HT204156: About the screens you see when your Mac starts up

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akmckay
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: desktop picture flashing at start up

When I start up my desktop it ends on the desktop picture and starts flashing. 

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 10:01 AM

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akmckay

Q: desktop picture flashing at start up

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  • by akmckay,

    akmckay akmckay Sep 13, 2016 10:05 AM in response to akmckay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 10:05 AM in response to akmckay

    Start up seems fine at first, with the start up sound, then the apple logo and then when the loading bar indicator finishes a message box shows with an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle, but is blank otherwise.  THEN, the desktop picture starts to flash. 

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 13, 2016 10:54 AM in response to akmckay
    Level 9 (71,200 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 13, 2016 10:54 AM in response to akmckay

    Clarification question - is the computer fully booting?

  • by akmckay,

    akmckay akmckay Sep 13, 2016 2:02 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 2:02 PM in response to Eric Root

    Yes, it seems to be fully booting.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 14, 2016 7:52 AM in response to akmckay
    Level 9 (71,200 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 14, 2016 7:52 AM in response to akmckay

    Might be a corrupt .plist.

     

    Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

     

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and com.apple.desktop.plist.  Move the .plists to your desktop.

    Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plists from the desktop.

    If the same, return the .plists to where you got it  from, overwriting the newer one.

     

    Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.