Scheduled monthly maintenance on the home eMac (10.4.11) using Onyx 1.8.5 got hung up on the verifying startup disc bit of the automation process last night. Had to do a hard close and restart. Repaired permissions using Disc Utility (the usual string of ignorable corrections and boogies from the latest iTunes upgrade were fixed). Checked for correct version of Onyx. Tried to rerun Onyx. Same hang during verification step. Hard close and restart.

Trashed Onyx (and ancillary files AppCleaner found) and downloaded a fresh version for 10.4.11 Haven't had time to install it and try again; will try tonight.

Want to empty caches and perform monthly maintenance. Any ideas what's causing the hang up?

> Repaired permissions using Disc Utility

Repairing permissions is a very nice way to blow a few minutes while pretending that you're accomplishing something.

Did you do anything that's actually or potentially useful diagnostically?

Like verifying the disk with the Disk Utility?


> Want to empty caches and perform monthly maintenance.

Monthly maintenance scripts run automatically. Why are you deleting caches?

The repair permission screen indicates that the start up disc is verified. This data is at the bottom of the window and is readable while the repair is running.

I run Onyx every month to clean out the boogies left by my son's rabid love affair w/ LimeWire. The entire unit was sluggish and slow to respond just about everywhere (in all 4 house accounts), and it was just about time to run Onyx anyway, so I tried running it a day or so early.

As for doing something productive, the few minutes it took to repair permissions was time enough to raid the kids' Halloween bags and chow down on a coupla Clark Bars. Repairing permissions in Tiger takes far less time than in Leopard (don't know about Snow Leopard).

I never think of repairing permissions or monthly maintenance as a waste of time - well, it may be, but I never think of it that way (sort of like taking daily doses of vitamin C - don't know if it works; just know that it can't hurt). The peace of mind it produces seems reason enough to take the time. It's all supposed to be about peace of mind anyway. Kind of why I use macs in the first place.

How long did you let it run in the "verifying startup disc" mode? Mine sometimes takes as long as 15 minutes.

> The repair permission screen indicates that the start up disc is verified.

You refer to the disk's hardware-self-diagnostic or SMART status. That's not helpful information if the concern is that the drive's directory-structure is damaged.

Use the button on the lower RIGHT side of the Disk Utility's First Aid window, not the LEFT side.

> Repairing permissions in Tiger takes far less time...

Repairing permissions is a useless placebo 99.99% of the time that it's used. You might as well boot into OS 9 and rebuild your Desktop for all the good that it does.


> The peace of mind it produces seems reason enough...

Okay. If that's what it takes to make you feel good.

Now run the Disk Utility and verify the disk.

Will do, Doc. Thanks for the info.

Babalu, Onyx's run in verifying start up disc does take some time, but the activity window has always moved. Both times, the activity window stopped "rolling" after a minute or two. Waited some 30 minutes before hard shut down and restart.

Quote
mrthuse
I run Onyx every month to clean out the boogies left by my son's rabid love affair w/ LimeWire. The entire unit was sluggish and slow to respond just about everywhere.

I understand and sympathize. Limewire is just about the worst P2P client and can indeed cause system problems. Try Cabos instead or, better still, get him an iTunes account.

Does your ISP throttle your connection if it detects P2P activity? If so, all the more reason to break his habit...