[Ti] Applications that Won't Open on 17" PowerBook

[Kynan Shook]

Sounds to me more like you just inherited the problem from your  
10.3.3 installation, rather than redeveloping it.  An easy way to  
test whether it is a user preference related problem is to create a  
new user, log in, and see if the applications work there.  If they  
do, there's something in your user Library folder that is corrupt.   
If they don't, then it's more system-level.

Another thing to consider is that problems like this can often stem  
from bad RAM.  If you added RAM to your computer, especially if you  
went looking for whatever is cheapest, consider removing it and  
replacing it with high-quality RAM.  I'd recommend Crucial the most;  
they're owned by Micron, who is a very good memory manufacturer.  As  
long as they use Micron chips on their products (they sometimes use  
other manufacturers when supplies are tight), they're excellent  
quality.  Samsung easily makes the best memory, but doesn't sell it  
to the public.  Some companies will sell you Samsung chips for a  
premium, however I learned through experience that even the PCB that  
the chips are mounted on can cause your memory to fail, so I'm  
waiting to hear a lot of good information about some vendor that  
definitely has good PCBs too.  Places to avoid: anything that you're  
buying because it's the lowest cost, and especially 1-800-4-Memory,  
aka Coast-to-Coast.  Hands down, the WORST quality memory you can buy.

Smith William <mashalomcha at yahoo.com> writes:
> I have a 17" PowerBook (1.5 GHz Power PC G4; 1 GB DDR
> SDRAM) running OS X 10.3.9.
>
> While I was downloading e-mail to Eudora, my RJ-11
> phone jack accidently came out. Since then I have a
> number of applications that won't open or have the
> permanent, spinning beach ball. The applications
> include Safari (so I can't change my preference for a
> browser), Netscape 7.1, Camino, Disk First Aid, and
> Software Update.
>
> Eudora 6.2 still works fine.
>
> I have run Disk FirstAid and DiskWarrior from another
> partition multiple times.
>
> I had had this problem with OS X 10.3.3 as well. I
> just downloaded the OS X 10.3.9 about a week ago when
> I was at a hotel that uses Wi-Fi. (It would have taken
> more than 10 hours to download the upgrade on my slow
> dial-up internet access.)
>
> What might I try to alleviate this situation? Could
> this be caused by a corrupt plist? If so, which one
> might I try to remove.