Problems Uninstalling RealOne on OS X (So I Can Reinstall)

April 22, 2004 8:49 PM

I've been having trouble with RealOne on OS X [MI]

...and would like to fully reinstall/fix it. Every time I open it, it closes immediately. I think this may have something to do with a canceled premium subscription, but anyway, I deleted the passwords from the key-chain, deleted all files I could find related to RealOne with real in their names, and the prefs, but it still didn't work. I also attempted to run the program from a different user account and it didn't work. I'm suspecting a corrupted file at the moment, so how do I completely scrub RealOne from my hard drive? Also, if it is my other suspicion of an application conflict, how would I find that out. RealOne seems to display nothing in the console upon closing, and does not bring up a menu about it crashing, so I assume it's quitting for some reason. This problem has been annoying me for months. Also, if anyone knows of alternatives that can play almost any Real files in a streaming fashion (mplayer can do a few video files, usually without sound, but can play RealAudio at times, but VLC does nothing) like that Helix project I've heard about, but for Mac, I'd be interested. Basically, any solutions anyone can think of.

posted by Gnatcho to computers & internet (8 comments total)

I know a thing or two about Real products on the Mac.

Put the icon in your dock, then click it and immediately hold down apple-option-control-shift. You should hopefully see a dialogue asking if you want to refresh RealOne.

If that doesn't work, what happens if you re-download, rename the file RealOne #2, and double-click it?
posted by jragon at 9:33 PM on April 22, 2004

(oh, feel free to email me -- john without the h at lot23.com.)
posted by jragon at 9:34 PM on April 22, 2004

Unfortunately, those suggestions didn't work, but thanks for the reset tip, jragon! Real should really have that clearly out there as a troubleshooting method, because I never came across it all the times I googled for realone and os x.
posted by Gnatcho at 10:10 PM on April 22, 2004

Try deleting the following:

[home]/Library/Preferences/com.RealNetworks.RealOne Player.plist (file)

[home]/Library/Preferences/com.RealNetworks.data (folder)
posted by mkultra at 6:44 AM on April 23, 2004

Interesing. I've had a different problem for months with RealPlayer: it doesn't recognize .rm files and open them immediately upon download, as it does with .ram files.

What happens is Graphic Converter tries to open the files and says they're in an "unknown format." An email to RealPlayer was completely useless. Maybe it's a problem with Graphic Converter. I do know this was not always a problem. At some point I downloaded a new version of the Player, and the problem appeared.

(None of the fixes suggested above helped and sorry if I'm derailing from the original question.)
posted by divrsional at 7:24 AM on April 23, 2004

Hm, I've seen the graphic converter issue before, but I'm not sure how that happens. Some background, though:

You're not supposed to link directly to RM files. Instead, you're supposed to link to a RAM file which is designed to instantiate the player. Not sure why this is necessary, but it is.

Of course, everyone skips the RAM file and points directly to the content, so most browsers seem to accept this approach these days. My best guess in your case is you need to set the helper applications in your browser. Which I've never actually had to do in Safari.

I'd do the refresh thing I mentioned before, then delete the directories mkultra mentioned, then trash the app, then re-download. If that doesn't work, I'm all out of ideas. Sorry :|
posted by jragon at 8:00 AM on April 23, 2004

You know, I think I may have found the root of my problem. I found that I don't have a com.RealNetworks.data folder or file anywhere on the HD (or at least, it's not visible, but who knows how all that happened), and downloading RealOne doesn't help recreate it. So perhaps the program is noting that missing file and closing itself. Any ideas how I could make that file return (ie what's inside it and how personalized of a file is it)?
posted by Gnatcho at 4:15 PM on April 23, 2004

My best guess in your case is you need to set the helper applications in your browser. Which I've never actually had to do in Safari.

You don't do it in Safari, you do it in the Finder. Get Info on a .rm file, select RealOne Player as the app to open it, click the button that says "Change all of 'em."
posted by kindall at 4:46 PM on April 23, 2004