Apps not starting on Mac OS X Lion

Question

I have a strange problem, some apps that I download do not launch. There are 2 scenarios

1. The application starts but keeps bouncing, once I click the bouncing icon in the tray it disappears. The process also closes in activity monitor

2. The application fails to start, how ever many times I launch it, it refuses. The process does not even show up in activity monitor

What I have done so far to resolve:

• Repaired permissions
• Clear all cache/temp using CleanMyMac
• Used DiskWarrior via OS and not during boot

Additional Info:

 Model Name:    MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,2
  Processor Name:   Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:  2.8 GHz
  Number of Processors: 1
  Total Number of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache: 6 MB
  Memory:   8 GB
  Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version: MBP52.008E.B05
  SMC Version (system): 1.42f4

Answer 1

The actual executable, /Applications/MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app/Contents/MacOS/MenuTab Pro for Facebook doesn't have the execute permission. Resolve by running:

sudo chmod +x '/Applications/MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app/Contents/MacOS/MenuTab Pro for Facebook'

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Additionally, parts of the application have the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute set, as determined by ls -l@. Remove as described in this other topic. This shouldn't be an issue, but you never know. It sometimes prevents applications from being started from the command line.

Answer 2

Usually when that happens could be one of this two reasons:

• The application doesn't support Intel Mac (only power pc)

• The application doesn't support Lion

Have you checked if the applications you are trying to run are for Intel Mac and Lion?

Answer 3

For the records: the application The Unarchiver may cause this issue.

Version 3.2: * Added a workaround for a sandbox bug in Mac OS X that was causing extracted apps to not launch properly.

Check this thread in Apple Support Communities.