Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!primerd!barry
From: barry@primerd.prime.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: An Interesting SE Problem
Message-ID: <160700016@primerd>
Date: 22 Mar 89 23:21:00 GMT
Lines: 84
Nf-ID: #N:primerd:160700016:000:4023
Nf-From: primerd.prime.com!barry    Mar 22 18:21:00 1989



This note describes an interesting problem we had on a Mac SE.  It's
a vanilla 1MB SE with 20MB hard drive running System 4.2 and Finder
6.0. The software was installed when the SE was bought and hasn't
been changed since then (I know we should upgrade, but "if it ain't
broke, don't fix it"). The SE is a group machine used on a casual
basis by a few users, none of whom are Mac "experts".

One of the users complained about a bomb ID 2 he got while trying to
start WriteNow 2.0.  I was asked to take a look at the system.  When
I did, I discovered that

    1.  No icons were displayed by Finder in either of the icon
        views - files names were shown w/o icons (eerie!)  This
        happened for all of the folders I checked.

    2.  The kind and size information wasn't shown in View by
        Name

    3.  The Finder File menu had only two entries - New Folder
        and Open

    4.  The Finder Special menu wouldn't drop down (this made the
        Restart menu item inaccessible!)

My first thought was that the Desktop file had been corrupted and
needed to be rebuilt.  I decided to poke around a bit before doing
that.

I rebooted the system using a floppy with the original Finder and
System distributed by Apple.  Icons were properly displayed as were
file kinds and sizes.  This meant the problem was NOT in the
Desktop.

The problems with the Finder menus led me to believe that the Finder
might have become corrupted, so I replaced the Finder with the
original version and tried again.  Replacing the Finder had no
effect.

My next suspect was the System file.  Not wanting to lose any
resources that had been installed in the System, I attempted to copy
it to a floppy.  In trying to do this, I discovered that someone had
loaded about 800KB of fonts into the System and that we had a 1.2MB
System!  Of course, I was not pleased because I had carefully
organized the fonts months before so that only essential fonts were
stored in System and all other fonts were accessed using Font DA
Juggler Plus. I used FONT/DA Mover to move the non-essential fonts
from System to a new suitcase, thereby reducing the size of System to
about 315KB, and copied the slimmer System to the floppy.  I replaced
System on the hard drive with the original System distributed by
Apple and rebooted, only to discover the problem was still there.

Things were getting interesting ... If I booted from the floppy,
there was no problem with icons or other information about files on
the hard drive, but replacing Finder and System didn't fix the
problem!  I decided it was time to start purging inits from the
System Folder.  Fortunately, there were only a few - Font DA Juggler
Plus, MacroMaker, and TOPS.

It didn't take long to identify MacroMaker as the culprit.  With
MacroMaker in the System Folder the problems occurred and without
MacroMaker the problems disappeared.  I put back the System file I
had saved on the floppy and chucked MacroMaker in the Trash.  The
SE ran normally when I rebooted.

I suspect the problem is that MacroMaker needs a later rev of System.
However, MacroMaker has been installed on the SE for some time; I
don't know who put it there and I don't know why it suddenly started
causing problems.  Maybe somebody actually started using it.  One of
the problems with public machines is that unauthorized changes can be
made (e.g. fonts in System, software installed with improper System
release) laying the seeds for problems that will sprout when someone
else is using the machine.

I hope this posting helped someone either avoid a similar problem or
get some tips on how to deal with an existing problem.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry Wolman                      | barry@s66.prime.com
Principal Technical Consultant    | 492 Old Connecticut Path
Prime Computer                    | Framingham, MA 01701
                                  | 508/626-1700, ext. 4187
------------------------------------------------------------------------