight to launch it. I quickly located the "Dixv Networks". As soon as I renamed it, BOOM! The Finder reappeared and all was well. This took no time at all and is easier than reinstalling or playing around with the Terminal. I was so relieved that all my files were intact.
 
ive been trying to do this divx rename fix, but its not working. i think its just that i dont know where the file is located, i get the "file does not exist" line in single user mode and in terminal. how do i go about finding where its located (i should have the file, i dont know why i wouldnt)?

nevermind i got it, but now its telling me its a read-only file system. any idea what i can do about that?
 
Muskie said:
ive been trying to do this divx rename fix, but its not working. i think its just that i dont know where the file is located, i get the "file does not exist" line in single user mode and in terminal. how do i go about finding where its located (i should have the file, i dont know why i wouldnt)?

nevermind i got it, but now its telling me its a read-only file system. any idea what i can do about that?
Click to expand...

im having the same problem. wish i knew more about the command line in OS X :(
 
cantthinkofone said:
im having the same problem. wish i knew more about the command line in OS X :(
Click to expand...



what ended up working for me, was to try and do it through single user mode first. if i did it that way (even though it wouldn't delete the file) it would boot up correctly. after booting up i just did a simple rename using "get info"
 
Divx issue

thanks for digging this up. I was going crazy trying to figure this out.
 
You saved my A$$!
Danke!


Chupa Chupa said:
After I installed 10.5 on my PB the finder went into beachball mode. My HDs would not show up and the top menu only partialy appeared was was locked up. Apps launched from the dock to some degree.

Initially I removed APE, but that did not fix the issue. I later found this thread on the Apple Discussions board which DID fix the issue: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5650727&#5650727

The basic fix is to rename the DivX folder in /Library/Application Support

I was going nuts with this last night, so hopefully this will save some people a lot of aggravation. Once installed, 10.5 rocks!

I'm kinda surprised with all the beta releases this and the APE issue were not discussed much before now.
Click to expand...
 
I had the same problem with my upgrade to 10.5 (10.5.0), and now I've updated to 10.5.1 its come up again. However moving the DivX folder doesnt work for me this time :(

Anyone else got the problem again? Any fixes?
 
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