Finder Flashing & Dock disappeared. HELP!!!

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Finder Flashing & Dock disappeared. HELP!!!

I've had my macbook 10.4 11 for a few years now since i started college in 2006. And all of a sudden these past few days, the finder window starts flashing..not flashing completely on & off, but like blinking & so does all the icons on my desktop. They all flash at the same time as soon as my laptop is rebooted. And now all of a sudden last night, the dock disappears. I was backtracking and kind of figured out that these problems started occuring as soon as I download the "recommended updates". Never has my mac acted up like this. But as soon as i download the updates...now the finder is flashing & the dock has disappeared. Please anybody i need help to fix this. I'm in the entertainment industry & I have alot of important projects, files on here. Will those be damaged?? And how can I fix this problem A.S.A.P?? I cant even access safari now to go to the net, because my safari icon is located on the dock. And my icons flash on the screen, so i couldnt click on even if i tried. How can i get the dock back? And for the finder window to stop flashing?

Message was edited by: musiqfiend

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 1, 2010 7:12 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

427,949 points

May 1, 2010 7:24 PM in response to musiqfiend

Could be this old issue:

Check for incompatible third party applications.

[One person reports success|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8969672#8969672] with installing the latest version of Stuffit upgrade (13.0.3)

[If using Stuffit, check this one first|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8884712#8884712]

[Finder crashes associated with using Stuffit|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1873700&tstart=0]

[Finder crashing/looping/closing folders (Stuffit issue)|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1882285&tstart=0]

[Finder crashes associated with using Afloat|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8852780#8852780]

[Quicktime 7.6 update issues with 3rd party software|http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090121223437550]

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Answer 2

musiqfiend Author

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May 1, 2010 7:41 PM in response to Limnos

I'm not sure if that'll help. I was reading through & it says to stop it you have to go to "system preferences". I can't access that right now, because my dock disappeared last night. And thats where the icon is for my system preferences. I cant click on the apple thing at the top either because my screen blinks. It blinks so fast that you dont have time to click on an icon cause it switches. Say if i opened a window..for example like Itunes or something. My screen goes crazy. The windows will flash back and forth "Itunes, finder, itunes, finder, etc.." their doing this so fast that i cant access anything. And now the dock is disappeared. Which makes matters even worse lol all my icons are in dock. I can almost work my way around with the flashing. But *i cant work around a missing dock. Without a dock, i cant access ANYTHING. _ALL MY ICON ARE IN THE DOCK._* :/ If anybody knows how to restore the dock to come back. Please let me know. Once i get that back, then we can work on fixing the flashing finder.

Message was edited by: musiqfiend

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Answer 3

Limnos

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427,949 points

May 1, 2010 7:56 PM in response to musiqfiend

Try restarting the computer. Sometimes that clears up issues alone.

Try starting in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key at startup.

[Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393]

[What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564]

[Safe Boot takes longer than normal startup|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107394]

[Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5- Computer shuts down during Safe Boot|http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24054]

Does it still flash? If it doesn't then it is very likely some third party utility. Sticky Windows was implicated in another dock crashing thread.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

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250,259 points

May 1, 2010 9:01 PM in response to musiqfiend

Hello musiqfiend, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

ioke Limnos suggests, try the Safe Boot.

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Answer 5

musiqfiend Author

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May 1, 2010 10:25 PM in response to BDAqua

I try safemode but it shuts off whenever I do it. Really weird?? Its never acted up this badly. Taught me a lesson to not do these updates it recommendes. My computer was fine until i did the updates. The dock is still disappeared & my finder window is flashing still. And now more problems just came up, now I cant drag anything or minimize any windows. I can maximize & close but can minimize. Does it sound like a goner pretty much? my guess is either something is corrupted and making it go haywire like this.

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 1, 2010 11:42 PM in response to musiqfiend

Hmm, might look into this...

http://theappleblog.com/2010/02/17/apple-admits-macbook-hard-drives-defective-of fers-free-repair-program/

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Answer 7

musiqfiend Author

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May 3, 2010 10:44 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the help guys. I took it to an apple store & found out what the problem is. It was basically looking for a script thing thats what was causing it to blink & having my dock disappearing. So now were gonna just reinstall the Mac OS X disk & they said the problem should be solved then. 🙂

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 3, 2010 11:43 PM in response to musiqfiend

Thanks for the report, but do let us know how it turns out please! 🙂

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