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


Click here to return to the 'Fight ATSServer stall with autologin at startup' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Fight ATSServer stall with autologin at startup
Authored by: gabester on May 15, '06 09:36:41AM

I see this problem frequently with designers systems where they're automatically logging in after restarting; all they get is the spotlight logo and maybe their desktop picture but no menubar.

Obviously in this case LogoutHook will not help; although a shutdown script that deletes /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS likely would deal with the problem nicely.

At present, I do as foilpan suggests. Restart in safe mode, delete the offending cache files, reboot again, and wait until the next time it happens (2 days to 2 months...) Sure is annoying.
g=



[ Reply to This | # ]
More information...
Authored by: gabester on May 15, '06 09:50:51AM

For more diagnostic information, in the hopes of eventually troubleshooting this issue to eliminate the need for a quick fix, the Macs in question are running 10.4.2 to 10.4.5 and have Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Suite 2 installed along with a slew of legacy fonts. However, the /Library/Fonts and /System/Library/Fonts folders have been pared down in accordance with Extensis recommended practices; there are no /Library/Fonts and /System/Library/Fonts just contains System, Keyboard, LastResort, and LucidaGrande. Suitcase XI v11.0.4E loads all its fonts from a separate disk image that the users mount at login, and the extra fonts installed by Microsoft and Adobe aren't present on that disk, although all the fonts that Adobe puts in /Library/Application Support/Adobe are present.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Fight ATSServer stall with autologin at startup
Authored by: shawnwelter on May 15, '06 11:23:02AM

Yes this is a problem with the fonts system. We believe it is mostly Suitcase related. I routinely have this problem with designer's machines but not with other machines in the company.

I do know that Extensis support did admit that Suitcase has issues with remote home directories. There is no information on their support site about this. But though testing I have confirmed that it does have issues. Unfortunately I have not found another font management program that works fully with remote home directories. Font Agent is close but have found bugs that have kept us from switching.

As to dealing with the issue we have been using Onyx to flush the caches. We are able to run this while logged in as a local administrator. We are looking at adding a Shutdown script that could clean up the problem if detected.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Fight ATSServer stall with autologin at startup
Authored by: ExecutiveEditor on May 15, '06 01:43:10PM
That's good information. In our case, this is happening on stock machines without font-management software (beyond Font Book, of course). But it is happening only on accounts with networked home directories, so that is the common point between your situation and ours.

[ Reply to This | # ]