Dashboard Widgets Disappear Randomly

Hi,
I've noticed that some of my dashboard disappear from time to time. When I try to add them again by re-downloading them, I get the message "do you want to replace existing", and by answering "no", the disappeared widget reappears with all it's settings intact.
I've read on the macrumours forum that someone else was also having this problem, but there has not been any resolution to the issue yet.
Any ideas anyone?

RideauSkater wrote:
When my son launches Dashboard on his account, he gets a blank screen (no widgets). All the widgets we try to re-install from there startup correctly, then crash and disappear before content appears in them.
Any idea what is going on?
I have always had parental control on for his account, and it used to work fine (he's a big Dashboard fan).
I've got the same problem with my widgets but I don't have parental controls on any account. I've read and tried the suggestions above but they didn't help. Another thread mentioned turning "Fast user switching" off which i tried, but still no difference.
Any other ideas?
Thanks
Wilton

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Dashboard Widgets Disappearing

Here's my setup:
- I use the macbook pro standalone away from the office.
- At the office, I put the macbook in target disk mode, connect it to my G5, and use my home folder on the macbook as my home folder when I"m logged in to the G5.
Works great, except for one problem: Whenever I switch from one machine to the other, all my Dashboard widgets except for the calendar disappear.
Any suggestions on a fix or a workaround? Thanks!

The widgets you install yourself go into your home folder. If you copy your widgets from ~/Home/Library/Widgets to /Library/Widgets on your Hardrive all of your accounts will have those widgets and that should fix your problem

Dashboard widgets disappear at launch

When my son launches Dashboard on his account, he gets a blank screen (no widgets). All the widgets we try to re-install from there startup correctly, then crash and disappear before content appears in them.
Any idea what is going on?
I have always had parental control on for his account, and it used to work fine (he's a big Dashboard fan).

RideauSkater wrote:
When my son launches Dashboard on his account, he gets a blank screen (no widgets). All the widgets we try to re-install from there startup correctly, then crash and disappear before content appears in them.
Any idea what is going on?
I have always had parental control on for his account, and it used to work fine (he's a big Dashboard fan).
I've got the same problem with my widgets but I don't have parental controls on any account. I've read and tried the suggestions above but they didn't help. Another thread mentioned turning "Fast user switching" off which i tried, but still no difference.
Any other ideas?
Thanks
Wilton

Dashboard Widgets Disappear

this morning when i went to open dashboard it opened fine, but all the widgets weren't showing any info, and then they all disappeared. When I go into select the widgets they appear for about 2 seconds and then disappear again, even the "manage widgets" window does the same thing. Also, now safari wont open... gives the opening triangle and one bounce, then just goes back to stationary and nothing opens. Any ideas?
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

This sounds like a system wide format or file corruption issue.
See if the issue occurs in another user (you can look up creating a test user on knowledge base).
If it happens there, archive & install.
If not, there may be files in your preferences with problems.

Weather Widgets in Dashboard Constantly Disappearing

I've searched this forum and find several articles about random widgets disappearing due to multiple monitors and what not. But my weather widgets just vanish randomly, oftentimes overnight while the computer is asleep.
I'm getting a bit tired of recreating them (I have several) every couple of days. And I begin to suspect that they're still running, so I also wonder how long before my processor is dedicated to running dozens of weather widgets that I cannot see.
Is this a universal problem or a symptom of something wrong with my computer? Either way, is there a fix?

Hi,
I've noticed this, too. Ever since Tiger, I've had problems with the weather widgets moving around slightly, sometimes overlapping each other, and maybe a couple of months ago (I don't recall exactly when), about half of my weather widgets disappeared (I have about 5-6 of them active). Like you, I think that it has something to do with changing monitor sizes; possibly if they are arranged on a large monitor and then viewed on a smaller screen, the ones with position coordinates that don't exist on the smaller screen disappear. When this first happened to me (I believe I was viewing on a smaller screen), I just assumed that the missing ones were beyond the boundaries of the screen, but when I switched back to a larger monitor, they couldn't be seen there, either. Sorry that I don't have a fix, but at least you aren't alone.
Ken

Dasboard widget - disappears on form.submit()

Hi all,
I have a problem with a dashboard widget I'm developing.
My html looks (in extremely simplified form ) like this:
(body)
(div id="front")
(/div)
(div id="back")
(/div)
(div id="myform" style="visibility:hidden;")
(form action="http://myhost.com/myscript.php" name="f" onsubmit="return validate_form()" method="get")
(input type="text" id="telno" value="" size="7" maxlength="7" /)
(/form)
(/div)
(/body)
In my main.js, I then populate the input field (verified that it works) and do:
document.getElementById("myform").children.namedItem("f").submit();
Which works.
The problem is that once submit() has been run, the widget disappears.
By pressing the Alt key and hovering the mouse where the widget was, it's apparent that the widget is still there, just invisible.
I'd appreciate any hints as to why this happens, and even more how to solve it
Regards,
Þór
Edit: sorry about the parens... code doesn't show otherwise...
Message was edited by: Þór

I have exactly the same problem! Is there a solution to this?
I need to use a form in my widget so I can send out an email using a PHP file on a webserver.
Cheers
Tim

Dashboard Widgets Don't Stick...

First they all disappeared then when I click to add them... they do that bubble thing and then disappear!

to fritzk who originally reported this and all others posting here —
i have also reported in this forum (as have others), the problem with the widgets freezing —>> see my post here about it. that post also references other posts that have found the same thing.
yes, we know about the workaround of creating a non-admin. account, logging out of your main account, logging into the non-admin. account, logging back out of that and back into your original admin. account, and then the widgets come back to life. that is a kludgy workaround at best — you shouldn't have to go through those type of machinations just to get your widgets working (so to speak).
also, it should be clear that there are two separate issues here — the widget freeze situation and the widgets just disappearing altogether when dashboard is called up. the widget freeze is the most common one seen under leopard (and nowhere else now). that has nothing to do with the widgets disappearing, which seems to be a general mac os x error, not just leopard.
and to throw more gas on the fire, here's something else — widgets, especially games that use a grid model, do not show up formatted correctly. their grid ends up looking weird. i reference examples to this in my post i list above.
is there a place to bug report this with apple? please advise.

Dashboard widgets keep moving around!

I'm guessing it is related to this question: (still unanswered)
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2080780&tstart=0
But for some reason, my dashboard widgets like to shift around on my screen. I even moved them all into a gird into the upper left and corner of my screen so that it no matter what size screen I am using they will always be there. (as apposed to putting a widget in the bottom corner of my 1920 x 1200 monitor, unhooking it and then going back to the 1280 x 800 screen and finding the widget off screen.)
So is there any way to "LOCK" the positions or just stop the random shifting around?
Thanks,
Scott

I just meant open the Dashboard icons you want to use and put them where you want them.
Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Macsimum News Associate Editor  Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support'

My info for battery charging says "Not Charging" when it is charging as per dashboard widget.

My info for battery charging says "Not Charging" when it is charging as per dashboard widget. Since change to lion all slowed down do I need more ram ( have 2 gig). Lost some icons in web site icons and other random icons. So far SL better.

Yeah, it was purchased in August 2008. I'm not really sure what a charge cycle is, but I do plug it in and unplug it a lot to a power source. Mainly because I keep my computer on most of the time (either on or on sleep). So between taking it to classes and stuff, I'll recharge in between and when it's really low, otherwise I run it off the battery most of the time.
On a sidenote, I have went to that information thing about about the battery after letting it sit plug in for a few hours, and now it has this information:
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Serial Number: DP-ASMB016-38ea-4762
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 61993
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 61993
Health Information:
Cycle count: 324
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1208
Voltage (mV): 12129
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 0
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 60
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 2
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed: No
AC Charger Information:
Connected: No
Charging: No
Message was edited by: Akalboy
Oh, forgot to note. Now the time remaining is 10 hours, which is DEFINITELY wrong.

Dashboard (Widget) turning ON/OFF automatically...Please Help!!

Everything was working fine yesterday...
I don't know if these two events are related, but today when I turned ON my computer and tried logging online I saw that Comcast had turned OFF my Internet Connection because of a late payment. Moments latter, after I made the payment and got my internet re-connected again this started happening...
I logged online and for a minute or so it was fine, then all of a sudden there was a weird brief moment were I did not have any control over my computer... I thought something was being installed without my consent. So I tried logging OFF but the computer was Frozen, So I Shut down the computer manually using the ON/OFF button on my Display.... I don't remember exactly all the details of what else I did, but a few minutes latter I turned my computer back ON...
My (Widget) dashboard window and the Volume Indicator started turning ON/OFF automatically. And now it's happening every few minutes and I can't control it.
If I'm on my Desktop screen the Finder Window pops open prompting me: "you can not use the name that begins with Dot." The Keyboard keys Freeze and I have to randomly hit a bunch of keys or shut the computer down to use it again. As I was typing this email it would interrupt it and add one of these numbers (.0 or 3) to were ever the cursor was currently at. The mouse seams to work OK, but sometimes it freezes too.
And, If I'm online the browser would freeze whenever the Widget application automatically started turning ON/OFF on the screen.
Here are things I tried that I thought would fix it:
1. I trashed the widget preferences from my User/Library.
2. I trashed the widgets I thought were causing the problem.
3. After the above did not work, I trashed the Dashboard Widget Application thinking it would be Deleted out of my computer. Unfortunately that did not fix the problem... I found out that the Widget dashboard Application is still somewhere in the sub layer of the system.
I don't know what is going on and need some help here...
So, can anyone Please help me out.. any Step by Step instructions would be greatly appreciated.
-Frank
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi Frank, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
First thing I'd do is Run Repair Disk from your Tiger DVD or discs that shipped with your Mac.
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.) Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair.
If you repair errors run it until no errors found.
Next, I'd try to repair this with 10.4.9 PPC Combo Update.
This is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before. It has worked well for many.
Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
Good luck, let us know.
-mj
[email protected]

Running a dashboard widget in Dashcode

When I 'Run' a dashboard widget in Dashcode, it flashes and disappears. Activity Monitor says a DashboardClient is active but I cannot find the widget anywhere. The system log reports 'DashboardClient[897]: error [1001] setting colorSpace to iMac colorspace'. Is something missing? Is there something missing in my environment?

FWIW: I discovered that the version of Dashcode that I was using (V 3.0.5) is for Mountain Lion, but I'm still running Lion. I downloaded version 3.0.4 and it solved the problems. I'll keep version 3.0.5 for when I download Mountain lion.

Why my dashboard is disappeared?

i had just upgrade my MBP to OSX Lion few days ago...
and today when try to open the mission control, i found that the dashboard is disappear.
then i tried to open it manually... unluckily noting came out and when i open the preference,
i can see the only option relation to the dashboard "Show dashboard as a space",
ok then i click and turn it on, and i tried it again, again nothing showed up...
and again i open the preference, and check that the option "show dashboard as a space" is off...
i turn it on and try, same result try once more.... same......
did anyone got the same problem?

One or more of your widgets are not compatible with Lion, that's all! The best way to fix this problem is to reset your dashboard, and reinstall your widgets.
1. Open finder
2. Hold down the option/alt key and select "Go" from the menu.
3. Select "Library" from the menu.
4. Open your "Preferences" folder.
5. Look for com.apple.dashboard.plist file, and move it to the trash.
6. Restart Lion
7. Your dashboard should now work! Next, reinstall all your widgets back on your dashboard. Hopefully they all work with Lion.
This will reset your dashboard to factory settings and Lion will create a new com.apple.dashboard.plist file for you.
fyi, if this works for you, please click the "like" button. :-) thank you.

Detach dashboard widget

Hi Guys.
I am trying to follow instructions on Snow Leopard for detaching a dashboard widget to use on the desktop, to no avail. Can anyone confirm this works on 10.6.2?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Ross

Hi V.K.
Thanks for that.. the bit which finally made this work for me was from a comment in the link you gave...
* The most *important part*, press F12, click on the + plus sign on the dashboard, drag out a widget you like, DROP the widget (very important), again click on the widget you just dropped, while moving the widget around press F12. You're widget should now stay on the desktop. The most important part is dropping the widget first, on my system if I held onto the widget and pressed F12 it would disappear along with the dashboard.
Hope this helps with anyone who has been in Widget ****.
cheers,
Ross

A widget disappeared

thinking that dragging a widget to the edge of the screen would put it into a different dashboard screen, i dragged it all the way to the right. suddenly the widget disappeared! i am not sure if there are multiple dashboard screens possible. i mean like in iphone where the icons can be placed on multiple screens, is there something similar in dashboard?

you wont believe what happened! i think i found a hidden secret of mac. i am not sure if this has been already found...
i clicked on the widged such that i could drag it
i pressed control and right arrow
the widget is now floating on a desktop! surprise!
i tried it with other widgets too and it works! i got a widget on the desktop, flaoting and functional, just like in windows vista.
i have put this cool thing on my website.
[Dashboard widgets on desktop|http://web.me.com/ace.neerav/mysite/Dashboardwidgets_ondesktop.html]
there are google ads there. i hope apple doesn't mind.

Dashboard Widgets don´t work with Leopard

After installing Leopard the Widgets worked for a short time.
I have installed the dashboard tools but did nothing with them.
I don´t know if the widgets ran after this.
Now I can press F12, the + sign appears in the left corner.
I can press the + sign and the dashbord appears at the bottom of the desktop.
If I click at a Widget the Dashboard disappears and nothing happens.
No Widget starts.
If I move a Widget to the desktop it disappears if I release the mouse button. The Dashboard disappears too.

to fritzk who originally reported this and all others posting here —
i have also reported in this forum (as have others), the problem with the widgets freezing —>> see my post here about it. that post also references other posts that have found the same thing.
yes, we know about the workaround of creating a non-admin. account, logging out of your main account, logging into the non-admin. account, logging back out of that and back into your original admin. account, and then the widgets come back to life. that is a kludgy workaround at best — you shouldn't have to go through those type of machinations just to get your widgets working (so to speak).
also, it should be clear that there are two separate issues here — the widget freeze situation and the widgets just disappearing altogether when dashboard is called up. the widget freeze is the most common one seen under leopard (and nowhere else now). that has nothing to do with the widgets disappearing, which seems to be a general mac os x error, not just leopard.
and to throw more gas on the fire, here's something else — widgets, especially games that use a grid model, do not show up formatted correctly. their grid ends up looking weird. i reference examples to this in my post i list above.
is there a place to bug report this with apple? please advise.

Dashboard Widgets Disappear Randomly

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