Effects not so smooth anymore..

[someguy]

By the way, I discovered long ago that just saying Safari out loud makes it snappier.

This made me laugh.

Okay, first why don't you post what's in your login items tab in the accounts pane of system preferences.

GrowlerHelpApp, KeepSoundAwake 1.3, and XMenu.

Second, have you ever modified the dock in any way, such as enchancers like clear dock (I think that's what it's called) or similar?

No.

I should note a couple things:

1) I just woke my 'book up from a good night's sleep and it was smooth right off the bat, then seconds lately the jerky effects came back.

2) I removed all login items from my list and shut down, powered on, and the problem is back. Relaunched Dock with TinkerTool, problem solved. Started these apps manually. No change in effect quality, still great after the relaunch.

 

[someguy]

Running "killall Dock" in Terminal resets the dock in one step. This fixes my problem and it's easy to do.

But, how do I make an AppleScript or something that runs when my machine starts up that resets the Dock right away that way I don't even have to do it myself?

 

[VanNess]

Hmm. Odd that you don't have iCalAlarmScheduler and iTunesHelper in your login items. I think those are default.

Well, next thing to try is to disable all of your running dashboard widgets, i.e., open the dashboard, press option as you point to each widget and close them all. Verify no widgets are running by using activity monitor. Then log out and in.

If that doesn't work, move the following plist files to the desktop:

from ~/Library/Preferences

com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.dashboard.client.plist
com.apple.dashboard.plist

from /Library/Preferences

com.apple.dockfixup.plist

If that doesn't work, you can move the plist files back.

Last thing to try is adding a new user and see if the problem persists with the new user account.

You can quit (relaunch) the dock in activity monitor fairly easily. Just select it and press the Quit Process button. It will relaunch itself. There is also this handy widget whose sole purpose is to relaunch the dock

 

[someguy]

Well, next thing to try is to disable all of your running dashboard widgets, i.e., open the dashboard, press option as you point to each widget and close them all. Verify no widgets are running by using activity monitor. Then log out and in.

This didn't work. I usually don't leave any widgets running anyways, except maybe the weather one, but I made sure that was closed, too.

If that doesn't work, move the following plist files to the desktop...

Didn't work.

Last thing to try is adding a new user and see if the problem persists with the new user account.

Tried this before and it didn't work. This time was no different.

I did notice that when I log in, if I open something real quick and then minimize it, it is very smooth. Then, when the CPU usage level drops down to idle (startup processes finish), it starts acting up. In other words, something is happening immediately after startup that is causing this, and relaunching the Dock in TinkerTool, or by killing it in Terminal, undos whatever damage was done and it is fine for the remainder of the session.

Seeing as how we've determined that it isn't any 3rd party apps in my Login Items list causing the problem, it's got to be something else - I'm thinking something Dock-related because the CPU Usage level doesn't affect this problem, neither does the number of programs running, amount of memory being used, etc. The Dock starts up, something happens..... and then the Dock needs to be relaunched for things to be smooth like they should be.

 

[steelfist]

Ran TinkerTool and just for kicks, restarted the Dock. Minimize effects officially smooth as can be.

But for how long...

And what would this have to do with anything?

what did you do with tinkertool?

 

[someguy]

what did you do with tinkertool?

Sorry, should have been more clear. The only thing I do with TinkerTool is relaunch the Dock. It makes no difference if I use TinkerTool or the Terminal to do this.

 

[someguy]

Well, like I believe I mentioned before, the same thing is happening on the new Intel iMac. It was fine for a few weeks and then this began behaving the same way as my 'book.

The only thing I can think of (and this goes back to what calebjohnston had said in a way) is that I intalled the latest version of Firefox on the iMac, then the next thing I know this is happening.

I said earlier that removing Firefox from the iMac and rebooting fixed the problem, but it was only temporary and even without Firefox, the problem persists.

I deleted Firefox.app along with a couple small files related to the app that I found using Spotlight. I don't know what else to try, but I hate relaunching the dock with TinkerTool everytime I boot up. I know the problem is probably something stupid, but I just wish I could figure it out.

 

[someguy]

I'm back at it again!

I've made a couple of small discoveries.

1. I saved Activity Monitor's process list twice; once before and once after this "phantom app" opens and closes in the dock. They look extremely similar and neither show any apps running that the other does not.

2. On our iMac, in System Preferences, if you tick "Show Bluetooth status in the menubar", then wait a minute and untick the box, another (the same?) "phantom app" opens and closes in the Dock causing the minimize effect to look horrible along with any animation involving the dock (i.e. the way new icons sort of pop into place when an app is opened).

As I stated earlier in this thread, the app the opens and closes intantaneously happens at the same time that the menubar icons appear when starting up. When returning from Sleep mode, the icons are already there, obviously, and the Dock effects are instantly terrible, then about 8 seconds later, that application opens and closes in the Dock again... for some reason..

Anyways, I'm sure a lot of you are like "big deal, stop whining about this" but it bugs the piss out of me and I'd really like to figure this out. Thanks for all the help so far, and in advance from this point on.

 

[thirdkind]

Same thing happens to me on my dual 2.5Ghz G5. Drives me nuts because this is supposed to be a flagship machine. Rebooting or restarting the Dock makes things smooth again.

 

[someguy]

Same thing happens to me on my dual 2.5Ghz G5. Drives me nuts because this is supposed to be a flagship machine. Rebooting or restarting the Dock makes things smooth again.

Yep, it's unacceptable if you ask me.

Do you see the quick appearance/disappearance of an unknown application in the Dock upon login and/or wake?

 

[thirdkind]

Do you see the quick appearance/disappearance of an unknown application in the Dock upon login and/or wake?

I don't put my Mac to sleep because I have a USB keyboard that doesn't play nice with it for some reason. It causes the machine to immediately wake up after going to sleep.

I'll have to reboot and keep an eye on the Dock.

 

[someguy]

I don't put my Mac to sleep because I have a USB keyboard that doesn't play nice with it for some reason. It causes the machine to immediately wake up after going to sleep.

I'll have to reboot and keep an eye on the Dock.

Please do when you get a chance and let me know if you see what I see.

It'll be just to the left of the seperator on the right side of the Dock, and most likely too quick to spot an icon, so look for the black triangle (running app indicator) to briefly appear.

 

[jtt]

It'll be just to the left of the seperator on the right side of the Dock, and most likely too quick to spot an icon, so look for the black triangle (running app indicator) to briefly appear.

I've seen that launching Fire Fox but I have none of the problems you describe.

 

[yellow]

Before you waste anymore of your time, create a new user and see if the problem follows you there. I suspect it won't. Since this problem exists on both your PB and your iMac, it's likely to be something you're installing.

 

[someguy]

Before you waste anymore of your time, create a new user and see if the problem follows you there. I suspect it won't. Since this problem exists on both your PB and your iMac, it's likely to be something you're installing.

Happens with a new user as well.

Note: On the iMac, removing the Volume and Bluetooth menubar items did the trick.

Removing all menubar items (and I mean ALL), as well as disabling and deleting all login items and the actual corresponding apps on my PowerBook did not help.

 

[yellow]

Happens with a new user as well.

That's not a good sign.

If you have an external HD that you can clone your PB to, and then wipe and reinstall the OS on the PB to make sure that this problem doesn't exist on a fresh vanilla install will take you in the right direction. Beyond that, since in another thread you mentioned that you had the Arcana soundpref hack (and removing the sound menuitem fixed it?) installed, I'd highly suggest removing that from both your /Library/StartupItems/ and /Library/PreferencePanes/, restarting and seeing if that was the issue.

 

[someguy]

Already uninstalled that item and it's prefpane. No joy.

Removing the VOLUME menu item (standard default OS X Sound prefpane item) from the iMac menubar fixed the issue on the other system. The ArcanaStartupSound deal is only installed on my machine and ridding my system of it did not help.

I really think there is an issue with the SystemUIServer because of how the app opens and closes in the Dock right when the menubar items appear.

 

[yellow]

But why is it only you seeing this issue? Surely that points at something common to both your installs.

I mean, I have BT and Volume menu bars on my PB and never had this problem. I have the Volume menu bar on my MDD right no and don't have this problem.

This is Tiger on both boxes, no?

 

[someguy]

But why is it only you seeing this issue? Surely that points at something common to both your installs.

I mean, I have BT and Volume menu bars on my PB and never had this problem. I have the Volume menu bar on my MDD right no and don't have this problem.

This is Tiger on both boxes, no?

Yes, Tiger on both machines.

I have the Bluetooth menubar item on my PowerBook as well, not the Volume on (by choice), but like I said, removing all menubar items from startup doesn't cure my machine. And, of course, I don't know why this is happening otherwise I'd have fixed it. Relaunching the Dock makes things great again, that's all I know.

Oh, and no, I don't have any external storage devices other than blank CD's.

Test: Pick an app in your Dock that takes more than, say, 3 seconds to open. Click on it and then IMMEDIATELY ctrl+click and Force Quit. Doing this recreates the issue on both machines as well as many others' from other forums who have this issue (and cannot seem to resolve it, either). Try it a few times if the problem doesn't occur the first time, then minimize any window (even small ones) and watch for significant frame loss in the minimize effect.

Also, what are the items in /System/Library/LoginPlugins? Could any of them be a problem?

 

[yellow]

I cannot recreate the issue.

And the contents of that directory should be the same on all Macs. Not 3rd party app should install anything in the /System hierarchy.

drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Apr  4  2005 BezelServices.loginPlugin/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Dec 22  2004 BootCache.loginPlugin/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Jan 27  2005 DisplayServices.loginPlugin/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Mar 20  2005 FSDisconnect.loginPlugin/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Sep 13  2003 KextHelper.loginPlugin/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root  wheel   102 Jan 13  2005 URLMountUIProxy.loginPlugin/

 

[someguy]

Alright, well what do you suggest I do from here?

No offense, but there has got to be someone who knows how to track down just what is popping up in the Dock to cause this issue. Some log somewhere should have SOME record of what this is, no?

Part of the problem is that it shuts down immediately so I cannot see it in Activity Monitor even for a second.

Don't know what to do and I don't have the means to backup enough to where I can reinstall the OS entirely.

 

[yellow]

Well, logout, ssh into the Mac from your other Mac, use fs_usage, quickly login, and to try and see what happens on login.

You may want to output the results to a file, as a ton of data is generated.

 

[someguy]

I just ran

sudo fs_usage

in Terminal and put the machine to sleep. Woke it back up and obviously about a thousand lines of data ran through the Terminal window. I can spot what appears at about the time the app runs and closes in the Dock, is there anyway to pinpoint exaclty which item in the list it is?

 

[someguy]

Well, logout, ssh into the Mac from your other Mac, use fs_usage, quickly login, and to try and see what happens on login.

How do I SSH into my Mac?

What about the lsof you mentioned and then editted out?

 

[yellow]

I just ran

sudo fs_usage

in Terminal and put the machine to sleep. Woke it back up and obviously about a thousand lines of data ran through the Terminal window. I can spot what appears at about the time the app runs and closes in the Dock, is there anyway to pinpoint exaclty which item in the list it is?

Do it when you login, not when you wake from sleep. There shouldn't be ANYTHING opening/closing when waking from sleep! If that's what happening, then.. well I don't know what to tell you, that's very strange and shouldn't be happening and doesn't happen on any Mac I've ever supported. It's GOT to be something you've installed. How to find out what that is.. Well, you already know the easiest way to figure it out.

lsof will only give you what is running at the moment, not a repeated poling of what is running. Not useful in this instance, hence me editing it out.

Use your Help menu to figure out how to ssh into the Mac.