Expose' and Spaces preference plane is blank

I upgraded my original core duo 20" iMac to Snow Leopard last night and it mostly went fine. I did need to repair permissions to get the 10.6.8 combo update to install properly but that was the only hiccup I noticed at first. However, after a few minutes of usage, I noticed that my Expose' and Spaces preference pane went blank. I was able to use it upon first boot but after a while I tried to go back in and click on the pref pane and got nothing aside from the message that the Expose and Spaces preferences were loading. I clicked again and the window appeared but was blank. Here's what I've tried so far.
I logged out as myself and logged in as my wife and her preference pane appears without a problem.
I repaired permissions several times including from a boot CD.
I removed the relevant cache and plist files from my Library folder.
I was able to get the pref pane back for a while but honestly I don't know exactly what I did to get it to come back. I believe it was after I removed my com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist file but I can't be totally sure. One thing I noticed was that after removing com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist, the file did not come back on it's own after trying to edit the preferences. I even copied the com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist from my wife's Library but that didn't seem to help (I'm still somewhat of a new Mac guy so I don't even know if that is a viable solution in the first place.)
I've seen other people experiencing problems with blank preference panes but it doesn't seem like their solutions are relevant to my problem. Also I would have thought that there might be a corrupt pref file somewhere but the fact that the behavior is normal under my wife's profle seems to suggest that all is well at the system file level.
Any help is, of course, greatly appreciated.
Regards
-Paul
Message was edited by: paul-reilly

I called Apple support and they were able to help me. Here's what they had me remove:
com.apple.dashboard.client.plist
com.apple.dashboard.plist
com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist
my home/library Caches folder
the root Library/Caches folder
I rebooted and my Mac was back and running normal. I think that /Library/Caches removal was the key part but I can't say for sure.

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When I open expose and spaces in system preferences all I get is a blak screen. I want to set some application preferences for spaces.

I called Apple support and they were able to help me. Here's what they had me remove:
com.apple.dashboard.client.plist
com.apple.dashboard.plist
com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist
my home/library Caches folder
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I rebooted and my Mac was back and running normal. I think that /Library/Caches removal was the key part but I can't say for sure.

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Welcome to the Apple Support Community!
If you upgraded from Snow Lepoard OS 10.6.x that had Exposé and Space, then those two have been integrated into Mission Control in Lion OS 10.7.x. You can learn more in the Apple KB article Mac 101: Mission Control. Mission Control is in System Preferences. Another source of info about Mission Control, Exposé and Spaces is from the Help menu in the Finder. Just type any one of those elements in the search box and you should get a few articles that are connected to each other.
HTH

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Hi all. I just bought a unibody macbook and wanted to add the spaces key to view all the windows in all spaces to the F5 key, and another expose key to F6. I went into the control panel under "expose and spaces" and "keyboard shortcuts" under "keyboard" and tried to set these keys. But it never actually accepts any of the settings I make. I put the settings to make them f5 and f6 but nothing happens when I press the keys. I know about the gestures and the hardcoded keys that are predefined on the macbook, but none of these allows me to use spaces to look at all the windows.
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haha, I just figured it out after I posted it. It's Function-F5 that it get's mapped to even though it still says only f5. I don't know why it doesn't just say that in the first freaking place, but whatever.
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Message was edited by: -scstraus-
Message was edited by: -scstraus-

When I go to system preferences expose and spaces is not there for me as an option. What can I do to restore it?

I have tried to fix permissions and restart and that did not help it show back up and I have also deleted the system preferences cache and still nothing. What can I do?

I also miss the grid layout of spaces. In fact, I'm considering downgrading back to Snow Leopard just to get it back. I used to use command+arrow keys to move around in my grid of spaces. I used to use a hot corner to initiate spaces, then another hot corner to initiate expose while "zoomed out" in spaces. I used to be able to click any window of any app in any space and move it to any other space. I used to be able to move an entire space to another location.
Now I've upgraded to Lion and I cannot do any of that. Serious downgrade, serious loss of efficiency. I've taken the time to learn how Lion handles all this. I've taken the time to change options to try to make MC more efficient. Simply put, it's a downgrade that breaks something great from Snow Leopard.
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For example: In SL, to go from space 1 to 9 on a 3x3 layout, I could use command+right, down, down, right. On Lion, I have to use comand+right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. seriously? Sure, I could use command+9 (if that's even where Lion decided it wanted to keep the app!), but I prefer the efficiency of using 1 hand to do the keyboard shortcut.
Tell Apple you want the option of having spaces in a grid again. Who knows, maybe if enough of us do, they'll bring it back: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Message was edited for grammar by: pistolpete_sf

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http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5122/picture1bw3.png

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So to really understand my jumble of words to make you understand my weird train of thought. Its The Master & the Grasshopper Lesson on _'Believing without Seeing.'_
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3. Press Tab +(ONE TIME)+
4. Press *Right --> Arrow* +(ONE TIME)+
*5. Press ⌘L +(ONE TIME)+
*6. Press ⌘[ +(ONE TIME)+
7. Press Tab
8. Press Tab
9. Press *Space Bar*
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Expose' and Spaces preference plane is blank

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