Helping a friend

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a friend who is using a g4 cube, and he says that whenever he tries to download anything, it thinks that it is a document. Does anyone have an idea to fix this? (He's getting a new one, but I might buy it from him if it gets fixed)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I'm not quite sure what you're asking... is it just showing characters inline in a web browser, or what?
  • Reply 2 of 17
    Quote:

    its someting about no default app to open it



    Thats what happens when you try to open a program you downloaded



    AND, you can't drag anything into the dock, or anywhere else
  • Reply 3 of 17
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    Tell him to do a control (or right click if he has a multi button mouse) on the document that was downloaded and go to "Open With" and select a program that would be approprate to open the type of file downloaded. For example. If he downloaded a .jpg picture file, control click on the file and go to "open with" than select "Preview" to open the file with. Should work. If he wants that type of file to always open with that program he should contol+option click and hold down option as he selects which program to open with.



    By the way, if you get a chance to get your hands on that Cube, go for it. Awesome machine.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    What about dmg?



    Ok, here's what happens when he tries to open a .dmg file he downloaded:



  • Reply 5 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    If he's in Panther... DiskImageMounter is used to open disk images, and can be found in /System/Library/CoreServices
  • Reply 6 of 17
    He's in jaguar
  • Reply 7 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Use Disk Copy in Applications/Utilities
  • Reply 8 of 17
    What do you have to do when you open that?
  • Reply 9 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I assume that when you click "Choose Application" in the images above, it will show an open dialog box with the Applications folder... go into the Utilities folder, then select Disk Copy.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by psgamer0921

    Thats what happens when you try to open a program you downloaded



    AND, you can't drag anything into the dock, or anywhere else




    Are you sure he isn't in some sort of 'Simple Finder' mode?
  • Reply 11 of 17
    hoffhoff Posts: 3member
    Hey this is PSG's friend. Alright. *deep breath* So, whenever I click "choose application", It wont let me pick anything. I'll get a screenshot up later. Other problems include closing a box in AIM often quits the whole program (only in my brother's profile though), burning CD's only works in my sister's profile (though we're 99% sure its the Cd burner software), you can't drag anything, which is very annoying trying to use iTunes and this also leaves me with no way to download images. Also, anything I download looks like a white paper on my desktop. And of course it thinks new applications are documents. The only way for me to open anything is go into the program and go to file-open. The problem is Disk Copy doesnt have a file-open. I really appreciate all your guy's help and I hope we can figure out how to fix it. Oh, one more thing, this all started when my brother downloaded the new version of AIM. We're pretty sure that was the cause of everything. What we don't know is why it all happened. Thanks again!



    ~Hoff
  • Reply 12 of 17
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    Well...first of all, welcome to the wonderful world of AI, glad you could join us. Second, ditch AIM and go with iChat. iChat is far superior to AIM in every way (except for auto reply messages, but that's a different story for a different thread). Third, check this thread for info about many of the quick fixes that seem to make problems like yours go away. If I were you, I would delete my caches, run an FSCK, and repair permissions. Like I said, how toos for those can be found in the above link. Good luck.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Do all the programs you download have the .app extension in the filename (when you do a File --> Get Info)? If not, add it in and see if it'll open on it's own.



    As for disk images... to mount a disk image, open Disk Copy, and use File --> Mount disk image



    Hope that helps.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Hoff

    Other problems include closing a box in AIM often quits the whole program



    http://www.aim.com/get_aim/mac/mac_beta.adp

    4.7b2 should fix that



    also... it seems you have a LARGE amount of problems... Normally this is a last resort, but rather then spending a lot of time repairing this instal, why don't you start clean?



    read through this (it is for panther, but should be basically the same for jag) and re-instal (archive if you do NOT want to reformat or start clean and WIPE your hard drive (be sure to back up first))



    archive instal info



    oh and if "choose application" wont let you choose anything make sure you uncheck "show recommended applications" this way you can choose any app and if it doesn't work you will have at least tried to open it with the application you are intending to open it with...
  • Reply 15 of 17
    hoffhoff Posts: 3member
    Ok, thanks for all your help! I believe I have it fixed. We upgraded to Panther last night and everything except the CD Burner works great! The CD Burner works for everyone else, but not me Does anyone know whats going on with that?



    Thanks alot,

    ~Hoff~
  • Reply 16 of 17
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    how many people are using this computer, what kind of burner is it, do you have administrative rights, does anyone else?



    when you upgraded to panther what kind of instal did you choose? (upgrade, archive, or erase?)



    what software have you tried to burn a CD with? if it is a non-bundled app, who installed it? When?
  • Reply 17 of 17
    hoffhoff Posts: 3member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    how many people are using this computer, what kind of burner is it, do you have administrative rights, does anyone else?



    when you upgraded to panther what kind of instal did you choose? (upgrade, archive, or erase?)



    what software have you tried to burn a CD with? if it is a non-bundled app, who installed it? When?




    4. Its some LACIE thing. No. My Mom and brother do. Dunno. iTunes, installed the new one last night.



    ~Hoff
Sign In or Register to comment.