Contacts don't display & drop down windows show outline but no text contents

How to view contents? They disappeared 1 day ago after responding to an email from a known contact. It turns out the known contact was hacked. Response from the spammer was deleted.

Was running 11.6.6 when problem started. Updated to 11.6.7, no different.

I did the restore contacts from icloud.com, did not work.

Contact on phone OK. I don't know how to view contacts in my account on icloud.com.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jul 19, 2022 6:15 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 20, 2022 7:05 AM

Did you restart your mac?


If the problem persists after a normal restart, restart in Safe Mode.

Do things work in Safe Mode (despite being slow, which is normal)?

Download Etrecheck, run it and post its full report here.


As an aside, using contacts in icloud.com is as simple as going to icloud.com, logging in and clicking Contacts.

But you should do as above to try and restore normal functionality of your mac.


7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 20, 2022 7:05 AM in response to jimschneiter

Did you restart your mac?


If the problem persists after a normal restart, restart in Safe Mode.

Do things work in Safe Mode (despite being slow, which is normal)?

Download Etrecheck, run it and post its full report here.


As an aside, using contacts in icloud.com is as simple as going to icloud.com, logging in and clicking Contacts.

But you should do as above to try and restore normal functionality of your mac.


Jul 21, 2022 1:51 AM in response to jimschneiter

There are several issues with this mac.


Battery failure - Your battery is reporting that it needs to be serviced.


Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be malicious and should be reviewed.

Security updates disabled - Security updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.


Apple security disabled - Apple security software is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.



The first thing is to uninstall cleanmymac.

You will have to follow their instructions for it. It is not enough to drag the application to the trash.


If you plan to keep this mac for some time yet, consider replacing the battery. A dying battery can cause crashes and if it starts to swell, it can impact the use of the trackpad and make it erratic.


You should reactivate the security updates. These are separate from the general OS updates.

In System Preferences->Software Update, click Advanced



Jul 21, 2022 4:52 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis,

Thank you for the heads-up and advice on the security issues.

The text is still not displaying the contacts or text in the dropdown windows. I may use the Genius Bar again.

Thanks for the referral to EtreCheck, I was able to remove the questionable files. I may run it again with full disk access.

I'm holding out on replacing the battery or laptop for a bit. My last laptop eventually had a battery that blew up. I'm on the lookout for those symptoms.

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Contacts don't display & drop down windows show outline but no text contents

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