desktop is gone!

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my desktop disappeared...everything including tool bars, etc. what caused this...better yet....how do i fix. this is macbook pro
 
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Pictures are worth 1000 words . . .

A lot more info is needed to help out. Like What happened when this happened ? Did you reboot and it came up like this ?
What model Mac? What version OS? What have you tried, haven't tried? Can you open anything? Is there anything running ??. . . . We are running in the dark without this info . .
 

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You have "toolbars" on your desktop?? Are you sure you're not talking about an application…and not the desktop?

- Nick
 
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desktop is gone

ok....Mac OS X........10.6.8. I have noticed in the past few days pop ups which I have never gotten before while in Safari. None when in Firefox. Went in and hit pop up blocker in Safari. No difference so I shut down and restarted. When the computer came back on, all I had was a blank blue screen. I restarted about six times...same thing. No icons, no tool bar at the top and no dock on the bottom. I got into itunes somehow and giving me that tool bar at the top and was able to find 'recent items'. Went into many things such as settings, display, keyboard, etc, etc. Haven't found anything that would help restore the desktop. I've never had this problem before; in fact, I've never had a problem with this computer since I got it in 2010. Does this help with giving me some ideas? thanks
 

bobtomay

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I'd be interested to know how you opened any apps or got into any settings if you have no menu bar, no dock and nothing on the desktop...
 
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I got into applications by inadvertently opening itunes by hitting a bunch of keys. This opened up the apple icon at the top left. from there I went into "recent items" and all recent applications were listed. I just clicked on each. Now I have no sound device....it somehow uninstalled and I can't find out how to do that. My keyboard options like illumination are also gone.
 
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I can do a safe reboot and get everything back except sound is gone.....device is gone....no keyboard options like illumination. If I follow the resetting NVRAM I get back sound and keyboard, but then the desktop is blank again....can't get both. I have to do a safe boot everytime I want to get into the desktop. It's a real hassle, and I'm definitely not satisfied. thanks for your help, Steve
 

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Sounds like you made some progress...but not 100% there yet.

Did something happen to this computer that you're not telling us?:) Such as a hard bump, it was dropped, or liquid spilled on it.

These symptoms are very unusual for this to be just happening "out of the blue".

- Nick
 

bobtomay

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First thing I'd try would be to boot up into my cloned bootable backup made prior to the problem to help rule out a hardware issue. If that works, then I'd consider what changes I had made on the internal drive since that backup and undo them if possible while in Safe Mode.

No bootable backup - While in Safe Mode, try creating a new user account and log into that account to see if you have the same symptoms or not.
 
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Having, Identical symptoms, wondering if a solution has been discovered

Hi I'm actually trying to help a friend whose 10.6.8 macbook pro is also experiencing the same thing. I was wondering if anyone has had any success in resolving the issue. I've tried repairing permissions from the startup disc, I ran the Hardware Test off the program install disc and had no errors on anything. The person said they had tried installing a weatherbug widget when this happened. I thought perhaps a virus so I downloaded an old copy of avira compatible with snow leopard and ran it receiving no infected files found. On boot the symptoms are exactly as the original poster described but in the top right where time and menu icons are typically displayed there is a solid black triangle, where the finder glass would typically be found. There was some kind weatherbug temperature icon next to that, Is there any way to reinstall the OS but not lose the data on the computer? I'm starting to think that I may need to try that.
 
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Delete the loginitems.plist and the loginwindow.plist for that user account, see if that fixes it
 
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Just wondering if OP has swiped to a second (empty) desktop.
 
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Not when you swipe to see Widgets. And if you have no Widgets...
 
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Hey guys,
I think the OP has left the building — like three months ago!!

Just in case you missed that part. ;)
 

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