A myriad of problems: no apple menu functionality...

[arsphrenetica]

With the exception of System Preferences, none of the options under the Apple menu function. The Sleep/Reset/Shutdown commands do not work when accessed via the power button either: I am now forced to hard reset my laptop.

The Dock has disappeared.

I can send items to the Trash Bin and empty it from the File menu, but I can't open a window to view items in the Trash Bin.

The Sidebar in Finder windows no longer displays anything.

I cannot Command-Tab between programs, although I can still Command-~ among windows within a program.

Document files (.rtf .txt .doc .pages) will not open in unless accessed through a compatible program (no click or menu opening).

All of these problems appeared after a failed attempt to put more music on my iPod. I connected it to my laptop's USB port as per usual; both it and iTunes (which had the most recent update, can't say when that was installed though) stalled for a while; I was informed my iPod was corrupted and required a restore; I was unable to eject the iPod through iTunes, the desktop icon, or the finder sidebar; quitting iTunes did not help any, so I restarted my laptop; after a very long boot-up time, the desktop finally appeared along with all the aforementioned symptoms.

Prior to the appearance of these issues were the following (less irritating) quirks:

A semi-corrupted keychain. This seems to only affect Apple programs: I cannot access the iTunes store, and any event in Safari which requires a password or encryption fails.

Inability to attach files to emails using any service.

Intermittent loss of the "Open with" File menu option (inaccessible via right-clicking as well).

Occasional difficulty installing official Apple updates.

Sporadic Network connectivity.

Restarting would sometimes help the latter two issues, but not with any consistency.

I've gone through all of the "delete from cache/library" steps usually involved with these problems, re-started, run the disk repair utility, etc. I have an external hard drive, and that doesn't seem to have been affected (I can copy/paste from the r-click menu (or whatever the MacBook equivalent is, double-finger-click, I guess)), so worst case scenario is updating to Snow Leopard. Oh yes, I'm running Tiger, 10.4.something? I'm not sure, actually, since I can't access the info.

If more issues crop up as I poke around, I'll update this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: okay, so after I'm not sure how many hard resets and apparently futile attempts to rectify the situation, the entire first set of problems vanished.

After a normal reset they reappeared.

After another reset they vanished.

So, OMGWTF?!*&^$&!(#@*&()?

Anyway: MacBook Pro 15"; Version 10.4.11; 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

 

[Curiosity]

Perhaps just reinstalling the last combo update to Mac OS 10.4.11 would fix it. If not, you probably will need to install the whole operating system from disk all over again.

 

[arsphrenetica]

The problems do seem to resolve/reemerge/evolve recede and so on, so it could be worse.

I've currently lost the ability to move files: I can select files and run them, but no cutting/copying/pasting is possible.

Also, if I keep a file selected for more than 2 seconds the finder window disappears, but selecting a folder doesn't cause the window to close.

I really don't understand what's going on at all. I was hoping someone else had experienced similar issues. Ah well.

 

[Satcomer]

Boot to Single-User Mode and the run fsck on the drive to see if it can be repaired. Here are the steps:

To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse pointer to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:

Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt type:

/sbin/fsck -fy

Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:

** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).

When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.

Your computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.