Programs not opening

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Anicsi
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Programs not opening

Post by Anicsi » Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:58 pm

Sorry, again a new topic. I am not even sure if you can help me here but i really hope so.
Basically my harddrive crashed and now I have to reinstall everything.

Final Cut works okay now just as most of the other programs. But now I have a problem with avidemux.

I just redownloaded it here:
http://prdownload.berlios.de/avidemux/a ... versal.dmg

it was the version Kionon recommended me to use. Well but.... it won't play. When I click on the icon it opens and after two seconds it shuts down immediately. The same happened when I tried to reinstall the torrent client transmission.

Only a coincidence? Any idea if I need something for avidemux to work?
I am clueless and it's getting annoying, i really need avidemux badly!
Thanks again, as always <3

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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Kionon » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:23 pm

I've basically been out of the scene for the last several weeks due to other stuff, but describe to me exactly what issues you are having and I will try to figure out a solution for you.
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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Anicsi » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:40 am

Kionon wrote:I've basically been out of the scene for the last several weeks due to other stuff, but describe to me exactly what issues you are having and I will try to figure out a solution for you.
Alright, thank you Kionon. Well, I don't really know what more I can say since I can't even get the programs to open... It's simply... I download the installer, drag the icon into the applications folder as I always do and when I want to start the program for the first time, the icon appears beside the icons of the other programs down there...
But only for 2 seconds, then it just disappears again/shuts down.


I tried to install µtorrent today because transimission was behaving the same way as avidemux, but no luck. The same problem here as well...
i really don't know why this is happening. Is it possible that I am missing an important program or plugin or something?

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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Kionon » Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:38 pm

Anicsi wrote:
Kionon wrote:I've basically been out of the scene for the last several weeks due to other stuff, but describe to me exactly what issues you are having and I will try to figure out a solution for you.
Alright, thank you Kionon. Well, I don't really know what more I can say since I can't even get the programs to open... It's simply... I download the installer, drag the icon into the applications folder as I always do and when I want to start the program for the first time, the icon appears beside the icons of the other programs down there...
But only for 2 seconds, then it just disappears again/shuts down.


I tried to install µtorrent today because transimission was behaving the same way as avidemux, but no luck. The same problem here as well...
i really don't know why this is happening. Is it possible that I am missing an important program or plugin or something?
What OS version are you running?
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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Anicsi » Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:14 am

I haven't upgraded my OS so I am still with Tiger (10.4.11).
The programs worked for me before the HD was exchanged though...

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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Kionon » Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:15 pm

Are you certain that you used the exact same version of avidemux? Usually, with OS version changes there are avidemux version changes too. You might have a version of avidemux that is too new. Look for a version that was made for the last version of tiger.

Why are you still on tiger to begin with? If it's a PPC you can at least go up to Leopard.

On another note, it may not be the programs at all, if you are having issues with many programs. You say you hard drive crashed, but what does that mean exactly? Describe what happened. You said you exchanged it, but I don't think that's the English word you want. Did you physically pull out the old hard drive and put in a new one?

I'm thinking there may be other issues, such as age of the machine or age of components like ram. How old is the system?

For future reference, always keep a spare hard drive that is a cloned copy of your system, and keep it updated with some frequency. If you have a catastrophic hard drive failure, you can just switch hard drives and your system comes back immediately. No installation of programs or need to adjust settings. It's all just there.
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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Anicsi » Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:54 am

Yes, I am sure that is the same version, i checked various times, as well as the other programs that aren't working. Well, I will check again, but.... i don't think that is the case .-.

I am still on tiger because right now I am a bit short on money. I am making my driving licence, so... it's a bit hard now to spend money on a new syste ^^" And I am on a Intel Mac by the way.

Alright, my harddrive started making weird noises all of a sudden, even though i wasn't doing anything at all except listening to music on itunes. Then i had to take out the battery because it stopped working. When I switched it on again, there was only a blinking questionmark. Well, i looked up the meaning in the guide and did what they told me to, to restore the harddrive/whatever it may be called in English.

That didn't work either though, so after trying various times I sent the macbook in for repair. They replaced the harddrive with a new one, because the old one was broken (it was even impossible to recover the data on there, at least with the usual method by running various programs. That's what i've been told)

They then sent the computer back to me with a new harddrive and I had to reinstall the OS (Tiger) and all the other stuff. That's when the problems with the programs started. However, i also installed a bunch of other programs, like ffmpegX, MPEGStreamclip etc. and they work fine.

So i wondered if maybe avidemux and the torrent clients have something... in common, other than the other programs. I am really clueless. I need avidemux but I also don't want to format the harddrive again without knowing if it really helps.
*sigh* Such a mess...

Oh and what do you mean, 'how old is the system'? I bought the Macbook exactly two years ago, i got the OS installation disk and everything else back then.

Thank you for your help, Kionon.
I will keep that with the spare harddrive in mind. I only don't really know how to do that, i have never changed the harddrive manually and I usually don't really have luck with that. So if I want to have a spare harddrive I have to switch them every now and then? If you say 'cloned copy', do I have to install everything one by one or is it some kind of backup program, that i can run automatically?

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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Kionon » Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:50 pm

Okay, this is getting to beyond my level of expertise. I'm not an Apple technician. However, I happen to know one, and some other Apple fans who are much more nitty gritty than I am. So, after discussing the issue with them, I have these suggestions:

1. Create new admin account and boot into it. Try running the programs as admin.

2. If that screws up, run Disk Repair over the hard drive from the Tiger install disk.

3. If neither of those help, look into crash logs, and see if it is a hardware issue. And if it comes down to this, the errors will largely be meaningless, and we'll need to google them to figure out what they mean.

Try those, and based on what happens, we'll try to suggest a fourth course of action, probably based on if and what kind of errors we may get.

Once it's settled, I suggest getting the $29 upgrade to Snow Leopard from the Apple Store. Then get firewire dock and a second harddrive, using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a back up of your working system.
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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Anicsi » Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:59 am

Alright, Kionon, I finally found some time to test what you suggested.

1. Since i have a guest account my Admin account is seperated from the standard one. However, i created a second Admin account and tried to open the program, same result as before.

2. Disk Repair.... since i have the German software, am not sure if it is the same as Apple hardware test? Pressing 'D' while launching the computer with the MacOS X Installation Disk 1? If it is not the same, i don't really know what you want me to do, i couldn't find anything about a 'Disk Repair' program in the guide.

3. Crash logs. Um... how do I do that? I did run the Apple Hardware test to see if there was an error with the hardware, but apparently that's not the case.
This is getting so frustrating, I am so restricted in my editing, i didn't know how much i relied on avidemux and that kind before.

I don't know anymore....

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Kionon
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Re: Programs not opening

Post by Kionon » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:31 pm

Anicsi wrote:2. Disk Repair.... since i have the German software, am not sure if it is the same as Apple hardware test? Pressing 'D' while launching the computer with the MacOS X Installation Disk 1? If it is not the same, i don't really know what you want me to do, i couldn't find anything about a 'Disk Repair' program in the guide.
I recommend that you occasionally restart your Mac, and hold down the Shift key right after the startup chime is played, and keep it held down until the spinning black bar cursor appears.
This procedure invokes what Apple calls a "Safe Boot":

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417

and your Mac will report that it has been booted (started up) into Safe Boot mode. During startup in Safe Boot mode your Mac will do a file system check, entirely in the background, with no working status indicated, or report generated, and any problems will automatically be repaired.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564?viewlocale=en_US

It may take a while for your Mac to start up in Safe Boot mode. Be Patient. Once it has fully started up, you should immediately restart your Mac normally, because certain files are deactivated when you startup in Safe Boot mode.

Note: A wireless or Bluetooth keyboard and mouse may not allow you to startup in Safe Boot mode. (Also, be sure that all of the latest updates for your computer are installed.)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2220
Item #6

Instead you may prefer to check your hard drive, and repair any problems, by using the method outlined below. The advantage of using the method outlined below is that both a working status indicator, and a report, are generated. The disadvantage is that you will have to have, and start up from, your OS X Installer CD-ROM.

Put your OS X Installer CD-ROM (or DVD) into your optical drive (if you have multiple installer disks, use the first one), and startup from it (by holding down the "C" key during startup or restart). From there you can choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. Click on the disk that you want to repair in the left column and then choose the First Aid tab, and then click on Repair Disk. (If the Repair Disk button is gray, you either didn't click on the correct item in the left column, or you aren't started up from the Installer CD-ROM. You can't repair the disk that you have started up from.)

http://www.fixya.com/support/r935084-mac_repair_disk

Discussion.

Longtime Macintosh users know that under OS 8 and OS 9, if you were experiencing nasty problems with your hard drive, that running Apple's Disk First Aid usually didn't fix them. In such cases, users often resorted to using the commercial product Disk Warrior, which could perform near miraculous feats of repair on your hard drive. It was also an invaluable tool for routine preventative maintenance. Under OS X, Disk Utility/Repair Disk is the replacement for Disk First Aid. So, the question most folks have is, 'is Disk Utility/Repair Disk as lame as Disk First Aid, and is Disk Warrior still an invaluable utility to have?' There is an interesting thread on TidBits Talk that covers this topic:

Looking for Disk Warrior Justification
http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?14@@.3c7926a4/

The answer is that Disk Warrior is a marvelous tool...when you need it. Fortunately, under OS X you don't need it as often as you needed it under previous versions of the Mac OS. For instance, you don't need to run Disk Warrior routinely as a preventative measure. (Though doing so, if you already own Disk Warrior, isn't a bad idea.) OS X is plenty stable without having to constantly rebuild its directory. And so, in my opinion, there is no need to purchase Disk Warrior (for about $100) unless a situation arises where Disk Utility/Repair Disk reports that it can't repair a problem with your hard drive. This is not to demean Disk Warrior. When you do need Disk Warrior, because your disk directory has developed errors that Disk Utility can't fix, it is a godsend to have.

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

For further information about disk repair software, have a look at:

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07451,

with a follow-up on TechTool Pro at:

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07696

There are other ways to run a file system check/Repair Disk under OS X, such as by booting into Single User Mode, or by running the command "fsck" from the Terminal, but these are more advanced ways to do exactly the same thing, that I don't think that the average user needs to know about.
For more information than you need, see:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
3. Crash logs. Um... how do I do that? I did run the Apple Hardware test to see if there was an error with the hardware, but apparently that's not the case.
Here is a tutorial from CNET on how to find and read OSX crash logs:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10330727-263.html
This is getting so frustrating, I am so restricted in my editing, i didn't know how much i relied on avidemux and that kind before. .
Believe me, I understand. Avidemux is one of my most used programs. Period.
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