Help please. My icons are blank after a finder quit

[petersmall]

I'm running an iMac on OS 9.2.2

I emptied the trash can, which had built up to 1.55 gigs

I then re-started with a re-build of the desktop. Just after the re-build started the finder quit.

I then found some of the icons on my documents had gone blank and won't open because they can't find the application that created them.

Panic. Panic. Panic.

I restarted. No change. I zapped the pram. Didn't help. Started up on the install disc. Still blank icons. Tried another system file. No help.

Has anybody any idea what I can do to cure this?

Thanks

 

[7on]

Did you by chance delete an application?

 

[petersmall]

No. It happened immediately after the finder quit.

 

[numediaman]

When you have a program open, can you open the files you created in that program? If so, this will reestablish the program link and create new icons. With the exception of PDFs, I rarely double click a file to open it -- I always open the program first. This is an old habit, but probably a good one.

If everything else is good, then you may have to painstakingly go back and reopen these files through the program. As I said, this will recreate the icons and the program links.

Lesson: empty that Trash Can regularly, and don't rebuild the desktop unless you have to. With new hard drives you don't really gain much from a rebuild.