Finder not loading at boot up

[therealpieman]

Hi,

One of our macs refuses to start the finder when it boots, you can start applications fine from the side bar, but you see no hard disk on the desktop just the background picture. Can anyone suggest how I could go about diagnosing the problem?

Thanks

 

[sickmacdoc]

Chances are that option for displaying hard drives on the Desktop has been turned off in the "General" tab of the Finder Preferences rather than the Finder actually not starting. Go to the desktop, pull down the Finder menu and select Preferences to set it.

 

[therealpieman]

thanks, but unfortunately that isn't it, you can't get to the finder in any way, if you try and load it from the side bar nothing happens, if you try and quit from the open application then the finder bar doesn't apppear, if you boot in 'safe mode' the bar at the top does not appear until you load an application. It is most perplexing...

is there anywhere I could look for error messages etc?

thanks

 

[leodavinci0]

Try manually starting Finder like it's an application. It is located in, I think, /System/Core Services. I can't say for sure, since I'm at work with no Mac to check. Let me know if it starts this way, or if you couldn't find it.

Strange that the computer actually starts, since in Panther at least the computer would go to blue screen on startup if Finder didn't load.

 

[therealpieman]

thanks

I'm not normaly a mac user how would I get to that directory or start the service do I have to use the terminal?

thanks again.

 

[GGJstudios]

Do you have Finder set to open in another Space?
System Preferences > Exposé & Spaces > Spaces > Application Assignments

Also, have you tried launching Finder, then looking at Activity Monitor to see if it's running? If you see it running, try doing a Force Quit and Relaunch.

Another method of launching Finder is to click on your desktop, then press Command-Up Arrow.

 

[therealpieman]

I only appear to have Desktop & Expose on this mac ( i think it's 10.4 but can't check)

I can't see a way of opening the activity monitor, but if I do a force quit the finder does not appear in the list of running programs.

So I still can't seem to get the finder started, thanks for your help, anymore ideas?

 

[GGJstudios]

It sounds like you're having trouble understanding how to launch applications and perform some very simple operations on your computer. Launching Finder or Activity Monitor are very basic functions, as is checking your Mac OS version. Your best bet might be to call AppleCare for some phone support, or take your Mac to an Apple Store and let a Genius show you around the Mac and show you how to launch applications.

Try manually starting Finder like it's an application. It is located in, I think, /System/Core Services. ...

Very close. It's Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

 

[therealpieman]

thats not the problem, as I don't have access to the finder I can only launch the recent applications, I can launch the activity monitor on other macs but as the finder won't launch I can't go to utilities or applications in the finder menu on this particular mac.

 

[GGJstudios]

thats not the problem, as I don't have access to the finder I can only launch the recent applications, I can launch the activity monitor on other macs but as the finder won't launch I can't go to utilities or applications in the finder menu on this particular mac.

So you're saying Spotlight doesn't work, either?

 

[therealpieman]

Spotlight does work (I didn't think of that as I don't use macs) and activity monitor doesn't show finder as running after I try and start it.


Any folder that try and open via spotlight doesn't open, no errors.

It just appears that for what ever reason the finder will not start. Are there any logs that should be produced from failed process startups?

thanks

 

[GGJstudios]

Spotlight does work (I didn't think of that as I don't use macs) and activity monitor doesn't show finder as running after I try and start it.
Any folder that try and open via spotlight doesn't open, no errors.

So when you search for and find Activity Monitor in Spotlight, if you Command-click on it, it doesn't open a Finder window?

 

[therealpieman]

It doesn't open a finder window.

 

[GGJstudios]

You may want to try repairing your HD and permissions, via Disk Utility, which you can launch from Spotlight

 

[therealpieman]

thanks for your help.

I have repaired the HD (nothing was found) and the permisions (a lot were changed) however the finder is still no where to be seen...

 

[GGJstudios]

thanks for your help.

I have repaired the HD (nothing was found) and the permisions (a lot were changed) however the finder is still no where to be seen...

You may want to reinstall/repair your Mac OS X installation, using the original disc that came with your Mac.

 

[therealpieman]

Thanks for your help, I'll do that next. Hopefuly that will fix this odd problem.