Open Source Typical Mac User Live

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Welcome to the Typical Mac User Live show. My name is Victor Cajiao and I am your host this evening. My regular Podcast Typical Mac User Podcast can be found at www.typicalmacuser.com and that shows is released bi weekly on Tuesday nights and Sunday nights.

If you are listening to the Talkshoe stream and want to be an interactive part of the show. All you have to do is sign up for Talkshoe at www.talkshoe.com (It's free) and get an ID

The you can Call Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Talkcast ID: 3097 you will be asked top put in your talkcast ID and then you can put in the number you choose for your talkcast ID.

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Let's hear from our Sponsor Ambrosia Software

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This evening I have a very special co host Steve Stanger who is the host of the Mac Attack Podcast http://themacattack.us/. Steve and I get togetehr once a month and focus on tips and tricks to keep your Mac running great and what to do when it's not. So Steve welcome.

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"Mac Died?!?!? Survival Guide"

(Hey Victor, this is our one year anniversary doing Mac maintenance Sundays. First one was March 4, 2007)

- Victor's recent repair story -

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If you don't back up now, START!

Things to do with an unresponsive Mac:

• stay calm (I know, easier said then done)

• Is your computer acting up after a RAM upgrade? Remove new RAM. Still no go? Remove all added RAM except for the original if it's still installed or you still have it.

• Added a new peripheral? Remove it.

• Next step is removing all peripherals, except keyboard, mouse and monitor. (Victor - we can talk about the issue you saw with your Apple keyboard, I recommend keeping an old Apple keyboard and mouse around)

• Stuck on a gray or blue screen? Booting from the Tiger / Leopard / system DVD that came with your computer, run disk utility > 'first aid' tab > repair disk. Be sure to note any error messages you may receive.

• Run the Apple Hardware Test - the AHT is included on the install disks that came with your computer. It's usually located on the first install disk that came with your Mac (if your Mac came with multiple CD's or DVD's).

- to run the AHT on an Intel based Mac.
1. If the computer is already on, insert DVD 1 into the optical disc drive, then restart. If the computer is not on, turn it on and insert the disc as soon as possible after startup.
2. Hold down the D key before the gray startup screen appears (not the C key).

Again, note any error messages you may receive. This may help when troubleshooting with Applecare.

Intel AHT directions - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081

Power PC Macs all boot to the AHT differently. Do a search on the Apple support page to see how to run the AHT on your particular PPC.

• Is your computer generating a tone or series of tones instead of the normal start up chime. Different Macs used different tones to represent different things. Note the number of tones (or beeps).

(See this knowledge base article for example. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306396)

For example the iMac from 2007 uses these startup tone(s)

1 tone, a 5-second pause, repeat - No RAM installed
3 successive tones, a 5-second pause, 3 successive tones - RAM does not pass data integrity check

Other Macs use other tone combinations

• Listen to your Mac.

- Normal noises.  Do you hear the hard drive spinning and making normal clicking noises?  Startup chime?
- Bad noises.  Screeching or loud clicking noises, possible hard drive crash.  Other sources of unusual noises are fans - a bad fan can cause a loud noise.  A failing fan will not cause boot failure.
- no noise.  The power light is on but no one's home. You don’t hear anything; no fans, no hard drive noises, the monitor remains black. 
(found this on a web site at some point, don't have original source)

• No harsh language, Mac's have feeling too.

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• Good idea to keep an old mac around (I still have my G4 iBook).

• Even if your bootable backup (i.e superduper, Carbon Copy Cloner) can't boot your older Mac you will at least be able to work with the saved documents.

• Time Machine restore: (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html)

1 - Connect your Time Machine backup disk to your computer. If you’re restoring your system because of a problem with your startup disk, make sure the disk has been repaired or replaced.

2 - Insert your Mac OS X Install disk, and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.

3 - In the Installer, choose Utilities > Restore System from Backup.

4 -In the Restore Your System dialog, click Continue.

5 - Select your Time Machine backup volume.

6 - Select the Time Machine backup you want to restore.

7 - Follow the onscreen instructions.

• SuperDuper! Restore: (The SD! manual goes into detail, but here's the steps)

1 - Start up from the OS X Install disc.

2 - When the Installer starts, choose “Disk Utility” from its Application menu.

3 - Once the Disk Utility starts, select the drive you want to restore to, and switch to the Restore tab.

4 - Follow the instructions on the Restore tab: the backup created by SuperDuper is fully compatible with Disk Utility’s Restore function.

5 - Once the backup has been restored, restart your computer with Option held down, and select it as your startup volume.

• If you are still under the one year warranty or have AppleCare call Apple.

North America - 800-275-2273
Other countries - http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html

• Helpful links:

See Creativetechs "My Mac Won't Start" tiny troubleshooting guide - http://creativetechs.com/tips/tip_resources/PocketMod/MyMacWontStart.pdf

Apple tech article - Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300552

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(for basic Mac OS X troubleshooting tips - TMA #87 or the TMUP live April 1, 2007)

(Victor - If we have time (ha ha) want to quickly review some basic OS troubleshooting? See quick list below.)

• Basic Troubleshooting (quick list)


- Shut your Mac down, wait 10 to 15 seconds and restart.

- Try a safe boot
- hold down the shift key after hearing the start up chime.

- Try disconnecting all peripherals connected to your computer. Boot with just your monitor, keyboard and mouse attached.

- Create a new user account, and see if the problem persists there.

- A keyboard or mouse gone bad can make it appear that your Mac is frozen.

- If an application stops responding you should force quit it.

- Relaunch the finder.
- Check free space on the system volume.

- Repair disk with Disk Utility.

- Use Cocktail, Onyx, or MainMenu to to repair disk permissions, run maintenance scripts, clean the user and system caches.

- Download and reinstall current Combo update.

- Is your computer acting up after a RAM upgrade?

- Get yourself a commercial drive tool - DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, Drive Genius.

- If all else fails reinstall the system from scratch or do an 'archive and install'

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SHOW ENDING:

Well I want to thank Steve Stanger from the Mac Attack Podcast http://themacattack.us/ for being with ust tonight. You definetly want to subscribe to his podcast and listen to each episode and some of the past ones. I sure do.

The Typical Mac User Podcast can be found at www.typicalmacuser.com and that shows is released weekly on Tuesday nights. This show will be release in my sream late tonight. If you haven't subscribed to that show yet, head over to the web site at www.typicalmacuser.com and hit the ONE BUTTON iTunes subscription.

Next Week it's going to be you guys and me talking macworld, so please come join me next Sunday .

For now this is your Host Victor Cajiao saying, enjoy the rest of your Sunday