iMac menu bar flashes all the time.

[just_jt]

We've got an iMac with OS X that doesn't seem to start correctly.
It seems to go through the boot process, but then the screen clears
and turns blue, with just a couple icons at the top - no menu bar.
I can click on the clock to get to the System Prefs and get a menu
that way.
If I go to Force Quit, I see repeated instances of Finder, with more
added every second or so... If I click Help, I get the message it
quit unexpectedly.

Sometimes I can get Finder to appear with a menu bar, but it only just
flashes and I don't know how to get it to quit. I can't get to any
other folders.
Any ideas what is wrong and why my Finder is blinking?

[Steve W. Jackson]

In article <e6befdd4.0307211516.67840496@posting.google.com >,
[email]just_jt@hotmail.com[/email] (just_jt) wrote:

:> We've got an iMac with OS X that doesn't seem to start correctly.
:> It seems to go through the boot process, but then the screen clears
:> and turns blue, with just a couple icons at the top - no menu bar.
:> I can click on the clock to get to the System Prefs and get a menu
:> that way.
:> If I go to Force Quit, I see repeated instances of Finder, with more
:> added every second or so... If I click Help, I get the message it
:> quit unexpectedly.
:>
:> Sometimes I can get Finder to appear with a menu bar, but it only just
:> flashes and I don't know how to get it to quit. I can't get to any
:> other folders.
:> Any ideas what is wrong and why my Finder is blinking?

Sounds like either damaged file structures or the Finder (or its
preferences) have been hosed.

I suggest booting from your OS X install CD, running Disk Utility, and
letting it check the disk for errors as well as repairing permissions
(it's odd how many problems can be corrected by the latter).

= Steve =
--
Steve W. Jackson
Montgomery, Alabama

[just_jt]

I tried running Disk Util off the OS X CD, it didn't find any
problems. I even re-ran the OS X install without reformatting.

By clicking on the time I can get to system prefs, and even set my
startup to use 9.2 instead. 9.2 seems fine - is there anything I could
do to fix Finder in OS X while I've got OS 9.2 up?

Thanks - Jim
[email]just_jt@nospamplease.hotmail.com[/email]


"Steve W. Jackson" <stevewjackson@charter.net> wrote in message news:<stevewjackson-9831F7.17123822072003@corp.supernews.com>...

>
> Sounds like either damaged file structures or the Finder (or its
> preferences) have been hosed.
>
> I suggest booting from your OS X install CD, running Disk Utility, and
> letting it check the disk for errors as well as repairing permissions
> (it's odd how many problems can be corrected by the latter).
>
> = Steve =