Finder will not open

[pUREcoin]

Just recently I've been getting messages that my startup disk is full and I have to delete stuff. Okay I understand I was riding on the edge of my disk space so I guess I will have to delete stuff. However after restarting my computer all I get is an empty screen and a default blue wallpaper. Finder and my Dock do not load. I am only able to access that top menu bar because Skype gives an error message when the computer starts up.

I was able to start firefox from the apple menu/ recent applications. I am completely lost.

Also it seems like cache files for any programs I run have been dumped.

 

[DoFoT9]

go tot he apple menu -> force quit. can you ssee anything that isnt responding? if it is, force quit it - hopefully it will reopen.

also, go to system prefs->users->startup items for your user, then get rid of skype, maybe it is causing problems.

let us know how that goes.

 

[pUREcoin]

There were no programs not responding. The only programs on the list were Firefox and System Preferences. I went to find users but all I saw was "Accounts" I don't know if thats what you meant but I turned skype off. I am kind of afraid to restart now just because when I clicked okay to the skype error and the startup disk is full warning I couldn't access even the apple menu.

And now that I look closer at the error message for skype it just says it can't find a certain file in Library which would make sense if I couldn't access any folders.

 

[DoFoT9]

There were no programs not responding. The only programs on the list were Firefox and System Preferences. I went to find users but all I saw was "Accounts" I don't know if thats what you meant but I turned skype off. I am kind of afraid to restart now just because when I clicked okay to the skype error and the startup disk is full warning I couldn't access even the apple menu.

i think if you get rid of skype from autostart then it will start up ok.

can you get to the spotlight menu?

where i have highlighted Skype below, get rid of it by hitting "-" the minus button.

 

[pUREcoin]

Yea I got rid of skype exactly how you showed in that picture. I will restart my computer now if you don't hear from me... well then I guess it didn't work and I can't get back to firefox.

 

[DoFoT9]

Yea I got rid of skype exactly how you showed in that picture. I will restart my computer now if you don't hear from me... well then I guess it didn't work and I can't get back to firefox.

ok goodluck!

 

[pUREcoin]

Well after doing exactly what you did to turn skype off it still started up. I'm looking back at my account page and skype is back on that login list. Here is exactly what the error message says.

"Can't create a lock file at /Users/pUREcoin/Library/Application Support/Skype/Skype.pid"

Also after I restarted it he first time I clicked OK to the error message and once again I was stuck on a screen where I couldn't do a thing except move the mouse about. And when I hit certain keys I got that error chime.

 

[DoFoT9]

Well after doing exactly what you did to turn skype off it still started up. I'm looking back at my account page and skype is back on that login list. Here is exactly what the error message says.

"Can't create a lock file at /Users/pUREcoin/Library/Application Support/Skype/Skype.pid"

Also after I restarted it he first time I clicked OK to the error message and once again I was stuck on a screen where I couldn't do a thing except move the mouse about. And when I hit certain keys I got that error chime.

hhmmmmmm. ahh i know, the error comes up when there isnt enough hard drive space haha! you HAVE to delete some stuff!

 

[pUREcoin]

Yea I figured I would the problem is I can't open the finder to delete stuff. I know exactly what I would delete too I just can't get to the file.

 

[DoFoT9]

Yea I figured I would the problem is I can't open the finder to delete stuff. I know exactly what I would delete too I just can't get to the file.

hmmm do you have another mac to get to? you can connect them up using a method called Target Disk Mode (you need a firewire cable for this) - the hard drive will be mounted on the other computer.

or you could attempt to boot into single user mode - i think you continuously press ption: (alt key) + s when you turn it on.

or you could boot from your OSX disc and open disk utility (from the menu bar) and "repair permissions" etc on your disk which always helps.

 

[pUREcoin]

Repairs won't cause me to lose all files right? I have some really important stuff on here that I of course don't have backed up. And no this is the only computer I have access too. And I just realized I don't have my startup disks on me. So I will try your single user thing.

 

[DoFoT9]

Repairs won't cause me to lose all files right? I have some really important stuff on here that I of course don't have backed up. And no this is the only computer I have access too. And I just realized I don't have my startup disks on me. So I will try your single user thing.

nope - repairs will never cause you to lose file, the repairs are done more to the system files etc to make sure that everything can boot up ok.

too bad about the OSX disc, it would have been the best option.

goodluck with single user mode.

 

[pUREcoin]

I feel like an idiot now. All I had to do was startup in safe mode. I'm new to macs and wasn't even aware that were was a safemode for them. Anyway I opened in safe mode and was just able to delete files to give me more space and now everthing seems to be working. Thanks for trying to help though.

 

[DoFoT9]

I feel like an idiot now. All I had to do was startup in safe mode. I'm new to macs and wasn't even aware that were was a safemode for them. Anyway I opened in safe mode and was just able to delete files to give me more space and now everthing seems to be working. Thanks for trying to help though.

wonderful! im happy that its working

yay!

n.b. OSX normally requires >15GB free HDD space to run responsively.