System Prefs problem

When I go to the system prefs pane and select "Network," I get a drop down error box which reads: "Your network settings have been changed by another application." The Blue "OK" box is highlighted. When I click "OK,"or "Return," it retracts to the top of the screen and instantly drops back down with the same message and result no matter how many times I select "OK." It gives me no other choices other than to click a blue "OK" box. Not even a "cancel" option.
The machine still has wireless connectivity to the web but will not talk to the printer. The printer can be seen by the laptop. However, there is no way I can get into the network settings because the iBook just keeps looping the same error message described above and the only way out is to force shutdown.
The AsanteTalk guy at their tech support line eluded to a system software re-install being necessary. I'm hoping to avoid that nightmare.
Thanks for any help and advice, please!
Brian

Hi Brian,
Cure for Security update...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1730909&tstart=0
I'm hoping to avoid that nightmare.
Actually, it's not to bad If you have enough free HD space on your HD, try an Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

Similar Messages

System Prefs. problem. Application problems. Need advice.

The problems I am having:
1) Mail will not open. It hangs, shows beach ball and stays that way. All you see is the menu-bar. Force quit will not work. Only hard reset. Activity Monitor shows the app sucking up 87-95% of processor.
2) System preferences are not staying. Specifically, my mouse preferences for scrolling, keyboard illumination, Safari address bar buttons. This gets worse if I have to do a hard reset if Mail gets launched. It can clean the whole system prefs. sometimes. (update: My 2 finger scrolling goes off even when I haven't shut down, restarted, etc. I have to go into Sys. Prefs. and recheck it)
Let me start from the beginning of the problem:
I was on a website for a real estate company. It uses an active server application that never works right with a Mac. I almost always use Safari for it. What happens is that the sever app. usually hangs and won't go to the next page. I've tried all my browsers except Opera, so, I figure I would give that a go and see if it's better. BAD IDEA! Opera 8.6 hung. It wouldn't force quit. I had to do a hard reset like , 5 times, before it would restart. After that happened is when things got bad. My system prefs. were all gone. I had to reset all that. And then, Mail just went t1t5 up. It did what I said above. Hung. So I had to figure out how I was gonna get all my mail over into Thunderbird. I backed up the HD, and luckily, through Apple forums and Google, came up with the .emlx to .mbox converter. Tedious but worked. I deleted Opera off my HD as well as Mail. I am not even gonna bother with Mail again after having to deal with Apple's stupid file format and having no way to import a back-up. Thunderbird is way better and PGP actually works on it. Scr3w Opera as well.
At this point, my biggest problem I have is that my system prefs don't always seem to stick. I need to find out which files are associated with this and fix it. I am also paranoid that something got backdoored on my system and is causing havoc. Although I doubt this happened, I would like to see if someone can look at my processes and see if anything looks abnormal. All these problems have happened with my standard account with no Admin privileges ( unless I type in the Authorization on a per instance event). My Admin account is not having problems and my other standard account is OK. So I am pretty sure it's a local problem and not associated with root.
Anyone knowledgeable with some good ideas would be appreciated. I almost never have problems. I'm kinda p155ed this happened. Luckily I could still do a back-up and was not in a recording session or anything.
You can download my Processes List in PDF at this address:
http://badapplestudio.com/actmonscreen.pdf
Sorry for the long description,but there are a lot of factors that lead up to this.
Thanks,
~sKot
1.67 G4 Pbook , 500 G4 Pbook,Dual 2.7 G5 Tower Mac OS X (10.4.7) Also Dell P4 for Gigasampler

I'm having similar problems to those described by ~scot. The apps that won't launch are (so far)
Mail
Address Book
Safari
Safari gives the spinning beach ball, but Mail and Address Book merely show the black triangle indicating they are running (though they are not.)
Force quits are fights. I haven't had to restart but I have to use the force quit menu command or the "three fingered salute" four or 5 times.
Have deleted plist for Safari but hesitated to do so for Mail and Address Books because of fear of losing more than settings - perhaps too cautious but if anyone knows of another way I would prefer that.
Rebooted from original discs and ran Disk First Aid, ran TechTool Pro and Disk Warrior to no effect. Had run Onyx for regular maintenance the week before the problems began but have not done so since.
Suggestions gratefully welcome!
ceedee
Quicksilver G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

System Prefs, Mail Prefs, App Prefs, etc, not saving in Lion?

My System Prefs, Mail Prefs, App Prefs, etc, are not saving since I have upgraded to Lion? I have repaired permissions, reinstalled, the OS all to no avail!! Please help?

i had the same problem, i fix the system prefs problem with this:
chmod -RN ~/Library/Preferences
but still having trouble with the mail prefs

Backblaze problem made System Prefs hang in Maverick

I am on a Macbook Pro, OS 10.9.1 . I use Backblaze for offsite backups.
I noticed this morning that the Backblaze icon was missing from my main system menu bar, so I went to Spotlight, searched "backblaze," and clicked on what came up. The system began to simultaneously open both a Backblaze app and my System Preferences. Then both hung and became unresponsive, so I had to force quit both of them.
Now the Backblaze icon is back in the system menu bar, but nothing happens when I click it--no menu drops down, etc. Also, I can no longer open System Preferences -- when I choose it in the Apple menu, it bounces for a while, then hangs, and I have to force quit.
I've tried fixing permissions, which didn't help. Anyone have any thoughts? I've also written Backblaze but haven't heard from them yet, and I suspect they will say that a problem with System Prefs is a Mac problem, not theirs.

seems to have fixed itself after a couple of days.

I have just upgraded to OSX Maverick and now my Apple TV has taken over my iTunes videos. I have tried turning off homeshare and iHave gone into system prefs and disabled the remote, but the problem persists. Any ideas.

After upgrading to OSX Maverick my Apple TV has taken control of my iTunes videos insisting I have to watch it on my TV. I have tried disabling home sharing on iTunes and on the Apple TV menu, I have also checked the disable Infrared facility in Systems Prefs Security. Even if I put the Apple TV in standby as soon as I hit a key on my iMac, Apple TV comes back on and on my Itunes screen I get the Apple TV logo imprinted on the screen, meaning I can no longer watch it on my MAC, I have run out of ideas. Can anyone help.

I think you're headed the right direction. There is an AirPlay icon (on mine it is up near the play/pause controls) that I believe is used to set the default desitination for the video to play.
I'd never seen your issue before, but opened iTunes on a recently-upgraded-to-Mavericks MacBook and it did exactly as you described. While the video was loading, I switched the AirPlay option to the computer instead of ATV and it began playing locally (after a delay as you'd mentioned). I then read this page, which is actually quite old: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1091073, which lead me to the icon near the play/pause button. It now has Computer selected on it, and defaults to play locally instead of the ATV even after quitting and reopening iTunes. I hope that is helpful.

Problems with icons in System Pref

Look at my system pref.
http://www.stickyspy.com/misc/controlp.jpg
The "Energy" icon has somehow changed. How do I can back the original icon?
Please help.

Spy,
Quit System Preferences if it's running and trash the following file:
Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Caches/com.apple.preferencepanes.cache
Then launch System Preferences and hopefully the Energy Icon will return to normal appearance.
;~)

Non admin user - changes not saved (Safari settings, system prefs, etc.)

iMac, 2 users, one is administrator and other is standard user. Recently, in the non-admin user account, it has become impossible to make any changes. For example, adding an application to the the Dock, after logging out and back in next time, the application is not in the Dock any more. Also, making changes to the prefs in Safari, changes are not saved.
I noticed this after installing FireFox v4. I installed it as admin whilst in the non-admin users account. However, I don't believe that the installation of FF has anything to do with the problem, it just highlighted it. I've checked the permissions for the various directories that hold prefs info such as user/libraries/application prefs/etc. etc. and also Safari prefs. Nothing I can see that has changed in system prefs.
Any ideas on what has caused the problem (kids are known to fiddle from within the non-admin account) and any ideas on how to fix it?
Thanks

Hi PPRuNe,
You could try making the standard user an Admin too. To do this, make sure you are logged in to the standard user, go to System Preferences > Accounts > Standard user (you may have to unlock the padlock) > Allow user to administer this computer
This will allow changes to be made without being prompted for a password all the time.
However, if you had Parental Controls on, they probably won't work on an admin account because as an admin you have complete control over a computer, so the computer thinks there is no point in having the controls turned on. And if the kids are known to "fiddle," just think carefully!
Hope this helps you.
Chris.

Built-In Audio Panning L&R malfunctions, system prefs.

I have noticed on my own Mac, as well as my peers' computers which include iBooks, PowerMacs, iMacs, and even a new MacBook pro, that the audio coming from the Built-in audio card will randomly be panned completely to the right, or the left.
A quick troubleshoot will lead you to find that in the system preferences the panning slider is set to the right or left, an undesirable setting.
All of the computers I mentioned are running the latest updated versions of Tiger, 10.4.6, and with the exception of my self running Pro Tools, none of the other computers mentioned are running any third party audio interfaces/cards or software that uses audio other than the applications included with Tiger: iTunes, iChat, Quicktime, Safari, etc.
Unfortunately there is no Lock in the audio system preferences, which could potentially be a quick fix to the problem because if an application like iChat had a bug which caused audio panning, the lock in system prefs. would prevent that..
I am quite boggled.
question:
What might be causing this, and is there a solution?

Thanks for the response guys. It seems we're in the same boat.
The problem is intermittent on my machine . It has occurred three times since I bought it. The fist time it lasted for a day and a half. I rang Apple support and went through a number of steps until the P-RAM suggestion which seemed to fix it. A few days later it disappeared again and resetting the P-RAM had no effect. My wife continued to use the computer (without sound) and some hours later it came back after a restart (she only restarted it because she is in the habit of shutting down instead of using sleep). The problem occurred again. That time I restarted the machine a number of times, with and without the external speakers plugged in, with them turned on and off etc. This had no effect. I gave up. Some time later my wife went to use the computer and it came back. I now believe that the P-RAM solution that seemed to fix the problem the first time was just a coincidence.
I rang Apple support again and they gave me the following steps (A,B & C of which I went through the first time the problem occurred):
A: Log in through another account and see if it had the same problem.
- The built-in audio was still missing.
B: Run the disk utility on the hard drive (after booting from installation DVD).
- There were nil problems on the HD, but it did not fix the problem.
C: Reset the P-RAM.
- This worked the first time though it has not worked on subsequent re-occurrences of the problem.
D: Do an Archive Reinstall.
- I did this today; though the built-in audio was working, I just wanted to complete the suggestions the Apple support person gave me. The problem has not reoccurred yet, but it has only been a few hours. I will be using the computer as much as possible tonight to see if the problem reoccurs.
If the problem reoccurs I'll be taking the machine in for warranty repairs, or better still replacement.

Access to non-apple system prefs

We are in a corporate environment. When setting up new Macs we turn off access to the System Preferences using the Accounts Control Panel. We want to prevent users from changing Network settings, Sharing options, etc. that we setup up for our company.
The problem with this is when we install software for third-party products such as mice or graphics tablets. Many of these items install Control Panels that are accessed only through the System Preferences, but a non-admin user cannot go in and change the individual settings for these devices without having full admin rights to the System Preferences.
Are there any workarounds for being able to control which Control Panels users have access to when using System Preferences?
Thanks for any help!

If your users are non-admins, they shouldn't be able
to change the Sharing or Network prefs unless they
enter an admin password. When setting up the new
accounts, go into those prefs and ensure the little
padlock icon is locked.
Apparently this has improved over earlier versions of OS X when I wasn't looking. When we intially loaded OS X I remember turning on the access to System Prefs and locking the various control panels for the non-admin users, but I recall that some of them didn't stay locked. That's why we started turning off access to them completly. After that initial install of our desktop Macs I never tried this again. We've updated the OS a couple times, but never went in and tried this again because everything was working fine. But when I went to setup some new laptops with wireless mice that had their own control panels this became an issue and that's why I was looking for the workaround. It would be nice if Apple gave you a way in System Preferences to turn on/off access to the individual CPs without having to muck with system like this. But this will work for now.

System Prefs - options greyed out or non-functional

I have been having a bad time lately with my System Prefs. I first noticed it when settings to Mouse and Sound would not retain after a restart.
Now the problems are much worse...
I cannot open the Date & Time pane at all (ignores clicking), all options in Sharing are grayed out and cannot be changed (even though account is admin and the lock is unlocked), I am unable to create a new user, and changes to Energy Saver result in spinning color wheel.
I have deleted every preference and cache I could find in the user and rebuilt permissions but no luck. I am considering enabling root and seeing if that can go in and make changes since I cannot create a new admin user otherwise.
Short of a painful OS reinstall anybody have suggestions?
I also might consider riding it out and waiting for 10.5.

Ralph Johns (UK) (to Emily Vu) 19 minutes ago
Hi,
Check the Font AppleGothic.ttf is active and validates using the Font Book app.
if you have to change anything restart the Mac.
If this is not the issue go to ~/Library/Preferences and find com.apple.ichat.plist and Drag it to the Trash and then restart Messages.
The above reply in another thread solved my issue! Namely that my apple gothic font was disabled, breaking the entire Messages app.

Safari says not connected to internet- System Prefs does...

OK, I'm not extremely computer savvy, but I'm not totally ignorant either. But I have a network connection problem that I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I have a black MacBook Pro, and am running 10.4.11. I have an airport express at home, and never had any access/connection trouble. Where I work (a university), there is an open network we can access, but for some reason, I cannnot. My airport status indicator shows full strength, and systems prefs gives me the connection is A-OK message with the green light, saying I'm connected to this network, but when I open Safari (or Firefox), it tells me I am not connected to the internet. Another interesting thing is when I open itunes in this situation, it finds shared music libraries on the network, but it will not connect to them. This is the only network I have ever used where this is happening. Also, other people seem to be able to access this network with no trouble with Powerbook G4s. Does anyone have similar problems or any ideas at all on this one?

My guess is that you're not authenticated on the network and, for that, you should talk to the sysops there. Most universities have "open" networks that still require authentication, meaning they're open to the university users but not to everyone.

Cannot use System Pref's/Network -- dialog box won't go stay gone

G5 running Tiger, browsers, Mail and other internet functions (DSL, PPPoE) work fine BUT: if I boot the Network app in System Pref's, it shows a dialog box that says "Your network settings have been changed by another application." If I press OK the box goes away for a second and then returns -- there is no way to proceed, or use this app -- the only thing I can do is for Systems Pref's to quit. In other words, it won't take OK for an answer!
Some notes: 1) Network diagnostics from the Help menu says everything is normal. 2) I did move my Ethernet connection to another computer to run that one -- this Mac was off at the time. I did not change any modem or router settings, and this Mac, as I said, works fine except for the above problem. 3) an app called "Internet Connect" in the apps folder will not boot (don't know what this is); 4) the utilities Netinfo Mgr and Network Utility don't tell my anything useful or at least that I can understand. How do I reset the SystemPref's/Network app or whatever it is so I can use it? Thanks.

Hi,
Check out this thread: file:///Users/carolynssamit/Desktop/Mac%20Troubleshooting/Your%20network%20setti ngs%20have%20been%20changed...%20%20fix.webarchive
And here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?referrerid=59552&t=592305
And more here; http://forums.macworld.com/message/666874
Carolyn

Preview.app ignoring system prefs, bug?

greetings,
switched to 10.7 recently.
seem to be having a problem with preview.app.
i have various setting saved as follows:
system pref -> general:
     restore windows... = unselected
     highlight color = Gold
     show scroll bars = always
system pref -> desktop:
     Translucent menu bar = unselected
unfortunatly, preview.app seems to ignore all of these.
all my other programs are following my system pref settings, except preview.
i ran across this forum thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18432932#18432932
i've deleted all the preview prefs and temp files in ~/Library mentioned in the above thread.
but that hasn't solved it.
anyone else have this problem?
any suggestion?
thanks for any feedback-
jeffery
10.7.4, MBPro

I have this same problem.
I have two machines, one's a self-contained Macbook Air - I don't see this problem. The other is a Mac Pro at the office - where I see this problem (see the same symptom with TextEdit, but not with any other apps). I think I've isolated the problem on the MacPro to the fact that my home directory on the MacPro is a UFS disk mounted via NFS. Same machine, different user who's home directory lives on the local HFS+ disk does not exhibit this issue. I should note that this different user also had administrator priveledges. Admittedly, I haven't tried making a dummy users with a cross-mounted home directory.
I've also noticed that when 'Repairing Permissions' on my HFS+ disk holding the OS (Macintosh HD) while logged in as an admin reveals the following error:
Group differs on "Users" should be 80; group is 0.
Unable to set owner and group on "Users" error 1: Operation not permitted
Unable to set permissions on "Users" error 1: Operation not permitted
Not sure if this 'Repair Permissions' error is related. Either way, am not sure what the correct permissions should be.
I note that I have limited understanding regarding how permissions are handled between,1) the local machine running 10.7.4 from an HFS+ disk, and 2) the server hosting a UFS disk which is mounted via NFS. However, am certain that my user has the same UID and GID between the two machines. The entire /Users disk is mounted via NFS.
An additional symptom for me is that when trying to use 'Open Recent' in Preview.app or TextEdit.app, the dropdown menu is empty after closing the app and restarting. If the app stays open, it remembers recent files that were open. However, if I close the app, the 'recents' dropdown menu is empty.
I've tried deleting all the preference files as mentioned above. I've also tried shifting all my Cache directories to live on HFS+ disk (via a soft link). Problem persists.
None of these errors exist on my Macbook Air where all disks are local and formatted as HFS+, making it seem like my issue is connected with the NFS mount of the UFS disk. However, I could be wrong.
Nevertheless, yes I have this same symptom, and yes I too would appreciate a clue as to how I might remedy the problem.
Thanks.

ARD Client Settings are not saving in System prefs. Any thoughts?

I am using ARD 2.2 from my Powerbook. It is running 10.4.3. Was able to create connections for observing with a G5 iMac running 10.4.5 , another PowerBook (which required an ARD client upgrade) running 10.3.9, and a G3 iBook running 10.3.9 with no issues. When trying to configure a Mac mini running 10.3.9, I am able to enter the System Prefs as the admin, set ARD to run using the admin account (in the exact same fashion as the other machines), turn on all available options and click the OK button. I can then go right back to the Sharing control panel where ARD is turned on but none of the other settings, including the checked account remain active. Has anyone else seen this condition? I tried reinstalling ARD client 2.2 and deleting the remote desktop prefs to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.

You might try fixing file permissions (using Disk Utility) on the mini. It kind of sounds like a permissions problem.

System Prefs show Airport "OFF" but in menu bar I can turn on... pls look

Good day.
System Profiler sees the Airport card however shows no network. (This has been running with no problems for months)
System Prefs, Network shows the Airport card as "OFF" even tho I can turn it "on" up on the menu bar. (it takes two times to turn it on via the network bar)
It still cannot see the network. (I am 802.11n everywhere and I'm using my MBP on the network I've been using for months)
The bottom line is I can't get my MacPro 3.0Ghz to see the network and the system profes show it's on even tho I can turn it on and off via the network bar.
Note: I've also plugged in a airport express via the Mac Pro's enet port and it simply cannot see it.
Any advise please.
Thanks
Tom

I am having a very similar problem. Did you find any fixes for this?
I have a snow base station and have no problems connecting to it with a clamshell iBook running OS X. But with my PowerBook G4, whenever I turn Airport on and try to access the base station, the airport status icon constantly flashes, almost like a pulse.
Today I took my PowerBook to a hot spot, and Airport worked great, so I know that my card is fine.
One thing I'm wondering about -- what firmware are you using on your base station? I currently have 4.0.4, so it's possible that upgrading to 4.0.9 will solve this problem. I'm reluctant for the moment to try the firmware upgrade because the clamshell iBook connects to the snow base station so smoothly. I don't want to mess up one set-up while trying to fix another.
I'll check back in case you have new information, including (I hope) a fix for this.
Steve
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

System Prefs problem

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