Problem Model: MacBook Problem component: Hard Drive How to identify if you have the problem: “Flashing Question Mark” with certain hard drives. Processor speed = 1.83ghz, 2ghz, or 2.16ghz. HD Capacity = 60gb, 80gb, 100gb, 120gb, or 160gb. My guess is at least Seagate drives with firmware 7.01 and 3.CAE (or 3.XXX) are covered, since […]
I’ve compiled a list of all the known Apple recalls (aka Exchange & Repair Programs). It includes current and expired recalls (so people will know if there is a known problem with their system even if Apple won’t cover it anymore), how to identify problem models, and links directly to Apple’s site for each specific […]
http://www.infoworld.com/t/business/google-place-glitch-has-business-owners-hurting-307
Did you know that your Mac may have come with a pre-installed diagnostic test? Back in the days, you had to boot from the Apple Hardware Test disc that came with your Mac. For the past year or two, Apple has pre-installed these tests so you can run them without a disc. Wondering if your […]
Here’s a quick tip for other Mac repair technicians: use a 50 gram scale calibration weight to hold down keyboard buttons (like option, or shift). They fit perfectly on all Mac keyboards and only cost $5 with shipping. You can find one of these weights on Amazon.com.
Man I love ifixit.com. They’ve got a great looking (and easy to navigate) site for buying Mac parts along with dozens of custom made instruction manuals for many Mac computers. But today they’ve stepped it up — showing us how to hack the Mini (by removing the optical drive) in order to fit a second […]
As previously mentioned, Transmission works for downloading torrents on your Mac. But lately, at least for me, it’s been slow and unreliable — so I’ve set out to find a new solution. While browsing forums for ideas, I found a post mentioning uTorrent. A few hours later, I was downloading torrents VERY quickly and reliably […]
Does this screen look familiar? If you’re constantly having to click “Always trust XXX when connecting to XXX” when using Mail with SSL on, your solution may be a few clicks away. In the above image, notice that it says “Always trust “smtp.gmail.com” when connecting to “imap.gmail.com”.” The problem here is that Leopard won’t ever […]
I think this may be a new Leopard (10.5) feature, but perhaps I just never noticed it: if you close your LCD display (sleep your computer) during a file transfer, the transfer will resume after the machine is woken up. For example, say you’re transferring a 5GB file from your Macbook to your Mac Pro […]
Although much hasn’t changed with the iDisk after the switch from .Mac to MobileMe, I have noticed a couple welcome changes: First, when uploading something to an iDisk, you get a real progress bar/file transfer box. In the past, you would probably just see this box for a few seconds. It would close quickly, looking […]
Not too long ago I read this tip on MacOSXHints.com. It talks about using a 3.5″ floppy disk to remove a stuck CD from a slot-loading optical drive. Since I couldn’t find a 3.5″ floppy, I got an idea after reading ericdsa’s comment. Instead of a CD or DVD as ericdsa suggested, I used two […]
About a week ago, I was working on a MacBook Pro with a dying hard drive. I was able to access the drive via Firewire Target Disk in order to repair the drive using Disk Warrior. The whole process was expected to take at least five hours. While in the past I’d always just left […]
I just stumbled upon a method for moving contacts (Address Book), calendar events (iCal), and bookmarks (Safari) from your iPhone to Mac. This will be useful if your hard drive died, computer was stolen or lost, or if you’re moving from a PC to a Mac (i.e. your iPhone was previous synced with a PC […]
I never had the need to clone a Boot Camp partition — until yesterday (when I did a hard drive replacement and clone). There were several suggestions for cloning the Boot Camp partition around the interwebs, talking about complicated (well, time consuming) techniques using XP programs, re-creating disk images via boot camp, and re-installing XP […]
Last night I created a social network web site called Mac Rants and Raves. It’s a “community blog” aka “forum” – that means you get to share your Mac experiences and read/respond to other’s experiences. The idea is that we’ll learn what to avoid by reading people’s rants, and learn what to check out by […]
OpenDNS just saved the day once again: I had two computers on the same network. One was able to browse the Internet, the other wasn’t. They both had good IP addresses from the router and they could both see each other over the local network. What’s the problem?? BAD DNS! Changing to OpenDNS nameservers instantly […]
Many of my clients tell me that when a program freezes they hold down the power button and shut down their computer. Even worse, one client told me she pulls the power cable out of the back of her computer (btw, NEVER DO THIS!). If you don’t know what to do when an application freezes, […]
2/23/08 – NEW UPDATED TORRENT TUTORIAL IS LOCATED HERE. Want to download free music albums, DVDs, and computer software on your Mac? Already using something like Limewire with ads/nags, slow download speeds, and lots of fake files? Torrents are the solution you’ve been waiting for! The problem is many people are quickly confused when confronting […]
I’m a little surprised that none of my clients have ever asked me about the Apple Remote that came with their computer. Most people seem to brush it off as something they will never need or even want to use. But once you learn what the Apple Remote is capable of, you may get hooked. […]
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