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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Icons have disappeared off of desktop

SinnyC - Mar 20, 2007 - 11:35 am

I have an IMAC G5, with OS X 10.3.9 , and a couple of weeks ago all the icons disappeared off my desktop and I am now not able to open any applications such as itunes, iphoto, any files, etc. I can open Safari, however, when most pages load I get a pop up window saying my shockwave flash plug-in failed and it usually will not recgonize some image on that screen. I can click on the apple and get into preferences and what not but everything is greyed out for the most part and not able to access. I cannot play any video as that locks up the cpu and eventually it just shuts off. This happend about 2 years ago, and I think within a month it came back. Can anyone shed some light on this situation?

ishan - Mar 20, 2007 - 10:21 pm

First, I would download one of the freeware maintenance utilities (YASU, MainMenu, MacPilot,etc) and delete your user/system/font caches and do a "deep cleaning" of the system and repeat prebindings. Don't do anything else while this is going on and you will have to restart afterward; the restart will take much longer than usual. If this doesn't fix the problem, download the combo updater to 10.3.9 that's available on Apple's downloads page (just do a search) and run the updater, even though you're already running 10.3.9. The updater will replace a few zillion files, some of which may be corrupt. I am assuming you've already tried booting up with your install CD and running Disk Utility off the CD to repair the disk and repair permissions.

Hope that helps and please let us know what happens. Thanks.

SinnyC - Mar 21, 2007 - 3:06 am

I did the the combo update, and tried to do the freeware maintenance utility but it would not completely download. I searched high and low for my install cd and could not find it. Is there a some place I can go to access disk utility not on my install disk? Thanks again.

SinnyC - Mar 21, 2007 - 3:06 am

I did the the combo update, and tried to do the freeware maintenance utility but it would not completely download. I searched high and low for my install cd and could not find it. Is there a some place I can go to access disk utility not on my install disk? Thanks again.

SinnyC - Mar 22, 2007 - 12:46 pm

Is there a way to access a install disk if I have misplaced my original?

SinnyC - Mar 23, 2007 - 1:05 pm

I have responded 3 times with quesitons, can someone please advise?

ishan - Mar 23, 2007 - 6:45 pm

To get install disks you have misplaced, you can call Apple and they should be able to get you a set as long as you can prove ownership of the computer and the serial number.

You can also get Disk Utility if you buy the latest version available of 10.4, which is 10.4.6. However, the Disk Utility on that DVD is not identical to the one on your installer disk.

I would try downloads of the freeware maintenance utilities. If the previous download didn't complete, download a different one, or redownload the one that failed to complete.

Another option is to buy DiskWarrior and/or DriveGenius to try and repair the drive without having to do a reinstall (which you can't do until you have the CDs that came with the computer or a copy of the 10.4.6 Install DVD). There are downloadable versions of both software packages and they're good programs to have on hand for these kind of situations.

If you have access to another Mac with a Firewire port, you can hook up your Mac in "Target" mode (hold down the "T" key while turning on the Mac with the power button). Connect the two computers with a Firewire cable and you will see your computer's internal drive appear as a Firewire external drive on your host Macintosh. You can then run Disk Utility from the host Macintosh or any other disk repair program you like, since your computer for all practical purposes is now just an external FW drive. After you're done, you simply turn off your Mac with the power switch and disconnect the FW cable, then start up your Macintosh and see what happens.

If something similar to this happened to you two years ago, I'm just wondering why you haven't spent the relatively small amount of money to buy an external Firewire drive and clone your internal drive to it using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you had done that, and kept the backup up to date, you could boot up off your clone and simply clone the clone back to your internal hard drive, and that would save an awful lot of time and frustration. Something to think about in the future...

Hope that helps and please let us know what happens. Thanks.

SinnyC - Mar 26, 2007 - 8:05 pm

I am trying the firewire with another Mac to see if that works, will be responding tomorrow. Thank you for the great suggestions.

TechSupport - Mar 29, 2007 - 8:10 pm

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293036

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