From: "Chris Boring" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: 3400 gremlins!
doktorboring wrote: >OK, here's the gremlin that's pissing me off right now: > >If I click on a media file (such as MPEG, mp3, avi, etc.), it does not oen, >or even give me a dialogue. However, if I open the application I use to >play it (Quicktime, iTunes) and then use command+O or drag the document into >the program, it works fine. > >I know it's not a creator type issue, because all the documents have the >correct icons. _SNIP_ Help? I'm thinking that there must be a more qualified person to answer than I on this list, but here is my provisional two-bits based on some experience with problems like the one you are having, and they have not been confined to 3400's. Yes you may have all the icons coming up, but appearances are not everything. For example, problems such as damaged forks in a resource file can be responsible for not getting responses to clicking commands. My guess is that what may work one way with fork damage may work another way. Now some utilities may see things that others don't. How do I know this? Again, experience. I have had problems for which I've used a diagnostic/repair utility such as Norton (NUM) or Tech Tool Pro, only to find that one of them did not see a resource problem where the other did. I am in no position to say _why_, but when I have had such a gremlin I have run both utilities with curious results. The better armed you are for battle, the more likley you are to at least identify the problem if not to repair it. Many resource problems cannot be repaired. Disk Warrior has a special talent for writing-in or reconstructing missing code, or code that has been damaged. It's making educated guesses after analyzing the resource files. Disk First Aid is a quick and ready study on whether the disk is ready to boot. Tech Tool, the light freeware version is great for rebuilding the desk top and flushing PRAM settings. Tech Tool Pro is great because in the _Expert_ interface selection, the user can choose to run only the tests that apply to files. In NUM you have to run _Media_ at the same time as everything else. It's a suite. On a big drive this can take for ages. And don't forget the possibility of corrupted preference files. Toss the preferences for the application in question, and see if it will reconstruct a new file. Many healthy apps will. (I don't believe that they will ever generate a library file however.) If you can ID the target app as one which will generate a new preference file, and yet it fails to do so, you know something is very wrong. You can also turn most of your other extensions >off< and see if the same thing happens - start with third party extensions first. Sometimes it's easier to throw everything in the garbage which is connected with the application and start again with a fresh installation of the application. My usual method is to use _Fast Find _in a recent version of Norton (recent NUM versions have more latitude as to what you write into the _Find_ box). Fast Find will list everythiing with MPEG in the file name and there is a feature that allows you to call each piece up from the same window. I guess that in your case you would type in MPEG and then dump everything that was not an actual archive file such as extension, alias, blah blah. It sounds like all the files you are selecting rely on a common resource that has something fishy about it. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to hunt it down and dump it. Start with Quicktime? Be sure that your desktop is truly well rebuilt before anything else. For the little effort it takes it is a good investment. I think that Tech Tool's light utility is the best option for this. Good luck - Lorne Lorne Spry in Sendai, 160 Km. from Tokyo: provincial adminstration/education center and seaport of 1 million people in Tohoku, the northern region of the island of Honshu, Japan -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | RoadTools $30 PodiumPad available at Apple retail stores, $20 Traveler CoolPad at Staples. Both in white for iBooks at <http://roadtools.com>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
