what to do when force-exit doesn't work?

[nukiduz]

it's starting to be not very rare that apps like firefox and itunes suddenly freeze and i can't quit them because the force-exit option doesn't work. it's starting to happen periodically and it's annoying. what can i do to make them quit? should i reinstall os x? (it's been 4 months since i got my first imac). thanks

 

[skunk]

Have you tried using Cmd+Alt+Esc? That almost always works.

 

[rdowns]

Agree with skunk. Force quitting from the dock is spotty at best. Use the key sequence above or the Force Quit menu item under the Apple Menu.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

What do you do if that doesn't work? Besides logging out and back in/rebooting, are there any other options?

 

[Jasonbot]

Try terminal kill process unix command? Or use activity moniter to kill processes

 

[EMKoper]

Try terminal kill process unix command? Or use activity moniter to kill processes

For anyone not familiar with ... open ACTIVITY MONITOR and get the PID (Process ID ... a 3-4 digit number identifying the program you want to kill). Then, under UTILITIES, open TERMINAL.... in the terminal, type 'kill -9 {pid}' where {pid} = that 3-4 digit number... see attached...

 

[nukiduz]

i tried that. this is how it looks. there's no itunes process shown on activity monitor but the black arrow below the itunes icon in the dock still appears. i can't run itunes and can't quit it.

 

[skunk]

Have you tried killing the iTunes Helper (258)? As a minimum, try repairing permissions when you finally kill iTunes, perhaps even doing it from the OS X Install DVD.

 

[EMKoper]

i tried that. this is how it looks. there's no itunes process shown on activity monitor but the black arrow below the itunes icon in the dock still appears. i can't run itunes and can't quit it.

Maybe change "Mis Processes" to "All Processes"? I don't think that will help, but maybe. Next would be to list the processes in the Terminal... it is the 'ps' command but it is a little tricky to get it to list everything that is running/stuck ... i'll check the manual page and see if I can find it.

{edit ... good advice, skunk ... try killing the helper!}

 

[nukiduz]

killing the helper or showing all the processes doesn't help. reboot is the only thing that worked. hope this issue doesn't get common. thanks for the hints though.

 

[dolphin1]

wow - you're really having the problems! I've had my emac for many years and I've only had it freeze up bad (like yours) once. That time I was forced to unplug it (yeah, bad thing I know) and re-boot. But all the other times the holding down the alt>option>esc has always worked. I don't get many freezes but every once in a while I do.

I see you're using Firefox.... personally, I'd get rid of firefox and get either camino or safari. I had crashes and freezes often with firefox. That's why I got rid of it.

 

[skunk]

killing the helper or showing all the processes doesn't help. reboot is the only thing that worked. hope this issue doesn't get common. thanks for the hints though.

I'd run it through Disk Utility anyway.