Google Earth Problem

lozcart · Mar 23, 2010, 21:12:19

The Google Earth application on both my Macbook and iMac are playing up tonight. They have both worked fine in the past but tonight they load and just show a black screen with no maps and the layers and places content is also blank. I've tried my daughters PC and the program works fine on that, anyone else with a Mac experiencing the same problem?

I've tried reloading the application, deleting preferences, clearing caches and repairing disk permissions, all haven't helped.

Steve · Mar 23, 2010, 21:23:31

I've just installed it and got a black screen.

lozcart · Mar 23, 2010, 21:34:14

Thanks Steve

, it would seem that the Google servers are kicking off Macs so no information is downloading.

Perhaps Google are not happy with Apple suing HTC their phone manufacturer!!

Steve · Mar 23, 2010, 21:58:45

Its just kicked into life for me.

Bill · Mar 23, 2010, 22:15:14

Dead for me on the iMac, but the MacBook is reporting assorted errors about "Can't connect to Server" etc

Gary · Mar 24, 2010, 00:01:21

I avoid Google Earth like the plague, I never like programs that have built in updaters that run even when you are not using the program itself, especially Google stuff, shame they did that to GE.

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 09:07:50

As far as I can recall, mine just tells me when there's a new version available and asks if I want to install it...

Still dead here, but there's some slow (~8-9KB/sec in each direction) traffic showing on the Activity Monitor. Odd.

lozcart · Mar 24, 2010, 10:09:20

Its working OK on my Mac at work this morning, I will check at home later.

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 11:33:07

I had a look at the troubleshooting page, and it rabbits on about firewall settings...

It works fine on two Windows machines so unlikely to be the router firewall, turning the firewalls off (briefly!) on the Macs makes no difference, so not that.

The Macbook reports that it can't connect to kh.google.com on port 80...

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 11:40:11

Ah, looks like a bad update problem (mine must update on its own after all!). Found this:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/earth/thread?tid=792aad7829d4b048&hl=en

I left it for a while with the very slow traffic and eventually it all came back.

Rik · Mar 24, 2010, 11:40:50

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 11:43:04

Now I've forgotten what I wanted to look up in the first place!

Rik · Mar 24, 2010, 11:46:10

Isn't it always the way.

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 11:55:30

I also discovered why the Macbook was reporting different errors to the iMac- last time I used it I turned the wireless off

Not one of my better days today...

Rik · Mar 24, 2010, 12:04:47

T shirt time, Bill, we've all been there.

Niall · Mar 24, 2010, 12:32:03

I was getting this problem on my PC and on my iphone the other day. It's all cleared up now though, and yes I was connected to the net

Gary · Mar 24, 2010, 12:33:39

Anything that upgrades itself and breaks is worth avoiding, it would be ok if it just checked when I opened the program, but not install an updater that checks in the background when the parent program is not used. I must admit I do not like anything that much from Google these days, privacy is a big concern with them.

Rik · Mar 24, 2010, 12:36:29

I didn't think they were that concerned, Gary, I thought the concerns were all on our side.

DorsetBoy · Mar 24, 2010, 12:38:30

Quote from: Gary on Mar 24, 2010, 12:33:39
Anything that upgrades itself and breaks is worth avoiding, it would be ok if it just checked when I opened the program, but not install an updater that checks in the background when the parent program is not used. I must admit I do not like anything that much from Google these days, privacy is a big concern with them.

That and the thought of someone else highjacking and using that updater on your system..........

See what happens if you deny the Google updater via Eset firewall, the damn thing asks for access every 20 seconds, it just won't stop.

Gary · Mar 24, 2010, 13:00:37

Quote from: Rik on Mar 24, 2010, 12:36:29
I didn't think they were that concerned, Gary, I thought the concerns were all on our side.

That's what I meant to say, not enough coffee yet today, Rik.

Rik · Mar 24, 2010, 13:01:38

lozcart · Mar 24, 2010, 13:22:07

Still not working on my two home computers, both of which are running Snow Leopard.

My office computer which is working is running Leopard, as Gary says it seems to be a problem with the latest auto update version for Snow Leopard.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/earth/thread?tid=792aad7829d4b048&hl=en

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 14:00:34

Quote from: lozcart on Mar 24, 2010, 13:22:07
Still not working on my two home computers, both of which are running Snow Leopard.

Can you see some network activity in Activity Monitor, at a few KB/sec?

Not sure what it's doing, but when I left mine running for 10-15 minutes or so (with the blank windows) it sorted itself out, and now it's fine.

lozcart · Mar 24, 2010, 14:23:34

Thanks Bill, I will have a look later as I'm back at work now.

I will let you know if leaving it open helps.

lozcart · Mar 24, 2010, 18:52:01

Oops... I did what you said Bill and you are correct if left alone it downloads a few kb/sec, it took over an hour and the maps appeared

.

Then I quit the program and relaunched and now I'm back to square one

guess I shouldn't have done that

I think I will wait for Google to fix the problem.

Thanks for your suggestions and help

Bill · Mar 24, 2010, 18:56:31

Mine was working fine earlier, just tried it again and, like you, back to square one

lozcart · Mar 28, 2010, 19:27:29

Seems to be all working again.

Bill · Mar 28, 2010, 19:32:55

Mine's been OK for 24 hours or so, but I've been keeping an eye on the Help forum (http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/earth/label?lid=7347a0611ccf7ed1&hl=en) and not a squeak from there, so I didn't want to tempt providence!