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Expose/Mission Control windows reduced to icons & lines

estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
Hi all- I'm wondering if the attached image is a common occurence for anyone else. I'm on a mid-2012 13" mba and I frequently get my expose/mission control view reduced to just icons or, in the case in this picture, a single white line to the left and above the itunes icon- that would be my messages app.

Is this normal? small screen space?

second question- the correct pronunciation of "exposé"
 
D

DisplacedMic

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,411
1
estockme said:
Hi all- I'm wondering if the attached image is a common occurence for anyone else. I'm on a mid-2012 13" mba and I frequently get my expose/mission control view reduced to just icons or, in the case in this picture, a single white line to the left and above the itunes icon- that would be my messages app.

Is this normal? small screen space?

second question- the correct pronunciation of "exposé"
Click to expand...

you forgot to upload the image but i always say it like it rhymes with Jose.

ex-po-ZAY. emphasis on the last syllable. Ex-posse would be cooler though, young guns style.
 
estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
you are correct, i forgot to click upload.

here are two different versions i was able to produce by simply swiping in and out a few times. in the one where messages does not appear as a giant window, it is a tiny line on the left side.
 

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estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
oh, and besides a private conversation being visible in messages, there is a minor spoiler for breaking bad buried in there... sorry.
 
D

DisplacedMic

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,411
1
estockme said:
oh, and besides a private conversation being visible in messages, there is a minor spoiler for breaking bad buried in there... sorry.
Click to expand...


AHHHHHH!!! banninated!
:p

i honestly have no idea why that is happening. think a permission repair might fix that?
 
Mr Rabbit

Mr Rabbit

macrumors 6502a
May 13, 2013
638
5
'merica
Definitely a strange little bug. If you create a test user, or just enable the Guest user, and login to that account does it behave the same way?
 
estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
everything was fine in the guest user, but when i went to click sleep (which i don't normally do) instead of logging out the screen just went black with a mouse cursor and became unresponsive... these kinds of little things have happened with the display since i got the thing, about 9 months now, and i don't have applecare+... anyhow, i did a hard reboot with the power key and went into guest, everything worked fine with a whole bunch of applications and different window types, and now i'm back in here and it's working fine.

verify permissions found something wrong with java:
Permissions differ on “Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin”; should be lrwxr-xr-x ; they are drwxr-xr-x .

that's it. but it was working again after reboot. at some point it will happen again and i can't pin a clear cause on anything.

I also had a disk error/repair about a week ago... but these problems with expose and sometimes sleep/login have been consistent since i got the thing. does this justify a trip to the store? what if i can't reproduce it there?
 
Mr Rabbit

Mr Rabbit

macrumors 6502a
May 13, 2013
638
5
'merica
With it being somewhat inconsistent they will likely deem it a software issue (which I would agree with) and advise you to backup your data and archive & install the OS.

If I were in your position I would attempt to reinstall the OS by booting to the Recovery Disk and clicking "Reinstall Mac OS X". Unless you use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive prior to this you SHOULDN'T lose any pertinent data, though it's always a good idea to backup beforehand. Once it's reinstalled I would install all available software updates and use as normal.
 
estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
Alright, I've thought about doing this for a while. Could you explain a bit? A reinstall will keep my whole user, docs, programs, everything intact without me needing to do anything? if not, would restoring from time machine be the way to go? and how do i know this won't recreate the problem?


Mr Rabbit said:
With it being somewhat inconsistent they will likely deem it a software issue (which I would agree with) and advise you to backup your data and archive & install the OS.

If I were in your position I would attempt to reinstall the OS by booting to the Recovery Disk and clicking "Reinstall Mac OS X". Unless you use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive prior to this you SHOULDN'T lose any pertinent data, though it's always a good idea to backup beforehand. Once it's reinstalled I would install all available software updates and use as normal.
Click to expand...
 
Mr Rabbit

Mr Rabbit

macrumors 6502a
May 13, 2013
638
5
'merica
That's the tricky part. If you restore from a Time Machine backup you run the risk of restoring the faulty file, assuming this is indeed a software issue. You could always restore just a user folder or the individual folders in a user folder, ignoring the Library which would likely be where the troublesome file resides.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

To do the Archive & Install, boot to your Recovery Disk and click "Reinstall Mac OS X". Follow the prompts and let the installation finish. Once it's finished you will likely have several software updates available, run these and you should be good to go.

Hopefully the problem is resolved, but if not you might also try an erase & install.

To do the Erase & Install you will boot to your Recovery Disk, open Disk Utility, select your internal disk, select the Erase tab and click Erase. Once your disk is erased you will exit Disk Utility, click on "Reinstall Mac OS X" and follow the prompts just like you did in the first round. If you've had to do an erase & install I would test the system for a little bit to ensure the problem is gone before starting to restore your user account from Time Machine.
 
estockme

estockme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
249
4
This may or may not be related but feels worth mentioning before i reinstall: I have found disk errors (using verify disk) twice in the last week on Macintosh HD. could this point to a hardware problem that reinstalling won't help? again, I don't have AC+ so I don't want to bring it into a store without anything backing up what i say.
 
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