MPB Customizing Gone WRONG. HELP

[froznkhemistry]

I love this site, but I honestly hate how much I've had to rely on it in the past month. Seriously.

So, like any Mac nerd, I've heavily customized my MPB, during Leopard. After the update, Magnifique didn't work, almost ****ed up my computer completely, so I only did some light icon changing. And then my friend m4cbook on YouTube, decided to light my nerdy ways again. He made a video on how to change the menu bar on my Snow Leopard.

It involved changing the Extras2.rscr or whatever it was called, and some sART.bin file thing, oh, and the Menu Extras. I'm too bothered to find the exact name, as this has been giving me a headache for the past hour.

Ok, so I decided to update it, and after my first logging out and back in, everything was going great, except there were not menu bar icons. The apple, the program name, file, edit, view, they were all there. I'm talking about the right side. Everything was gone except for spotlight. SOO, I freak out. Trying to move the Menu Extras and such. I go into system preferences, and on some settings like Airport, I would click "show Airport in menu bar". It would show the check mark. It didn't appear, and I've tried on some other settings, and I would click it, the checkmark would flash, and then it would disappear. I've tried clicking on the space where the menu button should be, and nothing happens. Actually, I've tried clicking the whole menu bar, nothing that should be there...is. Eventually, I gave up, and decided to take the backup files of the Extras, Bin file thing, and the Menu Extras, and just go default.

When I had logged back in, to my horror, it looked default except for, you guessed it, the menu extra icons. Apparently, I've done something wrong, and it's not any of the files faults. Apparently, some OTHER file is screwed up. Not the Extras, BIN file, and Menu Extras. So, I assume, if i'm going to be menu button-less, then it should at least be with a cool menu bar.

After some toying around a bit, ( with my black menu bar ), I double click one of the extras files. I clicked the Airport.menu ( extras file ). The Airport thing showed up! Only problem, the setting error ( the one where I click it, and the check shows up for a second, and disappears again ) still occurs. I thought "screw it, ill last." So I start clicking the menu files, which one I want. Accidentally, I clicked the eject one, and I can't get rid of it ( no pref pane for it in system prefs ). I thought it looked cool, and kept with it. And then I clicked the date. ( By the way, the date and time setting was the one that had the checkmark bug ). I clicked it two times, and for some weird reason. There are two dates now on my menu bar, and since I can't unclick the setting, I am very screwed.

Here's a screenshot.

So, can someone help me out with this? I don't know what to do, replace the prefpanes for my System Preferences, or fresh install Snow Leopard, which would be the biggest pain in the ass right now. I have so much stuff to back up it's not even funny. Please help, thank you.

PS I think I've made the longest mad post in this forum. Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm expecting to happen. Nevermind, this is barely anything. And I thought I wrote a lot.

 

[41qser]

Stop effing with dumb mods and you wouldn't be in this predicament.

 

[mikes70mustang]

Stop effing with dumb mods and you wouldn't be in this predicament.

No kidding, you should always back up BEFORE doing any changes. Also, a good rule of thumb is dont do stuff that is over your head, which this stuff apparently was. Id get the important files off, and reinstall. Just because i doubt youll get it back with out messing something up.

 

[OldMike]

I agree. It will probably be quicker to backup your data and do a new fresh install, then to try to resolve the mess (which may still come back to haunt you at some point).

 

[copykris]

funnier than the beef fat thread this one

anyway, i'd ask your friend m4cbook for some guidance on this

 

[peskaa]

Another vote for a fresh install. Then leave it as is!

 

[maflynn]

So, like any Mac nerd, I've heavily customized my MPB, during Leopard.

Actually I'd go out on a limb and say that most Mac nerds don't heavily customize their Macs nor do they muck around in the rscr files because that cause some significant stability problems if one is not careful. Given this thread, its seems you now understand that.

I can be an apple fanboy just like anyone else, but I realize that apple does like letting people customize the OS. Themeing and altering the look and feel of OSX is all but dead. Sure some do it, but nothing on the scale that can be done with Linux or windows.

 

[froznkhemistry]

No kidding, you should always back up BEFORE doing any changes. Also, a good rule of thumb is dont do stuff that is over your head, which this stuff apparently was. Id get the important files off, and reinstall. Just because i doubt youll get it back with out messing something up.

I did backup before I did anything, it's just the files I backed up, I guess weren't the ones having the problem. Hmm, well I guess it's off to a fresh install. =[

Right after I fixed my other problem too.

 

[Sneakz]

Isn't this thread better suited in the Mac OS X forum or on a site like MacThemes?

 

[uberamd]

Actually I'd go out on a limb and say that most Mac nerds don't heavily customize their Macs nor do they muck around in the rscr files because that cause some significant stability problems if one is not careful. Given this thread, its seems you now understand that.

I can be an apple fanboy just like anyone else, but I realize that apple does like letting people customize the OS. Themeing and altering the look and feel of OSX is all but dead. Sure some do it, but nothing on the scale that can be done with Linux or windows.

I'm with you on this. I am a big Mac guy and I don't customize. I don't find a reason to do it. Moreover, since the ability to customize isn't built into OS X, I figured it would be better to not muck around with things that could cause instability. I rely on my MBP for college and work, so if it fails due to me trying to get fancy I have a major problem.

Point: don't do things over your head and weigh the pro's and con's next time.

 

[monoxera]

OP should just backup his files, format, and don't mod ever again in his life.

 

[sehnsucht77]

I love this site, but I honestly hate how much I've had to rely on it in the past month. Seriously.

So, like any Mac nerd, I've heavily customized my MPB, during Leopard. After the update, Magnifique didn't work, almost ****ed up my computer completely, so I only did some light icon changing. And then my friend m4cbook on YouTube, decided to light my nerdy ways again. He made a video on how to change the menu bar on my Snow Leopard.

It involved changing the Extras2.rscr or whatever it was called, and some sART.bin file thing, oh, and the Menu Extras. I'm too bothered to find the exact name, as this has been giving me a headache for the past hour.

Ok, so I decided to update it, and after my first logging out and back in, everything was going great, except there were not menu bar icons. The apple, the program name, file, edit, view, they were all there. I'm talking about the right side. Everything was gone except for spotlight. SOO, I freak out. Trying to move the Menu Extras and such. I go into system preferences, and on some settings like Airport, I would click "show Airport in menu bar". It would show the check mark. It didn't appear, and I've tried on some other settings, and I would click it, the checkmark would flash, and then it would disappear. I've tried clicking on the space where the menu button should be, and nothing happens. Actually, I've tried clicking the whole menu bar, nothing that should be there...is. Eventually, I gave up, and decided to take the backup files of the Extras, Bin file thing, and the Menu Extras, and just go default.

When I had logged back in, to my horror, it looked default except for, you guessed it, the menu extra icons. Apparently, I've done something wrong, and it's not any of the files faults. Apparently, some OTHER file is screwed up. Not the Extras, BIN file, and Menu Extras. So, I assume, if i'm going to be menu button-less, then it should at least be with a cool menu bar.

After some toying around a bit, ( with my black menu bar ), I double click one of the extras files. I clicked the Airport.menu ( extras file ). The Airport thing showed up! Only problem, the setting error ( the one where I click it, and the check shows up for a second, and disappears again ) still occurs. I thought "screw it, ill last." So I start clicking the menu files, which one I want. Accidentally, I clicked the eject one, and I can't get rid of it ( no pref pane for it in system prefs ). I thought it looked cool, and kept with it. And then I clicked the date. ( By the way, the date and time setting was the one that had the checkmark bug ). I clicked it two times, and for some weird reason. There are two dates now on my menu bar, and since I can't unclick the setting, I am very screwed.

Here's a screenshot.

So, can someone help me out with this? I don't know what to do, replace the prefpanes for my System Preferences, or fresh install Snow Leopard, which would be the biggest pain in the ass right now. I have so much stuff to back up it's not even funny. Please help, thank you.

PS I think I've made the longest mad post in this forum. Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm expecting to happen. Nevermind, this is barely anything. And I thought I wrote a lot.

ROFL. here is my advice: back your sh*t up and then do a fresh reinstall and stay away from mods - they don't make you do work any faster and they just have a bigger potential of messing your system up.

 

[madog]

If you hold down the COMMAND key, you can click-drag most items out of the right side of the menu bar similar to the dock. Just drag an item you don't want outside of the bar and it should disappear. You can also position them around like the dock does. Spotlight is the only thing that can't be moved as far as I know.

 

[froznkhemistry]

If you hold down the COMMAND key, you can click-drag most items out of the right side of the menu bar similar to the dock. Just drag an item you don't want outside of the bar and it should disappear. You can also position them around like the dock does. Spotlight is the only thing that can't be moved as far as I know.

...you totally saved my ass man. THANK YOU. Just got back from school, and was praying that someone would post something else. Thank you man. I also remembered, that I could go into a new guest account, and see their preference files, or their system prefs, and replace mine. Do you guys know where the pref-panes for System Prefs is?

 

[shambo]

FAIL

 

[madog]

[...]

Everyone has already been on his ass for what happened, and while I somewhat agree, it's not gonna help anything at this point. No need to berate him from every angle. One reminder should be enough.

I also remembered, that I could go into a new guest account, and see their preference files, or their system prefs, and replace mine. Do you guys know where the pref-panes for System Prefs is?

If you're asking what I think you're asking, there is a specific folder called "PreferencePanes" in the ~/Library and System/Library folders. Third party stuff will pop up in there that you should be able to toss.