Missing system icons

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Level 1

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Missing system icons

Hello, i have weird problem with my Macbook Air 11' mid 2011. My menubar icons (like wireless, bluetooth) and system icons (arrows in finder, itunes etc) are missing. If i create fresh profile this problem is gone for a while (few days). Reinstall fixes this issue for months. One of the symptomes is corrupted graphic in login window (after screensaver starts, you have to type password).

What i tried:

* clean caches

* fix drive in single user mode via fsck

* create fresh profile

* uninstall all software except system software

* repair permissions

* remove finder plist

Missing icons in finder:

Corrupted google logo:

Menubar:

Previous stage of menubar issue:

Safari:

Do you think this might be a hardware issue? If it is software issue, i'm not sure how to reproduce it. It just happens sometimes, i'm not aware of actions which might cause it.

Thanks for your replies.

MacBook Air (11-INCH, MID 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 23, 2012 4:38 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 23, 2012 4:47 AM in response to jozef_m

jozef_m wrote:

Do you think this might be a hardware issue?

It could be a bad graphics card, especially what you're seeing on the Google logo. A bad graphics card usually will not interfere with anything else, except the graphics. It will get progressively worse over time. Run Apple Hardware Test.

The icons could be software, specifically LaunchServices.

Code:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Then press return. Wait until terminal returns to the command line. Quit Terminal. After that, log out and back in or restart. Let us know

Or, use the free utiltiy OnyX to do the same via gui

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Answer 2

jozef_m Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2012 5:20 AM in response to macjack

Funny, after this questiona i remembered i forgot to delete systemui.plist file. After deleting my icons are back. I'm starting to think that some app might be a reason for this behavior. I'm using Evernote and this is how it looks:

Everything except evernote now seems OK. I tried to uninstall evernote (i'm using app store version), even clean preferences via Clean my mac.

Another useful information might be that this happened twice before i'v been using Evernote. Conclusion is that this seems to be a bug in OS X and bug is triggered by some application action.

Do you have tips where to look for more information or how to solve this?

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 23, 2012 6:02 AM in response to jozef_m

It seems that almost any cache cleaning type action fixes it and then it eventually creeps back.

The only sure test would be a clean install of ML ad run it long enough before introducing any apps, other than default. I doubt it's a bug in the OS as I'm not experiencing and neither are millions of other Mac users.

Aslo, run Apple Hardware Test, you might find something.

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Answer 4

jozef_m Author

Level 1

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Oct 23, 2012 4:56 PM in response to macjack

I finished Apple Hardware Test (basic and extended). Results is: hardware OK.

I tried multiple times install and uninstall software, mostly Evernote - trying to solve graphics issue. Main issue (missing system icons) came back.

It seems that reinstall is last resort. Unfortunatelly I could not afford to run only with bundled apps. There are few apps like iTerm i need to do my daily job.

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Answer 5

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Oct 23, 2012 5:32 PM in response to jozef_m

josef --

What third party apps do you have on there?

Think really hard, OK.

And are they all up to date?

Do you have the very newest versions of them?

And are they compatible with 10.8?

(Evernote's latest is 3.3.1)

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Answer 6

jozef_m Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2012 9:12 AM in response to TildeBee

I know every thirt party app because i'm keeping list of them for future reinstalls. So this is the list:

Adium

CoRD

Evernote

HandBrake

HDRtist Pro

iTerm

JollyFastVNC Pro

KeePassX

MplayerX

Palua

The Unarchiver

Totalfinder

Transmission

Vienna

Window Tidy

GPG tools (in mail)

I'm also using Homebrew. There are few CLI apps installed via homebrew but i do not think these are relevant.

FYI:

I reinstalled OS X, installed all apps again and i have no problem. This "fix" works everytime but this is not how this should work. System with these bug is unreliable and thus not usable for professional sphere.

I will watch all changes and report if issue will show again.

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