Can't drag and drop anything...

retrotron

retrotron

thinking is design
On my new 17" Powerbook, I can't drag and drop anything. I can only select/deselect and cut/paste, but no drag. This is consistent throughout all my apps. I can manage getting around the finder with cut/paste, but I can't do any graphic work if I can't drag anything (you can imagine).

I know nothing about Macs so I don't even know where to begin. Can somebody point me forward?
 
Delete the icon cache found in /Library/Caches/ whose name is "com.apple.dock.iconcache.#USERNAME#"
 
What if there is no icon cache within /Library/caches/ with the name "com.apple.dock.iconcache#USERNAME#"? I don't have anything even close on my Titanium G4. And yes, I am clearly a newbie who desperately wants to click and drag again after two days in the darkness. K
 
Cmd-F

It could be either in the Library folder in your user folder, or the Library folder at the root of your hard drive. Make sure you're looking in the right Library.
 
Hopefully, you realize that where it says USERNAME, that will be Your user name and not the word USERNAME;

"com.apple.dock.iconcache#USERNAME#"
 
Found the icon cache, put in trash and emptied it, but after rebooting the cache comes back. I've repeated this several times but it reappears again. Any ideas? I think I'm missing something very simple...K
 
Well, the system recreates the file. After deleting it, can you drag and drop again?
 
Well, you could, but you would have no GUI whatsoever, simply a command line. You could also write an Applescript that deletes the file automatically when you start up, but it might need a restart to work, which would defeat the purpose... It might even be a different file causing your problem. Any other suspects, Bob?
 
On a possibly related note, I now have a disk that won't come out of my computer...this prevents me from running any and all disk utility programs. Little help? K
 
There was an update for problems with disks not being ejected.

This update installs new firmware on PowerBook and Xserve combo drives. The update prevents combo drives from intermittently failing to eject discs. It's recommended that you install this update to ensure that your combo drive avoids this problem.

Your drive may or may not need to have firmware updated; installing and running this update will tell you if updating is required.
Click to expand...

Install, reboot, retry?
 
Reboot while holding the mouse down, the disk should come out.
When asking for help, you should post info about your machine.
 
Tried the keypad technique, tried zapping PRAM. Apple in Japan walked me through steps Command+option+O+F (maybe that's wrong...), typing in "eject disk". Computer responded with "ok" and no error message. The firmware update will not work if there is still a CD inside. It's time to suck it up and give my computer to the powers that be and have them take it apart...or is it? Any final words? Thank you for all your help so far.

17" PowerBook, Titanium G4, 867 MHz, 512 MB RAM, Mac OS 10.2.6, EZ Quest Firewire Hardrive (115 G), using Final Cut Pro almost daily
 
Is the CD physically stuck in the drive or can you access it somehow? If it's physically stuck, I suppose you should turn it over to some official helping hands instead of prying it loose by yourself since this may void your warranty if you break your drive. You could, very cautiosly, feel whether it is a bit loose, but wrongly placed or firmly wedged. If it is still a bit loose, chanches are that with a wee bit of wriggling it snaps out of it, but be very very carefull!

If, however, the CD can still be accessed from the OS, you can continue to try to eject it somehow... Do you see it on your desktop or in the finder? Does it make any sounds when trying to eject? If after several tries it doesn't come out, well turn it over to the powers that be...
 
Try this: open up iTunes and push the "Eject" button, that looks like this: ^. Stuff like this has worked for me in the past.
 
hello. i was most pleased to find this topic as i have had this problem on my ti-book (osx 10.2) for quite some time, but i was sad when deleting this file and booting did not work...

i deleted the file via the finder in /Library/Caches/ and then emptied the trash, then booted and the file reappeared. at no point was i able to click and drag. not after deleting the file, nor after booting. what specifically about the file causes the problem? is there something else i should try? should i delete the file as root in a terminal?

also .. is there a way to create a new playlist in itunes without drag and drop??
 
oh on!!!! somebody please help me .. i ran dragster (mentioned in another thread) and not only did it NOT fix the drag and drop issue, it erased all my icon application associations. EVERYTHING now has that generic folder icon.

please help me figure out how to get these associations back.

please.
 
I'd say try putting a dummy file in with the exact same name as the one you don't want. Make it a small picture or MP3 or something so that the Finder can't write preferences to it.

In OS 9, I would say hold down Cmd-Option at startup to rebuild your desktop file... does this work in OS X?
 
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