Huge batches of phantom folders..... help!

sammi jo

I have a very strange problem with one of my computers (Intel quad 2.66 desktop running Tiger 10.4.11., 2GB RAM).



Every 2 weeks or so, usually on a more random basis, a large bunch of empty folders suddenly get created in the user library, not by me. Occasionally one of these empty folders even appears on the desktop, and they almost always have the title:



~GêÊ¥øˇ‘†~q|êËËè¿



or similar random ascii character groups. As of yet, no corruption to data or apps has happened, but the fact that up to 300 (!) of these empty folders appear is annoying (and a little of a concern), to say the least... Its getting tiresome cleaning this crap out of the machine. Apple tech support has no idea what the problem is, and reinstalling the system has not solved the problem.



I have 3 other machines (2 desk tops and a laptop) which are G4 and G5s, and this problem has not happened with any of these other machines. Is this specifically an Intel hardware/firmware bug thats causing this.. and if so, how do I address it?

marcuk

I reckon it could be a duff hard drive writing gibberish to the table of contents. Maybe reinstall OSX on a new harddrive - if that doesn;t solve it the worst that happened is that you gaines some extra storage space

sammi jo

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcUK


I reckon it could be a duff hard drive writing gibberish to the table of contents. Maybe reinstall OSX on a new harddrive - if that doesn;t solve it the worst that happened is that you gaines some extra storage space

No 'fraid thats not the cause (according to the hardware checks)... all the hard drives check out just fine... passed every test. I'm mystified, as is every geek I've asked.

Marvin

If you create a new user account, do the folders appear in that home folder? - if so, note down when they appear e.g. directly after booting or running certain programs, possibly running a virtualization product.