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Applications crashing/ Blinking folder on startup

BJB Productions

BJB Productions

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 10, 2008
1,314
136
Hi everyone,
I did not exactly know where to post this, but hopefully this is the right spot. I was going to call Apple, but I thought before I did, I would see if anyone here had any advice.

I have the following:
Uni-Body 15'' Macbook Pro (late 2008)
2gb Ram
2.4ghz
250HD


So basically what is happening is first off, I every so often get the blinking folder on startup. I have to hard boot, and startup again. It's very random when it happens; and I can't seem to recreate it.

Secondly, Applications are crashing EXCESSIVELY more than they should. I don't generally work my computer very hard; and these Apps generally run fine. Just today I've had Safari crash 5 times, and another Application crash 3 times. These two generally never crash. Yesterday, I had some other Applications crash multiple times. I've noticed it's getting worse by the day in the number of crashes I have.

I have not backed up yet, but will in case my hard drive goes out.

What i've done for trouble shooting:
• Cleared Cache
• Repaired disk permissions
• Verified the disk (it said it "appeared" to be OK)

Any help?
Thanks
 
Reinstall the OS from the original disc(s).

If you've never done that, get someone to help!

You'll have to divulge the OS version for that.
 
Gregg2 said:
Reinstall the OS from the original disc(s).

If you've never done that, get someone to help!

You'll have to divulge the OS version for that.
Click to expand...

Dang...ok..I have Snow Leopard so that is easier said than done. :eek: Unlike Leopard which had a simple Archive and Install option.
 
May I also add that the whole computer is extremely laggy; most of the time it feels like i'm running on Core Solo with 512 ram.
 
Try zapping the PRAM. It fixed the problem on one of my Macs that refused to look for an OS on the internal HDD. For some odd reason, it was always looking for a bootable FireWire device.

Actually, if that box is running dog slow, you ought to test the RAM and check for a failing hard drive. Bad RAM is known to corrupt the OS, cause apps to crash, and your occasional kernel panic should the system not be able to recover.
 
iMouse said:
Try zapping the PRAM. It fixed the problem on one of my Macs that refused to look for an OS on the internal HDD. For some odd reason, it was always looking for a bootable FireWire device.

Actually, if that box is running dog slow, you ought to test the RAM and check for a failing hard drive. Bad RAM is known to corrupt the OS, cause apps to crash, and your occasional kernel panic should the system not be able to recover.
Click to expand...

I test those things by using the hardware check off the Mac OS X dvd, correct?
 
BJB Productions said:
I test those things by using the hardware check off the Mac OS X dvd, correct?
Click to expand...

Apple Hardware Diagnostics are crap. I recommend downloading a copy of MemTest for Mac OS X. It is much more thorough and has been known to locate flaky memory modules that the Apple Hardware Diags completely skip over.

As for hard drive checks I'm familiar with and recommend DiskWarrior. Apple also sends out TechTool discs with AppleCare, which is pretty good too. If you don't have access to either utility, you may want to ask around the forums to see if anyone recommends a freeware or trialware package to test the drive.
 
May I add that now my dashboard won't load. I used both OnlyX and Rember to test my hard drive and ram. They said they appeared to be fine.
 
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