I can't shut down, becuase finder won't quit

[jakdominance]

I recently made a program go off the dock so that it doesn't bother me, and I also played with some SSH settings in /etc/sshd_config and /etc/services (specifically, the ones mentioned in Rule #4 of Mac Geekery's Basic Mac OS X Security article) and now my computer won't shut down, saying that Finder won't quit.
However, the little white arrow is not below the Finder icon in the Dock. Also my desktop items and top menu disappear. Once the "Logout timed out because Finder failed to quit" window pops up, I reopen finder from the Dock and everything comes back. I have tried manually quitting the hidden server application before shutdown, so I don't think it is that.

By the way it is a Mac Book running OS X 10.5.4 which i bought new last august.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Have you tried command+option+escape?

Is there a reason you're running 10.5.4? 10.5.6 is out now, you know...

 

[jakdominance]

Didn't try that... will after this post. I don't really want to do a force shut down just yet, as that might not solve the problem at all.

yes there is a very good reason. I'm currently an exchange student in Japan, and the internet connection is horrible. I've been trying for months to get an update but it keeps timing out.

UPDATE: didn't work. I tried two things. First I force "relaunched" as it's called after hitting the Shut Down button in the Apple menu. It quit, but the same message popped up. Then I tried relaunching before trying to shut down. It never relaunched, just quit. Even now it is sitting on my Dock as an unopened application. I'm unsure why, but the automatic relaunching of Finder seems to have been disabled.

still haven't hit the button on the keyboard yet. It would probably be useless anyways.

UPDATE #2: just some more info. Finder doesn't seem to be the only culprit. In a few different tries I've gotten the same message with Quicksilver and Mail as the apps that timed-out Logout.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Then you'll have to restart by holding down the power button. As long as you save everything first, you shouldn't damage anything.

If you have access to another computer with a reliable (and fast) connection, you could manually download the combo update...

 

[angelwatt]

Every couple months I'll have the same issue. I rarely restart my computer and I figure that's part of my problem. I just force shutdown by holding the power button and all is well afterwords.

 

[jakdominance]

Thanks! It's good to know I'm not alone in this issue, but I guess there is nothing to be done about it. Thanks for all the help too BlueRevolution!