Hard Drive Icon Won't Stay Put, Can you help?

[sandro]

Hi folks, I need your help once again, ever since I upgraded from Jaguar to Panther I get this wweird anoying little problem, everytime I start up my computer (G4 Ti powerbook) my hard Drive Icon keeps moving somewhere else on my desktop, I want it to stay on the upper right corner but It won't stay there, does anyone know what's going on? and how can I fix it? this same problem also appeared on an iBook aswell after upgrading to Panther, Thanks

[Counterfit]

Answer #1: repair permissions. Something might not be what it's supposed to be and messing a pref file up.

Answer #2: If that doesn't work, reset your PRAM (Start up, hold option-command-p-r before the first start chime, wait for the third chime and let go) This fixes quite a few issues, so it's always good to give it a shot.

[sandro]

I'll give it a try, Thanks

[cb911]

you don't seem too happy about that. :p

this thread just reminded me of a site i saw yesterday that had an AppleScript that would keep moving your HD icon away from the cursor whenever you went near it. :D i swear i'm going to prank someone with that!! :D

[Taavi]

What site?

[Counterfit]

Yes, Please give us a link! >=D

[cb911]

he he. :) that got some attention. :D

i can't remember the site... but i'll look for it. i was at college at the time.

i can remember it was called 'cat and mouse' or something like that. and it wasn't actually a script you could download, it just showed the code.

ok, off i go to search. :D

edit>> that didn't take too long.

i am the MAN!! :D here it is: http://hawkstudios.net/scripts/. enjoy, and make good use of it. i know i will. :D

i just saw that system requirements are Mac OS 9.2.x, Cursor OSAX, and i haven't tried it so i don't know if it works in OS X.

[alset]

Can't get it to compile in X. Anyone else?

Dan

[cb911]

darn it... i was afraid of that.:(

i thought that mighn't be X compatible because of the OS 9.x requirements... well someone let us know if you have any luck.

[Gidman]

Hey,

I am having the same problem and can't seem to fix it. I hav reset the pram and fixed the permissions three times. Any new ideas?

Gid

[gerry.alden]

The fix is easy for a Hard Drive Icon that won't stay put. In the Finder under the View menu select Arrange by Name. Presto!!!! and clean up helps too.

[cb911]

yeah, couldn't you just "Arrange by..." or select the "Snap to grid" option?


and has anyone played around with that AppleScript yet, or got it to work in X? ;)

[alset]

I gave up on it a long time ago. I'm sure someone who knows more about AppleScript can find a way, but I don't feel like learning syntax when I don't have other projects for it. Hmmmm..... Perhaps an AppleScript to arrange the Desktop in some fashion that executes on login and runs on a Cron job every once in a while just for fun. I might have a reason, now - what a shallow excuse to play with Cron jobs! ;)

Dan

[simX]

Originally posted by alset
I gave up on it a long time ago. I'm sure someone who knows more about AppleScript can find a way, but I don't feel like learning syntax when I don't have other projects for it. Hmmmm..... Perhaps an AppleScript to arrange the Desktop in some fashion that executes on login and runs on a Cron job every once in a while just for fun. I might have a reason, now - what a shallow excuse to play with Cron jobs! ;)

Dan

It seems that this kind of script is unusable in Mac OS X since the desktop folder is now actually a visible folder inside your home folder. So when you tell AppleScript to select something on the desktop, it does it in a new Finder window instead.

Note that if you want to get the script to compile, you just have to change the "<<" to an actual quote character (option-backslash) and the ">>" to an actual end quote character (option-shift-backslash). But that still won't solve the problem I mentioned above.

[cb911]

hold on a sec, what exactly is a "Cron job"??:confused:

and is there anyone who actually wants to make a AppleScript like that which will work in OS X? :D

[Ambrose Chapel]

another possible fix is to make sure no other icons are close to the HD icon. make sure if the HD icon is selected, with the new outline box around it, that it is clear from other icons. i had this prob when i first installed jaguar and now panther and both times this was the fix

[dylanemcgregor]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm having kind of the same problem as the OP... and kind of different.

I want to have my desktop icons kept on the left side of the screen, but everytime I reboot or switch users the icons have moved back to the upper right corner. Is this the expected behavior? Is there a way to lock the desktop icons in place?

I thought I should ask if this was how it was meant to work before I went about repairing permissions and resetting the PRAM...

-Dylan

[Powerbook G5]

Mine doesn't stay put, either, but in general, the grid/arrange settings for Panther seem to be ridiculously large. Just try to arrange or snap your icons to a grid in Panther and see how much space it puts between the icons now. It's insane. I miss being able to select "tight arrangement" and "neat arrangement" like you could under OS 9.

[Crawdad]

Two easy choices: drag the drive icon to the dock, or make an alias for it (with your choice of name) and leave that on the desktop.

In either case, then unset "Hard disks" in the Finder Preferneces' "Show these items on the desktop" list.

[mactastic]

Cron is a UNIX scheduling process IIRC, that OSX uses to run repair programs late at night when you aren't looking.

So here's the thread for how to fix your moving hard drive. I tried to find one before I started my own, and no wonder no one posted there! Lol, ok so i have to arrange my desktop my name and that will fix it? Let's try it...

[Powerbook G5]

I tried the tip of making an alias of my HD, it doesn't move now, but now it has that annoying alias arrow. Is there any way to remove it?

[jaykk]

I had the some problem, and here is my solution. First move all your desktop items away to a safe place. ( I hardly keep 3 or 4 items on my desktop other than the drives). Then, once u left with only drive icons, go to finder prefence, uncheck the Hardisk option and check back it again to display it back. Then bring back all ur desktop items..next time on, the hard drive will stay there. I did this couple of times since Jaguar days and it worked well for me.

[Crawdad]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I tried the tip of making an alias of my HD, it doesn't move now, but now it has that annoying alias arrow. Is there any way to remove it?

I only know how to remove all arrows from all aliases, and that would be a bit too drastic.

[Powerbook G5]

I figured out how to do that last night by modifying the file in the systemicon bundle package in CoreServices. I tried it for about 20 minutes before deciding to just change it back, I guess I'll just wait until Apple fixes the annoying bug or whatever it is that Panther has with the default "icon grid" since it seems ridiculously wide.