Finder Flashing & Dock disappeared. HELP!!!

I've had my macbook 10.4 11 for a few years now since i started college in 2006. And all of a sudden these past few days, the finder window starts flashing..not flashing completely on & off, but like blinking & so does all the icons on my desktop. They all flash at the same time as soon as my laptop is rebooted. And now all of a sudden last night, the dock disappears. I was backtracking and kind of figured out that these problems started occuring as soon as I download the "recommended updates". Never has my mac acted up like this. But as soon as i download the updates...now the finder is flashing & the dock has disappeared. Please anybody i need help to fix this. I'm in the entertainment industry & I have alot of important projects, files on here. Will those be damaged?? And how can I fix this problem A.S.A.P?? I cant even access safari now to go to the net, because my safari icon is located on the dock. And my icons flash on the screen, so i couldnt click on even if i tried. How can i get the dock back? And for the finder window to stop flashing?
Message was edited by: musiqfiend

I'm not sure if that'll help. I was reading through & it says to stop it you have to go to "system preferences". I can't access that right now, because my dock disappeared last night. And thats where the icon is for my system preferences. I cant click on the apple thing at the top either because my screen blinks. It blinks so fast that you dont have time to click on an icon cause it switches. Say if i opened a window..for example like Itunes or something. My screen goes crazy. The windows will flash back and forth "Itunes, finder, itunes, finder, etc.." their doing this so fast that i cant access anything. And now the dock is disappeared. Which makes matters even worse lol all my icons are in dock. I can almost work my way around with the flashing. But *i cant work around a missing dock. Without a dock, i cant access ANYTHING. _ALL MY ICON ARE IN THE DOCK._* :/ If anybody knows how to restore the dock to come back. Please let me know. Once i get that back, then we can work on fixing the flashing finder.
Message was edited by: musiqfiend

Similar Messages

Flash content disappears - HELP

I have just gotten back to working on my XP machine and flash
content disappears after about 1 to 2 seconds. Even on the
Macromedia home page, the entire top of their page shows up and
goes away. I have read about the xp sp2 problems and I did recently
upgrade. I have read the fixes about there (i.e. pop up blocking
level, puting  in
the htm file...none of this works. Firefox works fine, IE doesn't.
When I publish with preview in the Flash IDE - no luck either.
Do my problems sound like they are related to XP sp2? If any
one out there has seen this type of behavior and has
suggests...many thanks in advance.
- Richard

I found the problem...it was my firewall software...it was
blocking popup ads...
Thanks....

Finder flashes and disappears at top. Computer dead on only one account.

My iMac G4 (800 mhz) running the latest update/version of Tiger is suddenly acting up on one account only. On other accounts, no problem. On the problem account, the finder bar appears and disappears about every second. I can start to open applications (Word, Safari, etc.), but they close before fully opening. No recent changes to the computer and only safe internet surfing (to the best of my knowledge).
My 12-year-old son's homework program is on the account in turmoil. Help, please! Thank you...
iMac G4 800 mhz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

If you don't mind using the Terminal you can get into any account using super user commands. The slickest, and most dangerous way, is to kill Finder and relaunch it as root. The safest way is to launch Terminal from /Applications/Utilities. Next you want to go into the other user's Prefs folder, so type this and hit the Return key:
sudo -s
give your admin password, which is not echoed to the screen, and hit the Return key again. Your regular user name will be changed to root. You can now do whatever you please. Navigate to the other account's Prefs folder:
cd /Users/otheraccount/Library/Preferences
hit the Return key, then type ls and hit Return to see a list of all the Preferences. Here's a sample of me accessing that folder in my test account (short name is revelator) and asking for a list of the files:
Tiger:~ francine$ sudo -s
Tiger:~ root# cd /Users/revelator/Library/Preferences
Tiger:/Users/revelator/Library/Preferences root# ls
From the list of files you can then copy of the name of what you want to remove and paste it in the remove command or type it:
Tiger:/Users/revelator/Library/Preferences root# rm com.apple.finder.plist
After you finish removing the files type
exit
and hit Return.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Macbook Pro - Disabled Fonts! Now no finder or dock! HELP!

Hi I've got loads of fonts and I thought I'd tidy them up by disabling some of them. I've now started the Macbook Pro and after loading finder, nothing appears on the desktop. No dock, no menu, no hard drive icon!! The only thing on the screen is the spotlight icon.
Please help - what do I do?
Many thanks in advance.
Tom

Hi Tom,
Must've disabled some System Fonts, or coincidental Disk Corruption..
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1538
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2435
Might try a Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), it will try to repair your Disk Directory while the spinning radian is happening, so let it go, run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions.
Or possibly Get Pacifist...
http://www.charlessoft.com/
then extract what you need from your Install Disk or QT.DMG, then Install, if/when it asks to overwrite, go ahead.

Deleted dockmod and my dock has disappeared HELP PLEASE!!!!!!

Ive downloaded dockmod but I didnt like it so I deleted it and restarted my mac and my wallpaper and dock has disappeared HELP!!!!!

Might corrupted dock and desktop preferences ...
Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
Type or copy paste the following:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
Click Go then move the com.apple.dock.plist file to the Trash.
Do the same for: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Then restart your Mac.
As you have discovered, third party dock and desktop customization apps can often cause problems.

Upgraded to Mavericks ... Dock disappeared and background is flashing

I upgraded my OS to Mavericks last week. Since the install, the dock disappeared and the desktop background flashes repeatedly. I have rebooted several times and reinstalled Mavericks 3 times.

Had the same problem. Realised after web searching that the dock processes were probably at fault - dock controls a lot more than just the dock itself. I did the following and i've now got a good install of mavericks.
Deleted an add-on app i put on called LaunchPad Control from Preferences pane.
Removed all widgets from Dashboard.
Removed any other desktops from Spaces (so only left with an empty dashboard and one desktop).
Removed an Automator script i had to automatically check mail on start up.
Finally i created a new administrator user and was logged into this when i did the install.
Hope this helps.

Accidentally removed from,sharing and permissions the admin user,and now i do not when i find the home icon at my computer i do not have permmission,and the mac does not works properly,lots of question mark at the dock ,please help

accidentally removed from,sharing and permissions the admin user,and now i do not when i find the home icon at my computer i do not have permmission,and the mac does not works properly,lots of question mark at the dock ,please help

I'm going to assume that since you deleted your hard drive and all its files, you had a backup, yes? If the backup has an OS (bootable clone), then you can boot into it by holding down the option key when you start up you iMac and choose the backup drive. Then use Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to copy the files back to your iMac.

Finder flashes, can't access trash, desktop files disappeared...

Running a fairly new iMac with 10.7.4 and came home to find that the finder flashes, I can't access the trash and the files on the desktop disappeared. Haven't downloaded anything (and my kids also claim not to have). Suggestions?

My fault they used to be called "Accounts" now "Users & Groups" in System Preferences.
Do that but then try this.... it really sounds like Finder prefs got wonky...
(if you can't do this in normal mode or if you're still in Safe Mode do it in Safe Mode)
Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences folder and trash these files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
Then, restart, or log out and in again.
(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)

Help!! Adobe flash player disappeared

We had adobe flash downloaded onto our new dell laptop when we bought it brand new in December. After being infected with a virus, the flash player disappeared! After going through the Adobe download, it says it was successfully installed. It does show up as downloaded in my control panel, yet doesnt appear in my start up menu!! When I try to use something that requires the flash player, it tells me that I need to install it...SOMEBODY HELP ME RE-INSTALL THIS!!!! Thanks so much

Thank you!! I installed firefox browser and it works fine now!
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 18:29:54 -0700
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Help!! Adobe flash player disappeared
What browser do you use? Internet Explorer? If so, check if you have the "kill-bit" set by that virus: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3432049#3432049
If yes, use this method to reset it: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3434922#3434922
>

Desktop Icons flash every 1 to 2 seconds and finder appears and disappears

Hello All,
This one is a bit baffling . . .
After running a number of "software updates" (but I can't tell you which ones) the icons on the desktop disappear and reappear approximately every 1 to 2 seconds. Additionally, 'finder' is showing in the menu bar and the finder 'window' appears and disappears as well. Sometimes the finder window will disappear for 5 to 10 seconds but then it reappears. Whenever any application is started, the application is 'shut down' by the OS without any intervention from the user. I have never seen anything like this. Any ideas you have on how to find out what software updates we ran that might have caused this or how to 'back out' those software updates or just any general ideas on what we might want to try are appreciated.
This is a MacBook Pro purchased late last year and I know we are NOT running 10.5 on this machine.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Laura is a she and that is the computer owner and primary user I am actually Mark 'the' husband just using her id trying to debug this 'thing'.
So thanks for the continued suggestions. I can't get the machine to boot from the CD to be able to run the utilities on the tiger CD. I tried holding the 'C' while booting and also tried option-command-shift-delete with no success to boot from the CD..
I will check try the syslog suggestion and see if I see anything.
Please keep any and all suggestions coming
Message was edited by: Laura Bauer

Need help with Flash Dock Menu

Hi guys,
I'm trying to build a dock menu componant for my website in CS3. I've seen loads of them out there but they all seem to only stop scrolling when the mouse is moved in to the center of the movie - I want to build one exactly like the one in the link below, where the mouse will stop scrolling once the mouse is settled over the image you want to select.
http://www.mtoolcomponents.com/flash-slideshow/flash-dock-menu.html
I even want to create something a bit simpler where there are no reflections and the images don't get bigger on rollover.
Does anyone know of a tutorial or know how I can achieve this?
Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you.
SM

I am trying to create the menu. I have figured out how to
create the extra button as well as where I will need to change the
link for each button but if you download the menu from above (link
included in previous post) you will notice that the first two
buttons are mimicking each other. I need the second option to be
FAQs independent of the first home button

HELP! Mac G4 Finder flashes off and on, files close

My sturdy mac G4 running OSX 10.4.11 has developed a weird thing where the finder flashes off and on, the files flash off all together as if someone was resetting the finder. I ran disk warrior and utilities but still doing the same thing. Any suggestions? Never had virus. Whaats up?

Hi greenteam, and a warm welcome to the forums!
It's likely some 3rd Party APP that got broken by the recent QT or Security update.
Stuffit AVR has been a big one, if you have that use the Pref Pane to turn it off, but others have been implicated too. Check System Preferences for a Stuffit Pref Pane and disable AVR.
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for action in Safe Mode...
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it is some 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems

My iphone 5 has gone to a screen with apple logo and message saying find flash media and keep out. I cannot do anything with my phone. can soomeone help.

my iphone 5 only has apple logo on screen with message saying find flash media and keep out. What does this mean, i cannot do anything with the phone

thanks

Why the painted content flash and disappear?

I try to run a simple code example from java almanac site but the painted content just flash and disappear. Can any people help to find the reason? Thanks in advance.
Below are the code:
package font;
import java.text.AttributedString;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.font.LineBreakMeasurer;
import java.awt.font.TextLayout;
import javax.swing.*;
public class DrawParagraphDemo extends JPanel {
    public DrawParagraphDemo() {
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));
     * Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
     * this method should be invoked from the
     * event-dispatching thread.
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        //Make sure we have nice window decorations.
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        //Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        //Create and set up the content pane.
        DrawParagraphDemo demo = new DrawParagraphDemo();
        frame.setContentPane(demo);
        //Display the window.
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
        demo.drawParagraph((Graphics2D) demo.getGraphics(), "One line of test string", 400);
    public void drawParagraph(Graphics2D g, String paragraph, float width) {
        LineBreakMeasurer linebreaker = new LineBreakMeasurer(
            new AttributedString(paragraph).getIterator(), g.getFontRenderContext());
        float y = 0.0f;
        while (linebreaker.getPosition() < paragraph.length()) {
            TextLayout tl = linebreaker.nextLayout(width);
            System.out.println(tl);
            y += tl.getAscent();
            tl.draw(g, 0, y);
            y += tl.getDescent() + tl.getLeading();
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
        //creating and showing this application's GUI.
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
}

Hi i have similar problem and i have followed Camickr's suggestion but it looks like my image was still being painted over here's my code
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.filechooser.*;
* FileChooserDemo2.java is a 1.4 application that requires these files:
*   ImageFileView.java
*   ImageFilter.java
*   ImagePreview.java
*   Utils.java
*   images/jpgIcon.gif (required by ImageFileView.java)
*   images/gifIcon.gif (required by ImageFileView.java)
*   images/tiffIcon.gif (required by ImageFileView.java)
*   images/pngIcon.png (required by ImageFileView.java)
public class Asst4 extends JPanel
                              implements ActionListener {
    static private String newline = "\n";
    private JTextArea log;
    private JFileChooser fc;
     private JPanel display,button;
     JButton load,grey,color;
     private Image image;
     static JComponent newContentPane;
    public Asst4() {
        super(new BorderLayout());
        //Create the log first, because the action listener
        //needs to refer to it.
          display=new JPanel();
          display.setOpaque(true);
          button=new JPanel();
          load=new JButton("Load Image");
          grey=new JButton("Greyscale Image");
          color=new JButton("Color Image");
          load.addActionListener(this);
          //display.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
          //System.out.println("displayable: "+isDisplayable()+" visible: "+isVisible()+" valid: "+isValid());
          //System.out.println("displayable: "+display.isDisplayable()+" visible: "+display.isVisible()+" valid: "+display.isValid());
          display.setSize(500,500);
          button.add(load, BorderLayout.WEST);
          button.add(grey, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          button.add(color, BorderLayout.EAST);
          add(button,BorderLayout.NORTH);
          add(display,BorderLayout.CENTER);
          setVisible(true);
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
               //Set up the file chooser.
               if (fc == null) {
                    fc = new JFileChooser();
                    //Add a custom file filter and disable the default
                    //(Accept All) file filter.
                    fc.addChoosableFileFilter(new ImageFilter());
                    fc.setAcceptAllFileFilterUsed(false);
                    //Add custom icons for file types.
                    fc.setFileView(new ImageFileView());
                    //Add the preview pane.
                    fc.setAccessory(new ImagePreview(fc));
                    //Show it.
               int returnVal = fc.showDialog(Asst4.this,"Load Image");
               //Process the results.
               if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                    File file = fc.getSelectedFile();
                    Toolkit toolkit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
                    image = toolkit.getImage(file.getAbsolutePath());
                    MediaTracker mediaTracker = new MediaTracker(this);
                    mediaTracker.addImage(image,0);
                    try {
                       mediaTracker.waitForID(0);
                    } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
                       System.err.println(ie);
                       System.exit(1);
               } else {
                    System.out.println("Loading cancelled by user." );
               fc.setSelectedFile(null);
    protected void paintComponent(Graphics g)
          super.paintComponent(g); // this paints the background
          if(image!=null)
          drawImage(image);
    private void drawImage(Image image){
          Graphics2D g=(Graphics2D)display.getGraphics();
          g.drawImage(image,0,0,null);
     * Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
     * this method should be invoked from the
     * event-dispatching thread.
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        //Make sure we have nice window decorations.
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JDialog.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        //Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Compsci_375_Assignment_4");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        //Create and set up the content pane.
        newContentPane = new Asst4();
        newContentPane.setOpaque(true); //content panes must be opaque
        frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
        //Display the window.
        frame.setBounds(50,50,500,500);
           //frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
        //creating and showing this application's GUI.
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
}Can anyone tell me what's going on and also why if i pack the frame my display panel is disappear?
Thanks a lot

Adobe Flash has disappeared after just being downloaded, now wanting to download again

adobe flash plugin disappeared from computer. after downloading it, I try to use it and now it wants me to download it again. This is disturbing me beyond words. I am using XP and seeming to be having alot of issues since updating Java.

I have done this 4 times this morning to no avail. I had already read all 3 help links that were suggested to me by another firefox user. I used the link posted and it told me I needed to go to Adobe site and find newer version. I downloaded that one also but it still comes up each time I try to log onto a pogo game using Flash that it is not installed and need to do it again. Yes I have 5 hairs left. Thank you so much from trying to help me it means alot.

Finder Flashing & Dock disappeared. HELP!!!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for