Strange behaviors on MacBook Pro before & after installing Snow Leopard

I am not sure if this is even a Snow Leopard issue. We have a MacBook Pro that up until recently had been running Tiger. A problem developed whereby we could not access the iTunes store. A message that the store was "not available at this time" came up repeatedly while at the same time another computer was able to make connections with it. In addition, when Firefox was opened, a prompt appeared to drag the Firefox icon to the applications folder. Even after this was done, the same prompt would appear during subsequent sessions.
We updated the OS to Snow Leopard, and the iTunes store problem was resolved. However, there are some other unusual things going on with other applications.
1. When Photobooth is opened, we get this message: "There is no connected camera."
2. When we open any of the Office applications, we are greeted with: "To open Microsoft Word (or Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), you need to install Rosetta."
3. The above-described issue with Firefox still occurs frequently. Even though Firefox is located in the Applications folder, there is now a volume named Firefox on the desktop. We can't get rid of it.
We don't know for sure if the Photobooth and Office issues were present right before the Snow Leopard installation, but they had worked properly in the past.
One thing we did do is a verify and repair of permissions. There were MANY that needed to be repaired.
In addition, right around the time SL was installed, the computer was frequently shutting off without warning. The mouse was also operating erratically. It was found that the battery needed to be replaced, as the existing one was expanding and was actually disrupting the operation of the mouse pad. Could this battery have been the source of these problems?
What are the next steps we should take?

I suppose your expanding battery problem could have caused some or all of these problems, but most of them sound like software issues.
If I were you I'd try a few things:
1. boot from your snow leopard install disk and repair your startup disk with disk utility.
2. repeat the repairs until no repairs are reported (the toilet paper principle).
3. repair permissions again.
4. if the problems persist, trash the preferences files for the misbehaving apps.
5. if the problems persist, delete the misbehaving apps and reinstall them.
6. it the shutoffs persist, try a PMU reset.
7. a PRAM reset would probably be a good idea too.
8. if none of that works, archive and reinstall.
there is a freeware utility called applejack that will also do most of this.
Details on all of these will be readily available with a google search.

Similar Messages

  • Strange behaviors on MacBook Pro before & after installing SL & new battery

    I have also posted this question in the Snow Leopard forum as I am not sure where it belongs. We have a MacBook Pro that up until recently had been running Tiger. A problem developed whereby we could not access the iTunes store. A message that the store was "not available at this time" came up repeatedly while at the same time another computer was able to make connections with it. In addition, when Firefox was opened, a prompt appeared to drag the Firefox icon to the applications folder. Even after this was done, the same prompt would appear during subsequent sessions.
    We updated the OS to Snow Leopard, and the iTunes store problem was resolved. However, there are some other unusual things going on with other applications.
    1. When Photobooth is opened, we get this message: "There is no connected camera."
    2. When we open any of the Office applications, we are greeted with: "To open Microsoft Word (or Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), you need to install Rosetta."
    3. The above-described issue with Firefox still occurs frequently. Even though Firefox is located in the Applications folder, there is now a volume named Firefox on the desktop. We can't get rid of it.
    We don't know for sure if the Photobooth and Office issues were present right before the Snow Leopard installation, but they had worked properly in the past.
    One thing we did do is a verify and repair of permissions. There were MANY that needed to be repaired.
    In addition, right around the time SL was installed, the computer was frequently shutting off without warning. The mouse was also operating erratically. It was found that the battery needed to be replaced, as the existing one was expanding and was actually disrupting the operation of the mouse pad. Could this battery have been the source of these problems?
    What are the next steps we should take?

    I can deal with parts of this.
    2. When we open any of the Office applications, we are greeted with: "To open Microsoft Word (or Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), you need to install Rosetta."
    Snow Leo is very aware of apps that are not coded for Intel processors. This message suggests you have Office 2004 or older. Intel coding did not come to Office Mac until version 2008. Rosetta is an Apple emulation technology that lets apps coded for older PowerPC processors work on Macs with Intel processors. Most emulators do not give the performance of a program running natively.
    You can either upgrade Office to the previous version 2008, buy a current Office 2011, or deal with the vagaries of emulation. Many people reported that Office 2004 had problems, particularly with keyboard input, when used on an Intel Mac.
    NOTE: If you rely on Entourage for a mail client, Office 2011 has dropped Entourage. The business version comes with a new version of Outlook for Mac that replaces Entourage but the Home/student edition does not. If you go for Office 2011 and want to stay with mail features similar to Entourage, you'll have to get the higher-priced version.
    One thing we did do is a verify and repair of permissions. There were MANY that needed to be repaired.
    I would do it again because some of the things you describe sound like permissions issues. Sometimes, updates can install something that changes permissions. You should be using the version of Disk Utility on your hard drive, not the install disk, to insure the settings in your user folder are properly repaired.

  • MacBook Pro Crashes after Installing Snow Leopard

    I just installed Snow Leopard on my macbook pro that I've had for 5 years and ever since every app that I open crashes upon opening it. If it does not crash, it'll open the application but render it completely inoperable. The computer also loses mousetrack and keyboard abilities. This happens every time I restart my computer. My computer is also no longer under warranty and cannot run without power cord. Nothing seems to be working correctly since the update. Time to start looking at a new computer? Easy fix? Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you much.

    J-UST-91,
    which version of Mac OS X was installed on your MacBook Pro before you’d installed Snow Leopard? Was it working flawlessly under the older version? Do you make a backup of your disk just before installing Snow Leopard?

  • Macbook Pro won't install Snow Leopard

    I am having trouble installing Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro. I currently have Leopard 10.5.8 installed. I contacted Apple after my first issue. The tech support person decided I had a bad DVD & sent me a new copy, but the issue remains the same. When I try to upgrade I get as far as approving the user agreement and then the installation screen disappears. I tried installing using the DVD as the start-up as recommended in the installation instructions. When I do this I get as far as selecting the destination, but the hard drive has the yellow triangle with the exclamation point and says Mac OS 10 can't start from here. I have used the Disk Utility & Disk First Aid to check my hard drive & it checks out ok. Any ideas what I should do?

    You could try doing what I call a repair install of Leo--installing Leo over Leo via upgrade. It is possible that you can reinstall Leo this way, and your problem will be fixed, even though you can't install Sno (yet). Also, you could try the Leo install from your desktop rather than having started to the DVD. I can't assess the probability that using this technique will solve your problem. I think it definitely is less than 50%. And, I emphasize that you may not even be able to do the repair install.
    Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

  • MacBook running slow after installing Snow Leopard

    I have 1 Gb of memory & MacBook is running slow after I installed Snow Leopard. Would it help to add more memory?

    R C-R wrote:
    No, inactive memory is just that: memory not actively used by anything. Paged out memory is a chunk of memory that has been swapped out to the hard drive. It must be paged back into memory if its contents are needed for anything. "Paged" refers to the amount of memory swapped in & out at a time, since the OS does this in units of memory called "pages."
    This is the simplified, executive summary version. For all the gory details, see Mac Dev Center: Memory Usage Performance Guidelines: Memory Management in Mac OS X.
    Thanks much. I know that it is not being used by anything currently. But, does it contain what I mentioned above, or is there a better description for what is in inactive memory? And, were does it go when replaced by something else? Paged to swapfiles?
    Edit: Go to go now. Will check in later. And, I will read the memory link provided.
    Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

  • MacBook Pro won't wake from sleep after installing Snow Leopard

    If my MacBook Pro is running while closed with an external display and I unplug it from the display it goes to sleep - as indicated by the white light and the front pulsing. If I then open the MacBook the display remains blank and it is completely unresponsive to any keys or track pad input.
    The only thing it responds to at that point is holding the power button down until it powers down and then restarting - loosing all work in progress at that point.
    Before installing Snow Leopard the Mac would wake reliably when opened from this state.

    Mike Doolin wrote:
    I think I may have found the fix for this. My MacBook Pro was dying in its sleep every time (after installing Snow Leopard), whether it went to sleep automatically or I used a Hot Corner. I went into System Preferences>Desktop & Screen Saver and changed the screen saver to Flurry, and it works now. I had had it set to a folder containing a single .pct file that I had created.
    Good advice Mike! When in doubt check the ScreenSaver settings.
    Definitely seems that it has a problem with that pic... In my case, selecting any images instead of the default setting (no screensaver) seems to have cured my non waking issue on my early Macbook Pro in Snow Leopard.
    My original problem was that no amount of trackpad input woke it, but the space bar did. The space bar seemed to wake it up with the previous Screen Saver setting. Now trackpad wakes it up (even from total sleep as well as screen saver), too. Might be nice to know about if this is an intended 'feature' as a security trick. Otherwise I consider this a bug.
    My vote is that it's a bug.

  • My macbook pro crashed after installing maverick. I lost all my photos however the iPhone iPhoto app still has these photos so how can i access the package contents to recover these photos?

    My macbook pro crashed after installing maverick. I lost all my photos however the iPhone iPhoto app still has these photos so how can i access the package contents to recover these photos?

    We'll need to know more to beable to help. Do you want to try to restore your photos from your iPhone to your Mac, or try to recover the photos from the old iPhoto Library on your Mac?
    What is the situation of your Mac now? In hat way did it crash? A hardware problem with the drive? Does the system not start properly? Does iPhoto not launch? Do you still have the iPhoto Library on your mac or a backup, so we could try to rescue the photos there?
    What versions of iPhoto are on your iPhone and your Mac?
    however the iPhone iPhoto app still has these photos so how can i access the package contents to recover these photos?
    On the iPhone you cannot access the "package contents" - IOS hides the file system from the users. To restore photos from your phone share all iPhoto photos to your Camera Roll, that are not already in the Camera Roll,  and then connect the iPhone via USB and import the Camera Roll to iPhoto or Image Capture. Or use any of the other sharing methods described on thos manual page: see:  Ways to share photos http://help.apple.com/iphoto/iphone/2.0/?handbuch#blnk7d8f763e
    To retrieve photos from a corruptrd iPhoto Library on your Mac we need to know the version number and more about the "crash" you experienced, the state of your mac, the system, the data. Please post back with more details.
    -- Léonie

  • Unable to sync with MacBook Pro even after installing Po...

    Unable to sync with MacBook Pro even after installing PocketMac

    why don't you post the same thing again (since you posted it 3 times already)?
    perhaps whole you're at it you could post some useful information to get advice like Mac OS, Device, Device OS, other sync software installed...
    4.6.1.305 hybrid
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  • Can I purchase Mountain Lion and make a flash drive bootable? I do not want to install it on my Macbook Pro. I have Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro now, and due to my hard drive needing repair I need to boot off of another source, like my flash drive.

    Can I purchase Mountain Lion and make a flash drive bootable? I do not want to install it on my Macbook Pro. I have Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro now, and due to my hard drive needing repair, I need to boot off of another source, like my flash drive. I am in Paris and my Snow Leopard DVD is in Texas.

    Mac OS X has a built-in disk diagnostic and repair program called fsck or file system consistency check. Here’s how to verify and repair your startup disk with fsck.  As soon as you hear the startup tone, press and hold Command-S on the keyboard. Keep holding down those keys until you see a black screen with white lettering. This is called “booting into Single User Mode.”  As the Mac boots in this mode, the screen reports each step of the process. The line should end in root#.  Right after the root# prompt, enter the following: /sbin/fsck -fy
    If repairing the disk in single user mode fails, it means one of two things. Either your hard drive itself is failing (a hardware failure), or the directory damage on your hard drive is beyond the capability of the built-in repair procedures in OS X.

  • Is it possible to install CS5 or CS5.5 on a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM MacBook Pro running 10.6 (Snow Leopard)?

    Is it possible to install CS5 or CS5.5 on a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM MacBook Pro running 10.6 (Snow Leopard)?

    Hi Carolyn, thanks for your quick reply. First thing I did before posting my question was to check the system requirements for Creative Suite, both on Apple and Adobe's websites. But I am however confused about the difference between "Multicore Intel processor" vs "Core 2 Duo", and keep hearing stories about CS5 not working properly.

  • My macbook pro was first installed with leopard and bootcamp 3.2. Now i updated to lion. The problem is now that it is not possible to update to bootcamp 3.3. or 4.0. The report: The installation source is not correct. What can i do? Thanks for answer.

    my macbook pro was first installed with leopard and bootcamp 3.2 under windows 7. After update to lion it is no more possible to update bootcamp to 3.3. or 4.0. The report: The installation source ist not correct. What can i do?
    auf Deutsch:
    Auf meinem Macbook pro war Leopard und bootcamp 3.2  unter windows 7 installiert. Nach dem update auf lion kann bootcamp nicht mehr upgedatet werden. Weder auf 3.3. noch auf 4.0. Folgende Fehlermeldung kommt: Boot camp Dienste: Das installierte Produkt stimmt nicht mit der Installationsquelle überein. ... Was kann ich tun?

    It means what it says. The "computer person" formatted it wrongly/ unsuitably. it needs to be formatted again.
    Error "Case-sensitive drives not supported" or similar install error | Mac OS
    Mylenium

  • Met with a white screen after installing Snow Leopard on Macbook (mid 2007)

    After installing Snow Leopard on my Mid 2007 mac book pro I was prompted to restart. I restarted and the computer turned on but only got as far as a white screen that stays white with no further activity for an indefinite amount of time. I've restarted the computer a few times with the same results. How do I fix this and get past the white screen?!

    Try booting into "verbose mode".  That will cause a series of messages to appear on the screen during the boot process.  When that stalls (presuming it does so), write down the last few messages and post them as a reply.
    You might also try running the diagnostics that came with that Mac.  Depending on the model, you can boot with the "system restore disc" in the machine with the "D" key held down to run those.  Run the diagnostics several times.

  • Had to get new hard disk for my macbook. After installing snow leopard on new HD the computer only connects to free wifi at certain places and not others. Took it to genius bar (of course it worked find there!) they said it was fine. Not!

    Had to get new hard disk for my macbook. After installing snow leopard on new HD the computer only connects to free wifi at certain places and not others. Took it to genius bar (of course it worked find there!) they said it was fine. But problem persist.

    Hi there ricalimo,
    I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps in the article below. If the issue is location specific, than you may want to save the article so you can perform troubleshooting when you are experiencing trouble.
    Wi-Fi: How to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4628
    -Griff W. 

  • Before I install snow leopard, I tried to move tiger into the external harddrive. My mac says it can't do because it is the OS X. So I installed snow leopard without removing tiger. After that, my computer often freezes. How can I remove tiger?

    Before I install snow leopard, I tried to move tiger into the external harddrive. My mac says it can't do because it is the OS X. So I installed snow leopard without removing tiger. After that, my computer often freezes. How can I remove tiger? Or How can I prevent my mac from freezing?

    McHagihara wrote:
    Before I install snow leopard, I tried to move tiger into the external harddrive. My mac says it can't do because it is the OS X. So I installed snow leopard without removing tiger. After that, my computer often freezes. How can I remove tiger? Or How can I prevent my mac from freezing?
    When you installed Snow Leopard, Tiger was replaced, leaving your programs and files intact.
    What is causing your freezing problem is unknown, you can take Kappy's advice and remove everything, but you lose your files and free iLife programs that came with Tiger/new machine.
    The 10.6.3 disk you "upgraded" with has the full 10.6.3 on it, but no free iLife suit, so a erase and install will remove what you already have installed.
    You can try to locate your problem without the erase and install method by running through this list of fixes.
    Step by Step to fix your Mac
    But before you do anything, backup your personal data off the machine to a extenal drive and disconnect.
    Most commonly used backup methods
    Because if you have to follow Kappy's advice and wipe and install 10.6 fresh, it will cure your problem in nearly 99% of cases, but you have to rebuild everything. All programs and files.
    How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
    If this is all too much for you, then STOP and call a local PC/Mac service or competant friend to assist you.
    Yuo might need to install more RAM into the machine to make 10.6 run better as well.

  • Photo Booth not working after installing Snow Leopard

    unable to open Photo Booth after installing Snow Leopard. pop up saying my version is 2.03. unable to locate an update on App store. Any solution. ? Thanks to all

    that answered my question. great. my wife has a macbook pro 13 inch (aluminum unibody) and she was getting frustrated with photo booth not working. i was about to uninstall but this answer fixed the issue. thanks!

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