Not able to shot down / auto restart
- Thread starter Hrschmidt
- Start date
I have a similar problem (sometimes). 2 times out of 3 (or maybe 4 out of 5) my PowerMac will shut down properly. Then once in a while, out of the blue, it will decide to restart rather than shut down.
I haven't found it necessary to pull the plug -- simply pressing and holding the power button for 4 or 5 seconds does the trick here (learned that trick from confounded PC's which conform to the current ATX standard -- the old standard of having a POWER SWITCH worked very well, thank you).
In my own case, yes my user account is set as an administrator. Is that good or bad in this case?
Don
I haven't found it necessary to pull the plug -- simply pressing and holding the power button for 4 or 5 seconds does the trick here (learned that trick from confounded PC's which conform to the current ATX standard -- the old standard of having a POWER SWITCH worked very well, thank you).
In my own case, yes my user account is set as an administrator. Is that good or bad in this case?
Don
Administrator is good as you have control over the computer - except the System Folder, that is. If you change anything in the system folder make sure you know absolutely what you are doing.
As a thought, do you have Extensis installed? If so, disable it and see if your problem corrects itself.
As a thought, do you have Extensis installed? If so, disable it and see if your problem corrects itself.
Don't know whether this will work with your particular problem, but I've had problems with both shutting down and restarting my G4, too, although it's better in Panther than it was in Jaguar, which would never shut down at all. Having scoured these forums for help, I no longer even attempt to do it via the Apple menu, in case it doesn't work I always use the terminal. Open the terminal (Applications/Utilities/) and type in either
sudo shutdown -h now
or
sudo shutdown -r now
(shutdown, or restart, obviously).
Then on the prompt type in your administrator password.
Saves the wear and tear that hard shutdowns can cause and is less frustrating than using the Apple menu and keeping your fingers crossed.
sudo shutdown -h now
or
sudo shutdown -r now
(shutdown, or restart, obviously).
Then on the prompt type in your administrator password.
Saves the wear and tear that hard shutdowns can cause and is less frustrating than using the Apple menu and keeping your fingers crossed.
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
Hmmm... you don't happen to have some USB devices (other than a keyboard/mouse) connect -- or even a USB hub, do you?
Getting back here -- I don't know what Extensis is. All that's on my Mac is OSX 10.2.8 and a handful of programs I'm trying out: Unison (usenet), Fire (IM), Firefox (browser - recently added after the problem already existed), Thunderbird (email - recently added after the problem already existed), VLC (media player), and there may be hidden remnants of other progs I've tested and removed (at least, moved their package from the Applications folder to the Trash -- not sure what if anything they left behind in the system folders).
And in my particular case, I noticed the problem at a time when the only external devices attached were the Apple Pro mouse and Pro keyboard.
And in my particular case, I noticed the problem at a time when the only external devices attached were the Apple Pro mouse and Pro keyboard.
I had this same problem. My computer wouldn't shut down and would only restart.
Solution for me: Make a copy of finder.plist on the desktop, then delete the one in the preferences folder. Restart. OS X makes a new finder.plist set back to the defaults (you don't lose much). Now try shutting down. It worked for me. If everything is okay, you can go ahead and delete the old finder.plist that is on your desktop
Hope this helps!
Solution for me: Make a copy of finder.plist on the desktop, then delete the one in the preferences folder. Restart. OS X makes a new finder.plist set back to the defaults (you don't lose much). Now try shutting down. It worked for me. If everything is okay, you can go ahead and delete the old finder.plist that is on your desktop
Hope this helps!
Cheryl, that is how I had it set up, yes. I do not have a USB hub nor a USB hub built into my monitor.
jhogeterp, where is this preferences folder of which you speak? Right now I'm having difficulty locating the file search utility and an ls -r finder.plist turned up nothing.
jhogeterp, where is this preferences folder of which you speak? Right now I'm having difficulty locating the file search utility and an ls -r finder.plist turned up nothing.
The file would be located in you user's home directory in preferences. The file is actually called com.apple.finder.plist. I apologize for not being more accurate.
One way to test this before trying anything would be to set up a new "test" user. Log into that user and try shutting down. If you are able to shut down with this test user (who has all the default settings) then that means that you have a corrupt preference. The first preference I would check in this instance is the finder preference (referenced above).
Again, hope this helps!
One way to test this before trying anything would be to set up a new "test" user. Log into that user and try shutting down. If you are able to shut down with this test user (who has all the default settings) then that means that you have a corrupt preference. The first preference I would check in this instance is the finder preference (referenced above).
Again, hope this helps!