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Dock and Toolbar not operating normally? HELP!

A

Apple!Fre@k

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2006
521
6
OK, I have no idea why but all of a sudden today my active screen corners stopped working, the magnification feature in the dock doesn't work (when I click on an icon it magnifies and then gets stuck in that position), and when I go into the toolbar it doesn't automatically highlight stuff for me --- for example when I'm in Safair, I click on Safari next to the Apple icon and go down to Services which is suppose to show me a menu to the right and it doesn't. I have to click on and hold for it to show me. Does anyone understand what I'm saying?

I've restarted twice and I get everything back to normal for the first 2 seconds or so that the desktop shows. After that, everything I described above dies.
 
mad jew said:
Have you installed any third party software recently? In particular, do you use a theme changer or a system hack? :)
Click to expand...

Only thing I installed recently was the RealPlayer. I'll try and uninstall that now.

EDIT: Uninstalled it and restarted. Still having the same problems. Ughhhh! Anyone know what to do?!?!?
 
I can still use the F keys to access dashboard, all windows and desktop views but the active corners don't work. Neither does the dock magnification feature (tried resetting Turn Magnification Off but it didn't work) as well as all toolbar highlight functions! This is driving me MAD!
 
dpaanlka said:
Try booting from the CD or DVD that came with your computer, run Disk Utility, and choose "repair disk" and "repair permissions" - there might be some corrupted files on your disk and perhaps Disk Utility will help.

By the way, its called the Menu Bar, not toolbar.

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/3/
Click to expand...

Can't I just run the Disk Utility? Why boot from the DVD?
 
Apple!Fre@k said:
Can't I just run the Disk Utility? Why boot from the DVD?
Click to expand...

It can't repair a disk that you're booted from.

Also I assume you've tried restarting, yes?

Apple!Fre@k said:
as well as all toolbar highlight functions! This is driving me MAD!
Click to expand...

You mean the Menu Bar. I think that's what you mean. I can't be sure of what you're talking about honestly. Do you mean a toolbar of a specific program? Or the Macintosh Menu Bar.
 
dpaanlka said:
It can't repair a disk that you're booted from.

Also I assume you've tried restarting, yes?



You mean the Menu Bar. I think that's what you mean. I can't be sure of what you're talking about honestly. Do you mean a toolbar of a specific program? Or the Macintosh Menu Bar.
Click to expand...

OK. I've got the disk inserted. How do I "book from it?"

Yes, I've tried restarting many times.

And yes, I mean the Macintosh Menu Bar.
 
OK. I booted up using the startup disk that came with my iMac, opened Disk Utility and performed both a disk repair and repair permissions on my startup disk. I then restarted and before it had a chance to load the folders and hard drive icon on the desktop I clicked the Mac Menu Bar and moved the mouse over the different menu options. It worked just as it should highlighting each one as I moved my mouse over it (without the need to click). However, the second I clicked off the menu bar and onto the desktop the folders and hard drive icon loaded and then it the menu bar stopped working again to where I have to click each menu option to view it instead of just putting my mouse over it.

Damn this is frustrating! What should I do?
 
Woah! Holy hell! I've been working for the past half hour and been using the F keys to navigate around and out of absolutely no where my dock, menu bar and active corners started working again. It's like straight out of a scary movie. Just out of no where it's working again! Very very werid! But I'm really really glad!!!!! Thanks for your help anyhow guys! I'll let you know if it comes back.
 
Try looking in System Preferences -> Users, click on your account name, click on Login Items, and see what is set to load each time your computer starts.
 
I'm having this same problem right now -- I found your thread through a search to see if I could find any answers. Has anyone found a definitive way to fix this?

EDIT/SOLUTION: I reset my PRAM and everything is working just fine. I did a Google search and this was the only solution that I've found ... I'm a bit disappointed, though, a problem like this reminds me too much of my Windows days... :-(
 
skibob1027 said:
I'm having this same problem right now -- I found your thread through a search to see if I could find any answers. Has anyone found a definitive way to fix this?

EDIT/SOLUTION: I reset my PRAM and everything is working just fine. I did a Google search and this was the only solution that I've found ... I'm a bit disappointed, though, a problem like this reminds me too much of my Windows days... :-(
Click to expand...

Damn it! After waking my computer from a sleep five minutes ago, it's happening again. The problem has been gone for a month and now it's back out of no where.

Thanks for posting the solution, but how do you reset your PRAM?

And, here's to hoping Apple fixes this bug in 10.4.8. If this keeps happening every 30 days, it's going to piss me off.
 
Apple!Fre@k said:
Damn it! After waking my computer from a sleep five minutes ago, it's happening again. The problem has been gone for a month and now it's back out of no where.

Thanks for posting the solution, but how do you reset your PRAM?

And, here's to hoping Apple fixes this bug in 10.4.8. If this keeps happening every 30 days, it's going to piss me off.
Click to expand...

Nevermind. I did it.

RESET PRAM: Restart computer and hold CMD + Option + P + R

Solved the problem as promised. :)
 
Now come to think of it my beachball madness started when i installed real player sh*t on my emac
i would stay away from real player i knew it was bad for windows but i thought on a mac it would be ok
but for the last month ive had fr*cken beachballs lasting up to two minutes at a time with only five or six tabs at most open im going to do a complete erase and install
before i do i will hardwaretest and zap pram to be shure
 
Solved the problem as promised. :)[/QUOTE]

Apple!Fre@k said:
Nevermind. I did it.

RESET PRAM: Restart computer and hold CMD + Option + P + R

Solved the problem as promised. :)
Click to expand...


If the problem appears again, try re-installing your mouse. Especially, if it is wireless. Just unlplug it. Often my mouse will start acting buggy, causing my hot corners and magnification to quit working without realizing it.
 
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