[X4U] Re: Screwy Mac mini

[Mr. Michael J. Prevost]

> We've got an Intel Mac mini, 2 GB of RAM, running MacOS X 10.4.11. It
> is primarily used as a basic Internet machine, plus iCal. It has
> difficulty shutting down. When ever I tell it to shutdown or restart
> directly through the Finder or via Remote Desktop, it simply restarts
> the Finder, instead of restarting or shutting down the machine. Anyone
> ever seen this kind of behavior before, and what could be the problem
> and solution?

I had very similar problems. It turned out to be damaged preferences  
in the user's Library/Preferences folder. A quick test/verification  
would be to create a new user and see if the problem happens when you  
login as that fresh new user. If 'yes', you probably have damaged  
preference file(s).

I had so many preference files on my machine/account that I ended up  
taking the nuclear approach and deleting them all after archiving a  
copy. I was able to put back certain preferences to save time/effort  
and let the normal usage of the machine gradually catch up with the  
rest. Not too bad when all was said and done.

Good luck.