panther programs won't launch

[Star]

Not long I upgraded to panther, I have had problems with all system software failing to launch. This includes mail, safari, address book, disk utility and software updater.

It has happened to both G4s in my office.

I erased the entire hard drive and reinstalled everything. For a few weeks this fixed the problem, then it returned, without me installing anything new that would have caused a new problem.

Sporadically the programs would start working again, and then fail to launch on restart of the computer.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Counterfit]

Well, I'd say fix permissions, but Disk utility not starting either kind of makes that a bit hard. I suggest booting from the Panther cd and running Disk Util. from there. You can't repair permissions from there though. Perhaps getting TechToolPro and running that could help.

 

[JFreak]

permissions can be repaired from the console - if the terminal app doesn't launch, one can always boot straight into the command line interface.

sudo diskutil repairpermissions /

that's what needs to be run. i had this non-launching-programs-issue myself not too long ago, but i think it was mainly because i loaded the system with 1000+ fonts and it quite crippled everything. now i have 500+ and system runs smoothly.

but repair permissions every once in a while, at least after every software update/install. but don't get paranoid, this is something you shouldn't have to do every day

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Well, I'd say fix permissions, but Disk utility not starting either kind of makes that a bit hard. I suggest booting from the Panther cd and running Disk Util. from there. You can't repair permissions from there though. Perhaps getting TechToolPro and running that could help.

Wrong - Permissions CAN be repaired on any Mac OS X boot volume that is being analyzed from another Mac OS X boot volume, such as the Mac OS X install CD. I had to do this once because I accidentally made the System folder inaccessible to myself (oops!) and I couldn't do much of ANYTHING afterward.

 

[Star]

fixed!

permissions can be repaired from the console - if the terminal app doesn't launch, one can always boot straight into the command line interface.

sudo diskutil repairpermissions /

that's what needs to be run. i had this non-launching-programs-issue myself not too long ago, but i think it was mainly because i loaded the system with 1000+ fonts and it quite crippled everything. now i have 500+ and system runs smoothly.

but repair permissions every once in a while, at least after every software update/install. but don't get paranoid, this is something you shouldn't have to do every day

Thankyou for your help! It was the fonts. I work in pre-press and design, so have to load a lot of fonts for all my different jobs. I was not aware there was a limit on this. I removed half of them and all my programs work again. The permissions were not an issue with this problem, I had already run them from the disk, to no avail. It was indeed the fonts

 

[Counterfit]

Wrong - Permissions CAN be repaired on any Mac OS X boot volume that is being analyzed from another Mac OS X boot volume, such as the Mac OS X install CD.

Okay okay, calm down. Everyone makes mistakes