How do you recover an unresponsive desktop under Mac OSX?
November 9, 2008 4:28 PM Subscribe
Is there any way to salvage a frozen/unresponsive desktop under Mac OSX?
I've just been trying out Boxee and for some reason the desktop froze up and the mouse was unresponsive, and Command-Tab didn't work.
However, some keys worked, like the iTunes control buttons on the keyboard (play, pause, volume, etc). It seems as if the computer was responding in the background and just the windows stopped responding.
Is there any way to recover from this? Is there a command, or actionscript that can reset the desktop somehow?
I've just been trying out Boxee and for some reason the desktop froze up and the mouse was unresponsive, and Command-Tab didn't work.
However, some keys worked, like the iTunes control buttons on the keyboard (play, pause, volume, etc). It seems as if the computer was responding in the background and just the windows stopped responding.
Is there any way to recover from this? Is there a command, or actionscript that can reset the desktop somehow?
You may be able to force quit the finder -- option click on the Finder icon on the far left or top of the dock.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:05 PM on November 9, 2008
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:05 PM on November 9, 2008
Guys, he can't move the mouse!
If you have the SSH daemon running and port 22 open, you can SSH in from another machine and start killing the processes owned by your username, which might unwedge the box.
posted by nicwolff at 5:11 PM on November 9, 2008
If you have the SSH daemon running and port 22 open, you can SSH in from another machine and start killing the processes owned by your username, which might unwedge the box.
posted by nicwolff at 5:11 PM on November 9, 2008
If you don't have anything important (unsaved documents) open, just hold down the power button until the machine shuts off, then restart. Not the best thing to do all the time, but good when all else fails.
Also, if you're using a notebook, try closing the lid to put the machine to sleep, wait until the sleep light comes on for a few seconds, and then open the lid again. Sometimes this works. If not, do the power button thing noted above.
posted by al_fresco at 5:20 PM on November 9, 2008
Also, if you're using a notebook, try closing the lid to put the machine to sleep, wait until the sleep light comes on for a few seconds, and then open the lid again. Sometimes this works. If not, do the power button thing noted above.
posted by al_fresco at 5:20 PM on November 9, 2008
Response by poster: Much appreciate your input guys!
I forgot to try cmd-opt-esc at the time, so I'm wondering if that would have worked.
I might whip up an actionscript to restart the finder and bind it to a keyboard shortcut to see if it helps next time.
Thanks again for the help guys!
posted by stevanl at 2:33 AM on November 10, 2008
I forgot to try cmd-opt-esc at the time, so I'm wondering if that would have worked.
I might whip up an actionscript to restart the finder and bind it to a keyboard shortcut to see if it helps next time.
Thanks again for the help guys!
posted by stevanl at 2:33 AM on November 10, 2008
I have also found that plugging a USB mouse into the laptop will sometimes free up a frozen cursor.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:50 AM on November 10, 2008
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:50 AM on November 10, 2008
al_fresco: Yes, but not if the HDD is spinning, you are likely to corrupt your data on the drive.
posted by dragontail at 11:05 AM on November 10, 2008
posted by dragontail at 11:05 AM on November 10, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by santaliqueur at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2008