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Desktop & Screen Saver System Preference Pane Not Working

E

eskimio

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2012
3
0
Hi,

For a little while now my desktop & screen saver preference pane hasn't been working. I've been able to bypass it desktop-wise by simply right clicking images and setting them as my desktop wallpaper. However, I've gotten tired of having to do that and I'd like to get functionality back.

Basically, if I go into System Preferences and click the icon, the computer freezes for a few seconds and then the entire System Preferences window closes. No error, no result, nothing.

I opened console and performed the actions again and received the following lines:
Code: 
2/20/12 3:00:04 PM	System Preferences[275]	[NSPrefPaneBundle instantiatePrefPaneObject] (/System/Library/PreferencePanes/DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane): should only be called once
2/20/12 3:00:14 PM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[155]	([0x0-0x21021].com.apple.systempreferences[275]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault
2/20/12 3:00:15 PM	ReportCrash[361]	Saved crash report for System Preferences[275] version 7.0 (7.0) to /Users/Eskimio/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/System Preferences_2012-02-20-150015_Eskibook-Pro.crash

I was going to post the log file but it's over 35000 characters (the limit is 20000) so I'm unsure what to do.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Edit: I attached the log file in hopes that it'll help at all. If I need to post the contents in an actual post, I'll split it up and make two posts out of it.
 

Attachments

  • System Preferences_2012-02-20-150015_Eskibook-Pro.txt
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Last edited:
eskimio said:
Hi,

For a little while now my desktop & screen saver preference pane hasn't been working. I've been able to bypass it desktop-wise by simply right clicking images and setting them as my desktop wallpaper. However, I've gotten tired of having to do that and I'd like to get functionality back.

Basically, if I go into System Preferences and click the icon, the computer freezes for a few seconds and then the entire System Preferences window closes. No error, no result, nothing.

I opened console and performed the actions again and received the following lines:
Code: 
2/20/12 3:00:04 PM	System Preferences[275]	[NSPrefPaneBundle instantiatePrefPaneObject] (/System/Library/PreferencePanes/DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane): should only be called once
2/20/12 3:00:14 PM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[155]	([0x0-0x21021].com.apple.systempreferences[275]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault
2/20/12 3:00:15 PM	ReportCrash[361]	Saved crash report for System Preferences[275] version 7.0 (7.0) to /Users/Eskimio/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/System Preferences_2012-02-20-150015_Eskibook-Pro.crash

I was going to post the log file but it's over 35000 characters (the limit is 20000) so I'm unsure what to do.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Edit: I attached the log file in hopes that it'll help at all. If I need to post the contents in an actual post, I'll split it up and make two posts out of it.
Click to expand...

According to the crash log, it's finding an invalid memory call, and it can't access it. Try repairing the disk, and repairing permissions by booting up to your OS X disc. If that doesn't work, then you may need to reinstall OS X. I see you're on 10.6.8. Why did you stick with SL? Now maybe a good time to upgrade to OS X Lion.
 
Steve.P.JobsFan said:
According to the crash log, it's finding an invalid memory call, and it can't access it. Try repairing the disk, and repairing permissions by booting up to your OS X disc. If that doesn't work, then you may need to reinstall OS X. I see you're on 10.6.8. Why did you stick with SL? Now maybe a good time to upgrade to OS X Lion.
Click to expand...

I've repaired the disk, I've repaired permissions, I've reset PRAM, I've used Onyx to do all kinds of cleanups and whatnot.

I'd rather deal with it than reinstall, it's such a hassle.

I did a move to Lion right after it came out and had many issues with a lot of programs I use. Plus it was hogging an inordinate amount of resources to the point that I had multiple-GB page-ins & page-outs but I have 4GB 1033MHz DDR2 RAM in my late-2008 15" MBP so I'm out of luck. I'd rather stick with SL.

So that's it? Reinstall or deal with it? =/
 
eskimio said:
I've repaired the disk, I've repaired permissions, I've reset PRAM, I've used Onyx to do all kinds of cleanups and whatnot.

I'd rather deal with it than reinstall, it's such a hassle.

I did a move to Lion right after it came out and had many issues with a lot of programs I use. Plus it was hogging an inordinate amount of resources to the point that I had multiple-GB page-ins & page-outs but I have 4GB 1033MHz DDR2 RAM in my late-2008 15" MBP so I'm out of luck. I'd rather stick with SL.

So that's it? Reinstall or deal with it? =/
Click to expand...

That's basically what the logs are saying. Somehow, the preference pane files become all wonky, and you'll have to reinstall or deal with it. Reinstalling OS X wasn't that hard for me. All you should have to do is a Time Machine backup of your entire MBP, and reinstall, and restore. Unless, you have a large amount of data. If you don't want to deal with reinstalling OS X and moving data, I'm sure an Apple Authorized Service Provider would do it, farely cheap.
 
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