Spotlight not indexing and a Menu Bar bug

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Level 1

5 points

Spotlight not indexing and a Menu Bar bug

I upgraded yesterday from Leopard (10.5.8) to Snow Leopard (10.6.8) on a MacBook 4,1 – I also fully updated using 'Software Update' – and everything is fine except for two things.

a. Spotlight has stopped indexing. While I was on Leopard, the standard routine was that every single time I turned my MacBook on, the Spotlight's icon had a black dot – flashing kinda – for about 2 minutes and when I clicked on it, I was getting something like "Spotlight is indexing, please wait". After those two minutes would pass, Spotlight was ready to use. Now that I am on SL, Spotlight hasn't indexed not even once when I turn my Mac on. Is this normal, is this how SL works? No more indexing of Spotlight?

b. About 15 minutes ago when I turned my MacBook on, the borders of the menu bar (the one on top) had disappeared, along with the icons on the left side (Apple icon, Finder, File, Edit etc.). The icons on the right side were all there though (Time Machine, WiFi, Battery, Spotlight, etc.). The menu bar was also fully translucent. I simply clicked on Finder on Dock and it reverted back to normal. Should I worry or is this a standard SL bug? For example on Leopard I had learned to live with the fact that Finder would very often crash when I previewed mp3/4's (highlight file and press space).

Thank you so much for your time. 😉

Posted on Feb 18, 2014 12:55 PM

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Answer 1

itsjamesd Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 18, 2014 10:10 PM in response to itsjamesd

Please guys, someone help me. If you can't bother giving me a full answer, at least give me a short yes/no one. Thanks again.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Feb 19, 2014 9:23 AM in response to itsjamesd

Spotlight. Try re-indexing Spotlight.

Spotlight – Re-index

Menu bar - it isn't normal based on my using Snow Leopard every night. I would monitor it for awhile and if it continues, post back.

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Answer 3

itsjamesd Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 20, 2014 10:43 PM in response to Eric Root

Thank you Eric for your response. I used the Spotlight re-indexing method you suggested and it fully re-indexed my volume successfully. However, I kept an eye on Spotlight the last couple of days and unfortunately, that didn't fix the issue. Whenever I turn my MacBook on, Spotlight still won't go through its automatic re-indexing process just like it did when I was on Leopard. It seems like whenever I need it re-indexed I will have to do it manually myself going through the process you suggested.

Is it reeeally that much of an issue, though? My MacBook not automatically re-indexing Spotlight upon start up I mean. As far as functionality is concerned, Spotlight is fully operational even though it isn't auto re-indexing anymore. Any tips on when should I do it manually, if – as it seems – automatically is out of the question? Because to be quite honest I don't even know what the purpose of re-indexing is. It is simply a process that my MacBook did automatically upon startup and I never really paid any attention to the benefits of that.

😕

Thank you.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Feb 21, 2014 8:05 AM in response to itsjamesd

You are welcome.

I have never noticed Spotlight indexing except after a major OS change. Besides being the search engine for the OS, Software Update/App Store use it to know what is on your computer so you will be notified of updates. The re-indexing updates Spotlight's data base of what is on your computer.

If Software Update picked up all the updates when you switched to 10.6, it appears Spotlight is working without the requirement to do manual updates.

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