Blurry/pixelated icons at random in Finder windows

I am running snow leopard and I don't have that problem. I'm even using one of those LG Flatrons from 2005. It must be the icon cache.

Interesting. Other Mac Mini users have posted that they DO have the issue. How long do you run your Mini ? We all seem to see this effect after the system has been running and generating thumbs in the icon view of the finder. BTW ZTech, I don't quite know what you mean by "the icon cache" . My first thought was that it must be a corrupted cache also, but like the others in this thread, have deleted numerous cache and plist files with no cure. What specific file or folder are you referring to?

I'll add myself to this list of people with this blurry icon problem. I have not only noticed it in the Finder and Dock, but also in applications like iTunes. An iTunes dialog box that shows the iTunes icon on the left is showing up fuzzy yet the app icon in the Finder and Dock appear normal. I am seeing a huge problem with CandyBar. Pretty much all the icons in that application are appearing blurry and many are not even rendering at all. This all started after updating to Snow Leopard.

Since I'm not the only one seeing this issue, I'm hoping that Apple is at least aware of this issue and is looking to fix it.

Does anyone know if it's been submitted as a bug report on their bug tracking system?

Yes I know that it has because I have posted it myself. I just thought of something else about ZTech's post .... mentions using an LG Flatron Monitor .... I wonder if the pixelation doesn't show as well on older Monitors with lower resolution.

My mac mini runs for a long time. I think it might be that all your icons and pictures and stuff is probably 128X128 from leopard so when snow leopard tries to display them in 512X512 it goes all blurry. But the thing posted by Eric that said that it fixed the pixelation in 1.6.1 for 3 hours confuses me.

ZTech, thanks for the attempt, but it has nothing to do with 128x128 vs 512x512. When Snow Leopard is installed, all the system icons are replaced by scalable 512x512 icons. It is immaterial what size the Leopard icons were since they are no longer present after Snow Leopard is installed. The way it works is this, and everyone here has had the same issue happen to them ( even on clean installs ). You are running Snow leopard. Everything is fine and the icons scale nicely for awhile. Then after a period of operation the icons in the Finder AND in the Dock ( including inside Stacks ) get pixelated ... and not all just some. This affects both system icons and other icons, such as those generated for a document such as a picture or even a rar or zip file's contents, as well as thumbnails for photos. It is my theory that something corrupts a data base or cache file somewhere when either the icons are scaled above 128x128 or thumbnail/icons are generated for data files. We have tried deleting and/or resetting every cache or plist file we can think of and nothing lasts for long. The only thing that helps is to restart the finder ( or log out or restart the computer which also would, in effect, restart the finder ) but after awhile the problem resurfaces. Eric thought that 10.6.1 had fixed the issue because it requires a restart ... after three hours the problem resurfaced just like it does for everyone else after a finder restart.

It is very possible that there is something we have all done that you have not so that the issue has not happened to you yet so if you could tell us what type of files you have used or if there is anything I have mentioned above that you have NOT done that would be quite useful. Also, in your first post, you mentioned something about the icon cache. I asked you which file or folder you were referring to. It is possible it is something we have overlooked. Please tell us what file or folder you were talking about.

@Dolphbucs: It can't just be a Finder thing since I'm seeing pixelated icons in iTunes as well. After checking for application updates (for iPhone/iPod touch apps), if there are none, I get a dialog telling me so with an icon that sometimes is pixelated and sometimes normal. I have also seen this issue with other applications including CandyBar (the icon database application from Panic Software and The Icon Factory).

Restarting the Finder has no effect on these applications at all.

The folks at Panic tell me that the issue with their app is a known bug and is scheduled to be fixed in the next update release.

Also, I have attempted several restarts of both the Finder and Dock and still see the pixelated icons in both programs.

I'm just hoping that Apple is on top of this issue and will have it fixed in 10.6.2.

I know that it is not limited to Finder and Dock, I just was saying that it happens in BOTH Finder and Dock. It still could be some sort of cache issue though. I would think that any app would use the same icon rendering code that the finder does. Strange that your Mac doesn't get better with a restart or finder re-launch though. That does give me another idea though .... could it be a way in which Snow Leopard is reacting with the new Snow Leopard drivers for various different Graphics cards? That might explain why some with Mac Minis ( like ZTech ) haven't seen the issue and others ( like you ) can't seem to get it to reset. Have you tried shutting down your Mac Pro, waiting a few minutes and then firing it back up? If it is a way SL is interacting with the video cards, that would at least clear the VRAM and reset it ... something that a restart may not do thoroughly. I wonder if there is a cache on Video cards that is used for storing icon images by SL ?

Message was edited by: Dolphbucs

Sorry, I just wanted to make it clear that other apps were affected other than just the Finder and Dock.

Also, I didn't say that restarting OS X doesn't fix the issue, just the Finder. I don't restart OS X that often. Once a week normally unless there is a software/driver update that requires an reboot.

No reason to be sorry, just trying to make my thoughts on the matter clear also.

Good to know that about the restart , so it very well could be an issue with the video card drivers. I suspect that a restart would reset any issues with the video card and that would explain why I and others are able to get the icons to reset with a simple finder restart and you are not.

I don't know what caches ZTech has in mind, but there are a set that are specifically for thumbnails. They're here on my machine:

/private/var/folders/Rv/RvRzJO5dHda62tPNz4CIxk +TI/-Caches-/com.apple.QuickLook.thumbnailcache

To get to them you need access the Finder's Go menu, then select "Go to Folder" and type in

/private/var/folders

After that you'll just have to try looking in the folders to see which one has your stuff. I happen to have three, one for each of my two users and one for the system. Whether this is the most general cache of thumbs for the Finder I just don't know.
Francine


Francine
Schwieder

I really don't know what is happening, SL should be a lot better. Maybe it's that my screen only goes up to 1280x1024 so the problem won't show.

Thanks Francine. I don't know if I want to mess with something buried that deep into a hidden system folder though. Have you ever tried deleting those files you mentioned? Will they just regenerate like a plist file?

I hadn't bothered to login to my test account yet, so I decided to do so. The various files inside of .../-Caches-/com.apple.QuickLook.thumbnailcache were all really tiny. I browsed around some windows, and sure enough the thumbnails.data file quickly jumped from a few KBs to 2MBs (in my regular account it is nearly 500MBs). So I tried trashing the com.apple.QuickLook.thumbnailcache folder, browsed some more, but it did not reappear. Quit the Finder, still a no show. Logged out and back in and it was recreated with KB sized files.

As to whether it will actually do anything for those with the problem, I don't know. I was rather bemused by the fact that all the folders I opened had their thumbnails appear instantly, which makes me suspect there may be Finder icon caches somewhere else.
Francine


Francine
Schwieder

Thanks Francine. At least that shows that we can play around with those files and not cause any damage. Very helpful.