Mac OS X 10.4.8 Special Report: Non-launching applications (including Rosetta apps): Fixes

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:15 a.m. PT

4 min read

After updating to Mac OS X 10.4.8, you may find that some previously working applications fail to properly launch, either bouncing endlessly in the Dock, or quitting during startup with a "Application quit unexpectedly" error message." The issue is especially prevalant with applications running under Rosetta on Intel-based Macs.

This problem can be caused by a piece of software simply being rendered incompatible by changes made in an incremental update. In these cases, the only option is to wait for an update from the developer.

In most cases, however, other issues -- such as problematic prebinding or problematic shared libraries -- can be culpable.

Fixes

Re-apply combo updater The venerable workaround of re-applying the most recent Mac OS X combination updater does not fail to deliver for this troubleshooting issue. Download the combo update: (PowerPC or Intel), run it, and check for perisstence of the issue.
Update prebinding Another potential fix involves updating prebinding, via the following steps.

Log in as an administrator

Open the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities)

Type: sudo update_prebinding -root / -force and press Return.

When prompted for a password, enter your admin password, and press Return again. The process may take a few minutes, and you may see various messages flash by. The process is complete when the Terminal returns to a normal prompt.

Type exit and press Return.

Check for the capability to launch Microsoft Office applications.

Non-launching applications: Try re-installing You may want to try re-installation of the problematic app.

Quit processes with Activity Monitor Killing an application-related process via Activity Monitor (click the item then press the 'Quit Process' button) can allow proper application launch. This is especially applicable in situations where a restart cures problems with application launching, as the offending process(es) will, of course, be killed by the restart process. Try using the "filter" function and type in the name, or a part of the name of the application(s) with which you are having problems.

Reader reports

One reader writes:

"After installing the Mac OS X 10.4.8 update, Quicken 2006 would not launch. Double-clicking the icon would expand the image as if the app were launching, but that's all that would happen. Reinstalling Quicken fixed the problem. (Updating it afterwards didn't cause any problems.)"

MacFixIt reader Alan Hirshberg writes:

"Occasionally, I have problems launching non-universal applications on my MacBook Pro. The icon will bounce a few times in the dock, and then stop. In the past, I would reboot the computer, and I would then be able to launch the application. Effective but time consuming. The work around is to quit the Translated process in the Activity Monitor utility. The offending application will launch and also re-launches the Translated process as well."

The reader writes:

"The Software Update to 10.4.8 on a 20 inch Intel iMac completed successfully. Afterwards applications like MS Office 2004 that run in Rosetta would not launch. Safari would launch if the Rosetta option was disabled. The user crash logs for each application included entries that looked like a Rosetta issue. There were no problems in a new computer user account. I downloaded the 10.4.8 Combo Update (Intel) and applied it. That cleaned up the problem."

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