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Operating Systems => Macintosh => Topic started by: AaronH on July 12, 2019, 10:26:57 AM

Title: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on July 12, 2019, 10:26:57 AM
Hey guys,

I have a strange one, and am wondering if anyone else has run into this. I got into work today and my iMac has forgotten which program opens what. PDFs now open with Preview, had them set to Acrobat DC as well as all of my connections to SMB drives were lost. There were no warning windows or popups from the OS at all. My desktop picture is the same - the blue/green cloud burst thing from Apple.

I'm running Sierra if that helps.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on July 12, 2019, 10:32:14 AM
Acrobat doesn't even show up in the list of App defaults in the Get Info window. I selected it manually and checked always open up with Acrobat.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: David on July 12, 2019, 10:32:55 AM
download a copy of Onyx and run it to repair your permissions

Pick your OS from the list:

https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on July 12, 2019, 11:06:12 AM
Sounds like your LaunchServices were lost/corrupted.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on July 12, 2019, 12:15:58 PM
Alright. I'll run onyx. Would that fix the Launch Services issue?
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: David on July 12, 2019, 02:26:18 PM
QuoteOnce you launch OnyX, you'll find LaunchServices listed in Maintenance > Rebuild. Just check the LaunchServices box and press Execute to rebuild it.


or, read this for a terminal command:
https://www.techjunkie.com/rebuild-launchservices-fix-duplicate-entries-os-xs-open-menu/
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 18, 2019, 11:02:03 AM
I had this happen again. This is like the 4th time now since my original post. Any idea what would cause this to happen? I'll keep running Onyx but it would be nice if it didn't happen to begin with.

Strange thing is that it happens when the computer screen is asleep, but the computer never logs off/sleeps itself without me telling it to. I have to keep the computer on to run an online backup of our files continually.

Really weird thing is that acrobat files have different icons in different windows or apps. in the same finder window, with various folders, I have one acrobat icon and two AI icons on PDFs. Then in Outlook it shows the preview app icon for PDFs.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 18, 2019, 11:32:12 AM
Try resetting the PRAM.

You can reset or "zap" the PRAM on a Mac by pressing and holding the Command, Option, P, and R keys right as you turn the computer on. Yes, there are four keys you need to hold down at the same time. Once you hear the startup chime a second time, the PRAM has been reset and you can release the keys.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 19, 2019, 02:54:34 PM
I reset the PRAM - I think. I didn't hear any chimes at all, the iMac came up from a full shutdown and went to the login screen. It's acting really weird now. Apps take forever to open up, specifically XMF Client. I had to force close XMF Client 3 times before it would actually start the program. Then once it did open, the window wasn't selectable, couldn't minimize or movie it around the desktop. Same with Safari so I could come post this.

Has this happened before to you Joe?
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 19, 2019, 03:59:09 PM
No and if you didn't hear any chimes it didn't do it. Of course if you had your sound muted you would not hear the first chime but you would hear the second one as resetting the PRAM resets a bunch of settings including sound settings.

The way I do it is make sure the sound is not muted. Power off the Mac. Start it and once you hear the first chime immediately hold down OPTION+COMMAND+P+R. Then I make sure to hold it down until I hear two more chimes. Then start normally after the 2nd one.

You may get messages after that when launching some applications for the first time but I've never seen things act the way you describe them.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 19, 2019, 05:25:06 PM
Ah ok no I didn't do it right then. I held down the buttons immediately after hitting the power button to turn it on.

I'll reset the PRAM in the morning.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 10:29:46 AM
My computer doesn't chime on startup anymore. I can't figure out why not. I have my volume up to almost max just to hear the chime and nothing.

How do I reset PRAM if I can't hear the chime?
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: DigiCorn on September 20, 2019, 11:11:46 AM
(https://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/deadmac.jpg)
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 11:28:58 AM
Oh I hope not. I just got this comp a year, year and a half ago.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 11:32:24 AM
I'm still under AppleCare so that's good. Would I be able to fix whatever issue I have if I reformat my comp, and only grab documents from my time machine?
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 20, 2019, 12:05:39 PM
Quote from: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 10:29:46 AM
My computer doesn't chime on startup anymore. I can't figure out why not. I have my volume up to almost max just to hear the chime and nothing.

How do I reset PRAM if I can't hear the chime?

So do you have no chime only or no sound at all? If you have alerts muted you won't hear the chime. Well at least until the 2nd chime.

Make sure alert volume is not muted and turned up. Make sure "Play sounds effects through:" is set to Internal Speakers.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 20, 2019, 12:06:08 PM
Quote from: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 11:32:24 AM
I'm still under AppleCare so that's good. Would I be able to fix whatever issue I have if I reformat my comp, and only grab documents from my time machine?

Probably unless you have a hardware issue.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Tracy on September 20, 2019, 01:38:10 PM
back in the day didn't we do like 4 chimes?
so I bet you could hold it down for while, is this bad advise? :laugh:
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 20, 2019, 01:45:38 PM
No harm. I always do at least 2 and sometimes 3 or 4. Hasn't exploded on me yet. ;D
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: AaronH on September 20, 2019, 01:54:38 PM
Turns out Macs made after 2016 (2017 Macs and newer) don't have start up chimes unless something is wrong.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768 (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768)

I have however reformatted my machine and installed the newest macOS and will just be doing that for a while and hopefully things work.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: Joe on September 20, 2019, 02:16:49 PM
So I wonder if that means you can't reset the pram now or it still does it without the chimes? I will find out later this evening on my 2017 iMac.
Title: Re: iMac Lost Preferences
Post by: StudioMonkey on September 30, 2019, 08:19:31 AM
I noticed this with my 2019 iMac - the startup chime is gone.  IDK if there's a way to make your mac make a sound on startup (probably is) but the newer versions of the system / hardware don't make any sound on startup.  The same goes for when you reset the PRAM.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063