Menu Bar and Hard Drive Icon M.I.A.

Hi
When I woke my MacBook from "sleep" a while ago I have no menu bar or any of the icons that go on the right side of the screen. My dock is barely visible. I've tried system preferences to check on the screen size in "display". It's set to 1280 X 800. I've restarted about 4 times. I shut down and started. It keeps coming back this way. I went to user>library>preferences>apple.com systemuiserver.plist and deleted it. Then restarted. No joy. Please help?
Thank you!

This sounds like either damaged OS files that the Combo update did not replace or an incompatible add-on of some kind, especially a "haxie" that adds a third party (not from Apple) Menu Extra toward the right of the menu bar. There are actually two kinds of menu bar add-ons, menu extras & status items. Menu extras can be rearranged with an ⌘ key drag; status items cannot. Avoid third party menu extras if possible. Although popular & useful, Apple does not support their use. They can cause problems, including ones that interfere with the proper installation of OS updates that can require reinstalling the OS to fix.
Assuming you only have Apple menu extras installed, I suggest you try starting up in Safe Mode. If behavior reverts to normal, but only until the next normal startup, then you probably have an incompatible add-on. If not, you may have to reinstall Snow Leopard 'over itself' - IOW, just run the installer again after starting up from the DVD.
If a safe boot is only temporarily effective, while in that mode create a temporary new user account. Restart & log into that account instead of your normal one. If the problem disappears, then the incompatible item is somewhere in your home folder.

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Menu bar and hard drive icon don't appear at last stage of boot up

Machine froze trying to print a PDF document off a flash drive in Preview. Had to power off the machine. Upon restart, everything came back to life fine until the very end of the boot up process (chime fine, desktop background pictures appeared, main side tool bar program icons fine) when the top Menu title bar didn't appear nor the hard disk icon. Spinning beach ball. Never would finish the boot up process; seemed like it was still trying to finish the print job from before.
Unplugged the networked Laserjet printer, unplugged computer power, restarted. Same result. Everything is perfect for 98% of the boot process until the end. Ran Disk Utility "verify disk" and it found a couple of items. Repaired successfully. Ran "verify permissions" and found quite a few wrong. Repaired successfully. Still same problem.
Any ideas? I hate to reinstall the OS with it so close to being just fine. Machine has been very solid and stable in the current configuration. I do have a 2nd internal hard drive that has 10.3.9 on it that I can use in a pinch.
Power Mac G4 silver tower, Dual 1ghz, 2GB RAM, 10.4.11 with OS 9.2.2

While in Safe Mode, try this...
In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes".
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a 1 or 2 if there are no real files in them, and reboot.
Then move these files to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/ com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
/Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.systemuiserver.xxx.plist
where 'xxx' is a 12 digit (hexadecimal) numeric string.
This will reset your Menu Bar to the default, you'll need to go through System Preferences to reset the ones you need. (If they are already checked, uncheck them first and then recheck them).
Reboot & test.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport in 10.4 & below, or 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
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

I want to increase text size of menu bar and size of icons for a visually impaired person. Step by step idiot proof instructions much appreciated.

I want to increase text size of menu bar and size of icons for a visually impaired person. Step by step idiot proof instructions much appreciated.

You can use some extensions to achieve this.
* Theme Font & Size Changer: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/theme-font-size-changer/
You can use the NoSquint extension to set font sizes (text/page zoom) and text colors on web pages.
* NoSquint - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/nosquint/
See also:
* http://www.accessfirefox.org/ - Access Firefox Because the Internet is for everyone.

Desktop suddenly darkens and menu bar and desktop icons disappear

Hi guys,
Some times (not very often) suddenly the desktop darkens, and the menu bar and the disktop icons disappear, while the dock remains. I have to click in order to return!
What causes this thing?
P.S. Before awhile, that this happened again, I looked at the console and saw these two events:
1)**** [IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport][SuspendDevice] -- Suspend -- suspendDeviceCallResult = 0x0000 (kIOReturnSuccess) -- 0x3000 ****
2)setPresentationOptions called with NSApplicationPresentationFullScreen when there is no visible fullscreen window; this call will be ignored.
But I cannot specify the exact time it happened, in order to see if any of those two messages are related.

Thank you Niel!! Re the problem with the display being too big to fit the screen. I had exactly the same problem as geraintfromswansea and was completely stymied. Never even thought of Universal Access being at fault. Must have hit the keyboard command somehow to turn on magnification. Fixed now thanks to you.
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Hard Drive icon won't open and menu bar flashes off and on

All of a sudden, in the middle of the day, my eMac went haywire. I can launch apps and docs are one the desktop. But I cannot open the Hard Drive icon. If I double-click on it (or used Command-O from keyboard), the icon won't open. And when I attempt to open it, the Finder Menu Bar begins flashing off and on (vanishing, reappearing, vanishing) across the top of the screen. I haver rebooted, run disk utility to repair permissions, even booted from TechTools to run its diagnostics. But still no access to the Hard Drive icon. I logged out and logged in as a TEST user, and same thing happens even when logged in that way. Literally, this happened in an instant. One minute the eMac was fine, then this started. Anyone else seen this? -- david

If the problem exists in both your regular account and your Test account odds are that it is at the system level. You can try a Safe boot (hold down the shift key at startup) to see if there is a third party startup item or one of the optional Apple functions that is causing the problem. You could also boot from the installer disk and use the Disk Utility->Repair Disk function. If you have a utility such as Tiger Cache Cleaner which will do a deep cache clean you can also try that.
Francine
Schwieder

How can I add the hard drive icon to the menu bar on a MBPr

How can I add the hard drive icon to the menu bar on a MBPr? I have downloaded Google Earth and it wants me to drag it to the hard drive for install. I was able to display the icon but now I would like to put it on the menu bar. Is this possible? Or can I add it to the hardware section under system preferences?
I'm a new Apple user, coming out of the dark ages of a lifetime in the PC Windows world.
Thanks

It's on your Desktop, is it not? You cannot put it on the menubar through OS X although you may find third-party utilities that will. If you want it on the Desktop:
Select Preferences from the Finder's Finder menu and check the desired boxes:
Click on the Sidebar icon in the toolbar to set what you want displayed in the Sidebar.

WD Ext. Hard Drive icon won't go away in Menu Bar?

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Yes; however, I move it to the trash earlier, thinking my Mac would take care of all that. Now when I connect my hard drive, it comes up as Time Machine, so I don't know how to get it back like it was before I began Time Machine?

My Macbook starts up, shows the screen saver, then immediately goes to sleep. I tap the spacebar, it comes back for a second, shows the tool bar and the hard drive icon then immediately "goes to sleep". This can go on forever, on, sleep, on, sleep.

My Macbook starts up, shows the screen saver, then immediately goes to sleep. I tap the spacebar, it comes back for a second, shows the tool bar and the hard drive icon then immediately "goes to sleep". This can go on forever, on, sleep, on, sleep. I can only see the screen for maybe 3-5 seconds; not enough time to do anything. Someone did step on it, so I don't know if the problem is with screen or ??
Thanks!

Hello, Juniorjr2.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like screen curtain may be enabled. Screen curtain is a feature that allows display privacy. To disable screen curtain while VoiceOver is enabled, you can three finger triple tap the screen to disable this feature. You may need to press the home button once in order to process these steps. If you wish to disable VoiceOver, see the link in the article below.
iOS: Configuring accessibility features
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5018
If the issue persists, try reaching out to us here.
Cheers,
Jason H.

All type in my menu bar and under icons has disappeared how do I get it back?

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Do any fonts work or show up at all in any application?
Have you installed any new Fonts or Adobe/MS Apps?
See if you can run Font Book in Applications, verify Fonts & check for duplicates.

On my macbook pro the hard drive icon is not on my desktop and I don't know how to find the hard drive or get the icon back on my desktop

on my macbook pro the hard drive icon is not on my desktop and I don't know how to find the hard drive or get the icon back on my desktop

Click on the Desktop. From the Finder menu select Preferences. Check the boxes for what you want on your Desktop. If they are already checked, then try unchecking and rechecking.

I just installed Lion and have no desktop hard drive icon. How can I make it reappear?

How can I gain access to my hard drive directory? Since installing Lion yesterday, I no longer have a desktop hard drive icon to click on, so cannot see my folders.

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IPad running iOS 5 has on the menu bar only have 4 icons, being: back, forward, bookmarks, and the "add to bookmarks", but is missing an icon after the "add to bookmarks" arrow, that is a "show all open browser windows" icon. How do I get it in my safari?

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What you are seeing is how Safari works now in iOS 5. There is no way to get that icon in Safari now. There other much better browsers available in the App Store. Look at iCab Mobile, Mercury, Atomic, ....
I have been running iOS 5x for so long now, that I don't even remember if that icon did appear in earlier iOS versions

My hard drive icon is gone from desk top and does not show up in spotlight or finder searches!

Hi there
recently my hard drive icon has disappeared from my Macbook Pro (10.7.4) desk top and does not show up in spotlight or finder searches! I have tried several fixes posted online for earlier operating systems with no luck.
Also, when I connect my external hard drive the icon does not appear on the desl top nor in the finder either, making looking for documents impossible.
Help!!!
Thanks in advance!
Marni

In "finder" click "finder" then "preferences" and navigate to the "general" tab.
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I want to transfer pictures from my iphone 4 to a hardrive, but the problem is i dont know how. Can the genius bar help me with that, and can they possibly do this for me if i bring my iphone and hard drive with me there. Also if there is a cost, how much

I want to transfer pictures from my iphone 4 to a hardrive, but the problem is i dont know how. Can the genius bar help me with that, and can they possibly do this for me if i bring my iphone and hard drive with me there. Also if there is a cost, how much?

iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer

Icons in menu bar and standard menus are invisible!

I'm having an issue with OS X 10.8.2 on my 15" (not Retina) Macbook Pro (late 2011, Core i7 2.4 GHz w/ 16GB RAM and SSD);
The majority of system icons in the menu bar "extras" area (that is, to the right near the date/time in the menu bar) are blank. The area where the icon would be located is responsive to clicks, and drops a menu item down upon click, but the icons themselves are invisible. The same goes for Spotlight which has a spot for it's icon and responds to the hotkey of Apple + Spacebar, but the icon itself is invisible. The only icons that are visible are third party programs that run and place themselves there such as Little Snitch, and the battery low ("red" battery) indicator icon; other battery icons are invisible.
Also invisible/blank are the icons for going back and forward in a Finder window as well as the back/forward icons in System Preferences sub-dialogs. The icons for choosing labels, changing the way Finder windows display (their view options), and a few others that I cannot name as I cannot see them are invisible as well. Icons that would normally display to the left of "All My Files", "AirDrop", "Applications", "Desktop", et cetera in the Finder window do not display, either.
I have tried installing the 10.8.2 Combo Update and using the Disk Utility "Repair" and "Verify" Filesystem options but neither fixed the issue. I have tried deleting the cached plist files for the SystemUIServer as well but there was no change in the icon display (or, that is, lack of display!).
I am running Mac OS X 10.8.2 (including the Combined Update) on the late-2011 Macbook Pro 15" w/ 2.4 GHz Core i7 (default 4GB memory and 750gb HDD; upgraded to 16GB of RAM and a Crucial M4 256GB SSD). I cannot recall if the problem started after I updated any system software or not; I upgraded to 10.8.2 via buying OS X Mountain Lion from the App Store so that I would have a copy on USB to install after replacing my HDD with my SSD. Everything worked fine on fresh installation, and I am not sure at what point the icons disappeared.
Does anyone have any insight into this problem, and more importantly, how to correct it? Please see the screenshots below for a proper illustration of the problem I am experiencing. The sole icon visible, with the two columns, is Little Snitch 3.0.
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   ^-- Finder window with the icons for back/forward, view options, icons for location list items on the left, etc. missing
   ^-- System Preferences dialog, with icons for the back/forward function missing.
    ^-- Help window with the icons for back/forward and some other function missing.
Thank you in advance!
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I have a similar issue. When the computer goes into "Hibernate" mode -- that is, it loses power while sleeping and it writes the contents of it's memory to disk in order to boot into that exact configuration when woken up -- many of my icons when Apple-Tab'ing to another application appear as static. They look like a slightly colorized version of the "static snow" you see when tuning into a station that doesn't exist on a UHF antenna television. Also, icons in Chrome such as web sites "favorite icons" or favicon.ico (the icons that appear in the URL bar and bookmarks) will be scrambled in the same fashion , at first , until the actual icon is loaded.
Between this, my menu bar and finder icons not displaying, and being unable to boot into safe mode, I'm getting quite ******. I have no idea what the **** is going on with my Macbook Pro. The issue of the scrambled icons actually existed prior to installing an SSD and doing a fresh install of Mountain Lion. I may end up throwing in the towl and re-installing the operating system but I'm sure SOMETHING will happen. It seems the latest update, 10.8.2, is absolute garbage.
What the ****, Apple? And I really don't want to take the computer to the morons at the Apple Store. They are not "geniuses" by any measure.

Menu Bar and Hard Drive Icon M.I.A.

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