Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem Network
Symptoms:
Clicking on the Startup Drive, a folder, or trying to empty the trash brings up a Connect to Server... dialog, sometimes with nothing but a gray background. The Spinning Rainbow Ball spins and spins, but whatever you clicked on does not open up (or in the case of the Trash, does not empty).

Interestingly, I found that I could run any program that was in the Dock, including making email connections and internet connections. I believe this is because the three actions that it would not do involve accessing the LAN due to the sidebar at the left of the window (in the case of folders), and checking network trashes (in the case of emptying the trash).

Solution:
  1. Disconnect your network cable & reboot.
  2. Throw out aliases in the Recent Servers folder.
  3. Go to your Keychain Access (in the Utilities folder) and toss out all references to the phantom server.
  4. Go to Connect to Server... (Command+K) and remove any references to the phantom server there.
  5. Plug your network cable back in and reboot your computer.
  6. Go to Connect to Server... (Command+K).
  7. Now connect to a server that you know is there.
  8. When that server comes up, click on your own drive in the Task Bar at left. It should open now. All other folder functions should now be restored as well.
What Didn't Work:
  • Rebooting
  • Zapping the PRAM
  • Booting into single user mode (Command+S at startup) and running a file system check (/sbin/fsck -fy)
  • Running Norton (although it did "fix major errors")
  • Booting off installer CD and fixing permissions (using Disk Utility)
I hope that this has been helpful, and that it saves you some of the time and heartache it took me to fix the same problem -- this happened on three of our Mac workstations in one week. You can also download an illustrated version of this hint if you wish...
    •    
  • Currently 1.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (1 vote cast)
 
[7,976 views]  

Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem | 4 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
re: Running Norton
Authored by: sap.1 on Jul 01, '05 04:08:44PM

I would be careful running Disk Doctor on any Panther or Tiger system. Supposedly version 8.0.1 works with Panther, but I've seen Disk Doctor cause more problems than it fixes so I haven't run it for a long time on anything but Jaguar. Also, it will not be updated for Tiger.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem
Authored by: pexner on Jul 03, '05 04:29:09PM

Somewtimes, when having a folder from the server tossed into the sidebar, and the server informations are not valid anymore you'll get similar problems. I suggest also to delete "com.apple.sidebar.plist" in your Preferences. This helped me already several times.

Patrick



[ Reply to This | # ]
Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem
Authored by: belgarion26 on Jul 06, '05 07:53:01AM

I had the exact same issue. Simply removing the com.apple.sidebar.plist does not fix this. I believe deleting the keychain, or the offending items in it, is also needed.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Fix a phantom Connect to Server problem
Authored by: preston.lanier on Feb 13, '06 09:35:33AM

I can't believe i have found someone else with this issue.

I also have had a frustrating time with this issue. I work for a Graphics Department and we have been having this issue since Dec. '05, off and on. We were using 10.4.3 and now we are using 10.4.4 and we have had this issue on both configurations. When i finish calibrations on monitors and check between the old color profile and the new one, the connect to server "connect to library" dialog box will pop up. This is what happens when trying to open Disk Utility
Also, you can force this window to pop up most of the time, when mounting an image to desktop on some machines or even if you try and open an application.

When the ethernet is unplugged, most of the time this window will not pop up at all, but sometimes it will show you an error, look at picture that says ethernet unplugged.


Also here are the current applications installed on the IT computer image.

This is a brand new install from erase and install of OSX.

Adobe CS2
Eye-One Match 3
Fetch 4.0.3
iPhoto from iLife DVD
iView 2.6.4
iView 3.0.1
Microsoft Office 2004
OmniOutliner Professional
Stuffit Expander 10.0
Toast 7.0.2

And we connect to about 3 different servers that have Extreme ZIP installed version 4.1x21

My art director sometimes will have about 80 to hundreds of these connect to server dialog boxes, we will restart and will be fine for hours.

Connect to Server box (window) pops up out of the blue and says Connect to Library, when you type in the local user or admin account, it will connect to the local machine (itself)

I will try and do the same thing you did and i will reply to say if it has wiped the issue from coming back agian. Maybe this has something to do with Adobe, file sharing or just AFP. Thanks for posting this.



[ Reply to This | # ]