hanging

How to clear a network authentication hang in OS X

Generally when errors occur during authentication for network services such as file sharing or screen sharing in OS X the connection will either time out or immediately give a warning, but sometimes connections may hang when authenticating. When this happens the connection will not be established and the authentication window will remain on-screen as a floating window that will block other windows and show a continuous revolving activity indicator next to a "Connecting..." status message.

While the window usually has options for canceling the connection, the hang prevents these from being active and results in the only way … Read more

Progress bar hangs when emptying trash in OS X

When you empty the trash in OS X, the system will usually present a progress bar showing the number of files remaining to be removed if the number of items in the trash take longer than a moment to delete. Normally this will only take a few minutes and there is some indication that the trash process is working, such as the number of calculated items increasing, or the progress bar moving across the window; however, sometimes the progress window may appear to hang.

Large numbers of files

The time it takes to remove files depends primarily on the number … Read more

iLife '11 installation DVDs not working

A few people who have purchased retail copies of the latest iLife '11 suite from Apple have complained that the installer will not work. When installing using the DVD, the installer may hang halfway through its progress, or stop with an error stating that the manufacturer (Apple) should be contacted.

A number of people are finding that this appears to be from the media the software is being distributed on. There may be a problem with the drives being able to read certain sectors of the media, at least for a standard installation of the drive.

If you are affected … Read more

System not booting with external drives attached

External hard disks have become a very convenient way to not only expand the storage capabilities of a system, but also expand options for booting, cloning, and performing various diagnostics. As a result, people may have a number of different external drives that they keep attached to the system. Though in most cases this setup results in normal behavior, a few people have found that restarting the system with certain USB drives connected results in the system not booting.

When this happens, the system may sit at a gray or black screen without showing an Apple symbol or any other … Read more

Managing unexpected quits and hangs after waking from sleep

Putting your Mac in Sleep mode is a good way to restore the system to its last state so you can continue your work where you left off; however, it does not come without a few potential drawbacks. One of them is that even though OS X is designed to be run continually without needing to restart, sometimes going for a period without refreshing the system with a restart can result in a few periodic pauses and slowdowns.

Not only can small slowdowns occur, but when the system wakes from sleep all the processes are brought back into memory at … Read more

Basic troubleshooting steps for a Mac that will not start properly

While full system crashes that result in a nonfunctional system are relatively rare these days, they do periodically happen. If not the result from a direct crash, sometimes corruption can appear and suddenly cause an otherwise healthy system to no longer boot.

MacFixIt reader "sparkyrom" writes in with such a problem:

"My Macbook does not boot. It starts, the apple sign appears, the rotating sign appears, it stays like that for minutes and then restarts itself. What should I do? I tried resetting the SMC and PRAM but nothing happened. I did the Apple Hardware Test and … Read more

Troubleshooting crashes and hangs in Mail

Sometimes, errors can occur in Mail where the program will periodically hang, crash, or freeze, and will require a force-quit. Several things could cause this, including faulty preferences, corrupt mailboxes that need rebuilding, and errors in individual messages that result in odd behavior whenever the message is displayed. In addition to these possibilities, some shared resources that Mail uses could also contribute to crashes and hangs.

Preferences One of the first things to try when a program crashes or does not work properly is to remove its preferences. In this case, Mail's preferences are called "com.apple.Mail.… Read more

iTunes 9.0.2 Library updating hangs

For some users, updating to iTunes 9.0.2 has come with a test in patience. Libraries of various sizes, from smaller than 80 gigs to larger than 1TB, have experienced hangs when updating, some as long as 36 hours. The process, as many users report, seems to get about 90% finished, and then it slows and potentially hangs for a long amount of time.… Read more

Hanging alarm clock does a spider act

If you never grew up with the childhood song "Eensy Weensy Spider," it's about the peekaboo adventures of a spider as it ascends, descends, and ascends yet again along the water spout.

Well, the $29.10 Hanging Alarm Clock seems to have spun a Web around the same nursery rhyme, only with more ominous overtures that recall the monster spider Shelob that almost made a meal of Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring.

The cunning orb is suspended from the ceiling on a 12-inch cable, which immediately starts to retract the clock upward once the alarm goes … Read more

Gadgettes 85: The things that glow episode

Glowing things can be somewhat morbid. They can be somewhat toolie. But sometimes, if you're lucky, they can be totally and completely PRETTTTTY. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 85

The Hanged Man Lamp: Ever so slightly morbid? http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/the_hanged_man.html

Mood Clock + USB Hub = Twice as much fun http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/usb_moody_clock.html

Glowing flower pot for the trippy garden owner http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/glowing_flower.html

Enjoy nighttime bocce ball with LED Bocce http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/enjoy_nighttime.php

Light-up tweezers enable precision plucking … Read more