When I wake my deuced Mac(hina) from sleep, the first screenshot I take, sometimes the first one in each app, command-control-shift-4, generally, is not accompanied by the usual shutter sound.

This issue has survived countless restarts, even re-runnings of the 10.6.6 Combo.

I haven't got a clue where to begin looking.

Anybody?

Thanks.

I think that goes in with the general category of "interface sound effects". I've noticed that after restart, certain things clearly aren't cached yet and have delayed reactions, such as those sounds. I've never seen an issue of them stopping working after the first one though, but it's probably a caching problem. No idea where to start looking to fix it, sorry.

try toggling the 'use interface sound fx' as a start?

> I've never seen an issue of them stopping working after the first one though, [....]

Nor have I; after the first time I hear the shutter sound it is consistent.

I'll play some and post back if I learn anything.

> try toggling the 'use interface sound fx' as a start?

I've now tried that a few times with no consistent results.

Oh, well; it's not like it's all that important...certainly not important enough to either lose sleep over or invest time trying to fix.

Thanks for your input.

As a quick and dirty experiment, the first thing I'd try is rebooting the computer in Safe mode (with the shift key), then afterward immediately rebooting normally.

Rebooting in Safe mode instructs the computer to flush caches. I've found that it often fixes weird, intermittent problems of the "X doesn't work the first time I try it but does work the second time." I haven't had the sound problem you describe, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks for the suggestion, but no joy. (I tried applejack AUTO a bit back, also with no joy.)

Have you tried Command-Shift-4 under the same circumstances? Perhaps the anomalous behavior is somehow related to your clipboard management software; taking a screenshot whose output is to a "standard" file would presumably not manifest the symptom in that case.

Would this be a process that a person should think about as part of periodic preventive maintenance? I find there are times when my machine will do something oddball but not repeat it. I don't sweat it because I figure the machine took care of its own problem.

Or is it better to follow the "If it ain't broke....." philosophy?

ryck

I suspect you will get a wide range of opinions on preventative maintenance. There are several utilities such as OnyX, Cocktail, and TinkerTool System that will flush the various cache files and are far more selective about which ones you want to flush. Cocktail can even be setup to perform those flushes automatically on schedule. Certainly periodic flushing of cache files will not hurt.

Personally I have always considered rebooting in Safe Mode as a troubleshooting technique rather than preventative maintenance. In other words, "If it aint broke, don't fix it"

I laughed when I saw that... How intuitive, yet it never occurred to me; thanks.

(I'm not ignoring your suggestion; it'll take a period of experimentation before I can report on its success or failure.)

Update... I had a major problem with dkmarsh's suggestion, because I couldn't remember to follow it, but I will say that I believe that every command-shift-4 screenshot I remembered to take was accompanied by a shutter click.

In view of that, and despite the fact that it didn't seem particularly logical that a conflict with Butler, my "clipboard management software," would silence only the first of many command-control-shift-4 shutter clicks, I quit and relaunched Butler, cleared its cache, restarted my deuced Mac(hina), and ran "applejack AUTO," all with no joy.

I then had a brain - or whatever passes therefor - storm and unchecked "Copy picture of selected area to the clipboard" in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Screenshots, restarted, rechecked the pref, and have not missed a shutter click since I did so.

Hope this helps somebody else.

Update...

False alarm... Well, sorta.

I still miss the first shutter click on rare occasion...nowhere near as often as I did when I first posted.

Oh, well... I guess I'll just live with it.