zebra
11/5/07 7:06:11 PM
SuperHero
Titan
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Hi all!
Well, brave new times call for brave new forum posts. Eventually, this post may take shape in the Magazine itself, in some form...
The purpose of this thread:
This thread is designed for new and advanced Mac users alike, who need to solve problems they encounter day-to-day, while operating under Mac OS X (or outside of it!)
How to contribute:
Make a darn post in here, share the love and I'll add it to this top post so everyone can see it.
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Troubleshooting 101:
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This section is the "bread and butter" of OS X troubleshooting. Here, the basic stuff resides for you, so you can hit these system checks first, before delving deeper.
1. Resetting the PRAM!
Unexpected peripheral behaviour? Strange system hangs/not booting or poor performance? Have you tried resetting your PRAM? PRAM is an area in Mac OS X's EFI-based hardware control subsystem that stores key system information, such as boot arguments, system volume on init, system video driver config, storage I/O config etc. If it gets corrupted (much like BIOS got corrupted, back in the days of PC's and CMOS) things needed to be reset to work optimally. This is no different. To reset your PRAM, use the following key strokes:
Command key + Option key + P + R. Do this the instant you power the Mac on. Hold it until the Mac has chimed twice
2. Disk utility is cool
Disk Utility is an awesome tool for manipulating HFS+ journalled volumes. When your Mac is booting slow or Applications are crashing with permission based errors, just fire up disk utilty and run a "Verify Permissions" and "Verify Disk" check set. Fix if needed. You'd be amazed at the differences this can make
3. Slow startup issues
Mac OS X uses a step beyond your normal init and .rc style scripting for startup of services and applications. It uses a technology known as launchd. Use it wisely. To control launchd startup items, hop into System Preferences --> Accounts/Users --> UserAccountNameHere --> Startup Items. In here, you will be able to turn off those potentially memory sapping/system resource intensive startup processes
4. Console for diagnostics
The console is a Sun microsystems Solaris port/throwback that is generally located in BSD subsystems under /var/adm/messages. As Sneddo pointed out, it is great for troubleshooting. It can be found in /Applications/Utilities/Console.app. It is especially useful for fault finding in hardware component disconnections as well as software segmentation faults/driver issues. You can also SAVE console snapshots, if need be!
5. Force quit without kill -9!
KILL DASH 9 NO MORE CPU TIME! But if you don't want to kill a hung process using the terminal, try command + option + escape. It will bring up a little menu for you, so you can force quit problematic applications!
6. Target booting
Something unique to having an advanced firmware/bootloading system such as EFI and OpenFirmware is the ability to boot your whole OS off external devices, or target different devices in a "target + initiator" mode.
If you forget your password simply boot off the osx install disk and run password reset under the utilities menu.
Plug your mac into another machine using firewire and boot it up holding T to boot to target disk mode, making your mac appear as a firewire HDD to the other machine it is connected to!
7. Password resets
Well, it is just UNIX afterall ;)
Boot to single user mode (s on reboot after chime)
type these commands at the prompt:
1) sh /etc/rc......................(should only take a couple mins to return command line... just ctrl-c if takes too -----
It's running with a smile...it's better than the last time that I tried...
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Sneddo
11/5/07 7:56:17 PM
Hero
Titan
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...fucking tards looking to create stickies in the new sections :P
The Console can be a handy tool, giving you a hint to what is happenning for troubleshooting application errors. -----
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orinjuse
11/5/07 9:41:28 PM
Immortal
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Edited by orinjuse: 13/5/2007 11:16:58 AM -----
When the winds of change blow, some build walls and others build windmills.
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ajmacca54
11/5/07 10:12:56 PM
Serf
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One I find handy when an application hangs or the Finder itself crashes is Mac's version of the three finger salute - command + option + escape. For those that don't know, it brings up a window that allows you to "force quit" misbehaving applications and restart the finder itself if needed. I think that one's important for ex-windows users who are looking for ctrl-alt-del.
The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is the "Activity Monitor" found in Applications -> Utilities. This gives you a list of currently running processes, similar to the processes tab when you ctrl-alt-del in windows. Again for people used to having that available in windows, that's where it is in the mac.
Basic I know, but I've found these both very useful! -----
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Linux_Inside V2
11/5/07 10:39:35 PM
Guru
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easiest way to shut down - hold CTRL+Eject and the shutdown/sleep/restart dialog comes up, easy for people like me who have desktops where the power button is too far away.
hold down shift and scroll to scroll horiontally
hold ctrl down and scroll to zoom the display in or out.
Use Adium! Mac Messenger sux!
http://www.adiumx.com
hold down shift when using F9/F10 Expose functions or when going to dashboard to make it slow motion!
If you forget your password simply boot off the osx install disk and run password reset under the utilities menu.
plug your mac into another machine using firewire and boot it up holding T to boot to target disk mode, making your mac appear as a firewire HDD to the other machine.
-----
Registered Linux user #335153
register @ http://counter.li.org/
"we code out of a passion for god. therefore we do not use these heathen 'branch statements'. there is only one code path to heaven" -- Setagllib
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zebra
11/5/07 10:58:42 PM
SuperHero
Titan
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Excellent. Keep pouring them in. I'll keep adding. -----
It's running with a smile...it's better than the last time that I tried...
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Linux_Inside V2
11/5/07 11:50:21 PM
Guru
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Quote by zebra
Excellent. Keep pouring them in. I'll keep adding.
Lol i was actually thinking of posting a thread like this when i was at work, but i got in shit for sitting on atomicmpc and mactalk.com.au all day :( -----
Registered Linux user #335153
register @ http://counter.li.org/
"we code out of a passion for god. therefore we do not use these heathen 'branch statements'. there is only one code path to heaven" -- Setagllib
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Ben Mansill
12/5/07 7:27:47 PM
God
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Beautiful start to the new world of Mac here zeb. Let's see what's out there! -----
Yes.
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plebsmacker
12/5/07 9:10:55 PM
Hero
Immortal
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Quote by Linux_Inside V2
If you forget your password simply boot off the osx install disk and run password reset under the utilities menu.
Or if you can't find your disc, use this method
Boot to single user mode (s on reboot after chime)
type these commands at the prompt:
1) sh /etc/rc......................(should only take a couple mins to return command line... just ctrl-c if takes too long)
2) passwd [username]........(use your short name)
3) exit...............................(when login window appears, login using new password) -----
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
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Squidy
13/5/07 11:03:00 PM
Hero
Immortal
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And er... where would one find this disk utility? -----
JESUS CHRIST ITS A LION!
/Gets in the car
Roses are red, violets are blue, I'll fuck you with a rake
Needs more Xap
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Linux_Inside V2
13/5/07 11:19:22 PM
Guru
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Quote by Squidy
And er... where would one find this disk utility?
/Applications/Utilities
Also if you have tigr hit the spotlight icon and type disk util :P -----
Registered Linux user #335153
register @ http://counter.li.org/
"we code out of a passion for god. therefore we do not use these heathen 'branch statements'. there is only one code path to heaven" -- Setagllib
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zebra
15/5/07 7:13:03 AM
SuperHero
Titan
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Excellent. Added some more. This stuff is great folks. Keep it up. We will build a mighty repository. -----
It's running with a smile...it's better than the last time that I tried...
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cg776
21/5/07 11:14:05 PM
Primarch
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My DVD burner on 1st gen BlackBook won't burn DVD's anymore, the discs aren't even touched by the write laser, I think this problem was discussed on Apple forums a while ago but the evil admins for those forums took them down or something, is there any kind of firmware updates for the MacBook optical drives that can overcome this problem? -----
A64 3500+, A8N-SLI Deluxe, 1Gb OCZ Plat 400 EL DC DDR, Sparkle 6600GT, Audigy 2 ZS, Dvico DVB-T+, Seagate 160Gb 7200.8 SATA NCQ (WinXP) + Seagate 30Gb 7200 IDE (Ubuntu), Pioneer 109->A09XL (thnx Zebra!), OCZ Modstream 450W, Benq FP937s+.
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Sneddo
22/5/07 7:45:28 AM
Hero
Titan
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heh, Apple removing Optical drive threads? Sounds like them...
As for firmware, I don't think so. Looks like you might have to return it for repair. Maybe if you're lucky it will be replaced with a better drive... -----
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Linux_Inside V2
22/5/07 9:36:19 PM
Guru
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Quote by Sneddo
heh, Apple removing Optical drive threads? Sounds like them...
As for firmware, I don't think so. Looks like you might have to return it for repair. Maybe if you're lucky it will be replaced with a better drive...
Knowing apple this will not be the case, they have like for like replacement.
Anyone with a G3 Blue and white with the REV: 1 mainboard knows this, it has a faulty IDE chip that corrupts data on secondary drives but apple refused to replace the boards with the REV: 2's -----
Registered Linux user #335153
register @ http://counter.li.org/
"we code out of a passion for god. therefore we do not use these heathen 'branch statements'. there is only one code path to heaven" -- Setagllib
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sexbox
23/5/07 11:32:13 AM
Champion
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Quote by zebra
...Plug your mac into another machine using firewire and boot it up holding T to boot to target disk mode, making your mac appear as a firewire HDD to the other machine it is connected to!...
Following the same line of thinking, am I able to cause my Mac to appear as a USB mass storage device??
Further more, is it possible to have the computer running in target disk mode while still using it? -----
Hell hath no fury like the vast robot armies of a woman scorned for sega
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Adarii
23/5/07 12:11:05 PM
Serf
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I have a couple of things to add to this great guide :)
- Stuck CD / DVD / Zip Disk?
Restart the computer and hold down the mouse button, it's basically a force eject of all drives. If the disk is not physically stuck, it should eject.
- Wonky apps
Sometimes apps in OS X start behaving erratically. A somewhat advanced method of troubleshooting can simply be to remove the preference file or "plist". If the app is wonky only under one users account you can remove the plist from that user account /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences a plist usually looks something like com.apple.Safari.plist
A tip here is not to actually delete the plist, but to move it do the desktop to see if it solves the problem. If not, put it back and all your preferences will be returned to as they were.
- Spinning Grey Wheel on Startup?
That spinning wheel is actually the mac doing a disk check of the file system (correct me if i'm wrong please!) Let it do it! Often if you just let it go a mac will boot after an extended period of time of the hated spinning grey wheel. -----
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Adarii
23/5/07 12:14:27 PM
Serf
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Quote by sexbox
Following the same line of thinking, am I able to cause my Mac to appear as a USB mass storage device??
Further more, is it possible to have the computer running in target disk mode while still using it?
Hi there, target disk mode puts your machine into a kind of passive state. There's no way to use your machine while it's in Target Disk Mode. If you want to share files between two machines, while stil having both running, that's quite easy with OSX and I'm happy to explain it if that's what you need :)
As for using Target Disk Mode with a USB cable. I've never tried it :) But as it's a big flashing FireWire symbol on the screen when it is in Target Disk Mode I doubt it! -----
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zebra
23/5/07 9:49:46 PM
SuperHero
Titan
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Quote by Adarii
As for using Target Disk Mode with a USB cable. I've never tried it :) But as it's a big flashing FireWire symbol on the screen when it is in Target Disk Mode I doubt it!
This was the case with PowerPC arch. It isn't the case with x86/i386. Provided the target boot device is formatted GUID rather than APM, a USB device can be "target booted" also. -----
It's running with a smile...it's better than the last time that I tried...
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SquallStrife
24/5/07 8:42:34 AM
Guru
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A handy trick if your Mac is having trouble reading a CD/DVD, and this is causing hangs or boot delays, hold the mouse button while powering up, and the disk will eject. -----
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Number 1 in the hood, G!
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