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Eric Westby Author

Level 4

1,829 points

Blurry/pixelated icons at random in Finder windows

Just upgraded my MBP (C2D, 3GB RAM) to SL, went smoothly. I'm seeing a lot of blurry icons in the Finder, though, seemingly at random. I'll open a window and about half the icons will be essentially large versions of the 16x16 icon, rather than sharp icons at the appropriate size. Changing the icon size via the new slider just enlarges the blurry icon, it doesn't increase the resolution.

It goes without saying that I'm seeing this on programs, files, and folders for which high-resolution icons is available.

I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere. Is it a common problem? Surely it'll be addressed in a forthcoming update, but I wonder how rare it is. The only oddball thing about my system is that I have an older ADC-connected 23" Apple Cinema Display monitor connected to the DVI port via Apple's behemoth of a DVI->ADC adapter.

Thanks,
Eric.

MacBook Pro, 15", 2.33GHz Intel, 3GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.6), 23" ACD, 1TB WD HDD

Posted on Aug 28, 2009 9:01 PM

481 replies

Oct 26, 2009 3:31 PM in response to Eric Westby

I'm having the same problems with the pixelated icons. I hope that whenever 10.6.2 is released that it fixes the problem.

Nov 1, 2009 11:13 PM in response to maulrat1967

Ditto. From the moment I installed Snow Leopard.

Nov 9, 2009 4:14 PM in response to Syncopator

Applied 10.6.2 and the blurry/pixelated icon problem is actually worse its previously was for me 😟

This is ridiculous

Eric Westby Author

Level 4

1,829 points

Nov 11, 2009 9:52 AM in response to Eric Westby

Sadly, as others have pointed out in the thread, 10.6.2 has not fixed the problem. Since the issue so obvious to those of us who have it, perhaps there's a third-party program at fault here? I can't imagine Apple would let something this aesthetically jarring go on, given how tightly they control the user experience.

What's puzzling about the third-party theory, though, is that I maintain a scrupulously clean system, with no "application enhancers" or unsupported hacks of any kind. My only third-party login items are:

DiskWarriorStarter
GrowlHelperApp
Microsoft Database Daemon
HP Scheduler (All Users)

My only third-party preference panes are:

BrowserPlus 2.4.17
Flip4Mac WMV 2.3.0.14
Growl 1.2
MacFuse 2.0.3
Perian 1.1.4

I believe VMwareFusion 3 may also install kernel extensions, but otherwise that's it. I can't fathom how any of these mundane pieces of software may be contributing to the blurry icon issue. Anyone else see any common elements?

Nov 11, 2009 11:10 AM in response to Eric Westby

It is becoming apparent to me that the issue may well be with the way SL interacts with certain video cards. This would explain why the different "solutions" we have found don't seem to work for everyone either. Obviously, this issue is not affecting everyone. That being said, I have been running my iMac for almost two days now with 10.6.2 and so far NO pixelated icons.

Eric Westby Author

Level 4

1,829 points

Nov 11, 2009 11:23 AM in response to Dolphbucs

Good call: I had originally wondered if it was my ADC-connected display, but the video card could well be the culprit. I'm using the stock 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 in my late-2006 MacBook Pro.

Let's start simple: anyone seeing the glitch on NVidia cards, or is this exclusively an ATI issue?

Nov 11, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Eric Westby

GeForce 8800 GS here

Nov 12, 2009 10:59 AM in response to Eric Westby

I have a stock NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card.

I do have one GUI hack thats in beta (iLeopard) but the issue existed long before I ever installed it.

Nov 12, 2009 11:26 AM in response to Eric Westby

3rd Party login items:
MaxMenus
WeatherDock
USBOverdrive Helper

3rd party pref panes (most are music studio related):
Logitech Control Center 3.0
Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro
Divx
Flip4Mac WMV 2.3.0.14
iLeopard 3.0b1
iStat Menus 2.0
Line 6 Audio-MIDI Devices 3.4.2
MacFuse 2.0.3
MaxMenus 1.5.1
Perian 1.1.4
Secrets 1.0.6
TechTool Protection 5.0.6
USB Overdrive 3.0.1
M-Audio MIDISPORT 8x8

So Flip4Mac, MacFuse and Perian are our only common ground.

Nov 13, 2009 6:35 AM in response to maulrat1967

I also wanted to mention that this is also occurring within applications as well ... my example here is from the open dialog box in Automator ... notice the Service, Print Plugin, iCal Alarm, and Image Capture Plugin icons (highlighted in red):

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j270/maulrat1967/?action=view&current=BlurryIc ons2009-11-12at91531AM.jpg

Eric Westby Author

Level 4

1,829 points

Nov 13, 2009 8:04 AM in response to maulrat1967

Agreed: I've also seen it in dialog boxes in Photoshop CS3.

MNMXML

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2009 7:54 PM in response to Eric Westby

It's happening to me too. Here are some notes/facts:

- I have an Early 2008 MacPro where the problems have occurred: pixelated, blurry icons, basically like it's using a small version (e.g., 32x32) blown-up to full size. Sometimes the icons aren't even there.

- It seems to affect image previews as well... image files that do not have custom icons set.

- I have a 17" Intel MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz w/4GBs RAM (can't remember the age, however: MacBookPro3,1 is the model ID). It's currently updated to 10.6.1, and has never had the problem.

- It affects icons randomly. Sometimes specific icons would be affected, other times not.

- Restarting seemed to temporarily fix the problem... but it wouldn't be long before it came back (minutes). Sometimes immediate... sometimes up to an hour after restart.

- I have since done a clean reinstall up to 10.6.2, and the problem has not come back for days with the exception of a few minutes ago in one application: CandyBar. All the icons in CandyBar are exhibiting the exact same problem.

- Restarting CandyBar doesn't help, or deleting the prefs and cache. Next on the list is to dump CandyBar AppSupport and see if it changes anything.

- Fortunately, I still have not experienced the problem in the Finder or other apps since the OS reinstall.

- I have not yet used CandyBar to change any icons, only to collect a bunch of 'em. I don't plan to do so until I can confirm it doesn't influence the problem.

- The only major change I've recently made that might have affected this was the installation of GraphicConverter. I'm going to see if I can find a install log or something to see what it installed, and where.

- I have manually replaced several custom Icons and replaced my Dock graphic files.

I'll come back to add notes/findings as I have time.

Hardware FYI: GTX 285 driving 30" cinema display at 2560x1600, and a small secondary display at 600x800px (vertical orientation).

Nov 13, 2009 10:19 PM in response to MNMXML

the two programs I have that I originally thought could be the culprits is CandyBar and GraphicConverter (two that you mentioned) ... but what eliminated that thought (for myself at least) is the fact that I'm getting the pixelated problem with icons that are not effected by those programs, such as the icons within the Automator application (you can see my post with that screenshot) none of those icons are either brought up within CandyBar nor have I customized them with Graphic Converter.

I can say that the custom icons that I have since replaced that were going invisible in the past are no longer going invisible but they still go pixelated ... so thats been a 1/2 remedy.

I brought this issue up over at Macupdate and it seems that theres more than just us few that are having this issue ... god I wish there was some sort of resolve to this!

Thanks for the detailed post MNMXML!

Eric Westby Author

Level 4

1,829 points

Nov 14, 2009 10:58 AM in response to maulrat1967

Just reconfirming -- mostly in case someone skips through the messages in the middle of this long thread -- that the problem is definitely not caused by CandyBar or any other third-party icon changing tool. I've never used CandyBar.

I do use GraphicConverter, but as it is a standalone application and not a system extension, I am exceedingly skeptical that it is at fault. I can confirm that I regularly see the blurred icon issue immediately after a restart and before GraphicConverter is ever run.

I have no custom icons except those that come with installed programs themselves -- I make it a point to keep my system as close to stock as possible.

It is helpful to see confirmation that both ATI and NVidia cards are affected by the problem, but it still leaves me wondering what the trigger is.

Nov 14, 2009 12:35 PM in response to Eric Westby

I'm pretty much leaning towards this being a Finder issue as I have found that I no longer need to restart my computer as a temporary fix but now I just restart the finder and it does the very same temporary fix. Yet deleting the finder plist doesnt offer any sort of fix. Just thought I'd add that in.

Blurry/pixelated icons at random in Finder windows