Finder [and others] won't start.

[PaBear]

i-mac problems

I'd be grateful for some help!

I have a 2011 21.5 inch i-mac with V 10.13 High Sierra. 12GB memory, 500Gb HDD. Diagnostic checks done this morning = OK.

Norton A/V in use; Time Capsule back-ups continuous. OnyX 3.3.8 used until last week.


STARTING FROM DESKTOP:

Finder won’t open (tho’ ’Open finder in a new Window’ acts normally & shows all files).

OnyX doesn’t open tho' was fine last week. Subsequently uninstalled but was blue label [for Sierra 10.13] v3.3.8. Fresh download today but still not working.

App store doesn’t open.

Mail doesn’t open.

Software update via 'About this Mac' doesn't happen.

SIRI cannot open above items.

On selection all the above sometimes show a dimmed-out top margin.

Disk Utility showed no problems. Safe Mode revealed no issues.

Safari is OK as are i-tunes, Open Office, Photos, contacts, calendar, maps, Text edit, Notes and all i-work programs. Wi-fi fine with good speeds.

Any ideas?

 

[PaBear]

UPDATE!
Somehow, by sharing the I-mac with my MacBook Pro, I have resolved the problems using OnyX. Some kind of magic since I can't say exactly how I did it.
Fire fighting party can now stand down.

 

[honestone]

I've stated numerous times what an excellent product Onyx is. Glad you got your issue resolved, although I am staying away from High Sierra for now. Just too many issues (although one has to wonder if some of those issues that folks have reported here are due to poor planning).

 

[PaBear]

Spoke too soon! Along with Finder not opening I cannot even open Disk Utility. Any suggestions for a work-around?

OnyX still not opening either.

 

[honestone]

OK< some obvious questions:

1. Why did you "upgrade" to High Sierra? It definitely has a number of issues (even the OS 10.13.1 update released yesterday did not resolve much at all).

2. What OS were you previously using? And how did you upgrade? Did you just upgrade "in place", ie, have High Sierra basically overwrite OS-related things?

3. Have you been making backups to an external device? That is so, so critical! If you (hopefully) have, did you make one right before you upgraded to High Sierra?

4. Assuming you can "get to it", you could try and restart your Mac from the (hidden) Recovery HD partition. But given all the issues being reported with High Sierra (although some/many of them could be the result of insufficient/poor planning), even if using Disk Utility there resolves your issues, I suspect it would be temporary.

Your best bet would be to 1) Erase and re-format your internal drive, 2) do a fresh, clean, "virgin" installation of the prior OS you were using (or hopefully Sierra, OS 10.12.6), and 3) "migrate"copy needed stuff from your backup. However, to do that will require a backup, and if it was/is a Time Machine backup, then you would do the following:

1. Boot to that Recovery HD partition.

2. Select Disk Utility form there to 1) perform First Aid on your internal drive, and 2) if that is OK, Erase and Format the drive.

3. Perform a fresh, clean, "virgin" installation of "a Mac OS". That step will be done via the internet, and I just don't know what "older" Mac OS you'll get.

4. Once that is complete, you'll be offered the opportunity to "migrate"/copy needed "stuff" from your backup.

 

[PaBear]

Thank you for your advice, Honestone.
While thinking about it I have had two long 'phone conversations with Apple support (free of charge incidentally - the extended warranty on this Mac expired some long time ago).

The first session, yesterday was, frankly, unsatisfactory. The young woman handling the call seemed distracted and went over several very basic boot-up routines which did not solve the problems (Finder/mail/App Store etc not working). She couldn't wait to get me off the line after about 55 minutes.

This morning, I had a spell with a young man who was more articulate and much keener on sorting out the issues.
Eventually we cleared out all the 'load up on boot-up routines'. This straitened out the whole scene.
Seems the trouble was in no way related to recent software updates, including today's High Sierra 10.13.1. I had no similar difficulties with my MacBook which has identical software and updates. My old 2009 white MacBook is quite OK too.

On reflection I can see no really good reason to delay making use of the most current OS software IF one has a fairly recent device with fully updated software. Surely this would give best access to the most effective security updates at least. If there are some underlying peculiarities with the device such as highly specialised third party routines/programs then I would consider staying with what I know is working. Given that application vendors ought to keep up (they'll lose you soon enough if they don't) it is most peoples' best interest to stay current.

 

[honestone]

Thanks for the enlightening reply. Just like automobiles, I guess with Macs, one can get a "lemon", and that seems to be the case here. However, one wonders if any software (Mac or otherwise) contributed to the issue.

I myself am somewhat "anal" when it comes to performing maintenance on my Macs (as I am with my automobiles, and other mechanical devices/apparatus). So far (and knock on wood!), my disk cleanup/maintenance/repair efforts, from a software perspective, have paid off, as I have never encountered an issue like you had. And I have owned quite a number of different Mac models.

In any event, glad you got the issue resolved.