Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computer and apple

What to do with a broken iMac G5?

crios — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:36:47 -0800

My mom has an iMac G5, 1.8 Ghz w/ superdrive and 2GB of RAM (I think). It's been a problem since they first got it with a logic board replacement and multiple power supply replacements (all free thankfully). Recently it started giving kernel panics on start up with the fans sounding like jet engines. It's a little over 4 years old and even though it's given us hardware problems, it has been a good computer and my mom likes it. What should we do with it now? I've tried all the troubelshooting suggestions (rest PRAM, remove peripherals, startup off of disk, etc...) and nothing is working. She's ready to throw in the towel with this one and get a new one. I'm thinking a mac mini, all we'll need to buy is a monitor.

My question is, what do we do with this iMac. I've tried rebooting off of the install disk and it's still panicking so it seems to be pretty broken. Should we try to sell it on ebay? Does anybody know any organizations in the Chicagoland area that would be interested in it? My other question is, what should we do about the hard drive. Since I can't even start up off of a disk I can't even format the HD. I don't think there is anything really sensitive on it but still I think it's probably a good idea to erase it before giving it away.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Should apple require my hard drive to fix my graphic card?

manduca — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:26:24 -0800

The graphics card in my macbook pro failed, which happens at a "higher than normal" rate. Apple agrees that's the problem. Still, they want me to leave my hard drive in the computer when I give it to them for repairs. How diligent are they about protecting your data from theft and ill-use? If data on your hard drive somehow gets set free while visiting apple-land, it doesn't violate the Applecare terms of service (pdf). "[apple is not liable for...] the failure to maintain the confidentiality of data" (section 4). In section 7f, "You agree that any information or data disclosed to Apple under this Plan is not confidential." My hard drive is backed up, but I don't want to risk someone having access to all my personal info. Should I put up a fight? Here's the background; feel free to skip it.

I'm a former IT person, and the diagnosis of graphic card failure seems pretty straightforward to me. All symptoms match. My hard drive is backed up, but I'm worried about my personal info being in the hands of others, especially after stories like this of hard drives full of data going MIA during service. How should I handle my upcoming interaction with the techs in the apple store?

The computer is still under applecare. When I talked with Applecare telephone support, they confirmed the diagnosis but said I needed to send the hard drive in with the system. After reading the terms of service, I was pretty reluctant. I didn't push very hard for them to make an exception. Thinking that I might have more luck in person, and with in-person contact with a geek, I made a genius bar appointment.

My position is that apple should be willing to fix my computer without my hard drive in it, since the problem is clear and isn't related to the hard drive. Every computer repair service has spare hard drives used for troubleshooting. The macbook pro hard drive is end-user replaceable, so I'm not violating any warranty by removing it. Sure, if I screw up the removal, it's my problem, but I'm ok with that.

What I'm not ok with is this: for my data to be relatively secure in this case, I must take the time to securely wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS, and then restore all my data when I get the computer back. In fairness to apple, I imagine that asking for the hard drive generally makes sense since a problem is often not clearly defined before the system is received. And we users aren't always the most reliable or knowledgeable reporters.

Nevertheless, my current plan is to take the hard drive out before I go to the Apple Store. I expect my approach will be in the self-deprecating vein to begin: I'll admit that I'm being a bit of a curmudgeon and ask them to indulge me. I've had terrific interactions with the Genius boys (are they all male in every store?) in the past, and I'm hopeful that they would at least by sympathetic to my position.

Is my request reasonable? Is there a better approach?

At least for once, I have good backups...

tkolstee — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:46:01 -0800

iMac drives failing - first external, then internal. Seems to be hardware in both cases. Questions about troubleshooting or replacement inside. My 1TB external media drive (usually connected via firewire, but has USB as well) on my iMac went bad last week, randomly dropping off until it's powercycled. It was a WD MyBook, which I have now come to understand has an overheating issue. The firmware upgrade didn't help. I bought a new (1.5TB Seagate USB 2.0) external and migrated over the files using rsync. Opening the external case and pointing a desktop fan at the drive seemed to help it stay up longer, but SEVERAL times during the process it crashed, sometimes hanging the host computer with it. Several forced powercycles and hours later, I had all my data moved. One of these crashes happened in the middle of a Spotlight index job which I tried to kill to no avail.

I was just about to "retire" the old drive when it crashed once more, again hanging the iMac. I held down the power button on the iMac and forcefully rebooted it, and this time the system came up to the "question-mark-within-a-folder" icon. Booted from Snow Leopard install DVD, and tried to run Disk Utility. Disk Utility was having some problems detecting the filesystem/partitions on the internal drive, so I tried to repartition it to restore my Time Machine backup and found that its capacity was listed as 0 bytes.

I've gotten the drive to (briefly) recognize properly once, but most of the time the drive begins clicking as it's trying to read. When it was recognized I attempted a verify and repair, but the drive stopped working (and again hung the computer) in the middle of the process.

Is there any possible correlation (unstable power, magnetic interference, sunspots?) between the external and internal drives failing so closely together? It seems like this is a hardware failure where both drives are concerned; the external due to heat intolerance, and the internal due to unknown causes but making a telltale click. Could the internal drive have failed due to my powercycling the machine? I would think the machine should have brains enough to gracefully kill off its drive before shutting itself off....

Secondly, is there anything else I can do to save the drive? I'm assuming the click generally means the drive won't ever be good again. I know about the freezer trick and other temporary methods, but I don't care about the data on the drive as it's backed up and easily replaceable.

Third, if the internal drive is permanently dead, how easy is it to replace it with a new one? I have a 3.5" 250GB SATA drive that I can use to replace it, but have never taken apart an iMac before.

Lastly, is there anything I can do with the overheating external? It seems to work fine, so long as I direct a lot of airflow at it, but otherwise it crashes within 30-60 minutes of use. It seems to be getting more intolerant of heat as time goes on.

The receipt lists this as an "iMac 17/2.0/1G/160/SD/AP/BT/WLKBM, Part Number MA758LL/A". It was purchased July 29, 2007 so is not still under any warranty.

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup?

decrescendo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:54:03 -0800

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup? I have two computers right now.

1. Macbook Pro from about a year ago. In awesome shape. Bought it new. I currently use it mostly on travel and in my living room when I'm watching TV and browsing the net.

2. Desktop I built myself in 2006. I use this computer to store all of my music and listen to said music through speakers that are hooked up to it. I also have tons of pictures and videos stored on this machine. 3 harddrives, around 1.5 TB of space I believe.

I'd really like to make this Macbook Pro my primary computer. I spent too much money on it to use it for browsing the net in my living room. I want to be able to have access to the videos, pictures, and music that are currently on my desktop wirelessly while I'm on my Macbook.

How would I best go about this? I can see retiring this desktop or using parts of it to create a server. I envision this server living in my closet somewhere with a lot of storage and backup capability. I'd like to be able to access the data on this server wirelessly via my Macbook anywhere in the world.

And if I have speakers in my bedroom and a 7.1 system in my living room, how can I "beam" music on my server to these seperate speaker setups via my Macbook (basically it would sorta function as a remote control). I don't want to listen to music THROUGH the laptop or speakers connect to the laptop; I want it to come through other setups.

Also, would swapping out my laptop for a new one in a few years be an easy way to tech refresh this system since the server probably wouldn't have to be built from the most up-to-date components? The laptop is going to be what accesses the internet and edits video and what not.

So can I make this setup work and is it easy? (And does anyone have any good resources for building this server?)

What to do with the Apple II?

niles — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:27:18 -0800

What do I do with several Apple IIs (and a Commodore, and maybe a few other "vintage" comptuers) that I have? Nostalgia has finally given way to practicality, and I need to do something about the basement shelf overflowing with computers older than I am - but I have absolutely no clue how to do it. It seems wasteful to throw out a perfectly working Commodore 64 (in the original packaging!), or any of several models of Apple IIs with boxes of related 5.25" disk software. I read about a team at MIT creating cheap computers out of Apple IIs for developing countries, and while I can't find any further information for them online, donating to a cause like that would be awesome. Short of that, what else can I do to clean out the house? What's the best thing to do with these computers?

moving my mac

cazoo — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:18:26 -0800

Carrying solutions for an imac? I need to bring my 24" imac into the Apple store for a repair. I live in NYC and the Apple store is in walking distance of only a few blocks. What would be the best means of transporting my computer?

I've seen a few nylon carry cases online specifically made for the imac but at a pretty steep price. (over $150)

Does anyone have a more cost efficient and safer idea of transport? Would a luggage cart be a good option? They seem liable to tip over.

What will Apple replace my computer with?

pianohands — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:29:25 -0800

Will Apple be replacing my 2 yr old Macbook Pro with a totally new machine? I've had my Macbook Pro for two years at college and had nothing but problems with it. It was fine for a year, and then had a string of hardware problems that resulted in me bringing it in five times to the apple store for various different reasons. The sixth time must've been the charm, because the folks at the Apple store said they would replace my computer with a new one. I won't be getting it for a week because I bought it through school, so I'm getting one configured by school. Does anyone know if Apple will be giving me a new model Macbook or if it'll be a refurbished two year old model?

What should I do about my old computer??

snowjoe — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:40:58 -0800

Windows xp and Ubuntu? PCI video card? Mac Mini? Opinions? I have an old old computer (Pentium 4 CPU 2.4 GHz with 512 MB Ram). My video card went belly up a few weeks ago and I put in an old barebones type of card out of an old computer. I am unhappy with the performance so I bought a card from newegg but I couldn't use it because my expansion slots are only PCI NOT PCI-e. Also my power supply is 300w and newer cards seem to require more power. So my questions are:

1 - Should I try Ubuntu via WUBI? (I need windows for Quicken and a few other things.) Would Ubuntu make me and my old computer happy?

2 - Should I just grin and bear it for a couple of months and buy a new system with Windows 7?

3 - Should I get a Mac Mini?

4 - Should I forget computers entirely?

5 - Is there a good video card that is PCI?

Oh by the way, I can't add more memory because the super old memory is way to expensive. I forget what kind it is but as someone once told me, I lost the memory lottery.

Please recommend a replacement input device for my Macbook, the trackpad isn't working for me.

Your Time Machine Sucks — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:13:57 -0800

Loathe the new Macbook trackpad in XP, what input device should I use instead that doesn't require a desk and is OK for gaming? New Macbook. The buttonless trackpad takes about twice the force to click as my old Macbook trackpad and after half a day my thumb was going numb. Tap-to-click works fine on the OS X side but is very inaccurate on the XP side even with the updated trackpad driver, more so when the machine gets hot. What kind of input device can I plug in and use to game with no desk around? Wired is a plus, and I don't play twitch games so it doesn't have to be insanely precise, just more precise and ergonomic than the skittish anti-thumb trackpad. Thanks!

Is my hard drive opaque on a public network?

the sobsister — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:09:13 -0800

Wi-Fi security. How much of the contents of my a) iPhone or b) iBook can be "seen" if I'm on a public network? Particularly concerning the latter, I've never been clear whether, in logging on to network X--be it a free municipal net or my employer's "guest net"--I'm simply an inscrutable blip on a network or I'm making my hard drive an open book to anyone who cares to peek. Any insight would be appreciated.

Old Mac, new life?

bsexton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:36:15 -0800

A friend gave me a Powermac G3 this afternoon It's not the fastest in the world, but it has OSX installed 10.4.11. What are some cool things I can do with this machine? I had an ibook g4 before a few years ago, but I ran over it :( so I do know a little about Apple computers, other than don't run over it with a car.

I would like to do something cool with it, to make it useful in some way. I was thinking of a media streaming server, but it only has a 6GB hard drive installed at this time. I don't mind installing a new one if I can test it for a usefulness factor first.

My setup is this:
XP/Ubuntu dual boot desktop
Win7 laptop
and new/old MacG3

I thought about installing boxee but that's Intel only. Any other suggestions?

I also have an iphone, xbox360 (streaming media through the xp machine), and a wii if any of that matters.

And of course I would like to this without a huge $$ investment.

I'm also an IT student so I really got it to learn a little more about Apple computers and get a little more familiar w/ OSX.

What do I need to look at when buying a new laptop?

reenum — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:28:05 -0800

I'm in the market for a new laptop. Should I get a PC or Mac? What specs are important for me to look at when making a decision? My Toshiba Satellite A65 seems to be on its last legs, so I think I'm getting a new laptop.

In researching, I've become confused as to which specs really matter when looking at a computer.

Here's what I would use it for:
- E-mail, IM, and Web
- Watching DVDs
- BitTorrent
- Word processing and spreadsheets
- Tracking my finances
- Some music creation (mostly breakbeats)

I've seen some places say that I need as much RAM as possible, others stress the importance of a large hard drive, yet others say I need the fastest processor.

Also, any recommendations as to brands that are more reliable than others?

Please help!

Dual-Boot Blues

rtimmel — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:13:54 -0800

Has anyone installed OS X on a windows laptop? How does it compare to a Mac Book? Is it as stable and/or fast? I would like to put together a Windows/OS X dual-boot machine to take advantage of both operating systems and while it sounds good theoretically I an curious about how it works practically. (Plus, I would rather not pay Apple laptop prices)

My computer is having some difficulties.

Brachiosaurus — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:16:26 -0800

Is my iBook G4 dying? The most pressing problem is that, while working on it, without the power cord, the computer will abruptly turn off, with no warning. It can even be when the battery indicator on the top of the screen isn't even that low, maybe a quarter left. Afterwards I can just plug it in and turn it back on with no problems. This is happening more and more regularly.

The next biggest problem is that the front (closest to me) left corner gets super hot sometimes. I'm guessing that this is hard drive. I've backed up my data recently but I should probably again- maybe right after I'm done typing this.

Also, the wires within the power adapter may be starting to fray. It isn't too touchy but to keep the indicator light illuminated I have to keep it still. Also the box thingy that goes to the wall will get really, really hot while it's charging- but not if it's just plugged in. I don't know if it's always done this.

The only other problem is that four keys no longer work on the keyboard thanks to my cat spilling a martini on the computer about 2 years ago. I should have replaced it then because I can do it myself and I've heard that the replacement keyboard would only be about 50$. All of the letters still work (though I imagine that it would be funny if I had to avoid words with certain letters) and only one of the keys that I tend to use has been effected. I called Apple to ask them once but they said they don't sell just the keyboard.

So I'm looking at about 300 in replacement parts (outside of the hot hard drive problem, 'cause I don't know what that's about) and I'm thinking that even if I repair these and the thing lasts 8 months my utility per dollar wouldn't improve that much because I'm spending 20% of the cost to get another ~15% of life from it.

I choose 8 months because it would be awesome if I could get this thing to last until I finish school in Dec.

So it sounds like I should just replace it but I don't think I'd be able to swing that for another 2 or so months and I kind of need it (what I mean by need is that my roommate lets me use his spiffy iMac but having a laptop [and my own computer] improves my productivity).

So I guess my questions are, can this thing last 2-3 months without putting money into it? 8+ months without repairs? 8+ month with the repairs listed above? And how much would a new 100gb HD cost? Has anyone had this battery problem before? I know that none of you can predict the future but I just need some reasonable advice.

Turn John Hodgman into Justin Long

lukemeister — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:39:51 -0800

What are the Mac equivalents of great Windows software? This was a great question about what a Mac person should install on a Windows box. I'm going the other way, as my office kindly bought me a new MacBook Pro. I'm a scientist and haven't used a Mac since OS 7.5. For the past decade my machines have been Windows, Linux, or dual-boot. Freeware/shareware programs I use a lot under Windows: Cygwin, Essential PIM, FLVplayer, IrfanView, Maxima, Openoffice.org, Scilab, Winamp, Xemacs, Xplorer2 pro. Commercial software: Mathematica, IDL, occasionally Microsoft Office. I'm mostly interested in freeware or shareware such as great text and image editors, tex/latex, and other nerdware. Thanks! Naturally, the new laptop runs Leopard.

How should I prepare my Mac before selling it?

micawber — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:49:13 -0800

What are all the things I should do to prepare an old iBook of mine before I sell it to another person (who I don't know and isn't related to me)? I just got a MacBook and therefore and selling my old iBook G4 to someone on Craigslist. Here is my list of things I am doing:

1) clearing off old files (including images and documents and bookmarks)
2) Removing any programs I installed
3) Removing any fonts I purchased and installed
4) Creating a new admin account and removing my account

I never downloaded mail or sound files to this machine - I never even used iTunes on it. I never installed or used any kind of financial software, such as TaxCut or Quicken. This was mainly a machine for writing and internet (and occasional image processing in Photoshop, which I am of course deleting from the machine).

But what else do I need to do? Do I need to wipe the whole machine and reinstall? I am not highly confident in my ability to do that with a Mac. Is my list of precautions sufficient? Is there software I can purchase that will scrub my hard drive of personal files? It is my understanding that Macs are not like Windows and writing personal settings willy nilly all over the HD, but I wouldn't be here if I was 100% certain.

Also very happy to be sent in the direction of various links and reference points. Thank you.

Fun uses for old Macintosh?

karizma — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:42:12 -0800

I inherited a fully-functional Apple Macintosh Plus computer complete with external SCSI hard drive. What are some cool things I can do with it? I picked up a fully functional and complete Apple Macintosh computer via Craigslist a while back. I have a thing for old computers and I felt pretty fortunate to find this fine a specimen to add to my small collection (added bonus - it was free!). Plus, it's just really cool to play with. It has, though, just been sitting in the corner of my room since I got it and I'm starting to wonder what cool things I can do with it.

I don't know what kind of specs it has (haven't figured out how to determine that) nor do I know what OS version it is running. I do know it seems pretty well useless without the external 20MB hard drive attached. The person I picked the Macintosh up from left a good amount of his personal information on it so besides finding a cool use for it (besides as a collectors item), I'd like to get it cleaned up properly and maybe do a clean OS install.

I'm hoping the HiveMind can give me some fun ideas. Thanks everyone!

Why can’t my movies be as convenient as my music?

arniec — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:06:24 -0800

DVDs and Blu Ray discs are such a pain with their ability to be scratched and the need to find where a disc is, is it in the right case, etc. I find myself often drawn to standard definition “on demand” movies on cable (free ones) instead of searching my own high definition or DVD movies. Is there a way to have the convenience of “on demand” and the quality of the original media? We have sold off many of our DVDs with the intent of rebuying the movies on Blu Ray, but we still have about 100 DVDs and maybe 20 Blu Ray discs. What we’re looking for is a way to have those all perhaps ripped to a hard drive that we could then navigate to play the movies. I’m not interested in additional features, deleted scenes, commentaries, just the actual video itself (if I want the others I’ll grab the disc).

I know we can rip the standard def DVDs, but if I bought a Blu Ray drive can those discs be ripped at 1080p quality? If so, how much storage is involved, and what device will play it back at best quality with 7.1 surround sound? Do any media centers do HDMI?

We currently have in our house a 4TB Drobo (2.7TB actual storage space), and I have a Mac Mini that I know many people use as a media center; but if we can get this functionality we would not be opposed to buying Apple TV or some other device. We are a mixed PC/Mac household so software and hardware on either platform will work. Mostly we want easy-to-rip, easy-to-play.

Any suggestions?

mac? pc?

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:48:54 -0800

When and where should I buy a laptop (also: what kind?!)? I'm leaving the US for France for about a year on September 16. I want/need a laptop for my job and entertainment. I can't think clearly about this anymore (stressed out about 10000 other things!) so I thought I'd consult AskMe.

I was planning on buying a MacBook when the product line was refreshed. Current rumor on that, though, is around October 14thish and I really wanted a laptop sooner than that. If I buy a Mac now, I can take advantage of their education discount which will give me a "free" iPod Touch (after rebate). If I wait until mid-October to buy a newer release Mac I will have to pay more for it because they cost more in France (also no iPod Touch). I really like Macs because Apple fixes anything that's wrong with them and I find them to be really well-made and happy (my last two computers were Macs). I was looking forward to a new Mac because aluminum casing is really desirable to me.

I am also considering getting a netbook/ultraportable laptop (MSI Wind or Inspiron Mini or Eee PC 1000 or ???) and running Linux on it because the price tag isn't as bad as Macs and I like the idea of being able to shove the laptop in a large purse and wander around. I do not, however, want Windows, because it frustrates the hell out of me.

I want whatever I get to have a built-in webcam and microphone so that I can Skype, I don't play games on my computer, I don't program, I like full-sized keyboards, I don't particularly like glossy screens, I don't like heavy laptops, I am sort of attached to my optical drive, and I am annoyed that the base MacBook only comes with a combo drive rather than super drive.

So, should I buy a laptop in the US and get a "free" iPod Touch and old MacBook, should I wait until mid-October and buy a new MacBook for $300ish more, or should I buy a cheaper PC? (money both is and isn't an issue because if I am convinced that I am making the BEST choice I will buy it within reason but I don't want to spend money on something too frivolous (ie: dropping $1,700 on a MacBook Air)).

Aaak, what should I do (sorry for the rambly-ness of this question, I have a lot on my mind right now)?

What Apple computer was this early 80's carry-on bag designed for?

SmileyChewtrain — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:10:37 -0800

What (early 80's?) Apple Computer was this nicely constructed nylon "carry-on" bag made for? I recently came across this very nice bag at a second hand store in Connecticut. Initially, I thought it was a record bag - it's about the right size, and it's built well and looks like it can hold a heavy load.

Pictures: Front (closed), Front (open), Logo, Inner Patch

Upon closer inspection, I noticed an Apple Computer patch on the front - the old "rainbow" logo. It's not an added patch - it's flush with the design of the bag, and there's another patch on the inside with a Apple copyright and the text:

Warning
This bag is designed for carry-on use only
Use an ATA Spec. 300, category 1 approved
container for checking your computer as
luggage or shipping it as cargo.

So, I assume (based on the pockets all over it, and it's weighty construction) that it was made for an early Apple to be transported, even as a carry-on on a plane. I've found very little information about this searching around on Google - nothing comes up for the text string and searching for "apple" and "bag" and permutations thereof yields nothing useful. There were a few mentions on forums of old apple computers coming with bags, but nothing that specifically described this one.

It's definitely an odd color choice (a warm beige - looks cool in the flash photos, but it's a little warmer in real life), though perhaps not for the time... One of the stranger aesthetic choices of Apple's I've seen... so I'm wondering which computer model this bag was made for.

Apple iMac G5 bootup problem

Wilder — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:41:48 -0800

Apple iMac G5 (4 years old) dies during bootup I have a 4 year-old iMac G5 20in with OSX 10.5 Leopard installed which ran fine - although increasingly slow - until this morning, since when every bootup fails. After the initial ping, grey logo, blue screen, and while the pinwheel runs, power is suddenly and inexplicably cut. I have reset the SMU and exchanged the backup battery without it making any difference. As far as I can tell, the capacitors are not cooked. In verbose mode, the screen tells me everything appears to be loading adequately, up to Login Windows Application Started.

Strangely, after several attempts, the bootup got a little further (to the next blue screen) before dying, and eventually, next time, completed the bootup. On completed bootup, the machine clock had reset to January 1st, 2000 - perhaps because of the backup battery exchange.

I've looked at the related issues described in the metafilter threads dated July 14th, 2006 and December 26th, 2007. My problem is similar but different in that the machine doesn't hang but "dies": It sounds like a really sudden power loss rather than an "intentional" power-down. I'm out of (extended) warranty and my machine has undergone a previous repairs of logic board (which failure manifested as bootup problems) under warranty.

On running TechTool DeLuxe 3.1.1 (which isn't fully tested for compatibility with OSX 10.5) it shows HD, VideoRAM, Drive Hardware & Format Check passing OK but it then hangs on the Directory Scan, with the mouse pointer also disappearing...?

I'll definitely go and get DiskWarrior, but even that may have problems seeing that the power suddenly cuts out during bootup? I do have a second iMac though which I could try to use via Firewire cable as described before.

Has anyone out there got a likely spot diagnosis, given the unusual behaviour?

my macbook is driving me insane

god particle — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:38:38 -0800

My macbook, running OSX 10.5.4, has been working really poorly lately It has trouble booting up (if I try to restart, I can end up with a blank screen), applications constantly crash or get glitchy, and my two external hard drives keep getting "improperly disconnected" even though they remain plugged in. Safari runs slow, always freezing things up, and there seems to be a general decrease in performance. This onset of problems is driving me insane. Could my hard drive be dying? Do I have some kind of virus? Should I start looking for a new computer?

Windows XP SP2 hangs on install. Why?

Electrius — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:56:19 -0800

Help me with a weird Windows install problem. I have a two-year-old MacBook Pro which I have upgraded with 10.5. I was able to successfully install Windows Vista on it with the Bootcamp Beta under 10.4. Later, I wiped my Windows partition and resolved to install Windows XP instead. Using a tested Windows XP CD, I started the install but it would hang when it reached this screen, before I even press ENTER or F3 or R, all of which I have tested and which have had no effect. I have tried this with two different Windows XP Professional SP2 discs and the result has been identical.

I have searched far and wide to try to find the answer to this problem on Google and have plumbed the depths of Apple's support files, but to no avail. Apparently this problem is either unique or I'm not calling it by the right name.

I would prefer to not have to either use Windows Vista or try to find another Windows disc, although if that's the only option I suppose I have no choice if I ever want to play Team Fortress 2 again. I am reasonably computer-literate.

So, then, the questions:
1) What is causing this? CD drive failure? Bizarre bug in the particular verison I'm using?
2) How can I fix the problem? Some voodoo key combination at bootup? Use a different version of Windows altogether? Give up? Repartition my hard-drive?
3) Does this problem indicate a larger issue with my computer?

Is it my iBook battery or something more sinister?

kmtiszen — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:51:17 -0800

iBook G4 battery is out of juice. Computer won't start up... even when AC adapter is plugged in. Is there something else going on? I'm going to be purchasing a MacBook soon, but I'd first want to unload my old G4. It's about four-years-old and the battery, to my best knowledge, is pretty much kaput. I can't even get the computer to start up when the AC power adapter is plugged in. Is this a symptom of the battery's age or do you think there's some deeper issue here? Could the adapter port be mangled beyond repair?

I'd like to replace the battery before selling... it's still a great machine when it's up and running. But if it's not the battery, I'd rather not go through the hassle and just sell the silly thing for parts.

Any advice is really appreciated!

Thanks!

Dead Macbook: how do I get the data off?

jeffmshaw — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:47:51 -0800

My MacBook (mid-2007) just crapped out. I can't afford a pro data extraction fix. Is there any other option? The hard drive is dead and Apple says they've had luck extracting the applications but nothing from the user file.

Also, if I want my bad hard drive, Apple says they have to reverse their repairs and put the old drive in. I can;t have the fixed laptop AND the old hard drive. I've heard people fighting about this at the Genius Bar before. Is there any way around this?