Nothing shows up on desktop!PLEASE HELP

[meekie]

I have a mac 10.3.9 and i turned it on and nothing was on the desktop and finder wont open. I can still use the stuff on my dock though. I have the startup disk. I cant do anything with my files. Ive tried reinstalling panther, but it just gives me a new account or something that doesn't even have any of my files. Don't know what to do?

 

[nixgeek]

Have you tried repairing permissions on the drive? You should be able to do that while booted from the installation discs. Just select to run Disk Utility from the menubar when you reach the welcome screen for the installation. While you're there, you also might as well run a Repair Disk on your hard drive.

 

[Hughvane]

I have a mac 10.3.9 and i turned it on and nothing was on the desktop and finder wont open. I can still use the stuff on my dock though.

Do you have the top menu bar visible? If so, click Finder and select Preferences. What is checked to display on your desktop?

I have the startup disk ... I've tried reinstalling panther, but it just gives me a new account or something that doesn't even have any of my files.

When you say you've "tried" reinstalling the OS, did you succeed? If yes, and you didn't choose Archive & Install (I'll check my Panther OS disks shortly), you may have wiped all your applications etc from the hard disk.

Post back to let us know how you've got on.