Weird entourage crash

[Melissa]

I am running the most current versions of Entourage and OS 10.3.
Yesterday, for no apparent reason, my computer froze and I got the
spinning rainbow wheel for over 10 minutes. I was forced to turn off
my computer by pressing the power switch because I could not even get
the force quit window to come up. This caused my Entourage database
to be corrupted. Luckily, I have a backup of that database made every
day so it wasn't too much trouble to fix the problem.

Today, the same thing happened again. I really don't want to hard
shut down my computer for fear that my entourage DB will be corrupted
again but it looks like I'm going to have to do it. Has anyone had
this problem before? I'm at a loss to explain why this happens.
Could it be a compatibility issue between entourage and Panther??

Thanks in advance,

Melissa

 

[Diane Ross]

I am running the most current versions of Entourage and OS 10.3.

Just to be sure......current Version and Build number for Entourage X

Entourage X 10.1.4 (030702)

Panther: OS 10.3.2

Yesterday, for no apparent reason, my computer froze and I got the
spinning rainbow wheel for over 10 minutes.

Does it affect all apps or just Entourage?

I was forced to turn off
my computer by pressing the power switch because I could not even get
the force quit window to come up. This caused my Entourage database
to be corrupted. Luckily, I have a backup of that database made every
day so it wasn't too much trouble to fix the problem.

Sometimes you can use the Activity Monitor to force quit. Just be sure to
have it running all the time. If you are in a bad situation like you
describe, you will probably not be able to open it.

Today, the same thing happened again. I really don't want to hard
shut down my computer for fear that my entourage DB will be corrupted
again but it looks like I'm going to have to do it. Has anyone had
this problem before?

Yes, but only a couple of times. It usually involved software that was just
installed. Norton's Utilities come to mind.

One way to check for corruption is to create a new User in System
Preferences. Switch to this user and see if the problem goes away. If it
does then the problem is in your User folder. If it does not, then it points
to problems in your root system.

I suggest you start up with no login items if you cannot startup without
problems. To disable startup items by starting up in Safe mode:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Press the Power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the
Shift key.
4. Release the Shift key when the spinning progress indicator
appears below the gray apple on the screen.

Also run Repair Permissions:

To use Repair Permissions:

Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.

Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions

Click on the icon for your boot volume.

Click the repair permissions button.


Don't run from CD as updates have a newer version of Repair Permissions.

Run Repair Permissions from the volume being repaired.

I'm at a loss to explain why this happens.
Could it be a compatibility issue between entourage and Panther??

No.

 

[Melissa]

Just to be sure......current Version and Build number for Entourage X

Entourage X 10.1.4 (030702)

Panther: OS 10.3.2

Yes, although I have since did a clean install of OS 10.3 and have not
yet updated to 10.3.2 for fear that it was what was causing the
problem.

Does it affect all apps or just Entourage?

It affects all apps but it seems to mostly occur when I have Entourage
running.

Sometimes you can use the Activity Monitor to force quit. Just be sure to
have it running all the time. If you are in a bad situation like you
describe, you will probably not be able to open it.


Yes, but only a couple of times. It usually involved software that was just
installed. Norton's Utilities come to mind.

I hadn't installed anything new except for the 10.3.2 update.

One way to check for corruption is to create a new User in System
Preferences. Switch to this user and see if the problem goes away. If it
does then the problem is in your User folder. If it does not, then it points
to problems in your root system.

I've tried that and the problem must therefore be in my User folder,
but I have no idea how to pinpoint what file is causing these freezes.
They're now occuring when I have no apps running except for system
prefs. Very strange behavior!

I suggest you start up with no login items if you cannot startup without
problems. To disable startup items by starting up in Safe mode:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Press the Power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the
Shift key.
4. Release the Shift key when the spinning progress indicator
appears below the gray apple on the screen.

Done that with no luck.

Also run Repair Permissions:

To use Repair Permissions:

Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.

Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions

Click on the icon for your boot volume.

Click the repair permissions button.


Don't run from CD as updates have a newer version of Repair Permissions.

Run Repair Permissions from the volume being repaired.

Did that too and still no luck.

 

[Diane Ross]

I've tried that and the problem must therefore be in my User folder,
but I have no idea how to pinpoint what file is causing these freezes.
They're now occuring when I have no apps running except for system
prefs. Very strange behavior!

Create a new user in System Preferences. You will need to recreate your
accounts in Entourage, but you should be able to run most of your
applications without problems. If the problems go away, then you have
confirmed it's your User's folder.

You can either use the new user as your main user or delete preferences in
the corrupt user. I would be careful about launching any third party
application without checking it our first to be sure it is OS 10.3x
compatible.