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Level 1

0 points

Desktop disappears when clicking on folders

I have a 20" white 2.16 GHz Intel iMac running OS 10.6.8 with 4GB of memory. Over the past year it has developed an odd fault. Whenever I try to open a folder (or select 'new folder' or 'new finder window' from the drop-down menu), it hangs for a couple of seconds and then all the icons/folders on the desktop disappear, leaving only the dock visible. After about three seconds, the icons/folders all reappear. Oddly, if I persist in trying to open a folder, it eventually succeeds, typically after approximately 20 attempts, although sometimes the first couple of times a window actually does open, it disappears again as soon as I use the scroll bar. Eventually, it always seems to work, but takes around two minutes of frustrating effort to open any folder instead of the normal split second.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? I've tried reinstalling the operating system and initialising the hard drive, but the problem still always returns... any ideas? As you can imagine, it's really annoying!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 27, 2012 5:05 AM

29 replies

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 11:57 AM in response to Linc Davis

OK... here are the results - I've omitted the user name that appears at the end of each sectiuon for privacy...

does this give any clues?

step 1:

...user name

step 2:

com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.backupd-auto

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.adobe.SwitchBoard

...user name

step 3:

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager

com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager

...user name

step 4:

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

/Library/Frameworks:

Adobe AIR.framework NyxAudioAnalysis.framework PluginManager.framework TSLicense.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

.DS_Store Quartz Composer.webplugin flashplayer.xpt

Flash Player.plugin QuickTime Plugin.plugin iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave Silverlight.plugin

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.apple.third_party_32b_kext_logger.plist com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.backupd-auto.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane Growl.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/QuickLook:

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

.DS_Store DivX 6 Decoder.component Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

AppleIntermediateCodec.component Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax

/Library/Spotlight:

AppleWorks.mdimporter iMovie.mdimporter iWork.mdimporter

Microsoft Office.mdimporter iWeb.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

/etc/mach_init.d:

dashboardadvisoryd.plist

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

SkypeABDialer.bundle SkypeABSMS.bundle

Library/Fonts:

Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold Century Schoolbook Impact News Gothic MT

Abadi MT Condensed Light Colonna Imprint MT Shadow Onyx

Andale Mono Comic Sans MS Kino PMingLiU.ttf

Arial Cooper Black Lucida Blackletter Perpetua Titling MT

Arial Black Copperplate Gothic Bold Lucida Bright Playbill

Arial Narrow Copperplate Gothic Light Lucida Calligraphy Rockwell

Arial Rounded Bold Curlz MT Lucida Fax Rockwell Extra Bold

Baskerville Old Face Desdemona Lucida Handwriting SimSun.ttf

Batang.ttf Edwardian Script ITC Lucida Sans Stencil

Bauhaus 93 Engravers MT Lucida Sans Typewriter Tahoma

Bell MT Eurostile MS Gothic.ttf Times New Roman

Bernard MT Condensed Footlight Light MS Mincho.ttf Trebuchet MS

Book Antiqua Garamond MS PGothic.ttf Verdana

Bookman Old Style Georgia MS PMincho.ttf Wide Latin

Braggadocio Gill Sans Ultra Bold MT Extra Wingdings

Britannic Bold Gloucester MT Extra Condensed Matura Script Capitals Wingdings 2

Brush Script Goudy Old Style Mistral Wingdings 3

Calisto MT Gulim.ttf Modern No. 20

Century Haettenschweiler Monotype Corsiva

Century Gothic Harrington Monotype Sorts

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.apple.FTMonitor.plist com.apple.imagent.plist com.apple.marcoagent.plist

...user name

step 5:

iTunesHelper

...user name

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 28, 2012 12:24 PM in response to Alan_H23

Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:

sudo opensnoop -n Finder

You'll be prompted for your login password.

Text will begin to scroll in the Terminal window. When the Finder crashes, switch back to Terminal and press the key combination command-period to stop the command.

Post the text output — please, not a screenshot — from the Terminal window, below what you entered.

If any personal information, such as your name, appears in the output, edit before posting, but don’t remove the context.

You can then quit Terminal.

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 1:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

well the problem here is that the crashing always occurs before I open a window - it takes many attempts to open the terminal, but once it's open, it no longer crashes. I've copied the code into Terminal and then it scrolls endlessly... but no crashes - they all happened before I could open Terminal.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 28, 2012 1:35 PM in response to Alan_H23

I'm still not sure I understand what's going on here. Why does it take many attempts to open Terminal? What happens when it fails to open? Does it crash? Is there a crash report? Does the Finder not relaunch after it crashes? Are you sure nothing is wrong in the Guest account?

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 2:04 PM in response to Linc Davis

when I click on just about anything, the finder disappears for approximately 3 seconds. If I try again, it happens again... and again, usually finally opening a window on anything from the tenth to thirtieth attempt. Once it has opened a window, it will then tend to open further ones on first attempt with no further problems. However, the problem does often return after some time, even without logging off/restarting... but not always.

Even after opening a window, sometimes the finder will disappear if I try to scroll to far down that window - again this happens repeatedly, but once it stops happening it tends to behave normally for a while.

...and no, this doesn't happen with the guest account - it completely baffles me!

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 28, 2012 2:55 PM in response to Alan_H23

Other applications are, or are not, also crashing? There are, or are not, crash reports for other applications? If there are, please post one.

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 3:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Applications themselves don't seem to crash - it's opening folders that crashes the finder. In the case of Terminal, the utility itself doesn't crash - the problem lies with opening the Utilities folder in the first place in order to be able to access Terminal. Any applications or utilities that have an icon in my dock are no problem - it's just the ones that require opening folders to access that are the problem, as folders won't open.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 28, 2012 3:38 PM in response to Alan_H23

I gave two methods for launching Terminal that don't involve opening a folder. Please log out, then log in, immediately launch Terminal, and start opensnoop. Then do whatever makes the Finder crash.

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 3:51 PM in response to Linc Davis

these?

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

...they also crash the finder, but I'll try again anyway.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 28, 2012 4:01 PM in response to Alan_H23

Regardless of whether the Finder has crashed, you can relaunch it by clicking its icon in the Dock. It may crash again, but that's OK.

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2012 4:20 PM in response to Linc Davis

Just restarted and it's behaving perfectly now... can't get it to crash whatever I do.

See how it is tomorrow and get back to you... thanks for your patience with this!

Alan_H23 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 29, 2012 6:26 AM in response to Alan_H23

Problem is back again.

The nature of the problem makes it impossible to do what you suggest - selecting Go ▹ Utilities or trying a Spotlight search, or trying to open the Utilities folder all just makes the Finder crash. It immediately relaunches itself but then you have to try again, with the same result. If I persevere and try over and over again, then yes, I can finally get to the Terminal, but by that time the fault has gone and so I can't see any code generated by a crash.

In other words, I only actually have access to the Terminal when the problem is not there, which is what's so frustrating about this peculiar problem.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 29, 2012 7:25 AM in response to Alan_H23

Then you'd have to create a new admin user and run the command as that user, via fast user switching.

However, I doubt that there's any point in pursuing this matter further. The problem comes and goes for no apparent reason. That suggests to me a hardware fault. Maybe you have some bad sectors on your boot volume, in which case you might be able to fix things up by erasing it and restoring from a backup. Or maybe you have a bad memory chip.

In your place, I think I'd go with the erase and restore first, and if that didn't work, I'd run the Apple Hardware Test (which is often wrong), then take out one of the DIMM's at a time and see whether there was any change.

The last resort is to start an "Express Lane" case with Apple Support. They might waive the charges, since you're having trouble with a built-in system component. If you go that route, please update this thread with the outcome so that others can benefit from your experience.

Jun 8, 2015 3:08 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc. Could you check mine also?

Last login: Mon Jun 8 09:09:55 on console

Queen:~ theresastrong$

Queen:~ theresastrong$ kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'

com.logmein.driver.LogMeInSoundDriver (4.1.48f99)

com.parallels.kext.prl_usb_connect (7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_hypervisor (7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_hid_hook (7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge (7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic (7.0

Queen:~ theresastrong$ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfi x|x)/{print $3}'

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss

or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your

typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:

Queen:~ theresastrong$ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfi x|x)/{print $3}'

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss

or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your

typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:

com.parallels.vm.prl_naptd

com.rim.BBDaemon

com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.logmein.raupdate

com.adobe.fpsaud

Queen:~ theresastrong$ launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'

P72E3GC48.com.dashlane.DashlaneAgent

com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool

com.rim.BBLaunchAgent

com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy

com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent

com.parallels.desktop.client.launch

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater

com.logmein.LMILaunchAgentFixer

com.microsoft.SyncServicesAgent

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0

Queen:~ theresastrong$

Queen:~ theresastrong$ ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta} * L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

EPSONUSBPrintClass.kext

/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

Mono.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

RIM_VSP.framework

RimBlackBerryUSB.framework

TSLicense.framework

iLifeFaceRecognition.framework

iLifeKit.framework

iLifePageLayout.framework

iLifeSQLAccess.framework

iLifeSlideshow.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

AdobePDFViewer.plugin

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin101736.plugin

CitrixICAClientPlugIn.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

LogMeIn.plugin

LogMeInSafari32.plugin

LogMeInSafari64.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled):

Flash Player.plugin

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.logmein.LMILaunchAgentFixer.plist

com.logmein.logmeingui.plist

com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist

com.logmein.logmeinguiagentatlogin.plist

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent.plist

com.parallels.desktop.launch.plist

com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy.plist

com.rim.BBLaunchAgent.plist

com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.apple.remotepairtool.plist

com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist

com.logmein.raupdate.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon.plist

com.rim.BBDaemon.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane

Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane

JavaControlPanel.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/QuickLook:

FW_ Details about Margaret Bawden's Service of Celebration Sat. Jan. 15th.rtf

GBQLGenerator.qlgenerator

ParallelsQL.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

/Library/Spotlight:

GBSpotlightImporter.mdimporter

LogicPro.mdimporter

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

ParallelsMD.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

SkypeABDialer.bundle

SkypeABSMS.bundle

Library/Fonts:

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

Dashlane.plugin

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.782A88C6-F4AC-4C18-A85C-961 324571F39.plist

com.microsoft.LaunchAgent.SyncServicesAgent.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

Growl.prefPane

Queen:~ theresastrong$ osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null

Dropbox, AdobeResourceSynchronizer, TSPrintClient

Queen:~ theresastrong$

Desktop disappears when clicking on folders