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New Mac User having problem installing apps

F

Fafalita

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 3, 2010
8
0
Hi there, and thank you for any help ahead of time.

I just got a used dual 2.0 power mac, model 7,3. It is running Leopard 10.5.8, which was just installed before purchase.

Everything seems fine with it until I try to install a dmg file into my applications folder. The computer then freezes and I get a bunch of code gibberish on my screen. :confused:

Any ideas? I really want to be able to use Firefox and micro torrent on mac. ;)
 
I don't have an answer as to why you are getting code gibberish, especially since I don't know exactly what you are seeing, but are you mounting the dmg first and then installing its contents?
 
Normally you open the downloaded Disk Image (DMG), drag the application from there to the Applications folder, eject the DMG and use the Applications folder to open the program.

Can you make and post a screen shot of the gibberish you see?

CMD+SHIFT+4 is to make a screen shot of an area you select. Flickr or other image hosting services can be used to embed your image here or you can attach the image via the forum tools below this text field under Additional Options.
 
Fafalita said:
Everything seems fine with it until I try to install a dmg file into my applications folder. The computer then freezes and I get a bunch of code gibberish on my screen. :confused:
Click to expand...

So for Firefox I would do this...

Download Firefox for mac

Once the download has completed, it should automatically unzip and mount the DMG on your desktop.

Double click on the DMG icon for Firefox on your desktop

Drag the firefox icon within the DMG into your Applications folder.

Double click the Firefox icon within the Applications folder and it should run.
 
I don't know if I can make an image of the gibberish. The whole computer is frozen at that point.

I will be more clear about what's happening.

I download a program. It automatically brings up a box where I can drag an icon to the application folder. When I drag the icon to the app folder, the whole computer freezes, and i get the gibberish. I am not sure if this is what is referred to as a panic, but I call it crashing.

Before I came back here to check, I found a thread in another forum that says this problem may have something to do with seatbelt.kext, but I have no idea what they are talking about.
 
Is the image like this???

macosx_kernel_panic.png
 
Fafalita said:
Drop the app in another folder and the same thing happens
Click to expand...

Based on your OP, I'm going to assume this happens for any dmg file. So, it would seem to be either a permissions problem or something to do with Finder.

Do a repair permissions first. (Disk Utility>First Aid>Repair Permissions). If that doesn't help, post back.
 
I tried the repair permissions, and it looked like it mostly found permission conflicts with alternate languages.... and it didn't fix my problem.

Is there anything I should look for in the code that will specifically track the problem?

At the end of it it does say something like we're hanging in there.
 
Something else interesting. I was able to get the dmg's into my app folder by first burning them onto a cd and then putting them in there from the cd.

curious
 
Okay, based on what you've said it "could" be a plist problem. Copy your com.apple.finder.plist file in the ~/Library/Preferences directory to your desktop and then delete the plist file in the Preferences. Quit (go to terminal and type killall Finder) and restart finder and then see if you can copy a dmg file.
 
Hmmm...

I have no such file in the preferences folder. There are a bunch of plist files there in alphabetical order. there is a .driver and then it skips to .headerdock if that makes sense. No com.apple.finder.

Maybe that's the problem?
 
Fafalita said:
Hmmm...

I have no such file in the preferences folder. There are a bunch of plist files there in alphabetical order. there is a .driver and then it skips to .headerdock if that makes sense. No com.apple.finder.

Maybe that's the problem?
Click to expand...

Are you sure you're in the right folder?

In finder, click on your username>Library>Preferences.

There has to be a com.apple.Finder.plist file in there. Reboot, if not.

There's also a verify preferences you can perform. Type this in Terminal:

sudo plutil -s ~/Library/Preferences/*.plist

The output will be any preferences files (plist) that are messed up.

You can repair preferences using Disk Utility (I'm not on my Mac right now, but it's in there somewhere).
 
-aggie- said:
Are you sure you're in the right folder?

In finder, click on your username>Library>Preferences.

There has to be a com.apple.Finder.plist file in there. Reboot, if not.

There's also a verify preferences you can perform. Type this in Terminal:

sudo plutil -s ~/Library/Preferences/*.plist

The output will be any preferences files (plist) that are messed up.

You can repair preferences using Disk Utility (I'm not on my Mac right now, but it's in there somewhere).
Click to expand...

I can almost guarantee he was in /Library/Preferences and not ~/Library/Preferences
 
Ok

Found the correct file. Did what you said. I am able to drag dmg's over to apps now.

thank you.

Is there a last step or two for me to perform to fully complete this task?
 
stridemat said:
...

Once the download has completed, it should automatically unzip and mount the DMG on your desktop.

...
Click to expand...
To be clear--.dmg are Disk Image Files. They are not .zip files. Therefore, they cannot be unzipped.

If you double-click on a .dmg file, then it will mount on the Desktop just like any other storage volume (storage drive). Safari will automatically mount them.
 
Sweet

Thanks for your help aggie!

Now it's time to learn to use logic pro 8 from 7.

A grand adventure, I say!
 
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