Everything has been reset.

[needshelp]

At first I noticed that my apps had all reverted to the way they were when I initially installed them, meaning no preferences. Firefox for example showed no bookmarks and iTunes showed no music even though the music files were still there.

I restarted which apparently was a bad idea, as it seems that ALL setting and preferences are gone (i.e. the dock has moved to it's initial position) and my music files are gone.

The only strange thing that happened was that I was messing around with the display size in system preferences and the problems seemed to start right after that , although I can't see why they'd be connected.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Walrus666]

At first I noticed that my apps had all reverted to the way they were when I initially installed them, meaning no preferences. Firefox for example showed no bookmarks and iTunes showed no music even though the music files were still there.

I restarted which apparently was a bad idea, as it seems that ALL setting and preferences are gone (i.e. the dock has moved to it's initial position) and my music files are gone.

The only strange thing that happened was that I was messing around with the display size in system preferences and the problems seemed to start right after that , although I can't see why they'd be connected.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

I don't see a connection either. Have you tried repairing permissions?

 

[needshelp]

I tried it just now though I've never done it before so I'm not sure I did it correctly. I selected Macintosh HD (as opposed to the Fujitsu one) and clicked on "Repair Disk Permissions". I didn't seem to have done anything. I also restarted afterwards.

 

[Kyomii]

I tried it just now though I've never done it before so I'm not sure I did it correctly. I selected Macintosh HD (as opposed to the Fujitsu one) and clicked on "Repair Disk Permissions". I didn't seem to have done anything. I also restarted afterwards.

This is a common problem and usually occurs when someone tries to change the name of the home folder. The name of the home folder (the one with the house icon) should never be changed.

Have you lost your folders and programs that you have installed since you got the Mac too? If so, this is definitely the problem, and you need to read and follow this EXACTLY:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

You do not say what version of OSX you are on, but I am sure the above should cover it. You need to locate your previous home folder to do the above, which will be on your system. You need to remember the name it was and do a search, it should be in the "users" under Mac HD.

 

[se44]

hi,
i have exactly the same problem and its happened a few times now. i thought it might be something to do with updating programmes ( such as itunes etc) as it tends to happen around this time.
i thought also it might be something to do with deleting all my saved passwords and browsing history on firefox as i did that before i shut down my mac, and when i turned it back on all my settings were gone.

im using a macbook running 10.4..and any help will do as i dont want the problem to get any worse...