Dock calendar icon failing

BudVitoff · Nov 4, 2011

iMac under OS X 10.6.8: The icon used to be a faithful representation of the date in the menu bar, but recently it started hanging on to a date one or two days old until I diddle with it. If I quit it, it reverts to the bad date.

Does this mean that I simply have to keep it open? I don't recall having to do that before.

toMACsh · Nov 5, 2011

You could try a number of things.
Drag it off the Dock, open iCal, choose Keep in Dock. This is just a replacement strategy.
Trash your Dock plist file.
Trash your iCal plist file.
Try another account.

Mine keeps the current date whether iCal is open or not.

BudVitoff · Nov 7, 2011

Your first suggestion worked. Thank you.

Apparently it's just another gremlin that shouldn't exist, much like my favorite: The need to fix a misbehaving modem by unplugging its power cord. :-(

BudVitoff · Nov 8, 2011

I spoke too soon. It's still acting up. I'm ready for your "trash" suggestions, but I wouldn't know a plist if it bit me, much less how to trash it. (Please, let me go back to my 55 years as a main-framer!) Are you still available?

And as long as we're at it, "Try another account" has a Greek taste to me. I'm the only user of this machine. Do you mean set up a second user account?

toMACsh · Nov 8, 2011

Second question: yes

First question: go here::
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences
to find the plist files (com.apple.___.plist) for Dock and iCal (fill in the blank)

Drag one to the Desktop. Restart. See if it's fixed. If not, try the other one. If it sticks, then you know which one was the culprit. Or, if you don't care to know, do both of them in one fell swoop.

pendlewitch · Nov 9, 2011

BudVitoff said:
Your first suggestion worked. Thank you.

Apparently it's just another gremlin that shouldn't exist, much like my favorite: The need to fix a misbehaving modem by unplugging its power cord. :-(

Whooa!

Unplugging the power cord to your modem should be the last resort.

You can find it's IP address in System Prefs/Internet & Wireless/Network and paste it into your Safari Browser and voila!...the preference panes for the device should open and you should have all the tools at your disposal.

You can connect/disconnect/re-start it from there and do any number of things in particular a firmware update which may be the cause of your problems.

BudVitoff · Nov 11, 2011

ToMACsh: Thanks for the explanation. It's behaving now, but if it fails again, I'll try your remedy.

Pendlewitch: Holy smoke! Look at all those controls I can get into trouble with! I don't know why somebody hadn't told me about this before. I suspect that "reboot" will be my first choice the next time I have trouble.

Each of the following has recommended this to me at one time or another: Microsoft for Windows, Hewlett-Packard for a printer, phone company for a modem. Even my beloved iMac had to have all its cables removed as part of a recent fix. And if it weren't enough to pull the cord from the device, they inevitably want me to pull it from the wall socket as well. What's up with that? As a programmer, I feel much more comfortable following a planned procedure to fix something rather than cutting the power.

pendlewitch · Nov 13, 2011

BudVitoff said:
ToMACsh: Thanks for the explanation. It's behaving now, but if it fails again, I'll try your remedy.

Pendlewitch: Holy smoke! Look at all those controls I can get into trouble with! I don't know why somebody hadn't told me about this before. I suspect that "reboot" will be my first choice the next time I have trouble.

Each of the following has recommended this to me at one time or another: Microsoft for Windows, Hewlett-Packard for a printer, phone company for a modem. Even my beloved iMac had to have all its cables removed as part of a recent fix. And if it weren't enough to pull the cord from the device, they inevitably want me to pull it from the wall socket as well. What's up with that? As a programmer, I feel much more comfortable following a planned procedure to fix something rather than cutting the power.

BudVitoff thanks, tMACsh did the business, apologies for piggy-backing but this issue has been of interest for a while now.

The industry call it "Power Cycling" when they ask you to drop the power to induce equipment to reset, but for many people it's a recurring theme with modem/routers and for me it just became a temporary fix that has become unacceptable because it can potentially cause conflicts if not carried out correctly and doesn't actually solve the root cause. Pulling cables out is meant to help drain capacitors properly.