I'm afraid I need to come back to list members on this one. I passed on
the suggestion below to my daughter, and she has done it, but to no
avail: she still has no desktop icons or menu bar, but she does have a
Dock and can launch applications from it.
I talked her through some checks using terminal. She still has the
Desktop directory in her user directory, and it seems to have the full
complement of files. And the file ownerships and permissions seem to be
right. But the desktop icons aren't loading.
Finally, one thing seems strange: she has a Finder icon in the Dock,
but when she clicks on it, nothing happens. When I click on the Finder
icon on my machine a window opens that shows the computer at its
highest level of abstraction: there are icons for the HD and for
'Network, and for all the basic objects, eg Home, Pictures, Documents,
etc. But as I say, nothing opens for her at all. Hmm - could there be a
problem with the Finder application?
Tom Burke
On 22 Nov 2005, at 14:11, Andrew Rodger wrote:
Tom
This may be something you have already tried but it sounds like a
Finder glitch which could be sorted by forcing a restart and holding
down the shift key from the beginning. It may take ten minutes to
fully load but tell her to keep the key depressed until the safe boot
message comes up. Once it does and the machine is fully started she
can then restart and hopefully everything will be well.... Certainly
this is what I would try first.
Drew
On 22 Nov 2005, at 13:21, Tom Burke wrote:
I wonder if I can pass on a request for help? It's from my daughter
who does not live at home, therefore I do not have access to her
computer.
She says:
I just started my computer up and discovered that all the icons on
the desktop have disappeared, not to mention the toolbar across the
top. This means, among other things, I can't shut down properly, I
can't access any of the files and folders on my computer (unless
there's another way of getting to them) and I may have lost all the
files on my desktop. Everything else still seems to work - for the
time being. I shut down (of sorts - I pulled out the battery as I
couldn't remember how to do force quit) and restarted but the same
thing happened. Is this the beginning of the end? Help!!
The machine is a Lombard running Jaguar: 10.2.8, probably. It has had
the drive replaced with, I think, an IBM/Hitachi 20 Gbyte drive, at
least one of not two years ago. She also has a PC-card Firewire card
permanently plugged in - this allows her to use her early-generation
15 Gb iPod. There is no external monitor. So the the symptoms are: a)
no icons on the desktop; b) no menu bar.
I asked what she meant by 'everything else seems to work', and she's
explained that the Dock is present, and that she can access all the
apps whose icons are in the Dock - eg, Mail, Safari, and even Word,
so it sounds as if she's still got her personalised Dock, not the
default one. Applications that she has started from the Dock today
are working normally.
I've already suggested that she should try removing the Firewire PC
card and reboot without that, just in case the card has failed. I'm
waiting to hear the results of that, but won't get them until this
evening.
Can anyone think of anything that might be causing this, and what to
do about it?
Tom Burke
--
Mac UK is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
123Inkjets.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/123inkjets.html>
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
Mac UK list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-uk.shtml>
--> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-uk%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
iPod Accessories for Less
at 1-800-iPOD.COM
Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal
www.1800ipod.com
