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Finder crashed and can't force quit without operation restarting after reboot

F

FedoraTime

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 22, 2024
43
1

I (perhaps stupidly) decided to try to choose all images in Photos and drag and drop to a folder. I selected all in Photos, right click copy (took a while) then right click paste in finder. It didn't move any, just got beachball. It won't recover. I have tried reboots many times, it instantly opens with message:​


"The last time you opened Finder, it was force quit while reopening windows. Do you want to reopen its windows again?"

I have a beachball so can't click on 'dont reopen' and it actually looks greyed out anyway.

I have tried everything I can think of. rebooted and reset SMC, PRAM and NVRAM. No luck.
Used Activity Monitor to force kill processes (Finder not responding), no luck.
Clicked the 'i' in Activity Monitor which revealed Finder was being run by launchd, and that 'i' said it was being run by kernel task. I tried killing any i could, but they just pop back open and run again.

After each reboot i see Finder (in A.M.) is using 500% CPU.

I just can't kill it, it's as if there is a command stored somewhere and it's surviving reboots. I even tried getting PID from A.M. and using sudo kill PID, but same happens, just quits and starts again under a different PID.

I can't access Safe Mode for some reason (never have been able to on this machine).

Grateful for any ideas! At this point the machine seems bricked. Finder is hammmering the CPU and unresponsive.

PS - What I'd really like to know is whether I can somehow clear the saved commands that the system seems to revive after each reboot. If I can't clear it, the machine is dead and i badly need it.

Thanks
 
FedoraTime said:
I can't access Safe Mode for some reason (never have been able to on this machine).
Click to expand...
What is your Mac model and what version of macOS? Are you saying using the procedures outlined on this support page do not work to enter "Safe Mode" ?

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Starting up your Mac in safe mode may help you diagnose problems with your Mac.
support.apple.com
 
FedoraTime said:
What I'd really like to know is whether I can somehow clear the saved commands that the system seems to revive after each reboot. If I can't clear it, the machine is dead and i badly need it.
Click to expand...
Try to delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and reboot.
 
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bogdanw said:
Try to delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and reboot.
Click to expand...
That's exactly the kind of advice i was hoping for thank you!
However, I can't use Finder, it's totally hung with spinning beachball, so I can't open that folder to delete that file.
Is there any chance you can briefly explain how to do it in Terminal, hopefully that will work.
thanks again
 
Give Full Disk Access to Terminal and delete the file with
Code: 
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

You can save a copy before deleting it with
Code: 
cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.finder.plistt
 
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bogdanw said:
Give Full Disk Access to Terminal and delete the file with
Code: 
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

You can save a copy before deleting it with
Code: 
cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.finder.plistt
Click to expand...
Very kind of you thanks. Just one question...

"Give Full Disk Access to Terminal" - how do i do that please?

Oh and PS the second 'one question'... do I need to use sudo?
 
You can also try something like Onyx or Sonoma Cache Cleaner to go with the plist reset. They can help fix a lot of potential problems all in one go if things we're working quite right.
 
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LinMac said:
You can also try something like Onyx or Sonoma Cache Cleaner to go with the plist reset. They can help fix a lot of potential problems all in one go if things we're working quite right.
Click to expand...
Thanks, not heard of these. I am on Ventura though.
 
FedoraTime said:
Thanks, not heard of these. I am on Ventura though.
Click to expand...

It's just named after Sonoma because that's the latest version. They support more than just the latest. It's a good debugging step to avoid frustration when it was just a corrupt cache or something
 
bogdanw said:
System Settings – Privacy & Security – Full Disk Access
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-privacy-security-settings-on-mac-mchl211c911f/mac

It shouldn’t be necessary.
Click to expand...
Ok, I deleted that file using Terminal as advised. Rebooted, and no good. Finder pops straight up with beachball pointer and that damn error again 'The last time you opened Finder it was force quite while opening windows...." and again no option to tell it to 'forget' about doing that. I am gutted, I can't believe this has effectively bricked my machine!
Are there any other ideas? I am no coder but I assume there must be a stored command/process somewhere, which is why it survives reboots. I need way to clear THAT, whatever and wherever it is!!
Grateful for any other ideas, thanks for trying to help thus far.
PS I found Sonoma Cache Cleaner, downloaded but can't install as Finder is hung :(
 
I did some Googling, remembered Console exists, so I found the (bazillions!) of crash reports. Here's how the last one starts (its long, can post more if needed), in case it provides any tips to someone who can read it!




-------------------------------------
Translated Report (Full Report Below)
-------------------------------------

Process: Finder [397]
Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder
Identifier: com.apple.finder
Version: 13.5 (1564.10.1)
Build Info: Finder_FE-1564010003000000~2
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2024-07-21 16:54:06.7267 +0100
OS Version: macOS 13.6.7 (22G720)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 48080FCA-39F2-D285-AE33-C1F79B41E67B


Time Awake Since Boot: 430 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process: exc handler [397]

VM Region Info: 0 is not in any region.
REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL
UNUSED SPACE AT START
--->
UNUSED SPACE AT END

Kernel Triage:
VM - (arg = 0x0) Returned success with no page
VM - (arg = 0x0) Returned success with no page
 
To download and install Onyx from Terminal:
Code: 
curl -L https://www.titanium-software.fr/download/13/OnyX.dmg -o ~/Downloads/OnyX.dmg
Code: 
hdiutil mount ~/Downloads/OnyX.dmg -nobrowse
Code: 
ditto /Volumes/OnyX\ 4.4.7/OnyX.app /Applications/OnyX.app
Code: 
hdiutil unmount /Volumes/OnyX\ 4.4.7/
Code: 
open -a /Applications/OnyX.app
Run maintenance in Onyx, reboot
 
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*** IMPORTANT!: Take full backups of everything BEFORE you proceed. DO NOT RUN ANYTHING WITHOUT BACKUPS YOU KNOW YOU CAN RESTORE! ***


This will get you closer. It's up to you which you want to use:

First, open Terminal.

Second, change the folder to your download directory.

cd ~/Download

Third, download Onyx for Ventura 13:

curl -L -o OnyX.dmg https://www.titanium-software.fr/download/13/OnyX.dmg

or download Sonoma Cache Cleaner (MacOS 10.4 - 14.5)

curl -L -o nscc.dmg https://www.northernsoftworks.com/downloads/nscc.dmg

Finally, open the chosen solution's download:

open name.dmg

That will pop a window open showing that you can drag and drop it. If you can, do it. You can open it by double clicking or something like this:

open /Applications/name.app
 
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Thanks. I will try one of these (if anyone can recommend which is more likely to help,. or which is 'more powerful' at wiping temp data, please shout!
I'd like to ask...

Is there any known way of 'hacking' or 'frigging' the machine into Safe Mode?

I mean, forget the normal process of holding shift etc, is tyhere something I can do, something I can BREAK, that will cause the machine to go into Safe Mode itself on next boot? I am sure there must be bad things I can do that will spook the system into Safe Mode?! Any ideas on that would be appreciated, as I am pretty sure Safe Mode would kill these processes
 
Boot into Recovery, open Terminal, and type

sudo nvram boot-args="-x-v"

Press return. Shutdown. Restart. You should boot into Safe Mode.

To stop booting into Safe Mode, follow same procedure, but this time type

sudo nvram boot-args="-v" (if you want to keep verbose output on boot)
or
sudo nvram boot-args="" (if you don't want verbose output on boot)
 
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Thanks very much.
Although I am not sure how to get to Terminal. last time I tried CMD-R on boot, it just did the spinning globe thing for ages, didn't see any Terminal options, but i will try again
 
Bigwaff said:
Boot into Recovery, open Terminal, and type

sudo nvram boot-args="-x-v"

Press return. Shutdown. Restart. You should boot into Safe Mode.

To stop booting into Safe Mode, follow same procedure, but this time type

sudo nvram boot-args="-v" (if you want to keep verbose output on boot)
or
sudo nvram boot-args="" (if you don't want verbose output on boot)
Click to expand...
As far as I know, SIP needs to be disabled to run nvram commands and sudo is not needed in recovery.
 
Last edited:
"In case that applies to me (2012 iMac), how do I go about disabling 'SIP' please?"

1. boot to recovery (command-R) or to INTERNET recovery (command-OPTION-R)

2. Once the internet utilities are loaded, open terminal

3. Type:
csrutil disable
There is a space character between the two words above.
Hit return.

4. REBOOT.

You can check whether SIP is enabled or disabled any time by opening terminal and typing:
csrutil status

One of the first things I do with a new Mac or OS install is to DISABLE SIP.
I don't want or need it.

A final thought...
You have a 2012 iMac. That means it has an Intel CPU inside.
IF you had a bootable cloned backup created by either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, you WOULD BE RUNNING RIGHT NOW.

Go forth from this day, and learn... a wiser man.
 
Fishrrman said:
"In case that applies to me (2012 iMac), how do I go about disabling 'SIP' please?"

1. boot to recovery (command-R) or to INTERNET recovery (command-OPTION-R)

2. Once the internet utilities are loaded, open terminal

3. Type:
csrutil disable
There is a space character between the two words above.
Hit return.

4. REBOOT.

You can check whether SIP is enabled or disabled any time by opening terminal and typing:
csrutil status

One of the first things I do with a new Mac or OS install is to DISABLE SIP.
I don't want or need it.

A final thought...
You have a 2012 iMac. That means it has an Intel CPU inside.
IF you had a bootable cloned backup created by either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, you WOULD BE RUNNING RIGHT NOW.

Go forth from this day, and learn... a wiser man.
Click to expand...
The last line seems pretty insulting, whether intended or not I don't know. I am learning all the time.

SIP - thanks for the instructions

"You have a 2012 iMac. That means it has an Intel CPU inside." So what? Why is that relevant? I assume it is somehow? I could have told you I have an Intel CPU if you had asked, if it has any bearing on the above?

"IF you had a bootable cloned backup created by either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, you WOULD BE RUNNING RIGHT NOW." - Assumption is the mother of all F*** ups. What makes you so sure I don't have a backup? I have both a TimeMachine AND CarbonCopyCloner bootable backup, since you asked, oh no you didn't did you?

I take backups religiously, however I had to reload this machine weeks ago now and not sure if the new OS will be stuck with, so I have not run backups since those last good ones. I have received a few emails in that time so my Mail is a little ahead of its last good backup, but every other file on the system is exactly as it was then. Does that present a solution somehow?

Anyway, this is moot. I just need to get to safe mode and pretty sure that will fix the entire issue, hence why this thread has (thus far) been focussed on that.,
 
FedoraTime said:

I (perhaps stupidly) decided to try to choose all images in Photos and drag and drop to a folder. I selected all in Photos, right click copy (took a while) then right click paste in finder. It didn't move any, just got beachball. It won't recover. I have tried reboots many times, it instantly opens with message:​


"The last time you opened Finder, it was force quit while reopening windows. Do you want to reopen its windows again?"

I have a beachball so can't click on 'dont reopen' and it actually looks greyed out anyway.

I have tried everything I can think of. rebooted and reset SMC, PRAM and NVRAM. No luck.
Used Activity Monitor to force kill processes (Finder not responding), no luck.
Clicked the 'i' in Activity Monitor which revealed Finder was being run by launchd, and that 'i' said it was being run by kernel task. I tried killing any i could, but they just pop back open and run again.

After each reboot i see Finder (in A.M.) is using 500% CPU.

I just can't kill it, it's as if there is a command stored somewhere and it's surviving reboots. I even tried getting PID from A.M. and using sudo kill PID, but same happens, just quits and starts again under a different PID.

I can't access Safe Mode for some reason (never have been able to on this machine).

Grateful for any ideas! At this point the machine seems bricked. Finder is hammmering the CPU and unresponsive.

PS - What I'd really like to know is whether I can somehow clear the saved commands that the system seems to revive after each reboot. If I can't clear it, the machine is dead and i badly need it.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Hi there.
iMac 2012 doesn't natively supports Ventura, so I'm assuming that you are using a patch.
You describe very slow access times, your iMac has feen fitted with a SSD disk or still have the original one?

I would start by booting from the CCC backup, (plug the disk, turn ON the Mac and immediately press and hold the OPTION/alt key)

If you can boot, then your iMac is probably working correctly.
Once logged, open Disk Utility and run First Aid on the internal disk, also check if there's some empty space available.
If not, you can delete the contents of the Caches folder (and empty the Trash folder) in the user library to quickly free-up some GB's.
If errors were found and corrected and/or the disk was full, you can try to restart and boot from the internal disk.

If the internal disk shows errors and they cannot be fixed by the Disk Utility, then you can have a faulty disk or a corrupted APFS volume.
A faulty disk will need a replacement
A corrupted one will need you to restore from a backup.
Before restoring, you can save your email folder (in User's Library) to have those emails safely stored.
 
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