Finder does not appear

Question

On startup of my admin account, no finder appears. The dock appears and I can launch apps, which creates a menu bar at the top and run for a few seconds, then quit automatically. The Apple menu is inaccessible during this short period of activity, and when I click and hold on the Finder icon in the dock, I sometimes get "Open" as an option, but no response to selecting it.
I have a second account that starts up fine and the finder appears there.
I've fixed permissions, verified the disk, to no avail. Some suggest that the finder.plist be trashed, but I cannot find that plist anywhere in my library, which is really strange. I know trashed prefs are trypically re-written as needed, but could this be part of the problem, and if so, how can I fix it?
Any other ideas? The current system is 10.4.8...if I have to, can I reinstall Tiger 10.4.0 from DVD without causing problems? Thanks for advice...
Power Mac G4 Quicksilver   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Since it works fine in your other account the problem is in some file associated with your regular account, rather than with the system itself. Several things to try:
1. Startup and hold down the Shift key as soon as you hear the chime; this will boot into safe mode which will take longer than a regular start. The system will repair the disk, turn off all third party startup items and some Apple ones, and clean font caches. If the Finder then runs, and is still running after a regular start you're home free. If it runs in safe mode but not after a regular start then there is most likely a bad item in your Account/Login Items. Disable all of them in safe boot and add one at a time.
2. If your Finder doesn't run even in safe mode then the problem is some other badness in your home account. Try moving the entire /Users/yourname/Library/Preferences folder out of the ~/Library (but don't trash it) and then try to login. A new Preferences folder should be created if the Finder runs. If it still doesn't run you can try renaming the home Library folder to OldLibrary, then login. A new home Library folder with everything at default should be created if the Finder runs. You can then carefully move items you really need from the original Library and Prefs folders into your new Library and Prefs folders.
If even the Library trick doesn't work there are a few files outside your home folder that have to do the user. Let us know.
Francine
Francine
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