Pixelated icons in Mountain Lion

This post comes from the snow leopard discussion on this same issue...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2132399?answerId=19826431022#19826431022&ac_cid=tw123456#19826431

Since the bug has been exacerbated on ML, it could be worth to continue the discussion over there too...

First, thanks to Tracy and David for trying killing systemUIserver...

Here there's another "me too". I prepared the script... mount image (ie, googlechrome.dmg), pixelated icon. Run the script. Mount again the image: icon is fine, full resolution. I eject the mounted disk, when I retry, pixelated icon is back... sometimes this happens on the second try, sometimes it is ok, but then it become pixelated after some time...

I come back with my previous hypothesis: there is something in the menubar, linked to systemUIserver, that is causing this problem?

Let's try to draw a picture. I have an iMac mid 2011, and a MacBookPro i5. On Both 10.8.2. The blurry icon bug on both.

I have those menu applications on both macs:

dropbox

littlesnitch

fantastical

growl 2

desktop utility

meteorologist

witness

bwanadik

hardware growler

caffeine

MUmenu

dropcopy

istatmenus

and, of course, some apple menu:

keychain, airport, sound, timemachine, bluetooth, spotlight, notification center

I don't think these have something to do, since they are not affected by killing systemUIserver.

Similarly, I would tend to exlude dropbox and littlesnitch, since they are installed on my girlfriend mac, and she has never seen this bug.

I have some other menus either on the iMac or the MBPro (not both);

manycam

iteleport

bootchamp

moonmenu

f.lux

clyppan

copyless

I would kindly ask you if you have any of these (in particular, apps I have on both macs) running on your mac... Hoping we could track down the culprit(s)...

For Tracy: the intuition about the old routine (menucracker) was pretty good... too bad it didn't solve the problem :-(

I will try to check console to see if something else comes out... But at the same time, I think it could be worth to dig down extra menus...

Thanks for all your efforts!

Checked console for systemUIserver errors/messages...

In my case, iStatMenu is loading MenuCracker...

Anyway, I noted some strange messages:

SystemUIserver:ISGetIconFamilyFromStorage: seed mismatch for 2e170b00, actual is 29a583ff

(this is repeated 7-8 times, the two numbers/codes ad the end change)

and then another error:

SystemUIserver:Could not load menu extra NSbundle </Library/Application Support/iStat local/extras/MenuCracker.menu> (loaded) for Class (null)

I don't know what all this mean... but that seed mismatch for ISGetIconFamilyFromStorage may be something to look at...

(sorry, I am a biologist, I have no idea about programming, errors and stuff like that...)

Some more followup:

uninstalled iStatMenu. Removed every file (prefs, deamon, etc.) belonging to iStatMenu.

Rebooted.

Mounted problematic dmg file => blurry icon

run kill SystemUIServer => icon is ok

wait for a while => mount dmg => blurry icon

I have the impression that MenuCracker has nothing to do with this issue. This also confirms what Tracy reported about MenuCracker...

Thus, it might be worth looking at that ISGetIconFamilyFromStorage error message... Does anyboty find it in console? What does it mean? From this point on, there isn't much I can do... I don't even know what that is!

I didn't abandon everyone, but there's little more I can do except test other suggestions. If someone from Apple manages to read the bit about the SystemUIServer technique, that -should- be enough to point them at the problem. It is 100% repeatable for me (and apprently others):

kill SystemUIServer

mount = good icon

unmount

mount = bad icon

Don't know what more mere mortals can provide by way of debugging help.

Tracy

PS. I have tried -everything- posted on the other list. I"m close to convinced that most of the problem originate with the bad dmg mount; get written to disk, and then continue to effect icons elsewhere. The obvious fact is that the corruption has to have started _somewhere_. The reason some people can resize their monitors; dump caches; delete pref files (et al & ad infinitum) is that they are "curing" the symptoms, not the cause, and it seems to (therefore) alway come back.

At least that's my current hypothesis, and I'm sticking to it...

... er...

.... until something changes again, of course! :-)

T

FWIW, I made life _slightly_ more convenient:

Took the kill_systemUIServer Applescript; (do shell script "killall SystemUIServer")

saved it as an application;

created an Automator service that

1) runs that kill-script;

2) pauses for 0.75 seconds

3) opens the dmg file

saved the service under the name "ow myMount" (ow == "open with" just for my convenience)

Now, while I still have to train myself not to double click on the .dmg file, at least I can control-click on the dmg, and choose my ow myMount service.

hth

Well, I woke up bound and determined to find it... and nearly trashed my hard drive in the process. I ended up cloning it back from a backup, but I spent another 9 hours on it today.

Nothing to report, except now I believe the issue to be corruption in the hidden user files for each "numbered" user (501; 502; etc.)

I'm a bit surprised at how difficult it is to simply purge those things, but I did do this:

a safe boot (which cleans out a lot of stuff) followed by a bunch of low-level cache cleaning using Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner and TinkerTool.

(None of that caused my problems, which were due to my "experimenting".)

But it wouldn't hurt to try the safe boot process, just in case it might cure someone's problem here....

Apple's instructions for safeboot:

1. Be sure your Mac is shut down.
2. Press the power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).

hth

I have been having the pixelated icon problem since installing 10.8.2. I seached the Console for SystemUIServer and found out that errors were being reported by

PocketCloudserver (Wyse) - cannot remember installing this!

/library/Quickview/Suspicious Package.qlgenerator

I unstalled PocketCLoudserver using its own uninstaller and deleted the Suspicious Package.qlgenerator file. I then rebooted into Safe Mode and rebooted again normally.

Since doing this the pixelated icon problem has totally gone. Not sure how long it will last though!

FYI: I am still using iStatMenus.

Dear chas0001,

as soon as I read your message, I went to check my system.

I checked /Library/Quicklook for the suspicious package.qlgenerator (ps: quicklook, not quickview on my mac): it was present on my macbook pro, but not on my iMac. (Both macs have the pixelated icon bug). Deleted it.

I also checked for pocketcloud... I had it on both. So I deleted it using the provided uninstaller script (although it was not running), I did a manual check using iFileX to be sure there were no leftovers...

Cleaned all caches (ML cache cleaner, deep cache cleaning), restarted in safe boot mode, then back in normal mode...

Results? Unfortunately no difference...Blurry/fuzzy/pixelated icons on main drive, on mounted dmg...

and also in unzipped archives (usually, app without icon after the archive is unzipped).

The only thing that seem to work (just for few seconds...) is to kill systemUIserver, and mount/unzip files right away. Icon looks fine, but just for a short time. On next dmg/unzip, blurry icons are back...

Concerning iStat menu, I deleted it on my macbookpro but kept it on my iMac. No difference, both show the blurry bug...

But let's not despair. I start to think this has something to do with the systemUIserver error shown in console.

You had errors with pocket cloud, removed it and (hopefully) you fixed it...

I have a different error:

On the iMac:

SystemUIServer: ISGetIconFamilyFromStorage: seed mismatch for ......., actual seed is .....

On MacBookPro:

SystemUIServer. *** WARNING: - [NSImage compositeToPoint: fromRect:operation:fraction:] is depcreated in MaOSX 10.8 and later. Please use _[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.

I don't have any idea about what they are, what they do, how to fix them.

I am posting the whole error log in console, just in case someone at apple silently follows this discussion and finds this info useful to help fix the problem:

iMac:

06/10/2012 22:36:07.893 SystemUIServer[820]: ISGetIconFamilyFromStorage: seed mismatch for 272408b0, actual seed is ff500542
1 OSServices 0x00007fff8984c950 _ZL26ISGetIconFamilyFromStoragejPP17CIconStorageArrayPj + 140
2 OSServices 0x00007fff8984c8aa _ISAcquireStorageRefInternal + 19
3 OSServices 0x00007fff8984dfa4 _ISRetainStorage + 31
4 HIServices 0x00007fff8ee96dc0 CreateCGImageRefFromBitmapInfo + 162
5 HIServices 0x00007fff8ee98477 _ZL30ISImageRefCGCacheAddImageEntryPvS_sPK8RGBColorjP18_ISBitmapImageInfo + 241
6 HIServices 0x00007fff8ee96285 _ISGetCGImageRefForISImageRef + 2756
7 HIServices 0x00007fff8ee9574d _ISCreateCGImageForTypeAtScale + 857
8 AppKit 0x00007fff8dde23d4 -[NSIconRefImageRep CGImageForProposedRect:context:hints:] + 17
9 AppKit 0x00007fff8dd5de1d -[NSImageRep CGImageForProposedRect:context:hints:flipped:] + 62
10 AppKit 0x00007fff8dde2346 -[NSImage _newSnapshotRepForRep:rect:context:processedHints:] + 162
11 AppKit 0x00007fff8dd843c8 -[NSImage _snapshotRepForRep:rect:context:processedHints:] + 195
12 AppKit 0x00007fff8dd5dd77 __48-[NSImage CGImageForProposedRect:context:hints:]_block_invoke_0 + 305
13 AppKit 0x00007fff8dcc34d6 -[NSImage _usingBestRepresentationForRect:context:hints:body:] + 170
14 AppKit 0x00007fff8dd5d9e5 -[NSImage CGImageForProposedRect:context:hints:] + 938
15 Search 0x00000001065c82a8 MDActivateFinder + 6694
16 Search 0x00000001065b214f __MDNodeGetterCopyFunctionNoFetchNoExtension + 24906
17 Search 0x00000001065b2944 __MDNodeGetterCopyFunctionNoFetchNoExtension + 26943
18 Search 0x00000001065b66a6 MDApplicationsToOpenWithNodes + 4511
19 Foundation 0x00007fff8d5dd986 -[__NSOperationInternal start] + 684
20 Foundation 0x00007fff8d5e51a1 __block_global_6 + 129
21 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8ee79f01 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 15
22 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8ee760b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
23 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8ee771fa _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 304
24 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff94a46cab _pthread_wqthread + 404
25 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff94a31171 start_wqthread + 13

Error on MacBookPro:

07/10/2012 12:32:40.125 SystemUIServer[8124]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.

Sorry that it did not work for you. I have not had a reocurrance of the pixelating since.

Have you tried to also run ONYX http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx. I would give it a go.

I ran it and made it

delete all .DS_Files (Maintenance > Rebuild)

Rebuild Display of Folders content and rebuild dyld's shared cache (Automation)

Also look at deleting the ~/library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist then restarting finder.

You never know!

Good Luck.

Hi.

Tried the Onyx suggestions.

First manteinance>rebuild, then automation>rebuild displays and rebuild dyld cache

Rebooted.

The procedure "cleaned" some icons that were blurry, but did not solve the problem.

Some dmg, and some zipped archive, mount/expand with blurried icons. Copying to the main drive, icons remain blurried.

Only solution... the same, kill SystemUIServer and copy the files right away.

Anyway, your finding is VERY INTERSTING.

If you don't see the bug anymore, that means you have found the app/software that was causing the SystemUIServer error in console... Removing the problematic software, you don't see blurried icons anymore.

Could you check your console and see if that systemUIserver error is gone?

I wish I were able to identify the source of the problem on both my macs...

But the more I think about it, the more I see that the problem is in that console error.

PS: of course I also tried Tracy's suggestion on safe boot. No difference... Any of these procedures appear to cure the symptoms, not the cause. Sooner or later, the blurry icons are back.

This is my console log for SystemUIServer. I had updated to the latest version of iStat Menus 3.25.

Hope it helps.

09/10/2012 00:01:25.325 SystemUIServer[245]: failed to instantiate and get the principal class of bundle: NSBundle </Library/Application Support/iStat local/extras/MenuCracker.menu> (loaded)

09/10/2012 00:01:25.342 SystemUIServer[245]: MenuCracker: Allowing "iStatMenusNetwork".

09/10/2012 00:01:25.345 SystemUIServer[245]: MenuCracker: Allowing "iStatMenusTemps".

09/10/2012 00:01:25.349 SystemUIServer[245]: Could not load menu extra NSBundle </Library/Application Support/iStat local/extras/MenuCracker.menu> (loaded) for Class (null)

09/10/2012 00:01:25.445 SystemUIServer[245]: iStat Menus loading extra - network

09/10/2012 00:01:25.500 SystemUIServer[245]: -[TCMNATPMPPortMapper refreshExternalIPInThread] NAT-PMP: IP refresh did fail: -7

09/10/2012 00:01:25.606 SystemUIServer[245]: iStat Menus loading extra - sensors

09/10/2012 00:01:25.727 SystemUIServer[245]: iStatMenus Daemon version 3.25 (101)

09/10/2012 00:01:37.534 com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[224]: (com.apple.SystemUIServer.agent[245]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

09/10/2012 00:01:37.688 ReportCrash[349]: Saved crash report for SystemUIServer[245] version 1.7 (369.2) to /Volumes/Macintosh Data HD/Users/*****/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/SystemUIServer_2012-10-09-000137_ Macintosh-i7.crash

09/10/2012 00:01:48.766 SystemUIServer[380]: failed to instantiate and get the principal class of bundle: NSBundle </Library/Application Support/iStat local/extras/MenuCracker.menu> (loaded)

09/10/2012 00:01:48.771 SystemUIServer[380]: MenuCracker: Allowing "iStatMenusNetwork".

09/10/2012 00:01:48.772 SystemUIServer[380]: MenuCracker: Allowing "iStatMenusTemps".

09/10/2012 00:01:48.773 SystemUIServer[380]: Could not load menu extra NSBundle </Library/Application Support/iStat local/extras/MenuCracker.menu> (loaded) for Class (null)

09/10/2012 00:01:48.863 SystemUIServer[380]: iStat Menus loading extra - network

09/10/2012 00:01:48.884 SystemUIServer[380]: -[TCMNATPMPPortMapper refreshExternalIPInThread] NAT-PMP: IP refresh did fail: -7

09/10/2012 00:01:48.964 SystemUIServer[380]: iStat Menus loading extra - sensors

09/10/2012 00:01:49.128 SystemUIServer[380]: iStatMenus Daemon version 3.25 (101)

Hi, today I just came accross a possible root of the problem. On my machine runing 10.8.2 (Installer App purchased from App Store) I experience the same problem with pixelated icons in low resolution: folder icons, icons in the launch pad etc. I also started these processes with ONYX an so on like described in former comments. That did not fix the problem. SystemUIServer errors I found, but they were old ones and not from now. So killing this service aso did not help.

On a different partition there is a preview developer version of 10.8.0 installed - fresh and clean. And just to cross check I started this and the icons looked ok. Just to try I run an update of iTunes to 10.7. (IOS 6 support) and 2 other Apps. I made this through the App Store. While loading I kept the launch pad open. Afte the succesfull update the former highres icons changed to lowres - and this happend to all 3 freshly updated programs.

So my idea now is, that a current update process over the App Store causes the icon resolution problem. Maybe it came across since the launch of IOS 6 in october with the new features - especially retina support. On the test partition I installed xcode for developers over the App Store in september. And that time it worked ok. The update process caused the problem now and at the moment I have no idea how to fix it.

I hope this information helps someone out to find a solution.