Desktop icons and dock flash on and off

Hi Benjamin,

Can you create a new account, name it "test" and see how your apps work in that User acct? (That will tell if your problem is systemwide or limited to your User acct.) This account is just for test, do nothing further with it.

Open System Preferences >> Accounts >> "+" make it an admin account.

Let us know and we'll troubleshoot this further.

OK, I've done that and the 'Test' account works fine. So it's something to do with my normal account?

Yes, it's good news.

Log back into your normal user account: (in your case I would try #2 first)

1. Navigate to ~(yourhome/library/ fonts - drag this folder to the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If they work start adding the fonts back few at a time.
( Likely suspects are Times RO & Helvetica Fractions, also if you do not use Classic you can trash the classic fonts.)

2. Check Preferences Thoroughly;
• Navigate to ~(yourhome/library/ preferences drag this folder to the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If this works, save the old preferences folder somewhere else or on disk, name it "old prefs" .
** Note: A very important file is the " com.apple.Mail.plist" preference file located in the Preferences folder which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences (hold this one and replace if your problem is not with Mail).
You'll have to go through some of your System Preferences and apps to set the preferences back to how you like them. (Or if you have the time and inclination, "cherry pick" through until you find the problem one or two.)

3. Check Permissions Inside Home Folder
• Navigate to yourhome/library.
• Get Info (Command - i) on folders for apps you are having problems with.
• Open the "Ownership & permissions" disclosure triangle.
• Make sure you are the owner, with "read and write" access.
• Click on "apply to all"
• If this is correct, open the "Applications Support" folder and do the same procedure (Command+I) for the folders with the names of the applications you are having trouble with.

Note:
The reason to check this is because repairing permissions with Disk Utility doesn't touch permissions inside your home folder.

If the issue persists navigate to yourhome/library/ caches and drag this folder to the trash, then log out and back or restart. There is no need to replace this folder.


-mj
macjack@gmail.com

I was having the same problem and moving the Fonts folder from my Home Library folder, solved the problem. Luckily for me, I had a 2nd System Folder installed on my 2nd hard drive, so I just booted up on the 2nd drive, went into my 1st hard drive, found the folder, moved it to the desktop, restarted on the 1st drive, and whammo, the files on the desktop were back.

Thanks MJ for the helpful fix!

G4 Dual 1-ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I started having problems with spotlight flashing in the upper right corner...my name was missing, no time/date, volume, etc... and my keyboard would only work for putting my system password in and pressing enter...after that I couldn't use the keyboard. Also SYSTEMUISERVER kept crashing.

Tried removing some plist in preferences that could have been corrupt...but now....

dock, finder, menu, desktop icons keep flashing on and off and I can't use the computer....i have the plist files in my trash but cant restore them since finder keeps restarting.

Hi MJ,
I noticed you responded to someone on the apple discussion board on June 25, 2005 who had a similar problem that I am having now. I was hoping that you might be able to help me out. Basically, after my computer starts up, everything on my desktop flashes/blinks and I'm unable to click on anything .. not even the top bar where the finder or spotlight is. All my desktop icons keep flashing. Just before this began, I had loaded a massive amount of media files onto my computer (via my laptop) while it was set on target disk mode. Once I had loaded most of it, a prompt came up that I was running dangerously low on hard drive space and needed to free up space. I deleted those files which I was loading, and I restored my computer to about 1 gig of HD space. Then I restarted it and the flashing problem occurred. I think that might be what caused this problem, as I know that having low HD space may cause the OS to run improperly. Do you have any ideas? I would really appreciate any input whatsoever. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Danny

p.s. all my information is still intact as it all works in target disk mode

OK, I've done that and the 'Test' account
works fine. So it's something to do with my normal
account?

Yes, it's good news.

Log back into your normal user account: (in your case
I would try #2 first)

1. Navigate to ~(yourhome/library/ fonts - drag this folder to the
desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If they work start adding the fonts back few at a
a time.
( Likely suspects are Times RO & Helvetica Fractions,
also if you do not use Classic you can trash the
classic fonts.)

2. Check Preferences Thoroughly;
• Navigate to ~(yourhome/library/ preferences drag this folder to
the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If this works, save the old preferences folder
r somewhere else or on disk, name it "old prefs" .
** Note: A very important file is the " com.apple.Mail.plist" preference
file located in the Preferences folder which contains all email account
settings and general mail preferences (hold
this one and replace if your problem is not with
Mail).
ou'll have to go through some of your System
Preferences and apps to set the preferences back to
how you like them. (Or if you have the time and
inclination, "cherry pick" through until you find the
problem one or two.)

3. Check Permissions Inside Home Folder
• Navigate to yourhome/library.
• Get Info (Command - i) on folders for apps you
are having problems with.
• Open the "Ownership & permissions" disclosure
triangle.
• Make sure you are the owner, with "read and
write" access.
• Click on "apply to all"
• If this is correct, open the "Applications
Support" folder and do the same procedure
(Command+I) for the folders with the names of the
applications you are having trouble with.

Note:
The reason to check this is because repairing
permissions with Disk Utility doesn't touch
permissions inside your home folder.

If the issue persists navigate to
yourhome/library/ caches
and drag this folder to the trash, then log out and
back or restart. There is no need to replace this
folder.


-mj
macjack@gmail.c
om

Dual 1ghz G4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.4.4)

I am having this problem with my PowerBook. Everything flashes so much I can hardly type this. I can't get into the home directory to remove the Fonts folder because finder will not open and spotlight won't work either. I just got this computer, why is this happening?

Try a "safe boot" by restarting, then holding the shift key.


-mj
macjack@gmail.com

I did that, nothing changed. I think mine also might be from deleting a font, but the ones that I deleted were NOT on the list of necessary fonts, they were in Asian languages that I can't even read so I figured I didn't need them.

Mine also works with a new account that I set up, but I can't get it to change the permissions on my old home directory so I can save those files before deleting the old account.

Do you know anything I can do?

Thanks - Emily

Do you have another Mac or an external hard drive with a bootable system? Or can you boot in OS 9?


-mj
macjack@gmail.com

Hints has a thread on this;

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060308010111601