lost my dock

[pippa]

Today my dock disappeared and my computer has gone really slow. Any ideas?

 

[oldscribe]

Hi and welcome,


It could be a "broken" JPEG in the Downloads folder, that makes the Dock crash. I'd try to remove everything from the Downloads folder via command line.
Also have a look at this screen shot and make sure hiding is turned off.

 

[pippa]

Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't work. Any other ideas?

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Do you remember what you were doing prior to this happening, IE on YouTube etc. Also I take it that the dock will not reappear when the cursor is placed at the bottom of the screen.

Personally this has never happened to me, but think first you need to find out if the dock is actually running, so use this command ps -aux. (make sure terminal is expanded horizontally), and you should see an entry something like this bearing in mind Im on a Macbook Pro.
MacBookPro:~ abennett$ ps -aux | grep Dock
abennett 950 0.0 -0.3 244928 5976 ?? S 8:22PM 0:00.31 /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock -psn_0_14155777

Also have you tried killing the dock if not here is the command ( killall Dock ) without brackets. But please check the above first and post back.

 

[pippa]

Thanks for the suggestions, and correct about the dock not reappearing (I have had it for a few years and know how to make it move, hide, change size etc.). I took it into Apple to get it checked and the hard drive is dead, apparently of old age. Replacement on order.
I guess this is what is expected once these disposable bits of electronics reach the end of their short life expectancy. About the same as guinea pigs!

 

[oldscribe]

Hi pippa,

Sorry to hear HD is dying but pleased you have found the cause if dock issue. Would not have associated the two, learn something new all the time, thanks for posting back withe this info.