My Dock sometimes disappears

Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
hi there

i'm a bit of a novice at this kind of stuff so was hoping someone might be able to help me.

every now and again in Leopard on my macbook, i will be working along nicely, then i need to go to the dock to launch another app and when i move my mouse down to the bottom the dock has vanished????

The only way I can get it back is by restarting the mac. I've tried going into system preferences and going into the dock section and fiddling around with the display settings (i'm using an external monitor as well as the macbook screen) but the only thing that gets the dock back for me is a restart.

is anyone else having this issue and does anyone know how i can fix it????

thanks

charlie :)
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
8,967
Reaction score
287
Points
83
Location
London
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
The dock sometimes locks up (not just Leopard), its an app - part of the OS and just sometimes fails
 
OP
5
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
ah ok - thanks for the heads up

and there was me believeing the salesman - "Macs just never crash"

i knew it was too good to be true :)
 
Joined
Apr 28, 2006
Messages
2,542
Reaction score
79
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
iMac Core Duo 20", iBook G4, iPhone 8GB :)
Hmm. Never had this problem with the dock. Are you sure you aren't just hiding the dock? Command+Option+D puts the dock into auto hide, so when you go to the extreme bottom, it comes back.

Anyway a way to restart the dock would be to launch "Terminal" (use spotlight). Then type "killall Dock" and hit enter. The dock should relaunch. Note that killall Dock is case sensitive..
 
OP
5
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
thanks for the info

pretty sure i've not done that command option d thing but will bear it in mind and will give the killall thingy a crack next time it happens.

thanks all
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
I have never had any issues with Dock in OSX. Only in Tiger 10.4.0 when it first came out had a problem which was quickly fixed. I have never had it disappear on me.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Probably related to multiple monitors

I've had this happen to me at random times - maybe once a month or so - for years, and I finally figured out what's causing it today. If you have multiple monitors and you move the mouse to the bottom of your secondary monitor and hold it there, the dock (for whatever reason) shifts over to the secondary monitor and minimizes itself! If you move the mouse back to your primary monitor and hold it there for about a half-second, the dock will reappear in your primary monitor.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
That is how it works with multiple monitors so the Dock is on the one you are working with.

And like dtravis7 never have seen a Dock fail. Had folks hit the 'Hide' button and then unable to find for some odd reason.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
156
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
US
Your Mac's Specs
13" MBP, OSX 10.8.5, 2.5 GHz Intel core i5 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 - I also have an iPad Air.
A few times my Dock disappeared too. I checked the settings and preferences but I don't remember how I fixed it, though it had been behaving fine till then. All I know is, so far, it's working OK since then. If it happens again, I'll have to write down the steps I took to fix it. This happened with Mavericks on my MBP. It's behaving fine in Yosemite so far.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
I'd have to agree that some of the first comments provided are completely erroneous and not accurate.

Maybe providing a few more details with the problem would help provide a proper solution. ;)
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
And maybe re-awakening a 7 year old post is not such a good idea. :p
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
�� �� Gee, that would be a good idea and I failed to check!!

Do you think they got the problem fixed by now? ;)

And now I know, this site doesn't support emoji I just tried.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
156
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
US
Your Mac's Specs
13" MBP, OSX 10.8.5, 2.5 GHz Intel core i5 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 - I also have an iPad Air.
And maybe re-awakening a 7 year old post is not such a good idea. :p
If people weren't having the same problem 7 years later, we wouldn't be having this discussion now. Sorry I didn't see the date. Maybe 7 year old threads should be in a different section?
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top