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Resolved System Preferences not responding

Yeah it sucks because a lot of the ways the forums are saying to fix it involve going through system preferences.
 
I suppose the only options left that I can see are to try another clean install or wait for an update from Apple.
 
thanks

same here. I'm not gonna spend any more time with reinstalling it. I will just take the advice of Apple and trust they will soon have an update to solve the problem.

Thanks for posting suggestions and trying to help. Much appreciated.

I'm not the most technical person, but besides this system preference problem, I am very happy with all other aspects of Lion so far.
 
I am having the same problem as well.

System preference freezes up whenever I go to desktop & screensaver.

Searched online, but cannot find the com.apple.desktop.plist ,etc files in my library. I think those solutions are for SL or Tiger.
 
Alpha male said:
I am having the same problem as well.

System preference freezes up whenever I go to desktop & screensaver.

Searched online, but cannot find the com.apple.desktop.plist ,etc files in my library. I think those solutions are for SL or Tiger.
Click to expand...
You need to unhide library folder first -> because it is a folder hidden by Apple, it is flagged, so open the Terminal and command would be:
Code: 
chflags nohidden /Users/<Username>/Library
after that you will see Library folder and inside /Users/<Username>/Library/Preferences you can find com.apple.desktop.plist and remove it!
 
System Preferences not responding

I am seeing the same issue. What is strange is that I have no issues if I am not connected to a power source AND using an external monitor. As soon as I pull the power cable, the system is responsive again.
 
sasmith said:
I am seeing the same issue. What is strange is that I have no issues if I am not connected to a power source AND using an external monitor. As soon as I pull the power cable, the system is responsive again.
Click to expand...

I'm having the same issue with both Desktop & Screensaver, and with Mission Control settings, and I'm using an external monitor. I'll try later on with my external monitor disconnected. The issue of not being able to use a laptop in screen-off clamshell mode is annoying but could it also be the cause of these settings problems?
 
vanjavzd said:
You need to unhide library folder first -> because it is a folder hidden by Apple, it is flagged, so open the Terminal and command would be:
Code: 
chflags nohidden /Users/<Username>/Library
after that you will see Library folder and inside /Users/<Username>/Library/Preferences you can find com.apple.desktop.plist and remove it!
Click to expand...

I didn't have to unhide the folder, but I did delete com.apple.desktop.plist and IT DID WORK! My system preference works like it is supposed to now.

Thank you so much for figuring that out. Much appreciated.

Again, PROBLEM SOLVED! Thank you.
 
TheFlashGuy said:
I managed to fix it by trashing iPhoto :)

I'd recommend trying this as long as you back up your library somewhere first.

Anyway all is working fine now..!
Click to expand...
Worked for me as well, I moved to the trash whole iPhoto Library in /Users/<username>/Pictures/ and this fixed all freezing problems in System Preferences under Desktop & Screen Saver! :)
 
file comes back

I noticed that when you delete com.apple.desktop.plist, it shows up again in the preferences folder as soon as you open system preferences.

Also, I after trying it several times, I noticed that when you are in the desktop/screensaver pane, if you click on "Last Viewed Event" on the left hand column it will cause system preferences to freeze up again.

This is just my experience. But each time it froze again, I just went back and removed com.apple.desktop.plist and the problem goes away.

Is there anyway to permanently delete com.apple.desktop.plist? And what about deleting com.apple.desktop.plist.lockfile would that help in any way maybe?

Thanks
 
TheFlashGuy said:
I managed to fix it by trashing iPhoto :)

I'd recommend trying this as long as you back up your library somewhere first.

Anyway all is working fine now..!
Click to expand...

I have a 2008 24" iMac that also had the "spinning ball" problem.

When I first opened Lion my two monitor's had the same wallpaper as in SL. They are from two "wallpaper" albums in iPhoto.

After updating iTunes and Java, I entered my wife's account on the computer. When I logged out and went to my account the wallpaper switched to some universe view.

I right clicked to get to the display system preferences and got the spinning ball. I waited and used force quit to leave the system preferences which was highlighted in red.

I did this two more times with the same results.

I noticed that iPhoto wasn't showing up properly in the display system preferences. So I launched iPhoto which took a long time to rebuild its database. I then played with iPhoto a bit and closed it.

Then I went to display system preferences and all worked. I reset my two wallpapers to my photos.

No problems with any system preference after this "fix".

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
abus1105 said:
I didn't have to unhide the folder, but I did delete com.apple.desktop.plist and IT DID WORK! My system preference works like it is supposed to now.

Thank you so much for figuring that out. Much appreciated.

Again, PROBLEM SOLVED! Thank you.
Click to expand...

philipk said:
I have a 2008 24" iMac that also had the "spinning ball" problem.

When I first opened Lion my two monitor's had the same wallpaper as in SL. They are from two "wallpaper" albums in iPhoto.

After updating iTunes and Java, I entered my wife's account on the computer. When I logged out and went to my account the wallpaper switched to some universe view.

I right clicked to get to the display system preferences and got the spinning ball. I waited and used force quit to leave the system preferences which was highlighted in red.

I then this two more times with the same results.

I noticed that iPhoto wasn't showing up properly in the display system preferences. So I launched iPhoto which took a long time to rebuild its database. I then played with iPhoto a bit and closed it.

Then I went to display system preferences and all worked. I reset my two wallpapers to my photos.

No problems with any system preference after this "fix".

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

To the OP, try both of these steps here above quoted and see if that resolves your problem.
 
abus1105 said:
I noticed that when you delete com.apple.desktop.plist, it shows up again in the preferences folder as soon as you open system preferences.

Also, I after trying it several times, I noticed that when you are in the desktop/screensaver pane, if you click on "Last Viewed Event" on the left hand column it will cause system preferences to freeze up again.

This is just my experience. But each time it froze again, I just went back and removed com.apple.desktop.plist and the problem goes away.

Is there anyway to permanently delete com.apple.desktop.plist? And what about deleting com.apple.desktop.plist.lockfile would that help in any way maybe?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Of course there is a solution, I had exactly that problem, but after moving to trash iPhoto Library folder under Pictures, all problems are gone now! Make sure to backup iPhoto Library first somewhere else! I didnt use iPhoto so much so my iPhoto Library was empty (without pictures), after moving it to the trash I created new library for iPhoto and now it's all OK! No more freezing under System Preferences! :D
 
I have tried deleting desktop.plist but that hasn't worked for me. I uninstalled iPhoto years ago and there is no trace of it on my system now so it's not likely to be that. Are there any other prefs or plist files associated with desktop pictures that might be the cause?
 
Hey! Fixed it myself :)

In the Get Info window for the System Preferences application I unchecked "Open in 32 bit mode" and now everything works :cool:
 
boot to safe mode

same problem here -

solved by booting to safe mode - holding "shift" key at gong and releasing when progress bars appears

then let the lion roar

hth others
 
System preferences frozen-Lion

Hi All,

Forum newbie here and I just had to share what I found. I had been exploring Photostream and found much to my chagrin, you cannot delete individual photos once they are posted--total bummer there, but what really steamed me was that when I saved the Photostream photos to my iPhoto library and then went to change my desktop picture, System Preferences froze with the BeachBall of death! I played around until frustrated and then I came here and started digging and Viola! Found a post about trashing the iPhoto library in the pictures folder (after backing it up of course) and so I did this and just like magic, the system preferences started working again. There must be some conflict with Photostream and system preferences where maybe the photos saved to the iPhoto library are not recognized ? Anyway, my sincere thanks for this forum
 
Got the solution

Well was having the exact problem myself. Was becoming rather frustrated as I reinstalled Lion and still had the same problem. System preference was stuck on the desktop screen saver option.

Called apple support and they and they were brillent. Spent ours on the phone with them through.

Apparently there's a folder in the liberary preference called boot host. And some others named apple.com/ systems reference.plist.com and another I can't remember. These need to be trashed.

Best way to go about it is to call the apple support again and they should help as the did with me.

My system is working now and I love the new system software Lion. Hope this helps :)



Lewisbrah said:
Upgraded to Lion a few hours ago on my MacBook Pro and did a few things in system preferences(changed scrolling back to how it was) then went to mess with the new wallpapers and it gave me the pinwheel and froze up

now every time i try to open system preferences it does the same thing

so far i've tried restarting, shut down, and trying to open different things in system preferences through spotlight and it does the same thing

if anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
 
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