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[Hatty]

Hi guys.


1) My Magsafe charger is on the fritz Damn, that was fast. My MBP is only 10 months old. Basically it doesn't charge unless I fiddle around with the cable until I find a position where it does. And this has gotten worse and worse over the last couple of weeks, so eventually it will just stop charging

Am I screwed? I know I can get a third party one for cheaper (and probably will), but is there any chance to fix this or to get Apple to fix/replace this? The cable doesn't look good though, it has superficial cat bites and scratches

2) A friend asked me to update his BlackBook from Tiger to SL. I've upgraded a Mac once (my Mac mini) and it went smoothly, but I wanted to start over fresh with that one. If I upgrade my friend's, will it keep all its data as I been hearing?

Thanks.

The charger should be under warranty if you just want to exchange it at the apple store.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Am I better off selling my Late 2008 13" Unibody Macbook on Amazon or eBay? Right now, I've had it listed on Amazon for about a week, and I'm currently asking $900 for it, but there are a lot of models listed currently on Amazon, and I'm not sure how easy my model would be to find on Amazon. In your guys' experience, what should I be doing?

 

[rass]

Hi guys.


1) My Magsafe charger is on the fritz Damn, that was fast. My MBP is only 10 months old. Basically it doesn't charge unless I fiddle around with the cable until I find a position where it does. And this has gotten worse and worse over the last couple of weeks, so eventually it will just stop charging

Am I screwed? I know I can get a third party one for cheaper (and probably will), but is there any chance to fix this or to get Apple to fix/replace this? The cable doesn't look good though, it has superficial cat bites and scratches

2) A friend asked me to update his BlackBook from Tiger to SL. I've upgraded a Mac once (my Mac mini) and it went smoothly, but I wanted to start over fresh with that one. If I upgrade my friend's, will it keep all its data as I been hearing?

Thanks.

I so very strongly recommend against the cheap third party chargers.
We got one at work after the boss' dog chewed the MBP cable, it fried the battery (battery bulged at the bottom, pre unibody style MBP) and whenever it's connected the laptop gives you static electric shocks. I'm sure we just got a dud, but I'd still recommend against it.

 

[Ulairi]

Is there a reason why with iChat that gtalk and facebook each have their own iChat instance? Is it possible to have a unified list? I also have another instance for mobileme/AIM.

 

[giga]

Is there a reason why with iChat that gtalk and facebook each have their own iChat instance? Is it possible to have a unified list? I also have another instance for mobileme/AIM.

http://www.ksuther.com/chax/

 

[Ulairi]

http://www.ksuther.com/chax/

It unifies them now but there are still multiple instances open. Is this the best I can do?

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[Tobor]

I'm trying to get rid of OpenOffice.shitty, but I can't figure out how to remove the stupid icon from the Finder menu. What obvious noob thing am I missing here?

 

[Jasoco]

I'm trying to get rid of OpenOffice.shitty, but I can't figure out how to remove the stupid icon from the Finder menu. What obvious noob thing am I missing here?

What Finder menu?

Context menu?

The usual places for stuff to install are:

Library/
Library/Application Support/
Library/ContextMenus/
~/.somehiddenfolderifitsaunixapplication/

(Check both User and System Library folders)

Look around for anything having to do with OpenOffice. If you have Spotlight set to index everything, try searching for OpenOffice and make sure to turn "System files" to "are included" by pressing the + button in a search window.

On that last one, you will have to turn on hidden files. Many badly programmed and not optimized for OS X apps will put hidden folders in your User folder root instead of the Library folder where they belong. This pisses me off. This is OS X, not Linux. Even DropBox keeps a cached history of every file you've ever dropped in there. And it's not even Unix! Shame, DropBox. Shame on you! Put that shit in the Cache folder like everyone else goddammit!

 

[Tobor]

What I mean is this:

The big fat question mark. When I click on it, it mounts OpenOffice.getthehelloffmycomputer and turns into this:

I've now removed the .dmg from my download folder, and that solved the mounting, but the big fat question mark is still there, and clicking on it gives me an error. "The item can’t be found."

Sun can eat a dick for this bullshit.

 

[LCfiner]

does the question mark come back if you remove it from the toolbar with the "customize toolbar" context menu?

I would go digging through your user and root library folders for application support folders from Sun and see what comes up.

or use a tool like Appcleaner to see if there are any leftovers from the openoffice instl.

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[Futureman]

I have a weird question.

I'm selling my friend's busted MacBook from 2006 on eBay. The thing turns on but the screen is basically shot. I don't have many options as far as erasing the hard drive before I sell it, do I?

I'll basically have to take the HD out and wipe it, then put it back in? But then there'd be no OS X on it...

 

[Jasoco]

Sure you didn't drag it there by accident? I installed Open Office recently and didn't get that.

At any rate like LCfiner said, right click in the toolbar area, click customize and drag it out of the bottom toolbar.

Pretty sure it's this. OpenOffice wouldn't put an alias to an app on a DMG in your toolbar. It was placed there alternatively. Just remove it.

I have a weird question.

I'm selling my friend's busted MacBook from 2006 on eBay. The thing turns on but the screen is basically shot. I don't have many options as far as erasing the hard drive before I sell it, do I?

I'll basically have to take the HD out and wipe it, then put it back in? But then there'd be no OS X on it...

Well, if you're selling it as a broken machine, just mention there is no OS. Hell, most parts machines never even have HD's or RAM in them anyway. And OS X costs a measly $30. It's not like the buyer can't just put it on themselves. Take it out and erase it and put it back in if you actually want to include it. If you have FireWire on both machines, just use Target Disk mode.

 

[Burger]

Hey does anyone know why a MacBook Pro would loose thermal efficiency over time?

I'm sure my MBP runs hotter than it used to, but the main thing is that it runs louder. The fans are always audible, and simple tasks seem to set it into overdrive.

I had the logic board replaced about a year ago, and I assume it had a spring clean around then, but perhaps not. Is it just dust, or something else?

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Hey does anyone know why a MacBook Pro would loose thermal efficiency over time?

I'm sure my MBP runs hotter than it used to, but the main thing is that it runs louder. The fans are always audible, and simple tasks seem to set it into overdrive.

I had the logic board replaced about a year ago, and I assume it had a spring clean around then, but perhaps not. Is it just dust, or something else?

I'm not sure how much dust affects uni-body MBPs, but thermal paste can break down over time and affect efficiency. Without any data on how high your temps and fan speed were before, there's no way to be certain. Any chance the bearings in the fan are just louder?

 

[Burger]

I'm not sure how much dust affects uni-body MBPs, but thermal paste can break down over time and affect efficiency. Without any data on how high your temps and fan speed were before, there's no way to be certain. Any chance the bearings in the fan are just louder?

Perhaps I'll dismantle it and redo the paste. Pain in the arse. Maybe the techo who replaced the LB didn't redo the paste, although that should break some rule.

When I get home I'll post my temp/speeds and see what you think.

 

[Tobor]

Sure you didn't drag it there by accident? I installed Open Office recently and didn't get that.

At any rate like LCfiner said, right click in the toolbar area, click customize and drag it out of the bottom toolbar.

If I did, I had no idea I did it, or could do it for that matter. Anyway, problem resolved, thanks for all the help.

 

[JordanLMiller]

Not necessarily an OS X issue, but lately iTunes won't find any missing artwork for my songs. They're all tagged correctly so it isn't that. It's like iTunes isn't even trying to find it anymore. Is this a preference I've messed up or something? Would redownloading iTunes help at all?

 

[Burger]

Not necessarily an OS X issue, but lately iTunes won't find any missing artwork for my songs. They're all tagged correctly so it isn't that. It's like iTunes isn't even trying to find it anymore. Is this a preference I've messed up or something? Would redownloading iTunes help at all?

They don't just have to be tagged correctly, they have to be tagged exactly the same as what appears in the iTunes store.

 

[cooljeanius]

Oh, that reminds me, if iTunes downloads an incorrect album artwork, is there any way to tell it that it's wrong besides manually going and changing it? Right now iTunes thinks an album of mine with album art that's supposed to say "Happy Birthday Duke!" says "Happy Birthday Lauren!" instead...

 

[JordanLMiller]

Alright, it turns out I had to check something in the menu that said automatically download missing artwork and now it works fine.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Not necessarily an OS X issue, but lately iTunes won't find any missing artwork for my songs. They're all tagged correctly so it isn't that. It's like iTunes isn't even trying to find it anymore. Is this a preference I've messed up or something? Would redownloading iTunes help at all?

I've also been having iTunes issues. Genius mixes don't seem to work for albums not acquired through iTunes anymore. For instance, the new Radiohead album gives an error whenever I try to make a mix with any of it's songs.

:/

 

[Echoes]

My new iMac is freezing everyday (almost). I would wake up in the morning, wake the device from display-sleep (not "Sleep") and there you go -- I can move the mouse but nothing else responds. I recently installed new RAM so the total is 12 (2, 2. New: 4, 4. Is that bad?) - I don't think it's a RAM issue; I tested the RAMs with "Rember" and they're fine. Also, the iMac was restored from my MacBook right of the bat; I didn't update it first or anything, I just transferred my MacBook to it as soon as I switched it on.

I don't think I installed any app that caused this. I know the last solution would be a fresh imstall, but god that would be a lot of work. I hope there is a workaround to this. My Mac also gives me the spinning wheel from time to time upon doing the simplest tasks (new tabs, browsing). Not sure why.

Help. I'm really sad.

 

[The Main Event]

My late 2008 MacBook Pro is starting to have weird issues lately, mainly one.

Battery now says "Service Battery". I bought an extended warranty with Future Shop but I'm not 100% sure if it falls under their warranty policy (thought about Apple Care back then but the clerk gave me a great deal on it).

Other issue I'm having is the screen flickers once in a while. Like extremely quickly. Doesn't happen that often but it's annoying when it does. Anyone knows what could cause this?

Edit: Oh just found a video showing the problem while googling it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMuYneBLLE

 

[Splash Wave]

Can anyone tell me what sort of specs the 699 Mac Mini comes with? The Apple store is down right now.

EDIT: And is it weird that my 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo (2GB Ram) still seems pretty fast to me? I feel compelled to get something new (it's 2.5 years old) for whatever reason.

 

[LCfiner]

Can anyone tell me what sort of specs the 699 Mac Mini comes with? The Apple store is down right now.

not great. Core 2 Duo, 320M gfx. it;s basically a plastic macbook with no screen

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/15/apple-updates-mac-mini-with-new-design/

- 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1.4" thick Unibody enclosure
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M Graphics Card
- Built-in Power Supply
- HDMI port and Mini DisplayPort
- Removable bottom panel shown here:

 

[Splash Wave]

Heh, nevermind then. Thank you.

 

[Ulairi]

I have a question for people who use iTunes. Right now, on my iPhone 4 more than 20GB is used for music, if I switched to the option of converting higher bit songs to 128-aac I'll be able to drop that to about 15GB. Is there a huge quality difference by doing this?

 

[Burger]

I have a question for people who use iTunes. Right now, on my iPhone 4 more than 20GB is used for music, if I switched to the option of converting higher bit songs to 128-aac I'll be able to drop that to about 15GB. Is there a huge quality difference by doing this?

That largely depends on what headphones you use.

 

[Ulairi]

That largely depends on what headphones you use.

The standard iPhone earbuds.

 

[Burger]

The standard iPhone earbuds.

Then it's unlikely you will be able to tell the difference.

 

[wolfmat]

Is there a way to control the voltage on the headphone jack by hand, preferably have the mute function kill the voltage? I ask because I built an audio routing cable for all my PCs; trouble is that the headphone jack gets voltage as soon as sound is played, even if the Macbook is muted. The loud audio channel is determined by resistance because that is obviously the cheapest way of doing it; so the cable branch to the Macbook is shorter than that to the next PC and so forth, that while the branches are wired in a linear manner. Apple doesn't seem to play by the rules there because muting should kill all voltage eventually towards the audio jack (like after 3 secs or so), but it doesn't if sound is being played back.

I realize this is kind of an advanced topic.

 

[charlemagne]

I have a question for people who use iTunes. Right now, on my iPhone 4 more than 20GB is used for music, if I switched to the option of converting higher bit songs to 128-aac I'll be able to drop that to about 15GB. Is there a huge quality difference by doing this?

You probably won't notice using the generic Apple headphones, and if you're listening on the go at a reasonable volume level (because of traffic/people etc). If you're not sure just convert a few songs you know really well and see if you notice the difference.

 

[Jasoco]

Heh, nevermind then. Thank you.

It's not that bad, though I only use mine for a Media/backup server. Hopefully the next update will have an i5 or something. Though I guess it all depends on if the white MacBook's also get i5's. Since they'll probably be first.. whenever it happens.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

Im thinking about ordering a refurbished 13 inch macbook pro, 2010 model, what kind of condition can I expect it to come in? Also it comes with a year of apple care but i dont live near a store can i still get some use out of it?

 

[X-Frame]

Uhh, so I had to cancel my credit card earlier today because of fraud -- but forgot when I came home and bought a couple $0.99 apps from the Mac App Store.

Am I going to go to jail now?!

I assume Apple will charge me all at once for small purchases like this, but I don't want to have my account locked or something.


What should I do?

 

[Echoes]

My new iMac is freezing everyday (almost). I would wake up in the morning, wake the device from display-sleep (not "Sleep") and there you go -- I can move the mouse but nothing else responds. I recently installed new RAM so the total is 12 (2, 2. New: 4, 4. Is that bad?) - I don't think it's a RAM issue; I tested the RAMs with "Rember" and they're fine. Also, the iMac was restored from my MacBook right of the bat; I didn't update it first or anything, I just transferred my MacBook to it as soon as I switched it on.

I don't think I installed any app that caused this. I know the last solution would be a fresh imstall, but god that would be a lot of work. I hope there is a workaround to this. My Mac also gives me the spinning wheel from time to time upon doing the simplest tasks (new tabs, browsing). Not sure why.

Help. I'm really sad.

Could someone help me, please?

It just happened again, but this time when I was using it. Watching an anime - paused - played with my phone - unpaused, then the sound played for, like, a micro-second and then there it is; everything is static. CMD+Q, nothing changes. Tried everything I know and nothing changed. Had to hard-reset. This is getting on my nerves.

Should I pop in the OS X installer and install it again in case of crucial files being missing or something?

Why the fuck is this happening?

And since no one will answer (cuz I can't even pin-point the cause), can I easily restore my iTunes library to be exactly the same after a format? Playlists, apps; everything. Is it just a matter of copying the library to an external HDD and then pasting it? It's my first complete format so I have NO idea on how to properly back up things.

 

[Jasoco]

Could someone help me, please?

It just happened again, but this time when I was using it. Watching an anime - paused - played with my phone - unpaused, then the sound played for, like, a micro-second and then there it is; everything is static. CMD+Q, nothing changes. Tried everything I know and nothing changed. Had to hard-reset. This is getting on my nerves.

Should I pop in the OS X installer and install it again in case of crucial files being missing or something?

Why the fuck is this happening?

And since no one will answer (cuz I can't even pin-point the cause), can I easily restore my iTunes library to be exactly the same after a format? Playlists, apps; everything. Is it just a matter of copying the library to an external HDD and then pasting it? It's my first complete format so I have NO idea on how to properly back up things.

Do you have a second drive to clone everything to?

If so, do. Use Carbon Copy Cloner and backup everything.

Then install OS X fresh. Reformat the internal drive and reinstall. When it's done, instead of setting up a new account, you'll use the Migration Assistant. It'll move all files that are personal from the clone to the new fresh install. Migration Assistant will (I believe) let you even choose what to import.

If the problem still happens then it's one of two things:

1) The computer has a problem

2) The problem is caused by some personal library file in which case some playing around with stuff in your Library will fix it.

First step, back up your shit. I don't trust Time Machine. I recommend an actual bit for bit clone. That way all your stuff is guaranteed to be there for you. So make a total backup. Then take it from there.

 

[Echoes]

I will get a 2nd drive tomorrow, exclusively for CCC.

It's asking for a "Target disk". Can I choose "disk image" and be done with it, or is choosing an HFS+ drive is the recommended way?

As for Migration Assistant, Can I only copy the files (not the apps) and preferences? Or selectively restore apps?

 

[Jasoco]

I will get a 2nd drive tomorrow, exclusively for CCC.

It's asking for a "Target disk". Can I choose "disk image" and be done with it, or is choosing an HFS+ drive is the recommended way?

As for Migration Assistant, Can I only copy the files (not the apps) and preferences? Or selectively restore apps?

No. When you get the drive, you will set the new drive as the target and choose "Backup everything" (It's faster block-level backup) or "Incremental Backup" (Which is for later backups, but can be used for the first run to only choose certain things.) I recommend Everything for your first run. Once you get the computer working fine again, then you can decide to keep the backup up to date, or restart it. But I'd recommend keeping the drive for a backup of some sort. Whether it's Time Machine or CCC or both. (Partition it in two pieces, then keep both backups.)

Since it's an iMac, you can keep the drive plugged in and have it automatically backup regularly. I recommend having CCC run an hourly backup every 3 hours or so. And have a second partition set up specifically for Time Machine and use that for version control. (Until Lion comes along with Versions.)

With CCC you can select whatever you want, but for troubleshooting and until you fix your problem, I recommend a total backup to use with Migration Assistant. Plus, if anything goes wrong, say the iMac's HD is dying, you'll have something to use until you replace it.

Either way, buy your backup HD ASAP. Tomorrow! Today! Yesterday! Whenever! But soon!

Get one bigger than your internal drive then partition one part the same size as the iMac's drive, and the rest for Time Machine.

 

[Echoes]

Great, I will buy one first thing in the morning. My iMac's drive is 1TB though, so I'm not sure how to do your hybrid CCC&TM thingy.

But anyway, fully backup -> fresh install -> Migration Assistant. Aye aye, Captain!

 

[Jasoco]

Great, I will buy one first thing in the morning. My iMac's drive is 1TB though, so I'm not sure how to do your hybrid CCC&TM thingy.

But anyway, fully backup -> fresh install -> Migration Assistant. Aye aye, Captain!

1TB? Is it filled? And you don't already have a backup? Geeze. Make sure you buy a 1.5 or 2TB drive. (They cost so little these days.)

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Whenever my new iMac goes to sleep it cuts off my wifi network access. Annoying as hell because I have to wait for the computer to re-establish a connection to my router whenever I walk away for a half an hour or so. Anything I can do to stop this aside from stopping the computer from ever sleeping?

 

[Trojita]

I'm thinking about getting my first mac, a Mac Mini, to use as an HTPC.

 

[Blackhead]

Whenever my new iMac goes to sleep it cuts off my wifi network access. Annoying as hell because I have to wait for the computer to re-establish a connection to my router whenever I walk away for a half an hour or so. Anything I can do to stop this aside from stopping the computer from ever sleeping?

caffeine
insomniax

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[cooljeanius]

(They cost so little these days.)

Hundreds of dollars is so little? Good grief. If my parents spent that much getting me one for my birthday like they were planning, they wouldn't be able to buy me anything else...

 

[Echoes]

1TB? Is it filled? And you don't already have a backup? Geeze. Make sure you buy a 1.5 or 2TB drive. (They cost so little these days.)

Nope not filled. And I never schedueled backups before, be it CCC or TM :3 I know I know, risky and stupid. Rectifying my mistake today. Going right now to get me a new HDD.

 

[Jasoco]

Hundreds of dollars is so little? Good grief. If my parents spent that much getting me one for my birthday like they were planning, they wouldn't be able to buy me anything else...

A 1TB drive is $70-100. A 1.5TB is $90. They're cheap as dirt if you know where to shop. This isn't 2005. Drives are not expensive anymore.

Looking at NewEgg, they have dozens of 1, 1.5 and 2TB UNDER $100. Name brands in cases too. Hard drives are NOT expensive anymore! Unless you need a new 3TB or some RAID device, you're not going to spend a whole lot for security.

Nope not filled. And I never schedueled backups before, be it CCC or TM :3 I know I know, risky and stupid. Rectifying my mistake today. Going right now to get me a new HDD.

Once you figure out your problem, I would suggest setting CCC to do a scheduled backup at least once a day. (I have mine run every 3 hours across the network, and a second clone to backup the backup once a day every morning.) When you do this, you'll use the "incremental" option which will only copy files that were changed to save time. CCC uses Rsync, a built-in backup program that runs via command line. CCC just makes it easier and gives it a nice GUI.