Wack Finder/desktop-HELP

Y

Yared

Registered
I am a somewhat new mac user, but know the basics however a recently confronted a crazy problem that I have no idea how to troubleshoot.
When I log in everything goes great until the desktop icons (all of them including the entire commandbar at the top) start their cycling of disapearing and reapearing. I checked the force quit menu and found that the finder is starting up and quiting with that cycle as well. This prevents me from using any of the icons on the desktop, because if I open them, whatever I opened closes as the icons and the finder shutdown/disapear. In addition the G5's fans randomly rev-up and then tune down again.

This all started happening after I imported a VOB (from a DVD, aka mpeg2) file from a PC and converted it to a MOV file using streamclip, and then opened it in Final Cut Pro. (Once again the app still works fine!) I thought it had something to do with my external drives but they are no longer connected!!

All of the apps that are in the dock work great, no problems. Here is what I have tried and know thus far:
I unplugged all the firewire devices- nothing
I added a new user (when I open a program the toolbar at the top allows me to use the apple commands again) and with the new user, none of the problems exist, everythings fine!...
I tried re-installing macosx which I do not know if i did that correct, but that did nothing

I am lost and have no idea where to go!
I am on a 1.8G5 1.5RAM.
Using Mac osX 10.3.8

p.s is there any way to empty the trash via shortcuts, since I cant, because its connected with the finder
 
I thought about that, but then I have one question...
Since i Cant use the icons on the desktop including the hard drive, what shortcuts can I use so that I can get to the files for the user and back them up on an external drive. I.e the movies folder
 
No need to reformat.

Empty trash - Option-Shift-Command-Delete

Boot into the user that works, delete the Finder.plist from the bad user.
along with these two;

com.apple.LaunchServices.plist” found in Home/Library/Preferences
com.apple.LaunchServices.UserCache.csstore” found in Home/Library/Caches

You'll probably have to enable Root, or make the good user an Admin
 
An archive and install (which will preserve your Home folder, IIRC) should be fine in this instance, since everything is fine in the other user account.

Infact just install the OS again over the top. It shouldn't blank the Users folder (but don't go and sue me if it does :p). All you really want is a working Finder :p.

One alternative way to backup is to get a replacement Finder (like PathFinder) for a little while (it shouldn't die when Finder does).

Someone on the board will probably be able to point you directly at the plist file you should delete to fix this behaviour, but if you're experiencing these troubles, it's probably worth a reinstall.

Just to be safe, you should repair your permissions in Disk Utility (Found in /Applications/Utilities/). If you can't get to it quick enough (before Finder dies), remember that in Panther, Command+Shift+U goes straight to your Utilities folder and if you type "Dis" you'll get to Disk Utility quickly. Then press Cmd+O and it'll open.

Otherwise, if you have access to Terminal, you can type:

/Applications/Utilities/Disk\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/Disk\ Utility

And it'll launch Disk Utility in a new window.
 
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