Quick Fixes

These quick Fixes assume you have full control or are the administrator of your computer. That is, if asked for a password before performing an action, you have a password that will permit the action to occur.

Check you cable connections and power supply.

It may seem obvious. But it’s worth checking anyway. Is your problem that some external Firewire or USB device such as a printer, scanner or camera device is not working? If so, does it have its own power supply? Then check to make sure it is plugged into an outlet. Also make certain that the outlet is active. example , if the device is plugged into a power strip , make sure the strip’s switch is on or if a wall switch is controlling the outlet it is positively in the on position.

If the device is turned on and getting power, but the Mac does not recognize it anyway make sure it is really connected to the Mac. Check the cable and make sure it is securely plugged in to the device and to the Mac. If you are using a USB or Firewire hub check connections.

If everything seems connected properly, but you get no response, try a different port or possibly a different cable. If available , if a device does not work in one USB port try another or a different computer if possible.

Restart your Mac.

It’s surprising how often this can be the answer to your prayers. Whether your Mac is generally too slow or a specific application crashes on launch or almost anything else, a restart may fix it. it;’s especially critical on those few occasions where your computer gets so hung up that you can’t even get the Force Quit window to appear. Again with a bit of luck, the symptom will not return on the next startup.

if the problem returns as you start launching more and more applications, it probably means your Mac does not have enough memory. Either add additional memory, or make sure you keep fewer applications open at the same time. In a few cases, the cause may be limited to a specific application (such as Safari). A work around is to make sure you quit the application when you are not using it.

Relaunch the Finder

No matter what you do on your Mac, you have one thing in common with all other Mac users. You’ll be spending some time in the Finder. As such it’s also the most common source of complaints. Windows that don’t display properly, Icons that are incorrect, and on and on. A variety of possible causes and cures may come into play here. but the best and simplest place to start is to relaunch the Finder.

To do this:

    1.Hold down the Option key and click-hold the Finder icon in the dock.

    2.When the menu pops-up, one of the items should be relaunch. Select it.

Log out and back in

If relaunching the Finder failed to do the trick, next up is logging out. To do this , simply go to the Apple menu and select the command at the bottom: Log out (your account name) Then log back in.

Force Quit

If your problem is a frozen application that is ( one that has stopped responding to your mouse or keyboard actions), rather than attempt to log out, simply force quit the application.

To do this:

    1.Go to the Apple menu and select Force Quit (Command -option-escape does the same thing.

    2.from the menu that appears, the command that typically says Quit should now say Force Quit, select it.

Actually if you are having any problem with an application, quitting (or force quitting) the application and relaunching it is worth it. With some luck, the problem will not return on relaunch.

Repair Disk Permissions

There’s an application in your Utilities folder called Disk Utility. Launch it, in the left-hand column, select the name of your startup disk drive. Now click the Repair Disk permissions button. Wait a few minutes while it works its magic. When it is done, check to see if your problem has vanished.

Repair Disk

To do this for your startup volume, you need to startup from the Install CD or DVD that came with your Mac( or, if you purchased newer version of the mac OS X from the disc that came with that purchase).

To do this:

    1.Insert the CD and restart. Hold down the C key. the Mac should now start from the CD.

    2.When the startup is over, go to the installer menu. Select disk utility. This will launch the same utility that I just described for repairing disk permissions.

    3.This time however, select Repair Disk. Wait for it to finish. If it reports that it found problems but fixed them, run it again. Keep doing this until it reports finding no problems.

If Disk Utility finds problems that it claims it cannot fix, it is time to try a different utility (such as Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro if you own any of these programs) or sign up for a consulting session and we’ll help you out.

To repair disks other than the startup volume, you can run Disk Utility right from your hard drive. No need to restart.

Repairing the disk is an especially good thing to try if you are having a problem starting from your normal startup volume.

Running Repair Disk permissions and Repair Disk is also worth doing on a regular basis (say once a month) even if you are not having any problems. It can fix minor issues that might eventually blow up into major ones if left alone.

One more note: While you have Disk Utility open, and a drive selected look at the bottom of the window.

there should be a item that says “S.M.A.R.T status” To the right of this text, it should ideally say “verified” if it says anything else ( and especially if it is a newer drive) it suggests a possible problem with your hard drive, one that even Repair Disk can not fix. If so you may need to replace the disk.

Check for Font Conflicts

The seemingly innocuous fonts installed on your Mac can be a source of problems. Symptoms can ranch from the wrong font displaying in a document to applications crashing. there are three common causes here; duplicate fonts, corrupt fonts and corrupt fonts and cache files. in rarer cases, a particular font can cause problems (usually linked to a specific application) simply by its presence or absence on your Mac.

To deal with duplicate fonts, go to the Application folder and locate the Font Book application. launch it. from the Edit menu, select resolve duplicates. this will automatically disable one copy of any duplicate fonts you have installed. A potential glitch here is if Font Book disables the “wrong” member of a pair of duplicate fonts (that is, you wanted the other one disabled). if you are concerned about this , you can disable a font manually, by selecting the font’s  name in the list in the Font Book window. Then select Disable font from the edit menu. As always, if you are unsure why you might want to disable one version of a font vs. another , you can sign up for a consulting session for further help.   

Resolve Network problems

if you are having trouble connecting to the Internet or your local intranet, there are a host of potential causes. The problem may be even of your own making. For example if you use a cable modem, the cable company s connection may be temporarily down.However, there are two quick things you can try that will fix most temporary hiccups;

    1.Restart all network peripheral devices. if you have a cable or DSL modem, Airport Base Station, router or any other network related peripheral: turn each one off count to 30 and turn it back on. Wait for the devices to finish any startup sequence. See if your problem is fixed.

    2.Toggle the location setting in Network. to do this, open system preferences select network. Next select the location pop-up . If only one is listed select new location to create a new one. With two or more locations set up select a location other than the one currently in use. Click the Apply Now button at the bottom of the screen. Then select the previous default location and click apply now again. Check to see if you problem is gone.

If these don’t work it is probably time to start checking and fiddling with the actual Network and or router settings. Here is where you might want to contact me  for help.

Update/ reinstall an Application

If your problem us specific to a single application and none of the above has helped, check to see if there is an updated version of the application to fix the problem. For apple software you can do this simply by selecting “software update” from the Apple menu.

For third party software, check the web (sure as Version tracker) to see if there is an updated version.

Otherwise you may want to reinstall the existing version of the software. To do this use the softwares Installer application.

if you want to reinstall an application that is a component of Mac OS X ( such as mail or Safari) or completely reinstall all the oMAc OS this can get a bit more involved. if unsure how to do this give a call and we can help you out.

Resetting the Pram

resetting the PRAM is a simply fix that can resolve a variety of mysterious symptoms, from preferences settings that refuse to be retained on restart to problems restarting all together. the simplest way to do this is to restart your Mac and immediately hold down Command-Option-P-R Keys. Wait until the mac restarts itself three times, then let go of the keys.

if that does not work, there is a similar procedure that involves using commands in the Mac’s Open Firmware mode, To do this;

    1.Hold down the Command-Option-O-F keys at startup until a command-line interface appears.

    2.from here type reset-nvram and press return.

    3.Type set-defaults and press return again.

    4.Type bye and press return a final time.

For powerbooks and ibooks there is a related procedure called resetting the power management unit that may help. If any of this sounds beyond your personnel risk level we can help.

Run the Mac’s maintenance routines

You can leave your Mac on continuous and the maintenance procedures will run themselves. or for faster results you can run the maintenance routines yourself.

A program such as Onyx or Cocktail will also run the procedures.

If you feel the least bit uncomfortable doing this give me a call and set up a session to have this done.