[Expressly]

Hi, plse help as suddenly my Mac OS X version 10.4.10 doesn't want to shut down, and seems to be very slow.

One thing I know is that I had too many files and folders on my desktop - which I've drastically reduced now, and I never upgraded to all upgrades found if they were for an application I don't use. Don't know if this added to the situation.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Di

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I'm not a Mac expert by any means, but I'm in the process of learning ever since I got my MBA. Have you installed any new programs lately?

Anyway, from what I've read in the past about these problems, there is a process that can't be killed and therefor is causing the shutdown sequence to hang. We just need to find out what process is holding things up.

Go to Applications -> Utilities and open Terminal, then type this at the prompt

sudo shutdown -h now

Then press enter. You should be prompted for your password before it will let you execute the forced shutdown. See if that works. You can also try repairing disk permissions by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utilities, then select the hard drive and choose "Repair Permissions". Sometimes that solves Mac problems.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 23 July 2010 - 09:46 AM.

[Spyderturbo007]

I'm not a Mac expert by any means, but I'm in the process of learning ever since I got my MBA. Have you installed any new programs lately?

Anyway, from what I've read in the past about these problems, there is a process that can't be killed and therefor is causing the shutdown sequence to hang. We just need to find out what process is holding things up.

Go to Applications -> Utilities and open Terminal, then type this at the prompt

sudo shutdown -h now

Then press enter. You should be prompted for your password before it will let you execute the forced shutdown. See if that works. You can also try repairing disk permissions by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utilities, then select the hard drive and choose "Repair Permissions". Sometimes that solves Mac problems.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 23 July 2010 - 09:46 AM.

[fisheromacs]

It is most likely a application/process that is not quitting nicely. The most frequent violator that i have encountered is AntiVirus realtime scanning. Another app from the past that would cause this is speedtools. A third but unlikely possibility is an external device (hard drive usually) that will not let go by itself (ex: could be a physical device like a USB drive or a mounted network share).
Check your Library folders and remove any items you are sure are not necessary (~/Library/StartupItems )

Repairing permissions is always a good idea.
As is resetting the PRAM.

Not updating applications that are not used should not have an effect on this sort of behavior, unless a part of one of those applications is loaded during startup processes, and an update corrected misbehavior on that process.

[Expressly]

Thanks a lot for your responses! In the meantime I did this and my mac is shutting down now normally:

Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
4. Release the power button.
5. Attach the computers power cable.
6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.


I've had a new situation since where the FF browser wouldn't load, but was again ok after a day.
Hopefully all is well now.