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System Stability
Checklist for Mac OSX
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## A USEFUL TROUBLESHOOTING AND REPAIR TIP ##
Create a bootable CD/DVD with anti-virus, file recovery and all other kinds of tools you might need to fix a problem. Use it to bypass the Mac's own hard disk and repair any funny stuff.
NOTE: Since the release of the late-2008 MacBook and MacBook Pro, it is claimed users are no longer able to create their own bootable CD/DVD. Apple's recommends using their own OSX installation DVD, or purchase Disk Warrior or other third-party repair tool.
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STEP 1 - IF OSX HAS JUST CRASHED...
- Got any other applications running? Try switching to these applications and saving whatever you are doing. Then quit the applications. To switch between applications, try Command+Tab.
- Has the current application froze and can't access your other applications? Try holding down Shift-Option-Command-ESC and keep it there until the application quits.
Are you in the Finder and can observe the spinning beach ball cursor on the screen? Either the Finder has crashed or is waiting for something that never eventuates, or another application is doing the same thing. Try to Force Quit the Finder: Using the fabled three-finger salute, press the Option+Command+ESC keys simultaneously. A dialog box will hopefully appear showing you the list of all avalable processes running in memory. Select Finder and click the Force Quit button. The Finder should automatically relaunch after it has quit. Once you have control, switch to your other applications and save whatever you are doing.
If you don't have control of anything after quitting the Finder, try to Force Quit all other visible processes in the dialog box generated by other applications.
As soon as you have some control of the Finder, backup critical files now in case a more serious problem exists. Do not replace existing files on the backup disk. Backup the files to a separate blank backup disk.
- The above steps still don't work? Try logging out of your account in OSX. It is claimed this forces cache files to be updated correctly and minimises corruption to these files. After log out, you may wish to consider clicking the restart button on the login window, or take the risk of reentering your password and try again.
- Log out and log in still doesn't work? It is time to perform a forced restart. Performing a force restart for older computers involves turning off your computer and pressing a dedicated reset button on your Mac. On newer computers (including the Intel variety), while the computer is running, press the Power On button for 5 seconds until the machine turns off. Let go of the button and press it again to turn it on. You should get back to the desktop/Finder.
NOTE 1: You can also try the Ctrl+Command+Power Button combination.
NOTE 2: Try disconnecting all FireWire devices from your computer as this could remove the hang up if a process is waiting on something from an external device.
- Still doesn't work after restarting? Shutdown the computer and make sure the RAM card is seated properly and is working. Otherwise, it is possible you have an "invalid node structure" error on your OSX disk. For this type of error, be prepared to have an alternative startup disk ready from which to boot as this will help you to completely bypass the old OSX and disk you are running and any problems associated with it. Get yourself Disk Warrior and repair the offending OSX and disk problem. Otherwise backup critical files you can salvage and reinitialise the offending disk. Then put on a fresh copy of OSX (or use Apple's own DVD to reinstall OSX plus all the time-wasting work of updating OSX to a stable version) and copy your applications and data files from a backup disk. Problem solved.
NOTE 1: An "invalid node structure" error is usually the result of a power failure or unexpected shutdown or sleep in the middle of OSX updating critical directory file(s). Rarely it is a faulty hard drive. But if the hard drive is more than 5 years old, you should consider getting a new drive. To minimise power failure or other issues, make sure the battery on your laptop has sufficient charge. When you have finished with your computer, don't put it to sleep as a small percentage of computers have been known to automatically wake up. Shut it down properly.
NOTE 2: Sign of an "invalid node structure" error include a slowing down of OSX as if booting up, logging on, and launching applications takes an extraordinarily long time.
NOTE 3: Do a disk verification and file permissions check of your hard disk every couple of months to make sure it is okay and especially after installing new software or updates. Or simply learn to avoid having to constantly update your software.
- This should be enough to bring some stability to your Macintosh computer. However, sometimes you may discover your computer is displaying an unusual number of system errors than usual. Or something is clearly not right but you just can't put your finger (or cursor) on it. If this is the case (should be very unusual for OSX, or what's the point of moving away from OS9 if it isn't?), the following steps below may be helpful.
STEP 2 - BACKUP
- Before doing any repairs or tune-up to your system software, you should always backup your data. We cannot recommend this strongly enough. Backing up your data is the single most critical thing you can do (and you don't need to be an IT expert to know this). Because if you muck around with your system software trying to fix something (or nowadays you don't have to as OSX is still unstable enough to corrupt caches files on its own if the conditions aren't ideal), you may find yourself unable to boot up the next time you turn on your computer or, much worse, you could lose everything. Always be safe and backup at least your most critical data.
If your Macintosh computer happens to have a hard disk capacity of say around 20GB or thereabouts, three or four DVD-RW or DVD-R disks should be enough to backup everything. If you have one of those 80GB-320GB hard disks, this is impractical except for storing your most critical files (usually your personal stuff). If anything happens, you can always reinstall the applications from the original installation disks.
However, like most experts, reinstalling applications and updating them again is time-consuming, messy to reorganise again, and takes up unnecessary hard disk space with tutorials, movies, help files, manuals and the works. You are best to purchase a backup disk of at least the same capacity as your own hard disk and backup the whole lot for pure speed and convenience. For example, if you have a 40GB hard disk, purchase a quality 40GB external backup disk for it. If its 120GB, get a backup disk of 120GB or more.
Generally if you can afford to buy a backup disk with greater capacity than your current hard disk size, then purchase it. Or better still, get the same capacity but pay extra for quality features and manufacturing (eg. dust-proof, shock-proof, great portability, security features etc). If you value the data on your hard disk, it is actually better to go for a higher quality and well-built backup unit of the same capacity as your hard disk than a mediocre unit having ridiculously high capacity rates.
For a software tool to do the backing up of your data and applications, there are many to choose from. Our recommendation would be to use the software provided by your third-party drive manufacturer. Or else try Carbon Copy Cloner 3.0.1.
Don't rely on Apple's Time Machine to do the job. Steve Jobs doesn't like people backing up the entire OSX. And to make sure of it, Time Machine will not do a proper job of backing up all files including OSX. The tool is only useful for backing up the data files you create with applications. Get a more reliable and complete backup tool from a third-party developer to do the job properly. And make sure the tool can do a block-level clone of one disk to another.
NOTE: Can't eject an external drive? Make sure all running applications are quit. Occasionally after quitting all applications the external drive may still not eject. If this happens, it is usually because a background application has saved and is keeping open an invisible file on the external drive. The best option is to log out or restart the computer. To find out the name of the offending background application preventing you from ejecting, type in the terminal:
lsof /Volumes/[VOLUMENAME]
where [VOLUMENAME] is the name of the disk that appears on the desktop when the external drive is connected.
As a final suggestion, try disabling the indexing feature of Spotlight.
STEP 3 - BOOT OFF A GOOD CLEAN STARTUP DISK
- One of the most powerful weapons available to you when dealing with any OSX problem is the ability to switch disks and boot off another startup disk so long as you have a big enough hard drive space to do it. This alternative startup disk could be Apple's own OSX installation DVD, or it could be a backup OSX (with no extra third-party applications, plug-ins etc) stored on another partition of your hard disk. The beauty of this approach is that you can instantly see whether a good clean OSX version is behaving well compared to the primary startup disk you normally use but you feel is not behaving as it should.
## A USEFUL TIP ##
It is an excellent idea to partition the hard disk of your computer into a minimum of 20GB each. The advantage of doing so is that you can install multiple OSX system folders (the minimum should be 2, or 3 if you want to run an older version of OSX such as Panther). And if you need to run Linux or other foreign operating systems, you can simply erase one partition into a suitable format without affecting the data on other partitions. But remember one thing: partitioning a hard disk involves destroying all the data on your hard disk. So before you attempt this delicate operation, make sure you backup all your data to an external hard drive or burn onto DVD disks, whichever is easiest and most effective.
Now when it comes to choosing the startup disk to boot off, you do have the option of double-clicking on the Startup Disk Preference Pane and selecting the boot disk you want. But you also have another option.
To switch between OSX system folders, restart your machine and press the Option key. The screen will change showing you icons of all bootable OSX hard disks. Click the hard disk icon you want and click the Continue button. Easy, isn't it!
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STEP 4 - CRITICAL CHECKS
- Do you have multiple System X folders at the root level of your startup disk? Well, don't! Like the company itself, OSX prefers to be the only OS running on the current startup drive. You can only fool OSX in having additional OSX folders if they are installed on separate partitions of your hard disk. Otherwise, on the same partition, you would be wise to delete the extra OSX folders.
- Perform a thorough virus check of all the files on your HD, including the system software. You need to do this first before tinkering with the innards of your system software. Otherwise a virus could be lurking around somewhere and this could corrupt any files you try to fix. When doing this job properly, use a CD (or non-writable) Emergency Startup Disk. The disk should contain the latest anti-virus program to help you clean your hard disk. McAfree's VirusScan, Symantec AntiVirus or other virus detection program is fine. Just make sure the virus definitions file is the very latest version to be most effective to you.
- If this hasn't helped, we recommend you restart the machine in Safe Mode. To enter Safe Boot mode, press the Shift key down on powering up and immediately after the startup chime is heard until the words "Safe Boot" appear. Actually, entering into Safe Mode will automatically activate the Disk Utility to check for file permission problems and tell OSX to move to the Trash a large number of cache files.
NOTE: You can run applications in "Safe Mode" (without plug-ins and extensions). This is useful if you want to see whether an application is misbehaving in a new OS environment because of an incompatible plug-in. For what may be the easiest and possibly best way of determining if a plug-in is causing you problems, type the following Terminal commands (Press return after the end of each line):
cd /Applications/[Application Name].app/Contents/MacOS/
./[Application Name]-bin -safe-mode
where [Application Name] is a name like Firefox or Photoshop.
If you notice the problems have disappeared, it is likely a faulty plug-in is the culprit. Try removing third-party plugins from within the /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ or ~/Library/Application Support/[Application Name]/(profile)/Extensions/ folders, or use the application's uninstaller utility.
- The next useful task to perform is an integrity check of your hard disk and files. In OSX, this means checking for volume structure, catalogs, boot blocks and other directory information for possible damage.
When performing this task, it is recommended that you boot from another OSX disk (either the original Apple OSX installation DVD/CD or a backup OSX on a separate partition or external drive. Run the Disk Utility of this other OSX and check (and where necessary) repair the drive you suspect there could be problems.
NOTE: Should you receive a message saying Disk Utility cannot repair permissions because "No valid packages" were found, this cryptic message means you have moved or deleted the BaseSystem.pkg from /Library/Receipts. Apple wants to know you have a legitimate copy of OSX, so get a copy of this package from another OSX and place it in the correct folder, or reinstall OSX from your Apple OS installation DVD.
To check the integrity of your hard disk and files thoroughly, we recommend using either MicroMat TechTool Deluxe 4.0, or Alsoft Disk Warrior 4.0 or higher.
If you are unable to check the drive from an external OSX disk:
(i) Restart your computer.
(ii) As soon as you hear the startup chime, press the Command (Apple) key and "s" keys simultaneously. You will boot up in single user mode.
(iii) At some point you will reach the command prompt where you can type fsck -fy (entirely in lower case letters).
(iv) Press the Return key. It will do an integrity check of your hard disk's directory information.
(v) If you find errors, type fsck -fyand press the Return key again and keep repeating until there are no errors. In the rare circumstance where you find unfixable errors, this is when you need the third-party disk repair tools mentioned above.
(vi) When finished, type exit and press the Return key. Wait for a moment as it prepares to run OSX.
NOTE: Checking and repairing directory damage is considered crucial for installing Apple firmware updates on Mac Intel machines. Otherwise the updates will not work.
- Another common source of problems is in the profusion of (mainly third-party) OSX extension files and startup items.
Startup items are located in /Library/Startupitems. Use a utility such as Diablotin (the equivalent to Extensions Manager in OS9) to turn off selected startup items. Also comes in particularly handy for controlling Contextual Menu Items, Fonts, Internet Plug-ins, Menu Extras, Preference Panes, QuickTime, Screen Savers, Sounds as well. But remember, turning off the wrong component could result in a non-booting OSX on restart. Make sure you have a "backup" OSX disk to access the contents of your computer's hard drive to help you fix the problem.
As for OSX extensions (Apple kernel and third-party ones), you may be able to check which kernel extension or other item fails to load up properly because of some kind of software conflict or corruption issue. When you get the chance to re-boot your Mac, press the Command and V keys simultaneously and immediately after the chime. Your computer will boot into OSX verbose mode. Look carefully at the startup console message. If you see the words "error", "failed" or "terminated" next to a software component, you know this specific component has not loaded up. Write down the name of the component and do a search using Spotlight to locate it the next time you reboot OSX in normal mode. If the error message appears next to a cache file, it is time to clear the caches using OnyX 1.8.3.
STEP 5 - CHECK FOR BLOCK ERRORS
STEP 6 - REPAIR PERMISSIONS AND CHECK VOLUME STRUCTURE
- The next useful task to perform is an integrity check of your files in terms of their permission rights.
This is something you should keep in mind with OSX. Many OSX problems can often be resolved simply by repairing permissions. This is because so many third-party applications and Apple-specific software rely heavily on the thousands of files making up the core OSX system files to perform common tasks and any incorrect permissions could prevent a critical OSX file from accepting say a command from another software to print a page, launch the right application, display files on the desktop (folder), save a file or whatever.
Repairing permissions should be done before and again after every installation of new software. And if not installing software, check permissions every month or so (more often if running the older Jaguar or original 10.1.x OSX versions). We recommend this should be done by starting up from another OSX disk (eg. Apple's OSX DVD disk) and checking the permissions of files through your original startup OSX disk.
Why you must repair permissions? This is best explained through a quote from a MacFixIt reader:
'...repairing [permissions] is as much as a security fix as a problem fix. Incorrect permissions can lead to programs and files being overwritten, added, linked, etc, without the need for authentication. This can easily then cause the installation of a virus or other software to take control of your system.' (MacFixIt.com: Repairing Permissions and assumptions. 17 April 2006.)
In essence, it helps to tell your software programs how to handle files and folder information correctly for better security and minimise application errors. If you ever need to know the files touched by Disk Utility, try typing in the Terminal:
sudo fs_usage 1407, 1408 > fileusage
where 1407 and 1408 are the process ID numbers for DiskManagementTool and Disk Utility respectively.
NOTE: A permission in OSX is essentially a piece of additional information called a flag held in every file, application and folder on your computer. It is used to help determine whether the item is visible and accessible to users (in multiuser mode or on the network), the System (OSX) or to specific applications. The flag may contain a unique ID number to identify the application, and additional information to tell how users can access and use it (eg. whether it is shareable to users on the network, can allow users to read and write files, can allow users to modify files etc).
Just one tiny permission quirk of OSX you may wish to be aware of. It concerns folders residing on a disk formatted in the standard HFS (the old classic format) will not be shared. This was done by Apple to ensure OSX applications and files cannot be easily shared with really old Macintosh classic computers below OS8.1 and vice versa. Apple wants to give people an incentive to format the disk in HFS Extended (preferably Journaled) format which means upgrading to MacOS 8.1 or higher which in turn requires newer computers to run the newer OS.
Want to know if you have formatted your disk in HFS Extended format? Choose Get Info from the Finder for your disk and if it says "Format: Mac OS Extended", then you should be okay to share folders.
NOTE 2: If you intend to manually modify permissions on specific files and folder using a utility such as batchmod 1.3.4, be very careful. You have to know exactly what you are doing. For example, if you accidentally change the permissions on say the root drive incorrectly, you may not be able to start up OSX on that root drive the next time you reboot (ie. the Apple logo will probably jump down 5 millimetres from the centre, freeze and the rotating circular coloured pinwheel icon will never appear. If this ever happens to you, get out your OSX installation disk, run Disk Utility, and click the Repair Permissions button (ie. all files will have to be repaired). In other words, OSX in its current form (Tiger 10.4.10) does not automatically check for this during startup unless you manually tell it to run Disk Utility and check the permissions.
NOTE 3: Another classic example of poor built-in integrity checking in OSX (for all versions up to Tiger 10.4.10) is when the invisible .DS_Store files found in every folder opened by a user can become corrupted. When these invisible files are corrupted in some way, the Finder will crash more often. It will crash most often when you enter a folder with a corrupt .DS_Store file or attempt to launch and use a file within the folder. The invisible .DS_Store files are designed to associate invisible custom icon files to the folder in which the files reside or to other files within the folder, determine how files and folders should appear when the folder is opened, and the background colour of the folder. This is said to be the safer approach according to Apple instead of the OS9 method of storing all this information inside a single invisible file at the root level of your hard disk. Despite this new approach, .DS_Store files can become corrupted and there is nothing in OSX (now Tiger 10.4.10) or in Disk Utility to detect and fix the problem except for you to discover the problem on your own and figure out how to delete the file (assuming this is the cause). We recommend DS_Store Cleaner 1.5.0 for OSX "Tiger" 10.4.9 or earlier as the preferred and easiest utility for deleting the invisible files (simply drag-and-drop the offending folder onto the application). Or try AppleOff 1.2.4 and set the folders you want this utility to clean the files. Want to remove all .DS_Store files from every mounted disk on the desktop? Type in the Terminal:
sudo find / -type f -name .DS_Store -exec rm {} ;
NOTE 4: To prevent the Finder from creating .DS_Store files on remote file servers:
1. Open the Terminal.
2. Type defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true.
3. Press the Return key.
4. Restart the computer.
STEP 7 - A QUICK AND DIRTY CHECK
- Try creating a new user account in OSX. If one user is experiencing problems in OSX (including the Administrator) and not in other users, try creating a new user account. What you are effectively doing is forcing OSX applications and the Finder to create new .plist files, fonts, and kernel extensions.
If this solves the problem, delete the old user account (after retaining any important data you want from it). If this doesn't work, the problem is likely to be in the root ~Library folder for holding plist files and other temporary or relatively changeable stuff. Check for corrupted plist files using Alsoft's DiskWarrior 4.0. Or see the steps below.
To create a new user account, you should be the administrator. Open the "Accounts" preference pane. If you aren't the administrator, click the padlock to enter your administrator password. Press the "+" (plus) button to create a new account. If you are creating a new Administrator account, create it, then relogin as the new administrator. Then you can delete your old administrator account.
The rest is pretty straightforward.
To retain important information from your old user account, check:
1. Documents folder
2. ~/Music/iTunes
3. ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library
4. ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook
5. ~/Library/Keychains
6. ~/Library/Mail
7. ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
NOTE: Store these items somewhere and add them to your new user account one at a time just in case the problem lies in one of these files.
NOTE: Under Tiger 10.4.4, some users may discover the passwords for gaining entry to their user accounts could fail unexpectedly. OSX may claim the users' passwords are incorrect when they are not. Either you must have the original Apple OSX installation DVD to reset the password (we hope this isn't Apple's way of getting people to buy the latest OSX from the company), or ask the administrator to supply you with the utility to do this. The utility is called NetInfo Manager. If you are the administrator, you will find this utility installed in ~/Applications/Utilities/. Or find a utility to help preserve or protect the NetInfo database from corruption. When creating a new password, avoid using special characters like em-dashes or underscores(_).
Alternatively, log in as root and change the password of a user's account. You do this by opening NetInfo Manager and selecting the Security menu. Log out of your user account, log back in. However, this time use "root" as the username and the password you specified. Go to the "Accounts" preference pane and modify the desired password. Now you should be able to re-login to the user account.
NOTE: You can startup OSX in single user mode by press Command and S simultaneously.
STEP 8 - SPRING-CLEANING YOUR FILES
- Everything okay up to this point but still have an error? Alright. It is time to do some spring-cleaning. This is especially true of OSX because preferences files written in XML can become corrupted (all it takes is for an application or OS to be updated and it may not be able to handle the way the information has been organised in their corresponding outdated preference files unless the files have been cleared), caches and log files expand dramatically in file size and may contain unexpected errors, and some other files may need to be updated with new information to ensure smooth and high performance running of OSX.
One of the most likely sources of corrupted preference information is in Finder's own preference file located at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist.
We shall begin by testing for corrupt preference files. Open the Terminal utility in /Applications/Utility. Type the following:
sudo plutil -s ~/Library/Preferences/*.plist
Press the Enter key. Provide your administrator password. The Preference Utility of OSX will be run, checking for errors in your preference files (in OSX, the file names for preferences end with a .plist).
If you want to check the preference files in the top level system folder, type:
sudo plutil -s /Library/Preferences/*.plist
For those not apt to a little programming within Terminal, download and run the freeware from Jonathan Nathan called Preferential Treatment. The utility is slower but it makes the task of moving or trashing corrupted preference files easy.
Or download our clickable Terminal file for checking corrupt preferences which automatically runs the above Unix commands (works with OSX "Tiger").
How do you know for sure when a preference file is corrupted? When you see odd behaviour in your applications such as crashes, the ethernet connection dropping out unexpectedly and strange-looking menus, this is the time to clean up the preference files. Remember, preference files are there to help you store your preferred settings for all your applications. For example, setting a default font for Microsoft Word documents is stored in a preference file.
NOTE 1: We recommend that you back up your hard drive after installing an application so that when a corrupted preference file is found, you can simply replace the bad file with a clean back up copy of the file. This avoids having to re-enter your registration details for some applications that store this information in the preference files.
NOTE 2: Preferences files store information as text or binary format. Binary format is unreadable for average users and is the preferred format for Apple when creating preference files for Apple applications. To make binary format preference files readable and editable, install the Apple Developer software in the Xcode Tools former on the Tiger OSX DVD. There should be a folder named Developer at the root level of the hard drive. Look inside Developer-->Applications-->Utilities and open Property List Editor (PLE). This is the Apple tool for reading preference files of any format. Better still, try the third-party utilities Pref Setter and PlistEdit Pro for alternatives. You would only edit a preference file manually if you want to set a value beyond the normal range provided by the application or to insert hidden settings.
NOTE 3: To find all .plist files associated with an application, use the tool AppZapper. Alternatively, look at the file name of the preference file &151 sometimes the name might indicate the name of the application associated with it. If you are experiencing a problem with an application, try deleting the application's corresponding preference file and see whether the problem persists.
- Next thing to do is clear caches files. Cache files are temporary places for holding data for OSX and other applications in order to help them run faster. The files tend to hold commonly-used graphics, contents of dynamic menus, and frequently-used calculations. Caches are often used to speed up launch times for applications and while doing intensive repetitive work within an application. However, on the rare occasion, the cache files can grow very large or may contain an error which could create application oddities.
To clear cache files (you should be the administrator), you need to find their location. In OSX, this is /System/Library/Caches; in your user folder's Library folder; and within individual application folders. The process of clearing caches for OSX can be achieved with the help of a freeware utility called OnyX 1.9.0 (for Leopard) from the French company called Titanium. Use only OnyX 1.5.2 for Panther and 1.8.4 for Tiger (the final versions). For all other cache files, it is time for a manual "seek and destroy" mission. The most important caches to clear, especially between major updates and upgrades of the OS, are the kernel extension caches and font caches.
If you have to do this manually, delete the following caches:
com.apple.kernelcaches (a folder in /System/Library/Caches)
Extensions.kextcache (a file in /System/Library)
Extensions.mkext (a file in /System/Library/)
com.apple.ATS (a folder in /Library/Caches/)
Files that start with com.apple.LaunchServices (in /Library/Caches)
You will be asked for your administrator password when moving these files to the trash.
How do you know for sure when a cache file is corrupted? Usually it is hard to tell. But if the cache file is sufficiently corrupted in many places or corrupted in a critical place, you will see odd behaviour in your applications such as your custom preferences not loading up properly, sluggish performance of OSX and other applications, or menus having strange characters appearing on the screen. When this happens, this is a good time to clean up the cache files.
After clearing caches, it is wise to restart the computer.
- Follow this cache file cleaning regime with a good deleting of log files. Log files are now being created and populated with information on a regular basis within OSX because hard drive capacities have increased significantly to the point where software companies such as Apple and Adobe Systems, Inc., can record what's on your hard drive, who logs onto your machine, what time you've logged on successfully or unsuccessfully, which applications you use, what you do with the applications, and any errors or problems you encounter when using the software. The logs are related primarily to the applications you use and how you use them and records everything from the mundane to the most important details.
So, in essence, if you do something you shouldn't, it may now be possible for certain individuals in law enforcement to deduce what you were doing and with what software and use the log files as possible evidence in a court of law should an authority decide to inspect your computer. On the positive side, if you do the right thing, it can help software companies provide better software, including more features and less bugs for you to enjoy (well, that's the theory of it).
Think of log files as a double-edged sword. It can work for you, or it can work against you.
The biggest drawback with log files, apart from the obvious privacy concerns and the possibility someone could devise a trojan to retrieve log files in specific "common" places and send them over the Internet, is that they can grow to phenomenally large sizes. If you are a bit short of hard disk space, log files are a good place to do your spring-cleaning work.
To keep users busy locating them, logs files are stored in several different places. At the system-level, this will be in System/Library/var/log/ and Library/Logs folders. Also check your Users folder in ~/Library/Logs/. Use Console to highlight and delete logs listed in your Users folder. Use the Command-Delete key to set your action. The log files will disappear.
For system-level logs, try the freeware utility called OnyX 1.5.2 for Panther, OnyX 1.8.4 for Tiger, or Onyx 1.9.0 for Leopard to delete them automatically.
- Next, run the Keychain Utility in the Utilities folder in Applications. There should be a menu command called Keychain First Aid. Click the Start button and let it verify and repair any problems it finds. Follow this with a file permissions check using Disk Utility.
- To automate these spring-cleaning tasks, we recommend a freeware utility called OnyX 1.9.0 (for Leopard). This utility will also do scheduled maintenance work of OSX at specified times, taking the drudgery out of most cleaning work.
Apple also provides some of its own automated maintenance scripts in Unix for running under the command line via the Terminal utility. Terminal is located in /Applications/Utilities.
NOTE: To clean up duplicate entries in the Open With... contextual menu command for Tiger OSX 10.4.x and higher users, run this command via the Terminal utility:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/
LaunchServices.framework/Versions/Current/Support/
lsregister -kill -r -domain system -domain local -domain user
- Another source of incompatibility are third-party input manager plug-ins (called haxies) found in the ~/Library/InputManagers/ folder. Try removing the plug-ins and see whether the problem persists. The same should be done to ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ and ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ folders by removing third-party plug-ins.
- Now we must update some files. One important technique to implement is a thing called prebind. Prebinding in OSX means figuring out the code to be used for an application when launching it. It's about updating information in a database file needed by applications to know where certain libraries and special codes in OSX are held. In pre-10.3 versions of OSX, binding information was not strict and therefore rarely updated properly. This is the reason why a number applications had extremely slow launch times. But by having the information updated properly, applications can launch and run more quickly.
To update the prebinding information, go into Terminal and type:
sudo update _prebinding -root /
and enter your administrator password.
Or if you have a prebinding error and want to know why, you may wish to type the following:
sudo update _prebinding -root / - force -debug
For those curious readers wanting to know the list of dynamic libraries that are prebound, OSX keeps a record of the list in the following text file:
/var/db/dyld/update-prebinding-paths.txt
Just one word of warning: updating the prebinding information can potentially take up to an hour depending on how many applications are installed. We recommend you do this at the end of the day, perhaps once a week or as you feel the applications are getting a little sluggish. Under Tiger, you should only have to do this once after an application install. And never try to interrupt the process (eg. opening an application, surfing the net, playing games and so on).
For a clickable Terminal file, download Prebinding.hqx.
NOTE: OSX has a set of Unix maintenance scripts for maintaining your files in good order. The scripts are run on a daily, weekly and monthly basis as indicated by the times set by Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.). The actual times are: (i) daily - 3.15am; (ii) weekly - Saturdays 4.30am; and (iii) monthly - 5.30am on the first day of the month. For most users, this may not be convenient as most computers are switched off during these times. The maintenance scripts can be run at any time by downloading and running a utility called MacJanitor from Brian Hill. If you want to reschedule the maintenance scripts, use a utility such as the freeware CronniX.
- Another updating technique worth considering is a check for updates to various plug-ins, QuickTime components and third-party software you have installed. In the latest Tiger upgrade, Apple has made substantial changes to the file format (similar to the upgrade from HFS to HFS+ in the Classic Environment) to the point where some applications may no longer work (including the Finder). So be prepared to do lots of updating or upgrading of your third-party software (with OSX version 10.4.10 already out, hopefully this updating work should be the least of your worries). And if you are updating the OS, consider re-applying the update using the full Combo updater from Apple and restart your computer.
NOTE 1: Problems with the network in Tiger can be resolved by removing spaces in the Computer's name and keeping the name short in length. Also turn off IPv6 configuration option if you find after the update to OSX 10.4.5 that the network connection, uploading and downloading files, the internet are all slow or your computer is spontaneously disconnecting from a network for no apparent reason. To achieve this, go into Network system preference pane, clip on TCP/IP settings, click "Configure IPv6..." button, and click the "Off" button. Press the Apply Now button to complete the work and force OSX to remember the setting (until probably the next OSX update is released by Apple).
NOTE 2: Problems with AirPort connection under OSX 10.4.5 such as spontaneous disconnects; or not automatically reconnecting after waking from sleep, starting up or first turning on the AirPort card? Try deleting the AirPort keychain entry:
(i) Launch the Keychain Access application located in /Application/Utilities.
(ii) Move to the "System" set of keychains in the top left corner.
(iii) Delete keychain entries referring to AirPort.
(iv) Re-establish connection to the AirPort and re-enter authentication information.
If all else fails, turn off and on the AirPort, turn off "IP over FireWire" option in the Network preference pane. And consider turning off IPv6 in the Network preference pane.
Removing FireWire devices from your computer may also help to resolve AirPort connection problems as there may be RF interference between the FireWire devices and the wireless AirPort module inside your computer. As MacFixIt reader Mark Donohue has allegedly discovered:
'I have lots of Macs (5) on a mostly wireless network. AEBS (gigabit n) + recent purchase of Airport Express n to extend the network. Leopard 10.5.2. All Airports at latest software and firmware versions. IP6 turned off (according to your own previous suggestions). I could not understand the intermittent loss of links to the internet by my MacBook Pro (latest version, 7200 rpm disk, 4 GB RAM).
Until this morning.
I was downloading the new update of MailSteward (v8) in the vicinity of the Airport Express when I plugged in my external FireWire drive 2 seconds before the download finished. BOOM. NO data transfer (watching iStat Menu - brilliant software from AUSTRALIA!). Eject the disk - still no data transfer. UNPLUG the firewire disk and - BOOM - transfer back to full speed immediately. Did the same with the new Java software update. Same result.
Used the SAME disk in USB2 mode, no problem. Maybe slight decrease in transfer speed, but not much. Oddly, my other older (Sept 07) MBP is running for my wife booted off an external FireWire drive and does not run into the same problems. The problem may be the new Penryn processor?' (MacFixIt.com: FireWire devices interfering with wireless connectivity?. 30 April 2008.)
As a suggestion, try moving the FireWire devices further away from your computer, and/or purchase a higher quality FireWire cable with better RF shielding properties.
NOTE 3: If you have a MacBook Pro and OSX shows signs of kernel panics every 15 minutes or so (probably an older version of OSX), try turning off Airport. If this works, turn on Airport and connect manually using a fixed IP address. It should work.
NOTE 4: This MacFixIt article on 10 June 2008 suggests at least one third-party software application could be slowing down AirPort connection speed on Intel-based MacBook Pro. It alleges the culprit could be Real Player (a tool for playing .rm movie files on the Internet). You may wish to try deinstalling (or get an improved update to) this application. As of 14 June 2008, the makers of Real Player have released to Real Player 11 build 884. Hopefully this will work better.
- Trying to minimise the number of files on OSX is not easy these days. OSX's architecture is designed to split up applications into a folder containing individual resource files. Add to this the help files written in html or xml, clipart and so on, and the number of files for a single application can reach over 10,000. Applications in OSX are also more integrated (eg. Safari/QuickTime and OSX, aka Microsoft Explorer and Windows 95) to the point where the removal of some files can stop the applications including OSX from functioning properly.
The best thing you can do is experiment. Keep a back up of your hard disk, remove some files for which you know their association for particular application(s), and see what happens.
Use fseventer 2.2.2 to determine where the files are placed when you do an installation of a new software (even existing files that change during installation are logged). Keep a record of where everything is and be prepared to manually remove them if the uninstallation procedure is not foolproof (eg. a trial version of FileMaker Pro 7).
Or consider Sherlock under OSX "Panther". But don't use Spotlight under OSX version 10.4 (the replacement for Sherlock) as Apple has decided to do away with searching for invisible files (even though it has the criteria to do this if you look carefully).
And be patient. There are enough files worth throwing away. But the key will be in choosing the right ones.
NOTE: Having trouble trashing some locked files under OSX? We recommend using a freebie utility such as Trash It and Super Empty Trash. The only way to go when Apple can't or won't do the job properly for users.
If the files are not locked but refuses to be trashed, restart the computer. Sometimes an application might be using the files. Also do a file permissions repair using Disk Utility to ensure you have the correct privileges to delete them. Next, try the Secure Empty Trash command in the File menu of the Finder. There is also the utility called OnyX which does a pretty good job of deleting files in the trash. And if all else fails, boot into another OS (preferably on an external drive) and delete the files. You may need to check the volume you were originally on to make sure there are no disk errors using Disk Utility, or Disk Warrior.
- After simplifying your hard disk, don't worry about rebuilding the desktop files. In OSX, this is no longer necessary. However, if the system problem lies in the Classic Environment (1), do a desktop rebuild in the following manner:
1. Click the Apple logo in the top left-hand corner of the screen.
2. Choose System Preferences.
3. Click the Classic control preference pane.
4. Select the Advanced tab.
5. Press the Rebuild Desktop button.
- Check to see that your applications actually has a proper icon. If it looks generic like it is a Console document and you know it is suppose to be an application, change the filename extension to ".app". Double-click the icon to see if your suspicions have been realised correctly (ie. it should open as an application).
It is also a good idea to make sure your hard disk has been formatted as HFS+ and repair your disk if you see this problem.
STEP 9 - CORRUPT FILES
OSX in its present form is not capable of self-repair. It is still possible to corrupt files during the normal operation of the computer. For example, when running a third-party utility such as Cocktail, an invisible file called "sudoers" in the invisible /private/etc/ folder at the root level of the OSX hard disk may suddenly become zero bytes in size. Afterwards you try to run another application such as OnyX where it asks for your administrator password, only to find your password does not work. Apple's Disk Utility can't repair the corrupted file. So you are faced with purchasing Disk Warrior to repair it or reinstall OSX.
The alternative and cheapest solution is to find another OSX computer, make visible the private folder and copy the sudoers file where you can replace the corrupted file on your own OSX machine. This is easily achieved by booting into OS9 or Windows XP to bypass OSX restrictions in accessing this invisible folder. Or you must use Terminal to enter the appropriate file copy and replacement UNIX commands.
If you need a copy of sudoers, please click here. Then run Disk Utility to repair the permissions. If you don't repair permissions, you may get a similar message as the following:
'AppleScript Error
'sudo: /private/etc/sudoers is mode 0755, should be 0440 (1)'
Once the permissions are repaired, the problem should be solved.
This corruption issue appears to be the same in the case of the Keyboard Update 1.1 for Intel iMac mid-2007 models. Users have noticed how F3 for Expose, F4 for Dashboard and the multimedia function keys don't appear to work even after the update is applied. Only a full reinstallation of OSX will fix whatever file corruption has occurred.
Another ripper of a file corruption problem involves Apple's own Disk Utility. If you have insufficient hard disk space to perform a disk image (.dmg) of a folder, for instance, and you don't realise it, Disk Utility will appear to do its job of creating a disk image. But then it can suddenly finish the job (ie. reached the end of the available hard disk space) and won't tell you why or what happened. You will see what looks like a successfully completed disk image.
If you don't have the verify checksum option turned on and forget to open the image file for testing to see if the Disk Utility has done its job properly, then the next time you open it you will notice an "input/output error" message on the screen. But this is the start of your problems. You may be able to recover some of your files in the disk image. But, incredibly, OSX on your startup disk will soon misbehave badly as if icons appear corrupted, certain applications such as Safari won't launch, and a number of files can't be copied because somehow something has overwritten on top of them. Running the Disk Repair and Permissions Check options via Disk Utility won't notice a problem (useless!).
If you leave it too long, like say 24 hours, the next time you boot up, OSX will get stuck and you'll never get to the desktop (ie. system files have been corrupted).
This is the classic sign of file corruption due to poor programming on the part of Apple inside the Disk Utility tool. The only solution you have is back up the remaining good files and reinstall a fresh, new copy of OSX.
NOTE: Apple has also not updated Disk Utility for Tiger users to ensure bad file permissions are not transferred over to OSX Leopard files. Leopard now uses a new permissions verification technique and Apple makes no apologies for this situation for Tiger users. Either upgrade or learn the hard way if you forget what to do.
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In essence, if you suspect any strange unexpected behaviour not resolved by any of the steps mentioned above, consider the possibility of a file corruption by installing OSX on another partition of your hard disk and running the computer off this system. If the behaviour is non-existent, then you know there is a corrupt file somewhere.
NOTE: Try applying the full combo update to see if the corruption is resolved before going for the full OSX reinstallation.
STEP 10 - DEFRAGING FILES
Defragmenting the HD is called optimisation and journaling in OSX. Use the Disk Utility to tell OSX to fully optimise your drive. Enable journaling for limited defragmentation. Otherwise use a full defragmentation tool such as Micromat's TechTool Pro 4.0 or higher. We recommend you do this about once a month.
NOTE: It is recommended that you only use a third-party deframentation tool if you have lots of large files (sort of in the gigabytes range such as digital movies) and the hard disk space is limited (perhaps 10GB or less). When defraging, always make sure you have a reliable power supply to your computer and you do not interrupt the process by doing other things on your computer. Defragmentation via another tool not from Apple should rarely be used under OSX.
STEP 11 - MEMORY PROBLEMS
STEP 12 - HARDWARE PROBLEMS
- The next step is to disconnect all USB and FirWire device(s) from your computer. This is crucial when updating or upgrading OSX. When removing device(s), you don't have to turn off the power. All USB device(s) are fully protected and can be removed at any time with safety (the same thing is true of FireWire devices).
NOTE 1: The exception to this rule is when your system experiences a complete freeze/crash accompanied by a spinning pinwheel. If this happens, don't disconnect the external drives. If you do, you may solve the freeze problem restoring order to your system. But it is likely you will also experience file corruption on the external storage device. Removing the external drive with power on when the system is stuck in the spinning pinwheel mode can cause corruption.
NOTE 2: If you experience repeated system freezes, kernel panics and more and your Apple computer is looking new enough not to be the cause of the problems, check to see whether you aren't using a third-party USB device such as a Microsoft USB keyboard plugged into an Intel-based Mac mini or something along those lines. Try to stick to Apple USB devices where possible. Or make sure you have the latest third-party drivers, firmware updates and/or USB devices. For example, MacFixIt reader Cole Armstrong writes:
'My new Mac mini crashed on me within 24 hours. I did not change any of the stock settings or add any new hardware to the box itself. It was to the point that I could not even re-install the OS. Before it would boot the OS I would get a multiple languages message saying I needed to restart. Every time I booted up and I never got to the OS.
'Apple Tech support could not help me with the matter. So I had to send it back. I received my second mini in the mail a week later. Same configuration: 1.66ghz Core Duo/80gb HD/2gb's RAM. 24 hours later it then crashed...luckily I was able to reinstall the OS, I changed from my brand new OS X compatible Microsoft Keyboard, and bought an Apple Brand Keyboard.
'So, I re-installed the OS without the Microsoft keyboard plugged in. Then I used the Apple Keyboard to complete the install.
'So far my system runs very quickly and smoothly and I am not having running midi programs. The whole system just seems to run a lot better and I get that gut feeling that it is fixed. I have been up and running now for 36 hours with no problems....this is a new record.' (MacFixIt.com: A reminder: Errant USB devices can cause system freezes, other issues. 21 March 2006.)
NOTE 3: If the Mac mini cannot handle third-party USB devices (because it doesn't come with Apple-specific keyboards, monitors etc), it makes you wonder what's the purpose of a Mac mini? Shouldn't you be able to plug third-party devices to it? Wake up Apple!
NOTE 4: Does you internet connection drop out several times in a day? Perhaps the ISP's own server could be playing up. Or consider the idea of removing the filter dongle between the phone line and your ADSL modem used to keep the ADSL signal separate from voice signals. Also remove old phones connected to the same line as these may not be compatible.
- Check the hardware manufacturer's web site for your problematic USB device and download the latest driver update (including firmware).
NOTE: A special note about firmware updates is that under no circumstances should you be doing anything with your computer while installing a firmware update. There should be absolutely no interruptions. The consequences of not following this advice is the hardware item subject to the update is almost certainly going to become inoperable. Always let the update go through its process to completion. When downloading a firmware update, go for the full standalone update. Restart the computer to ensure no applications other than OSX and the Finder are running. And check System Profiler to determine the firmware version of any device before deciding to update it — accidentally installing an older firmware version could cause problems. Updating firmware is a delicate operation best done by the manufacturer (or Apple). If users are ever asked to do the job, it is very important for manufacturers to provide clear instructions and messages during the installation to tell users exactly how it should be done.
- If you notice the internal hard disk on your computer suddenly freeze for no apparent reason, or your computer is unable to startup properly because it thinks there is no functioning system software in the internal hard disk, the problem may be that the computer does not notice the existence of the hard disk itself because the hard disk connector is losing contact with the motherboard's hard disk connector (could be a heat problem). Check the Hardware Stability page for information on what to do.
To check your hard drive for hardware problems, download checking hard drives with SMART technology. Double-click on the uncompressed file to run the Unix commands in Terminal.
## A USEFUL TIP ##
Having problems with your laptop accidentally turning on when the lid is closed? Do you find your laptop gets very hot when you take it out of your bag? Well, you are not alone. This is a common problem for MacBook Pro laptops (we hope this is the only model to be afflicted by this silly problem). A few aluminium PowerBook G4 laptops have also experienced this issue. The solution? Well, there isn't a foolproof solution for all machines. For most laptops, Glenn Fleishman of http://db.tidbits.com/article/8702 has recommended you turn off the lidwake value by typing in the Terminal:
sudo pmset lidwake 0
To wake up the laptop, just open the lid and press any key. A much improved solution (if Apple is unable to get the right manufacturing design). If the command doesn't work, try another power management UNIX command instead of lidwake. For a list of possible options, try:
pmset -g cap
Occasionally, even after trying this method, other laptops may continue to turn on with the lid closed despite the above recommendation either because something is trying to wake up OSX to do its job, there are faulty settings in the PRAM, or some kind of hardware problem exists in the lid's latch. As Glenn Fleishman said:
'It takes a village to put a laptop to sleep....Keith Dawson and me with our recalcitrant laptops [have a problem]. Keith has a new 17-inch MacBook Pro that has several times nearly overheated, according to its three internal temperature sensors, because it woke up after being jostled in his laptop bag. I didn't have the heat problem, but my 15-inch aluminum PowerBook G4 has long had an incontinent latch that makes the computer liable to wake up in my bag.' (Fleishman, Glen. Sleepless (and Latchless) in Seattle: Tidbits. November 2006.)
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STEP 13 - ZAP THE PRAM
STEP 14 - REINSTALL SYSTEM SOFTWARE AND DRIVERS
- And as a final resort (it sounds like things are getting pretty serious at this stage), reinstall the Combo update file for your OSX. If this doesn't work, reinstall the full OSX from the original installation CD (something that Apple encourages a lot), followed by your Combo update file, and finally update your third-party applications.
On the issue of CD drives, it may be worth noting how some users have experienced trouble ejecting a CD/DVD from the internal optical drive of 17-inch aluminium PowerBook G4 and MacBook Pro laptops. This is usually because the casing has been bent upwards slightly by pressure of the hands resting on the laptops. You will see this at the left of the opening to the CD drive (the weakest part of the casing). On occasions the problem can also be software-related such as an upgrade or update to OSX. If this sounds familiar, try typing in the Terminal:
drutil tray eject
Alternatively, restart the computer and on hearing the startup chime, hold down Command Option O F keys. Next, type:
eject cd
Finish with:
reset-all
to bring you back to the standard boot sequence for loading OSX.
If unsuccessful, try shutting down the computer, then press the mouse button/trackpad button and the power button. As the computer boots up, the disk ought to pop right out.
You final resort is getting an Apple technician to fix the CD/DVD drive or laptop casing.
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Actually, any time you want to upgrade/update or install new software for OSX or other applications, many problems can be resolved by following these procedures:
(i) BACKUP: Backup your files
(ii) QUIT APPLICATIONS: Quit all running applications and processes.
(iii) DISCONNECT PERIPHERALS: Disconnect all FireWire and USB peripherals.
(iv) RESTART COMPUTER: Restart your computer.
(v) FIX FILE PERMISSIONS: Boot from the OS X Install CD and run Disk Utility's Repair Disk function (or use a third-party drive utility such as DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro) to fix file permissions and other problems and restart the computer to launch your fully checked and fixed OSX on your hard disk. Alternatively you may wish to boot the computer in Safe Boot mode by pressing the Shift key down on powering up until the words "Safe Boot" appear — the Repair Disk function apparently is automatically activated in Safe Mode for MaxOSX version 10.2 or higher according to this Apple article and may take several minutes to check your directory.
(vi) INSTALL UPDATES: Install the software you want to add to your hard disk. You can do this in Safe Boot mode or when OSX is booted normally (after file permissions have been fixed).
(vii) FIX FILE PERMISSIONS AGAIN: After rebooting, run Repair Disk Permissions one more time (considered the most critical step).
(viii) CLEAN OUT CACHE FILES: It is a good idea to use a freeware utility such as OnyX or shareware tools such as Panther Cache Cleaner or Cocktail to clear caches and old log files.
(ix) RESTART COMPUTER: Do a final reboot.
Everything should be okay to this point. But if you have unexpected problems with FireWire devices, make sure they are disconnected and reset the Mac's NVRAM:
(i) Just as the computer is powering up from a shutdown (not from a restart), hold down Command-Option-P-R before the screen lights up.
(ii) Let the Mac chime twice and let go of the key combination.
(iii) Before the screen lights up again, hold down Command-Option-O-F. This will show the Open Firmware screen.
(iv) Type the following:
set-defaults [Return key]
reset-nvram [Return key]
reset-all [Return key]
(v) After pressing the final Return key at the end of this line, the computer should restart.
Another option involves (a) resetting the Power Manager; (b) trying the fake "programmer's reset"; and (c) running the Apple Hardware Test CD. But hopefully you should not have to go this far.
NOTE 1: Use a disk repair utility (we recommand Alsoft DiskWarrior 4.0 or higher, now a universal binary version) first to check for bad sector blocks and other disk problems before reinstalling the system software. And never run software in the background when installing new software except for the installer application only.
STEP 15 - HARDWARE CHECK
- With the advent of the Intel-based Mac and significant changes to OSX "Tiger" 10.4.4-10.4.5 for PowerPC users as well as OSX "Leopard" 10.5.x for Intel users, some people may find mounting FireWire drives, recognising iSight and other hardware issues to be somewhat problematic to say the least. For example, you may not be able to mount a FireWire drive when connected and with power on. A good place to check should be in Network preference pane. Why? Because it may be possible OSX is trying to use the FireWire port as a network port. We recommend turning off this network capability through FireWire ports by:
(i) Opening the Network preference pane.
(ii) From the "Show" pop-up menu list, select "Network Port configurations".
(iii) Uncheck "Built-in FireWire".
(iv) Click the "Apply Now" button.
If all else fails, shutdown the computer, turn off power to all FireWire devices, disconnect them for at least 10 minutes, and then try reconnecting and turning on your computer.
- Having trouble with USB devices and printer drivers. Let's see. Would you be using an Intel-based Macintosh computer? No surprises here! Because of the limited supported for USB devices on such a new hardware system (even more so if using the early versions of OSX "Leopard"), you may have to wait for the manufacturers of the USB devices to provide software driver updates. Also migrating printer drivers from a PowerPC computer to Intel-based versions could be incompatible. Not even the migration utility provided by OSX can correctly migrate the software that is compatible, which makes the tool next to useless really.
On the USB front, you may have to look around for an alternative USB device that does work. Yes, you would be pleased to hear this recommendation. Welcome to Apple's new policy of constantly upgrading your system to make it compatible again.
You may have better success adding a powered USB hub and connecting the USB devices to your computer. If OSX can recognise the USB hub, there is an excellent chance the other devices will be noticed!
USB devices are recognised but misbehaving? This is almost certainly a driver problem. Update your driver now!
As for printer drivers, you might be in for some fun! We recommend opening the Printer Setup Utility (available to pre-Leopard users) located in Applications/Utilities, delete the printer device and re-add it. In fact, while you are at it, you might as well start from scatch by choosing the "Reset Printing System" option and clicking the Reset button. All devices in your Printer List will disappear. But at least you can add the devices one-by-one to refreshen the configuration files and force a permission check on the /tmp director. In fact, OSX "Leopard" users having trouble printing remotely to a printer connected to another Mac because of the error message "Unable to get printer status (forbidden)" obtain relief using the above technique (if you have kept a copy of the Printer Setup Utility). Otherwise, as one MacFixIt user has discovered for Leopard users:
"I had the same problem. My wife's computer suddenly could not print anymore and got the "....(Forbidden)" error message. I traced the problem to CUPS not allowing remote users access to my printer, even though I've reinstalled the printer drivers, deleted and reestablished the printer on my computer, multiple reboots of all computers and printer.
I looked at the /etc/cups files and noticed a significant size difference between older backup copies and more recent copies of the CUPS configuration file cupsd.conf .
I fixed the problem by copying one of the old 23kb config files over the newer 1kb file using the CUPS web based editing function. [Point your browser to http://127.0.0.1:631 and follow the instructions.]
Both versions are very similar, except the old one had many comments explaining the statements, whereas the newer one had no comments at all. The one other significant difference between the config files is an entry that "requires user @SYSTEM" to remotely access the configuration file in the newer file. That might stop a remote printer daemon from accessing the printer and get you the "...(Forbidden)" error message.
I also noticed that Apple in the 10.5.2 update changed many of the cups system files. lsbom lists new binaries for both /usr/sbin/cupsd and /usr/bin/cups-config, but not the config file itself." (MacFixIt.com: Remote printing problems in Mac OS X ("Unable to get printer status"); fix. 13 March 2008.)
Or how about using your "Optional Installs" package on the Mac OS X installer DVD to find what you want (hopefully!)? The recommended procedure here is as follows:
(i) Drag the ~/Library/Printers folder into the trash can (do not empty).
(ii) Restart your computer.
(iii) Install the printer drivers you want from the "Optional Installs" OSX DVD disk.
It doesn't matter if you think you already have the printer driver. It might be a good idea to re-install the driver again using the above DVD technique as some users have had some success. As MacFixIt reader Michelle Steiner said:
'I have an HP Photosmart 8450 printer conencted via ethernet through a router. After transferring my previous G4 iMac's content to the Intel iMac, applications would crash when attempting to print anything. The only exceptions were applications such as Preview that had custom Print dialogs — but even they would crash if I clicked the "Custom" button to switch to the system print dialog.
'I reinstalled the printer driver (HP Photosmart 3.3) and it works fine.' (MacFixIt.com: Special Report: Getting printers to work with Intel-based Macs. 30 March 2006.)
This may also extend to reinstalling the old PowerPC printer driver, which in some cases have fixed the printing problem.
Your all-important printer driver not available on the Mac OS X Installer DVD? Goes to show how rough and ready your OSX and Intel Mac is from Apple. Your next best shot is to visit the printer manufacturer's web site for updated Intel-native drivers. We call this the "cross your fingers and hope to hell there is something available" technique.
Or have you tried printing a test page from CUPS? This is a long shot, but some users claim it might resolve some printing problems. Sounds more like trying anything just to get the bloody printer to work. But anyway, if it works, here is the technique:
(i) Open your web browser
(ii) Type http://127.0.0.1:631/ into the URL address field. Press Return. The CUPS administration page appears.
(iii) Click on the "Manage Printers" link.
(iv) Click "Print Test Page".
Good luck!
As for issues of not being able to find a printer on the network through AppleTalk automatically, try IP printing. This may necessitate walking around to the printer to figure out the IP address, but once you know it, type the address into AppleTalk. It is amazing how much a bit of leg work can go to resolve a printer problem.
Did you consider the possibility of waiting 12 months or more to buy your "you beaut" Intel-based Mac so that the manufacturers have a chance to catch up? Never mind. It is nice to see you are trying to get ahead of the game.
Seriously, if all else fails, try the usual switching to a different USB port, unplugging and re-plugging the afflicted devices, finding the latest printer drivers online, restarting your Mac (short of getting out a hammer and giving your Mac a good whack).
NOTE: Just an interesting discovery: Did you know a slight performance boost to your Mac is possible by installing RAM in matching pairs. In other words, try to get identical RAM sizes and install them into the two memory slots of your computer. It is believed the performance is noticeable. But if you are more interested in writing documents in Word, the extra boost may not be of much use to you. Only useful for gamers and multimedia experts. Try it, especially for Intel-based Macs that use the integrated Intel GMA950 graphics processor. You'll need a minimum of 80MB of RAM to run it and the rest for loading OSX and the applications. Minimum total RAM should be 512MB (ie. two 256MB RAM cards).
- Having problems with DVI? Again, would you be using an Intel-based Mac? No surprises. The PowerPC version works okay. The Intel-based Mac seems hopeless in handling DVI as of June 2006. Try using a DVI to VGA adapter, or a DVI to S-Video adapter. Ignore the DVI to DVI cable adapter as this seems problematic.
Alternatively, try to restart the computer while the digital projector is connected. Or try "Mirror Displays" in the Displays system preference pane (under the "Arrangement" tab)
- When migrating software to the Intel-based Macs, remember that some application may misbehave (a classic example is Apple's iLife '06). Your options here are as follows:
(i) Delete preference (.plist) files relating to the troublesome application — that is, the one you can't seem to run properly on the new machine.
(ii) Reinstall from the original disk the application on the new machine.
(iii) Deinstall old versions of the application you think is misbehaving.
(iv) Delete cache files created by the application which you have migrated to the new machine (they may contain incompatible information for the new environment). Most cache files can be found in ~/Library/Caches/.
(iv) Wait until the software manufacturer comes out with a universal binary or Intel version of your application.
The same is true of third-party plug-ins etc.
STEP 16 - REINSTALL OSX
- This is a powerful method of eliminating any form of corruption you may have acquired in OSX over time (short of programming errors on the part of Apple developers, which is why you need the right OSX update). Corruption problems have been known to cause a variety of issues including unexpected application behaviours, unable to modify permissions by the system, unable to access files and much more.
For example, in this MacFixIt article of 4 September 2008, it is believed the best solution for users experiencing a situation where applying UNIX command line tools for managing user permissions and file accessibility using "sudo", "chown" and "chmod" may suddenly not work is to reinstall OSX. As MacFixIt stated:
'When these administrative command line tools stop functioning, it indicates a major problem with either the core system or the filesystem.'
We recommend testing the disk for errors first and repairing any errors you find using Disk Utility and as a final resort try Disk Warrior. If the error cannot be fixed, reformat the disk and reinstall OSX.
But before you do this, try to salvage as many files and applications as you can. Because once you reformat the disk, you will lose everything stored on the disk.
And better still, always have a clean copy of a backup OSX on your disk (usually on a separate partition) so that you can switch the OSX and boot from a known clean and corrupt-free copy. Then you can see if there are differences in application behaviour and more.
STEP 17 - BLAME APPLE
- Still having trouble? Well, did you know it is now a well-known fact that Apple is trying to force people to regularly update and upgrade OSX and much of the third-party applications (especially if you use file sharing third-party tools) by making changes to OSX? For example, the Java updates issued after OSX version 10.3.6 has caused serious problems to Safari 1.3 when it comes to visiting Java-enabled web sites. Only by upgrading to Tiger 10.4.3 with Safari 2.0 (2) has most problems disappeared (although users will be deluged with a host of other problems to keep them busy). It may also be a ploy by Apple to force some people who aren't purchasing software (eg. the pirates) to pay for their software.
NOTE: Apple also wants you to use the OSX DVD disk that came with your computer for maximum stability. Apple does not guarantee the retail version of OSX in a box has all the specific files you need for your specific computer especially the latest models. This, of course, means Apple can minimise software piracy of OSX.
If you are having problems with OSX, do not follow "the herd" so to speak. Stick to one good OSX version you know is stable and responsive. Based on the experiences of many OSX users, this should be OSX version 10.3.9 for "Panther" or version 10.4.9 for "Tiger".
Trying to be an early adopter by updating to 10.5.x known as "Leopard" is only asking for trouble as the users have found out (see this document).
If you intend to update your OSX, make sure you use the full Combo updater (ie. wait until Apple provides the lot in one file), and follow the spring-cleaning techniques above to minimise any inherent problems. In fact, you are probably better off waiting under the next OS upgrade and then choosing the most stable version of the older OS for installation (often at a bargain secondhand price). Then let the younger group of people with more money than sense to start complaining about the problems in the latest OS.
This is the only way you can survive Apple's onslaught on the allegedly major software piracy problem.
NOTES
- To manually remove the Classic Environment in OSX for those who are satisfied with their transition to the new environment, delete the following folders and files:
1. System Folder (the one with the number 9 on it)
2. Applications (Mac OS 9), if you know there are no OS9 applications you want to run in this folder.
3. ~/System/Library/PreferencePanes/Classic.prefPane
4. ~/System/Library/CoreServices/Classic Startup.app
5. ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Classic.[number].plist, where [number] is an integer specified by OSX.
6. ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Classic.plist.
7. ~/Library/Classic/.LoadClassicPref.
8. Check for similar preference files in Users folder and delete them.
If you are having trouble deleting the System Folder at the root level of your hard disk, drag the Finder and System files in the System Folder to the trash, restart the computer, now trash the files and the folder. Alternatively, type in the Terminal utility:
sudo rm -rf 'System Folder'
and provide your Administrator password.
NOTE 1: Deleting the Classic.PrefPane and Classic Startup.app is not necessary. However, they no longer serve a purpose once the System Folder and Applications (Mac OS 9) are trashed. For completeness sake, delete these files.
NOTE 2: In some cases, some applications still think OS9 applications and the System Folder still exists. You will need to rebless the OSX folder through the CoreServices. You do this in the Terminal utility by typing:
sudo bless -folder /System/Library/CoreServices
- Users have noticed a problem accessing some banking web sites. It is recommended users should disable "Block Pop-Up Windows" in Safari to make the web sites work again.
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