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I Can't select my desktop Icons

orbitalpunk

orbitalpunk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 14, 2006
567
349
ok, so this is really weird. every once in a while i all of a sudden cant select folders and documents on my desktop. when i do i just get the selection lasso like nothing is there. the dock and menu bar works fine. i can launch apps and change spaces. i can use dashboard and i can even still select sticky notes. but if its on the desktop, i can select it, open it. any thing unless i restart. any ideas? thanks guys.

24" white imac
Leopard 10.5.1
 
Do you have any theme changers installed, or any system hacks? Maybe try dragging com.apple.desktop.plist from your Preferences folder to the Trash.
 
Change your screen resolution, then change it back.

I occasionally have to do this now (since Leopard) when I switch from MBP display to external display. Fixes the problem. I figure a future update will permanently fix it.
 
I get the same problem on my MBP with 10.5.1. It has only happened a couple of times and I can't be sure what causes it.

To solve it, I type killall Finder into a Terminal window to relaunch Finder or you can Alt-Right Click on the Finder icon in the Dock and select Relaunch.
 
Phew! I've been having this problem also on my Mac Pro and I thought it was perhaps just a glitch on my machine rather than a problem with the OS in general. At least there's a chance it'll get fixed if it happens on a number of machines. It's not a huge inconvenience as relaunching the finder fixes it, but I'd still rather it didn't happen in the first place.
 
Hey people - new Mac user here (iMac 24inch 2.4 3gb ram Leopard) and Im having the same problem. My system has been running like a dream for about a month then today I suddenly cant open any of the folders on my desk top. If its just a .mp4 or .rtf for example then they work fine but folders wont open nor will external drives open.

Everything on the dock works but the Finder on the top of the screen I have the same problem - Finder - Go - Application/Home etc and I get nothing.

If I hit the Macintosh HD icon on the desk top sometimes I get the spinnging beachball for a few seconds then all the icons on my desktop disappear for a couple of seconds then reappear and Im back to square one.

Anyone got any ideas???

PS Have tried restarting many times but nothing.
 
Same prob....Screen Resolution change works.

I have the same thing on a 20" iMac 2.4g. It has been going on since new a year ago. The solution to change the screen resolution and then change it back worked perfectly. Finally I don't have to Logout or Reboot to access my desktop! I hope that Apple is aware of this...I found nothing on their support pages.
 
Changing the screen resolution worked for me.

Thanks for the posts- changing the screen resolution did the trick!
:eek:
 
I should say that I have had the same issue as well. Changing resolutions, changing the HZ for the monitor settings, and relaunching Finder ALL work to bring back the ability to click items on the desktop or to bring back "missing" icons. This is an OS issue, so it's good to see others with the same problem. I also have this issue of items not showing up on the desktop. The folder will be missing from the Desktop, but when relaunching Finder, it'll show up. I hope Apple can fix this soon. Maybe a rewritten Finder in SL will fix this?
 
As stated above, I have had this same exact problem before. The last time it happened, I immediately went into console and noticed a bunch of errors with iStat Pro. I relaunched Finder to bring back the clicking of the desktop and deleted iStat Pro. Since that time, I have not had the error of clicking on the desktop. I will update this post if it does happen again.

It could either be iStat Pro or it could be somehow more related to problems with Dashboard. This is a weird issue.

Anyone else with this problem have the iStat Pro Widget installed?
 
Just incase this thread is indexed, since my last post, I have not had one instance of not being able to click on the desktop or icons not appearing on the desktop since I deleted iStat Pro. I've had this issue for about 10 months and it went away as soon as I deleted the program.
 
iStat Pro

I use iStat Pro and love it. I've had this issue for MONTHS! It's so annoying on this amazing Mac Pro. I've gone ahead and removed it from my dashboard. I'll see if it works. I'll report back as well. Thanks BigD!
 
theBigD23 said:
Just incase this thread is indexed, since my last post, I have not had one instance of not being able to click on the desktop or icons not appearing on the desktop since I deleted iStat Pro. I've had this issue for about 10 months and it went away as soon as I deleted the program.
Click to expand...

Use iStat menus instead. It's basically the same, but the notifiers are in the menu bar so you don't have to open up dashboard all the time just to check. Also, I've never heard of any issues with this version as with iStat Pro.
 
Can't click on Desktop icons

Thanks MacRumours,

I had the same issue. Fixed in seconds - with Ctrl+Alt clicking on the Finder Icon in the dash board - and clicking 'relaunch'.
 
I have this same issue. I do not have iStat Pro running (although I think I have the widget on the hard drive. I do use iStat Menus.

Holding the Option key and right-clicking the Finder icon in the Dock to get the "Relaunch" command does fix this, but it happens continually. Just started a few months ago.

Seems to happen after the System goes idle (I don't set my MacPro to go to sleep, only the displays).
 
gcoghill said:
A comment on this thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=9135550 made me think of something: seems the un-clickable Desktop issues started around the time I bought a Magic Mouse.

Wondering if some sort of Bluetooth issue is causing this?
Click to expand...

This issue has been around well before the Magic Mouse came out. I suspect that it's another issue, though I do not know of anyone else with this issue.


gcoghill said:
I have this same issue. I do not have iStat Pro running (although I think I have the widget on the hard drive. I do use iStat Menus.

Holding the Option key and right-clicking the Finder icon in the Dock to get the "Relaunch" command does fix this, but it happens continually. Just started a few months ago.

Seems to happen after the System goes idle (I don't set my MacPro to go to sleep, only the displays).
Click to expand...

Since you have the widget, completely delete the widget, restart and see if it happens. I had the widget too and that was the problem. Try and see what happens. I would guess that deleting the widget, you'll stop having the problem.
 
theBigD23 said:
This issue has been around well before the Magic Mouse came out. I suspect that it's another issue, though I do not know of anyone else with this issue.

Since you have the widget, completely delete the widget, restart and see if it happens. I had the widget too and that was the problem. Try and see what happens. I would guess that deleting the widget, you'll stop having the problem.
Click to expand...

I just upgraded to 10.6 over the weekend, going to see if the issue persists so I can rule out one thing at a time. Thanks for the info.
 
skp574 said:
I get the same problem on my MBP with 10.5.1. It has only happened a couple of times and I can't be sure what causes it.

To solve it, I type killall Finder into a Terminal window to relaunch Finder or you can Alt-Right Click on the Finder icon in the Dock and select Relaunch.
Click to expand...

You can also use the Force Quit window to relaunch the Finder, which fixes this "non-working dektop icons" problem.
 
Buzz Bumble said:
You can also use the Force Quit window to relaunch the Finder, which fixes this "non-working dektop icons" problem.
Click to expand...

It doesn't fix the problem, it temporarily resolves it. If you do this, it will come back. In my experience, it's an iStat issue, that could have been solved by an update, but I have decided not to use the product.
 
theBigD23 said:
It doesn't fix the problem, it temporarily resolves it. If you do this, it will come back. In my experience, it's an iStat issue, that could have been solved by an update, but I have decided not to use the product.
Click to expand...

It's not just an iStat issue. Neither of the couple of iMacs I found that have had this "freezing Finder" problem have ever had iStat installed, and re-launching the Finder does seem to fix it (although it's difficult to tell for sure since these iMacs are turned off at the end of each work day anyway). :)
 
Buzz Bumble said:
It's not just an iStat issue. Neither of the couple of iMacs I found that have had this "freezing Finder" problem have ever had iStat installed, and re-launching the Finder does seem to fix it (although it's difficult to tell for sure since these iMacs are turned off at the end of each work day anyway). :)
Click to expand...

I'm gonna go ahead a say you may have a different issue with similar symptoms. I never came back to post my results, but I tested iStat Pro for awhile and realized that it was causing it for me. When I uninstalled, it was fine. I tried reinstalling each time they had an update and it would return. Uninstall, fine, reinstall, freeze. It was constant and would never fail. I've since upgrade to Snow Leopard and I can use iStat Pro again, no problem. This was an upgrade install and not a full erase and install. I unfortunately never tested iStat Nano/Menu.

And for those claiming that relaunching Finder fixes it, well, it doesn't fix it. It temporarily resets the issue. I couldn't live with a temp fix.
 
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