Applications Unexpectedly Quitting and Scary Gray 'Restart' Screen shows up

Question

hi,
I recently started having several issues with applications unexpectedly quitting. There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern, just random crashes. Anything from Finder to AppleWorks to Adobe Acrobat Reader and Final Cut Pro. My computer also came up with the scary gray "you must restart your computer" screen 3 times this afternoon.
It seems to have just started today, so I went into Console to see what might be causing the problem. Here is a portion of the near the beginning of the log I found interesting:
2008-11-11 20:09:02.582 Backup Engine 3[205] MaxBack Engine MaxBackEngineController-- MoreSecCopyHelperToolURLAndCheckBundled #1
2008-11-11 20:09:02.829 Backup Engine 3[205] MaxBackEngineController-- calling MoreSecExecuteRequestInHelperTool
2008-11-11 20:09:02.829 Backup Engine 3[205] MaxBackEngineController-- back from MoreSecExecuteRequestInHelperTool
2008-11-11 20:09:02.829 Backup Engine 3[205] MaxBack Engine Error: An error occurred: 0xd (13)
Workaround Bonjour: Unknown error: 0
Nov 11 20:09:10 Christophers-G4 crashdump[206]: Finder crashed
launchd[92]: com.seagate.notificationexec.plist: 8 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal
launchd[92]: com.seagate.notificationexec.plist: respawning too quickly! throttling
launchd[92]: com.seagate.notificationexec.plist: 7 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal
launchd[92]: com.seagate.notificationexec.plist: will restart in 10 seconds
I also found a very strong pattern later in the log and it continues as long as the computer is running. This message appears about every 15 seconds.
"launchd[92]: com.seagate.notificationexec.plist: 6 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal"
I don't know if this is causing the crashes, but it seems to be the only thing happening in the log when my computer is just sitting. I assume it has something to do with a Seagate 250 external USB drive I have connected to my computer. I got it in January but the problem seems to have just started today. The drive came with software called "Drive Manager". I've had it installed in my computer since January. The only function of the software seems to be backing up the hard drive, and I really don't have a use for it. I'm thinking uninstalling it might solve the problem, but I have to find an uninstaller first. (MaxBack (listed in the log) seems to be a part of the Seagate software as well.)
Just as a side note: I've been having DVD verification failures when I burn DVDs and audio bumps while exporting video to tape in Final Cut Pro. (i even got a gray 'restart' screen while exporting in Final Cut) I don't know if these issues are related to the crashing or not but they are happening at about the same time.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. This is my main computer and I really don't want it crashing on me all the time. Thanks!
Christopher

Answer 1

Boot from your installer disc and run Disk Utility. Verify your internal drive. I would hesitate about repairing it until you have made a backup of your files since on rare occasions repairing it makes it worse. If all is clear then make your backup. If it reports errors I would do a backup, then re-boot from your installer disc and this time try repairing. If it repairs the drive then you might want to do the backup again of the repaired drive. See, I'm doing this incrementally. Maybe a bit mroe effort but you're covering your bases as best you can. If DU can't repair your drive the other thing is to buy a copy of Diskwarrior and run that.
Here's my standard "uninstall applications post":
Most small programs can have all their components contained within an app package. After running, the program will likely install a file in Preferences (either in your user area, or the main preferences, or both). Dragging a program and its preferences to the trash is often all that is needed, or you can use a program like AppDelete to delete these programs. However, most app delete programs will not have an inventory of what is installed -- they just look for files that are clearly associated with the app you are deleting.
Try to find files associated with the application you want to delete by using Spotlight, Finder, or EasyFind (free and generally highly recommended) to search for the application's name. Favorite folders for files to be installed are:
/Applications/
/Library/Preferences/
/Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences
where YourName refers to the user name when you login and the / indicates the series of folders down from your main drive.
A few programs may set login items to start automatically when your computer starts or a specific user logs in. These items are located in: /Library/StartupItems/ or /Users/YourName/Library/StartupItems/ To edit these, go to your account set up in System Preferences, login items tab, select the item(s) and a "-" to remove.
More involved programs (e.g., Office) may install bits and pieces all over the place, like fonts, libraries, etc. The software installer may have an uninstall option, or there may be a separate uninstaller for these. In bad situations you have to hunt around yourself.
Some programs install invisible files. You can use a utility like Onyx to toggle visibility on your computer and check for invisible files.
Sometimes programs install files (often hidden) not readily associated with the program and if you're worried about those the only thing to do is a scan before and after installing a program and see what has changed.
Check out the utility [AppDelete|www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/appdelete.html]. It will remove simple applications and most of their associated files.
[X Lab FAQ: Uninstalling applications|http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/uninstallingapps.html]