Newbie - Applications unexpectedly quitting - happened again!
Hi all 
On March 16th I posted that I had a couple of apps crash on me with an error "Application xxx unectely quit, do you want to send crash report to Apple" and a few helpful people here posted helpful suggestions.
I also spoke with Applecare since my Mini is brand new. They asked me to do the usual things like check if it happens with all users (it does!), check permissions etc.
Then finally they guided me through a non-destructive re-install of MacOSX (I forget what they called it, but it basically preserves the preferences and stuff) and said that the problem should be solved and to call them if it recurred.
Well, today, two three days later, it happened again. I was working in Pages, made a lot of changes, hit Command-S to save. This resulted in the beachball for about 30 seconds after which I got the dreaded "Application Pages quit unexpectedly, do you want to send a crash report to Apple" window!
I called Applecare again, this time the guy asked me to do the Apple hardware test. Everything came out fine. Then he spoke to a Product Manager and then told me that according to the Product Manager it could be because the printer was connected. I do not understand how the printer being connected (it was powered off by the way) could cause an app to crash!
When I asked about the printer being powered off he said that it did not matter, the printer and the Mini still talk to each other! Weird!
So now my printer is disconnected and I am to observe the machine for recurrence again. And the Applecare guy said that if the problem came back the only solution was to completely reinstall (destructive). Of course that was no guarantee either. So if that does not solve the problem, am I screwed?
I asked him if I could have got a dud machine, he said it is possible but he cannot do anything to replace the machine or any component because te hardware test came out clean. By the way, it was the extended test, not the quick one.
My wife is completely pissed at me and that makes me a not very happy person. I convinced her against her wishes to abandon Windows and go Mac and now she asks me what is so wonderful about the mac that it keeps failing like this while she had absolutely no problems with Windows (she actually did not, that machine is totally secure and has been running perfectly for over two years now). I have mud on my face after evangelising about the Mac to her.
Sorry about the rant, I am just trying to stay convinced that my switching from Linux to the Mac was in fact a good idea. So far it does not look like it.
Cheers
On March 16th I posted that I had a couple of apps crash on me with an error "Application xxx unectely quit, do you want to send crash report to Apple" and a few helpful people here posted helpful suggestions.
I also spoke with Applecare since my Mini is brand new. They asked me to do the usual things like check if it happens with all users (it does!), check permissions etc.
Then finally they guided me through a non-destructive re-install of MacOSX (I forget what they called it, but it basically preserves the preferences and stuff) and said that the problem should be solved and to call them if it recurred.
Well, today, two three days later, it happened again. I was working in Pages, made a lot of changes, hit Command-S to save. This resulted in the beachball for about 30 seconds after which I got the dreaded "Application Pages quit unexpectedly, do you want to send a crash report to Apple" window!
I called Applecare again, this time the guy asked me to do the Apple hardware test. Everything came out fine. Then he spoke to a Product Manager and then told me that according to the Product Manager it could be because the printer was connected. I do not understand how the printer being connected (it was powered off by the way) could cause an app to crash!
When I asked about the printer being powered off he said that it did not matter, the printer and the Mini still talk to each other! Weird!
So now my printer is disconnected and I am to observe the machine for recurrence again. And the Applecare guy said that if the problem came back the only solution was to completely reinstall (destructive). Of course that was no guarantee either. So if that does not solve the problem, am I screwed?
I asked him if I could have got a dud machine, he said it is possible but he cannot do anything to replace the machine or any component because te hardware test came out clean. By the way, it was the extended test, not the quick one.
My wife is completely pissed at me and that makes me a not very happy person. I convinced her against her wishes to abandon Windows and go Mac and now she asks me what is so wonderful about the mac that it keeps failing like this while she had absolutely no problems with Windows (she actually did not, that machine is totally secure and has been running perfectly for over two years now). I have mud on my face after evangelising about the Mac to her.
Sorry about the rant, I am just trying to stay convinced that my switching from Linux to the Mac was in fact a good idea. So far it does not look like it.
Cheers
Comments
I think they were honest with you that there could be a problem but that they couldn't replace the device unless the test showed something wrong.
Which apps have been crashing? Do only some apps crash?
It does seem odd that only apps are crashing. If the HD or memory or other hardware was malfunctioning then you'd expect problems to arise all over, even in the OS.
Pages is very new so it would not be unexpected for it to crash on occasion. I don't use it so can't offer an experience with that.
I can tell you that I frequently use over a dozen apps on a PowerBook G4 15" and almost never see any app crash. I know that doesn't help you much.
Some others can maybe offer better information. I suspect that if you keep after Apple they will eventually try to solve this for you.
If it is a hardware issue then the OS should also hiccup at some stage not just apps as OS problems will cause it to hang/whitescreen etc.
Dobby.
Apps crashing typically happens when theres a corruption with the app itself - often a preferences file or something like that.
It would be useful if you could state which apps are causing a problem, but I recommend removing them, and their associated baggage, i.e Preferences (where they are will depend on what app it is) and then re-install them from scratch. When you've done that its also worth checking you have the most upto date patch level for them.
As a guide a lot of apps put stuff in the following locations:
/Library/Application Support
/Users/USERNAME/Library
Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support
Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences
Thanks everyone and cheers
Originally posted by tilt
Well, I only use iCal, Safari, Mail and Pages. Except for Mail, every other app has crashed one time or the other. I guess I shall have to bite the b ullet and re-install the whole thing the next time it happens!
Thanks everyone and cheers
Dude, sorry to hear about this.
Fresh re-install, and Software Update everything, I would say, to 10.3.8. There is also update for Pages now