OSX 10.3.9 Does not load desktop

[rpape]

Recently I have experienced OSX 10.3.9 not loading all of the menu bar and desktop icons. I have had to restart a few times to finally have everything appear. After sign in it takes abnormally long for anything to appear.

The clock, display icon and sound icon are in the upper right corner but there is no menu bar and no desktop icons or folders. My application icons at the bottom of the screen and trash can do pop up. Often everything else will appear when I start up an application.

What is the best way to solve this problem?

 

[macworks]

I've seen this problem on clients' computers. I'm guessing you have a font conflict of some kind. If you use Suitcase, try starting up with the SHIFT key held down. If you do NOT have automatic login turned on, make sure you immediately hold down the SHIFT key after you've typed in your password and pressed RETURN.

If you're not using Suitcase or other font management software, look in home>Library>Fonts. If you have any fonts in there, remove them (rename the fonts folder or move it to your desktop) then try booting up normally.

There are other font folders on your system but they are not likely to have any additional 3rd-party fonts in them unless you specifically modified them: HARD DRIVE > Library > Fonts and HARD DRIVE > System > Library > Fonts. I would not recommend modifying them unless you know what you're doing.

Another good test is to create another user account (SYSTEM PREFERENCES > ACCOUNTS) then log in as that user after a fresh boot.

And finally, if your hard drive is not formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", I'd recommend backing up all of your data and reformatting with the Journalling option.