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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / September 2006Hyperlinks and various browsers
Hi, I have a Mac Mini with 512Mb RAM running MacOSX 10.4.7, which I purchased specifically for cross-platform testing of websites. I'm experiencing some unusual behaviour on certain browsers only whereby hyperlinks don't seem to be "recognised" i.e. when the mouse is hovered over a hyperlink, the cursor does not change to a pointer, and any mouseover event does not fire. The following browsers handle hyperlinks what I would consider to be "normally" i.e. when the mouse hovers over the hyperlink (but does not actually click it) it changes to a hand pointer and the mouseover event fires, and when the cursor moves away from the hyperlink it changes back to the previous pointer. FireFox 1.5.0.6 Netscape 7.2 Mozilla 1.7.13 The following browsers do not handle hyperlinks normally, i.e. the cursor doesn't change when it hovers over the hyperlink, and the mouseover event does not fire: Safari 2.0.4 (419.3) Opera 9.01 (3489) Camino 2006061318 (1.0.2) Is there something special about these browsers which causes this behaviour, or is it something more fundamental? Any assistance gratefully received. Mark > The following browsers do not handle hyperlinks normally, i.e. the cursor > doesn't change when it hovers over the hyperlink, and the mouseover event > does not fire: > > Safari 2.0.4 (419.3) Opera 9.01 (3489) Camino 2006061318 (1.0.2) I'm using Safari 2.0.4 (412.3) and the cursor change and mouseover event worked just fine on the half-dozen websites I tried.  SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@mac.com >> The following browsers do not handle hyperlinks normally, i.e. the cursor >> doesn't change when it hovers over the hyperlink, and the mouseover event [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I'm using Safari 2.0.4 (412.3) and the cursor change and mouseover event > worked just fine on the half-dozen websites I tried. I'm sure - but it doesn't for me - same with Opera and Camino... Anyone got any ideas...? >>> The following browsers do not handle hyperlinks normally, i.e. the cursor >>> doesn't change when it hovers over the hyperlink, and the mouseover event [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Anyone got any ideas...? How about posting the URLs for some of the sites that you say don't work correctly in Safari. Here are three URLs that worked just fine for me.... <http://www.apple.com/> <http://www.adobe.com/> <http://www.macconnection.com/home> SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@mac.com > How about posting the URLs for some of the sites that you say don't work > correctly in Safari. http://www.opera.com http://www.sanctuaryrig.co.uk http://www.google.com Here are three URLs that worked just fine for me.... > <http://www.apple.com/> > <http://www.adobe.com/> > <http://www.macconnection.com/home> For me they work great in FireFox, Netscape & Mozilla, not in Safari, Opera or Camino... [providing URLs for three websites that, for him, didn't work correctly in Safari] > http://www.opera.com http://www.sanctuaryrig.co.uk http://www.google.com I tried all three of the links in Safari and the mouse-over and mouse-down actions worked correctly. I'm at a loss as to what could be the difference as we are both running the exact same version of Safari, 2.0.4 (419.3). I'm running OS X 10.4.7 on a MacBook Pro. SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@mac.com > I tried all three of the links in Safari and the mouse-over and mouse-down > actions worked correctly. I'm at a loss as to what could be the difference > as > we are both running the exact same version of Safari, 2.0.4 (419.3). Thanks for the confirmation. > I'm running OS X 10.4.7 on a MacBook Pro. The only difference is that I'm running OSX 10.4.7 on a Mac Mini... >> I tried all three of the links in Safari and the mouse-over and mouse-down >> actions worked correctly. I'm at a loss as to what could be the difference [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > The only difference is that I'm running OSX 10.4.7 on a Mac Mini... Mark, Figuratively thinking out loud.... Safari is the only browser I have enabled on my system and if I'm not mistaken you have six browsers enabled. Could it be possible that installation or use of these browsers has created some form of interference that could be causing the incorrect operation of say Safari? Jim SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@mac.com > Safari is the only browser I have enabled on my system and if I'm not > mistaken you have six browsers enabled. Could it be possible that > installation or use of these browsers has created some form of > interference > that could be causing the incorrect operation of say Safari? I have no idea... > Is there something special about these browsers which causes this behaviour, > or is it something more fundamental? It's likely something specific to your system. I would suggest creating a new user account and determining whether the behaviour follows or not. >> Is there something special about these browsers which causes this >> behaviour, >> or is it something more fundamental? > > It's likely something specific to your system. I would agree! Just wish I knew what... :-) > I would suggest creating a new user account Did that - created new standard user > and determining whether the behaviour follows or not. It did - exactly the same... > >> Is there something special about these browsers which causes this > >> behaviour, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > It did - exactly the same... That would point you to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/ or /System/Library/Internet Plug-ins/ to start trouble-shoooting. > That would point you to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/ or > /System/Library/Internet Plug-ins/ to start trouble-shoooting. I'm pretty much a Mac novice, as you can no doubt tell... What should I be looking for...? > > That would point you to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/ or > > /System/Library/Internet Plug-ins/ to start trouble-shoooting. > > I'm pretty much a Mac novice, as you can no doubt tell... > > What should I be looking for...? If I knew, I'd tell you. What's in your /Library/Internet Plug-ins/? Mine shows: AdobePDFViewer.plugin DivXBrowserPlugin.plugin DRM Plugin.bundle eCare Mac OS X Flash Player Enabler.plugin Flash Player.plugin flashplayer.xpt iPhotoPhotocast.plugin Java Applet Plugin Enabler Java Applet.plugin JavaPluginCocoa.bundle NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave npdivx.xpt NPEXVIEW NPExView.plugin NPSVG3.zip NPSVG3Carbon NPSVG3ReadMe.html nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt PDF Browser Plugin Quartz Composer.webplugin QuickTime Plugin.plugin RealPlayer Plugin RealPlayer Plugin.xpt VerifiedDownloadPlugin.plugin Windows Media Plugin >> I'm pretty much a Mac novice, as you can no doubt tell... >> >> What should I be looking for...? > > If I knew, I'd tell you. :-) > What's in your /Library/Internet Plug-ins/? Flash Player Enabler.plugin Flash Player.plugin flashplayer.xpt Java Applet Plugin Enabler Java Applet.plugin JavaPluginCocoa.bundle NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt Quartz Composer.webplugin QuickTime Plugin.plugin QuickTime Plugin.webplugin RealPlayer Plugin.plugin VerifiedDownloadPlugin.plugin > >> I'm pretty much a Mac novice, as you can no doubt tell... > >> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > RealPlayer Plugin.plugin > VerifiedDownloadPlugin.plugin Looks benign to me. I'm stumped at the moment. I'll let you know if anything comes to mind. > Looks benign to me. I'm stumped at the moment. I'll let you know if > anything comes to mind. I appreciate your help. > The following browsers handle hyperlinks what I would consider to be > "normally" i.e. when the mouse hovers over the hyperlink (but does not [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Is there something special about these browsers which causes this behaviour, > or is it something more fundamental? I just tried iCab, FireFox, and Safari. Recent or newest versions. All 3 behaved the same for me on a G5 PPC running 10.4.7. If the browser window is active, the cursor changes when I mouseover a hyperlink. If the window is not active, the cursor doesn't change even tho no other window is in front of the browser window. A single click on the screen background will make the Finder active but leave the (now inactive) browser window in front. A single click in an inactive browser window will make it active. I have iCab set as my browser. If this isn't it, then I suspect something with your system since multiple apps are misbehaving. SignatureFred Lotte flotte@nospam.stratos.net > I suspect something with your system since multiple apps are misbehaving. Any idea what...? > Any idea what...? Not a clue. Somebody suggested fixing permissions. Safe, and occasionally effective. You might also try to create a new user to see if the problem is unique to your user preference files. If the problem doesn't follow you to the new user, look in the preferences file in your user directory ~/Library/Preferences for preference files related to the misbehaving browsers and toss them. I'd try one before I tossed the others. This allows the app to recreate a clean pref file. After that, the only thing that I can think of is to install a new system which is sort of extreme. You would use the 'Archive and Install' option which saves your old user directory and I think also saves your old Applications folder but replaces the system and system libraries. I've done this a couple times in the past 4 years or so but I don't recall what all is replaced. I didn't loss any data in the process but having a backup reduces the anxiety. SignatureFred Lotte flotte@nospam.stratos.net > Somebody suggested fixing permissions. Safe, and occasionally effective. Can you please tell me how to do that - what to download etc... > You might also try to create a new user to see if the problem is unique to > your user preference > files. Tried that... > If the problem doesn't follow you to the new user It does... > After that, the only thing that I can think of is to install a new system > which is sort of [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I didn't loss any data in the process but having a backup reduces the > anxiety. I'm a bit loathe to try that until / unless there really is no other option because I'm a total Mac novice... >> After that, the only thing that I can think of is to install a new system >> which is sort of extreme. > I'm a bit loathe to try that until / unless there really is no other > option because I'm a total Mac novice... Having not got any further with any other options, I did as you suggested and reinstalled MacOSX from scratch, electing to erase the hard disk in the process, as I didn't have any data on there... Installation proceeded without incident, as you might expect. First thing I did was fire up Safari, which took me to the Apple homepage by default, and the problem is still there! I hover over the hyperlinks, and nothing happens. This is extremely irritating, as the *only* reason I bought a Mac in the first place was to test my websites on that platform... Am open to suggestions here, as I've tried everything everyone has suggested with no success... > Having not got any further with any other options, I did as you suggested > and reinstalled MacOSX from scratch, electing to erase the hard disk in [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > by default, and the problem is still there! I hover over the hyperlinks, > and nothing happens. Now this is just plain weird! Since I'd already trashed and rebuilt MacOSX, I thought I'd install the MacOS 9 system in case I wanted to install Microsoft IE... Guess what? After that, Safari worked perfectly! Very happy Very relieved Very puzzled > I have a Mac Mini with 512Mb RAM running MacOSX 10.4.7, which I purchased > specifically for cross-platform testing of websites. I'm experiencing some [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Opera 9.01 (3489) > Camino 2006061318 (1.0.2) Don't these all use some variety of the Apple WebKit? This is actually a good time to run the permissions fixer. I've had libraries, headers and frameworks misbehave in the past when they had messed up perms. I assume you do not have XCode (OS X developer kit) installed. >> Safari 2.0.4 (419.3) >> Opera 9.01 (3489) >> Camino 2006061318 (1.0.2) >> > Don't these all use some variety of the Apple WebKit? Aha - now we might be getting somewhere... > This is actually a good time to run the permissions fixer. I've had > libraries, headers and frameworks misbehave in the past when they had > messed up perms. I'm a total Mac novice (20 years of DOS / Windows), but I'll do a Google for that... > I assume you do not have XCode (OS X developer kit) installed. I think that's a fair assumption. I originally bought the Mac Mini for no other reason than I needed to be able to test my websites on Mac browsers, and this seemed the most cost-effective way of doing so since it fitted right into my existing network and Belkin KVM switch... >> This is actually a good time to run the permissions fixer. I've had >> libraries, headers and frameworks misbehave in the past when they had >> messed up perms. I've had a look round Google, but all I've been able to find are files to fix problems with Palm devices. Can you give me a link to the permissions fixer you were referring to...? >>> This is actually a good time to run the permissions fixer. I've had >>> libraries, headers and frameworks misbehave in the past when they had >>> messed up perms. > > I've had a look round Google, but all I've been able to find are files to > fix problems with Palm devices. Wow. I remember having to do that on my Palm III. Pretty old-skool. > Can you give me a link to the permissions fixer you were referring to...? Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Fix Permissions (or just SpotLight "Disk Utility") This is from memory, so might be a bit inaccurate, but the notion is that we want to correct or fix the perms on the boot device. >> Can you give me a link to the permissions fixer you were referring to...? > Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Fix Permissions (or just > SpotLight "Disk Utility") > > This is from memory, so might be a bit inaccurate, but the notion is that > we want to correct or fix the perms on the boot device. Thanks, but unfortunately it didn't help. The problem has subsequently returned - Safari & Opera were fine for a couple of hours or so but, following a reboot, it's back the way it was... >>> Can you give me a link to the permissions fixer you were referring to...? >> Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Fix Permissions (or just [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > The problem has subsequently returned - Safari & Opera were fine for a > couple of hours or so but, following a reboot, it's back the way it was... Well, that's weird. If this is a problem even with a new test user profile, then this sounds like something is wrong with the system WebKit stuff somehow. If you are sure that the system is all up to date, and you only use this mini for testing, then short of hacking into the system frameworks to trace into the problem, I'd be tempted to just blow away the system and reinstall from scratch. I rarely recommend this, but sometimes niggling things like this require a scorched earth approach. Alternatively, you can try to reinstall just Safari and WebKit using something like Pacifist and your install media. Even more alternatively, since this is a newish mini, perhaps you can get Apple Support to tell you to reinstall the OS :) >> The problem has subsequently returned - Safari & Opera were fine for a >> couple of hours or so but, following a reboot, it's back the way it >> was... > Well, that's weird. If this is a problem even with a new test user > profile, then this sounds like something is wrong with the system WebKit > stuff somehow. I think you're right... > If you are sure that the system is all up to date, and you only use this > mini for testing, then short of hacking into the system frameworks to > trace into the problem, I'd be tempted to just blow away the system and > reinstall from scratch. Already tried that - twice, in fact... :-) > I rarely recommend this, but sometimes niggling things like this require a > scorched earth approach. Like I said, this fixed it for a couple of hours until I rebooted, after which the problem came back... > Alternatively, you can try to reinstall just Safari and WebKit using > something like Pacifist and your install media. That sounds like a viable option - obviously, Safari is on my MacOSX Disk 1 DVD, but Pacifist...? Is that a download from somewhere...? I'm very computer-literate, but a total Mac novice... On reflection, I think you may be onto something here... I *think* that the problem does actually exhibit itself when the OS is first installed, but then the subsequent updates cure it. I'm wondering if something I did later overwrote the software update fix...? > Even more alternatively, since this is a newish mini, perhaps you can get > Apple Support to tell you to reinstall the OS :) Bought from the Apple Centre in London in April 2006. As I mentioned, my only reason for having the Mac is for website testing. I know from bitter experience in the Windows world that having more than one browser installed can cause system problems - is it the same with MacOSX? Remeber, I have Safari, FireFox, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla and Camino installed... >>> Safari 2.0.4 (419.3) >>> Opera 9.01 (3489) [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > cost-effective way of doing so since it fitted right into my existing > network and Belkin KVM switch... Functional testing of web sites and apps is ok, but limited. You should certainly be running your code and styles through the W3C verification tools. > You should certainly be running your code and styles through the W3C > verification tools. Yes indeed - I already do that... Hurrah! This problem is now solved, thanks to David Sankey who inadvertently solved it for me by solving another problem, though the two are obviously related... I noticed that sometimes when I power on (or just reboot) the Mac mini, it starts up in default VGA mode at 800 x 600 resolution, even though I have it set to 1280 x 1024. David pointed out to me that this will happen if the Mac mini is not selected on the KVM switch at the time the machine is rebooted. Selecting the Mac's KVM port and then powering on solved both problems. All is well again, and the Mac Mini is working beautifully! |
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