Dock not responding

[Sic]

since i got my new pb (and updated to 10.4.3, i might add ) the dock and hot corners have started to become unresponsive, and the only way to switch windows is to resize and choose them. there's no way to open new programs or anything...the only thing i've had to do is reboot

has anyone experienced this problem at all, and have you found a fix for it, because it's getting on my nerves now

thanks in advance

 

[mad jew]

That sucks.

Does it still happen after the reboot? What do you mean by having to resize windows to select them? Do you have any hacks or theme changers? Are your permissions all repaired and accounted for?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's a bit of a weird problem.

Hopefully it'll get fixed soon though.

 

[Sic]

well, if it isn't my OSX guardian angel!!

it doesnt happen after reboot, everything's fine then until it happens again. By "having to resize windows to select them" i mean the only way to move between various application windows that were already open, i have to resize and move them around. come to think of it, i've got UNO and iTUNO installed...do you think getting rid of them would help?

what's this permissions repaired and accounted for? how would i know that?

 

[mad jew]

i've got UNO and iTUNO installed...do you think getting rid of them would help?

Definitely turn them off/place them in the trash/uninstall them. I don't have them personally though, so I can't be certain they're causing the problems.

what's this permissions repaired and accounted for? how would i know that?

It's not sounding like a permissions problem because it's fine on restart but sometimes similar issues can occur when your permissions become corrupt. You can verify them (or more importantly, repair them) using Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. It's a good idea to repair them every now and then even if it won't help this specific problem.

 

[Will Cheyney]

For future reference: http://guides.macrumors.com/Repairing_Permissions

 

[Sic]

cheers for the replies guys...it did it last night again. has anyone else had this happen? it's really getting silly now because it forces me to restart. i might keep the activity monitor open permenantly just to see if that tells me anything (can't open new apps when it does this)

 

[mad jew]

i might keep the activity monitor open permenantly just to see if that tells me anything (can't open new apps when it does this)

Excellent idea. Check your Dock process now just to give you an idea of the resources it should normally use too.

Did uninstalling UNO not help? How about using another account? Does the problem carry over to new accounts? Have you tried ditching or removing the Dock preferences and restarted? This will restore your Dock to its original state but if it doesn't work, you can put the PLIST file back into the Preferences folder, restart, and have it back to it's current state.

Also, you may want to try cleaning the cache.

 

[Sic]

how do you remove dock preferences? is it done through the dock preferences wotsit?

/hopes that tiger cache cleaner is good for one use....

 

[mad jew]

Find the file named com.apple.dock.plist and take it out of the folder you find it in (Preferences). I recommend moving it to the desktop so that if you want your old Dock back and removing the preferences hasn't worked, you can drag it back to where it was, replacing the newly created preference file. I recommend a restart immediately after replacing this preference file. Normally it's not necessary but since you have the Dock running the whole time, I think it should be done.

 

[swiftaw]

If your dock and hot corners become unresponsive the way to recover without rebooting is to type "killall Dock" in terminal (no quotes). If you don't have terminal open you can launch it from Spotlight.

As for the cause, not sure, it happens to me occasionally but not enough to be of concern to me.

 

[mad jew]

...to type "killall Dock" in terminal (no quotes).

Actually, if you're quick you can do this just before removing the preferences and it'll mean you won't have to restart. You have to be pretty quick though, it reopens in a matter of seconds.

 

[swiftaw]

Actually, if you're quick you can do this just before removing the preferences and it'll mean you won't have to restart. You have to be pretty quick though, it reopens in a matter of seconds.

Good idea, use killall Dock, then before it has chance to reload to dock (as you said, it only takes seconds), trash the pref file. Then when your dock reloads it will load with a clean new pref file.

What if you trash the pref file before you run killall Dock, or is a duplicate pref file created the second the original one is removed?

 

[mad jew]

What if you trash the pref file before you run killall Dock, or is a duplicate pref file created the second the original one is removed?

I don't think it matters because you're not using Dock at that instant and from memory the preference file is recreated the next time you use the Dock (or the system does such as updating the Mail icon for new email). Of course, I could be completely wrong though.

As yet, I haven't found a way of stopping the Dock whilst leaving Finder intact. This would be ideal but not entirely necessary. All the same, I think it's a good idea to do a quick restart after something like this although I suppose using Terminal to killall Dock again would have the same effect.

 

[Sic]

well, typing killall -HUP Dock doesnt restart it theres no way of getting it to restart after it does that thing, except for a restart...hmmm, puzzling

 

[mad jew]

So, have you tried everything in the thread so far? In particular, have you ditched UNO and cleaned the cache?

 

[Sic]

i've done everything in this thread:

uninstalled UNO
new user account
deleted dock prefs
cleaned cache
run daily/weekly/monthly scripts
dont all of onyx's little rituals

everything

still doing it.

i've decided, i'm getting on the phone to apple tomorrow...this just wont do. the screen thing is really beginning to get on my nerves now...and now this. i need this computer for work and it's unreliable as hell. i just dont know what to do now

 

[Counterfit]

I've almost always used Activity Monitor to make the Dock restart. I also have Quicksilver, so just in case my Dock goes down for the count (only happened once for an extended period of time), I can still switch apps. Spotlight would work too, just not as quickly, as I have Quicksilver set to do /Applications only.

 

[mad jew]

Was UNO the only hack on your system?

As a last ditch attempt, reset PRAM/NVRAM and if that does nothing, reset PMU.

Good luck with it all.

 

[Sic]

yup. UNO was the only hack on there, and it's gone now. i tried resetting the PRAM, VRAM and PMU. i tried with the stock Apple RAM, i tried with 1 stick of each of crucial RAM and it did it. i then strolled across a problem page on google that said someone was having problems with their dock due to a loose connection in the laptop. i've pretty much had enough now. i waited 3 weeks for a laptop with a substandard screen, and a seeming faulty connection inside it. i'm going to call apple tomorrow and see what they're going to do about it.

 

[nykansukee]

Time for a new PB