strange finder issue: help a tech diagnose own machine

[MentalFabric]

Hey All,

I've got some issues with the finder at the moment:

Mac Pro 2x2.66 xeon 2Gb RAM 10.5.6 (about 10Gb free HD space )

Check out the attached screenshots - in the first, the desktop was arranged by name, as always, only most of the icons are missing... only about half were missing at first (a chunk in the middle), but with some interaction I'm down to about a third. In the second i switched it to arrange by date (after restarting the finder[not the computer])... i promise i didn't just drag them around in random arrangement

Apple-Tab sometimes doesn't display the graphicky bit, but still works, other times only some apps appear in the bar, second time around all will... unfortunately it won't let me screenshot that one :/

So what do you think? Don't tell me my graphics card is dying! ^.^

I can navigate to the missing files normally through the finder so I'll put it to sleep as-is for now!

update:

now i can bring the icons back by clicking on them - didn't work before, and takes a couple of clicks for some icons apple-tab issue happening less, but haven't changed or quit anything...

 

[BlueRevolution]

Wow, I've never seen that one before. Try running the following command in Terminal:

rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store

Then relaunch Finder.

 

[MentalFabric]

Wow, I've never seen that one before. Try running the following command in Terminal:

rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store

Then relaunch Finder.

Thanks for your suggestion! Unfortunately though it still makes no difference :S

 

[Consultant]

Have you tried

Repair permissions then restart

 

[yellow]

Basic troubleshooting:
does this happen when logged in as another user? (create one if need be).
Yes.
Then it's a system wide problem.
No?
Then it's relegated to your user, I'd start by removing ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

 

[MentalFabric]

Have you tried

Repair permissions then restart

I've had slighter instances of this problem in the past, and have repaired the permissions/run tasks through onyx now and then, but this time I've left the machine up and running in its current state in case anyone has any diagnostics for it! Restarting the computer would bring it back to its normal state...

 

[MentalFabric]

Basic troubleshooting:
does this happen when logged in as another user? (create one if need be).
Yes.
Then it's a system wide problem.
No?
Then it's relegated to your user, I'd start by removing ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

This only seems to happen about once a month, and I don't want to have to switch to the admin account for that long ^.^

Am I correct in thinking that the changes effected by removing .plist files don't actually take effect until you restart? Would relaunching the finder do it?

 

[iBlue]

If restarting puts it all back to normal, why all this hassle? Sometimes things just get screwed up and it doesn't always mean there is a big problem which needs solving. Sometimes computers just need a restart, as I am sure you as a tech are aware of. Mac users and restarting, I swear!

 

[MentalFabric]

If restarting puts it all back to normal, why all this hassle? Sometimes things just get screwed up and it doesn't always mean there is a big problem which needs solving. Sometimes computers just need a restart.

Because it's a problem that keeps reoccuring (worse) every couple of weeks, I want to make sure I don't have a slowly dying hardware component/slowly growing software issue/commonly reported issue ^.^

 

[iBlue]

Because it's a problem that keeps reoccuring (worse) every couple of weeks, I want to make sure I don't have a slowly dying hardware component/slowly growing software issue/commonly reported issue ^.^

Fair enough.

I have noticed that when there are a lot of files on the desktop these oddities tend to happen more often. It's as if OS X resents untidiness!


I think the effect of removing the plist file should be immediate as soon as finder is relaunched, by the way. edit: or what yellow said below.

 

[yellow]

This only seems to happen about once a month, and I don't want to have to switch to the admin account for that long ^.^

Well, it's hard to help you troubleshoot the problem otherwise. To track down the problem you have to be able to create it reproducibly.

Am I correct in thinking that the changes effected by removing .plist files don't actually take effect until you restart? Would relaunching the finder do it?

No a logout & login will suffice for that particular plist.