The OSX/Apple support thread

[marshalla]

whoami - just a final thought from me. Have you tried "forgetting" all the wireless networks and starting again, or deleting the WiFi plist file to force a rebuild of it ? ( /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist )

[NDA]

qube_TA said:

Hi, if the updated file or list gets corrupted for what ever reason it can cause a loop like this.

follow this guide to resolve the issue.

http://www.cnet.com/news/tackle-a-hung-app-store-u...

Great, thanks - will try to do that... looks a bit advanced for my skills on a Mac, but will try!

Cheers.

[qube_TA]

NDA said:

qube_TA said:

Hi, if the updated file or list gets corrupted for what ever reason it can cause a loop like this.

follow this guide to resolve the issue.

http://www.cnet.com/news/tackle-a-hung-app-store-u...

Great, thanks - will try to do that... looks a bit advanced for my skills on a Mac, but will try!

Cheers.

Or, install Onyx -> http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

use it to remove all temporary files, clear caches and try again.

Although you've updated iTunes '60 times' if you open it you'll see you're not actually running the latest version as the update has gotten corrupted meaning it never gets installed and you'll keep getting prompted to update.

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

Ok, so I guess you could set that command to trigger when you open the lid via the aforementioned software, which would workaround the issue. Apart from that, I got nuthin'.

Still, I learned something, hopefully you did too

Edited by Tonsko on Tuesday 19th August 22:00

Annnnd, it's working again.

No further changes made, no restarts, nothing.

Came back in from a day out, "woke" the Macbook, and the wireless connection was made automatically.

And I always thought that Windows was flakey.

Oh well, at least it's back working.

Thanks to all who helped.

[Tonsko]

Well, that's good news… although could point to bum hardware

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

Well, that's good news… although could point to bum hardware

Well, it seems a fairly widespread problem (with some apparently finding that the issue disappears), so we'll see.

[Tonsko]

That is so frustrating. Be nice if the Apple engineers could sort out why. Someone must know!

[onlynik]

whoami said:

Tonsko said:

Well, that's good news… although could point to bum hardware

Well, it seems a fairly widespread problem (with some apparently finding that the issue disappears), so we'll see.

I suffer from this too. I just normally go in and turn the wifi off and back on then reselect my own network.

Though I do think I've got a bum machine dodgy HDMI connection and thunderbolt connection (doesn't always recognise my thunderbolt NIC adapter) already had the track pad replaced.

[Tonsko]

That networksetup command may help you, if you get sick of doing it manually.

[NDA]

qube_TA said:

Hi, if the updated file or list gets corrupted for what ever reason it can cause a loop like this.

follow this guide to resolve the issue.

http://www.cnet.com/news/tackle-a-hung-app-store-u...

Just a quick update to say this worked.

Thanks very much,

[Jonnas]

Ok so my iMac (27" late 2009 if that makes any difference) is telling me that the hard drive is about to fail. It is one of the Seagate ones that was subject to a recall but the previous owner (I bout it second hand) never got around to getting it changed and now its not covered. The machine was shipped with Snow Leopard as the operating system on the boot disk and it was running Mavericks when it started to fail.

My question is once I have replaced the hard drive, do I need to boot from the boot disk to Snow Leopard, restore from my time machine backup and then upgrade through to Mavericks or do I upgrade the operating system and then restore from my back up?

I'm no expert but I'm quite prepared to have a go so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[LordGrover]

If possible, clone existing HDD before failure? While you're at it, recommend swapping for SSD too.

[nyt]

if you have (or can borrow) an external hard drive then you can back up your existing disk using time machine. Then install a new disk (SSDs will make the machine a lot faster and they're pretty cheap these days). Then you can boot the machine and restore from the time machine backup (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14185)

It's a simple process. You just need access to an external disk.

[Jonnas]

Ok thanks.

I've already bought a hybrid drive for it which arrived today which is 1T conventional with an integral SSD. I can't clone the current disc, it won't boot any more, not even in safe mode or recovery mode.

[ReaderScars]

Mousewheel suddenly quits applications - one click either forwards or back quits any current aplication. If I was to launch System Prefs now, on top of Safari, and scroll the wheel, the app will quit and I always see "___________ has quit unexpectedly (etc)"

Has anyone seen this before? It's almost like some sort of script or automator or whatever's been created but definitely didn't make any changes like that...any suggestions, please?

(Snow Leopard, Kensington Pocketmouse Pro)

[PJ S]

So the only backup you have is with Snow Leopard?
If that's the case, and you've nothing backed up since (assuming more than a couple of weeks ago), then you're well stuffed, and yes, you're going to have to install from the SL disc, and restore from your Time Machine backup.
Check for any other updates, namely the App Store, which will be required before you can re-download and install Mavericks.

Depending on how your email is setup and who provides it, you may still have all your old emails on the server, so you'll not have lost out there.
Everything else depends on how recent the back up is, and where else you may have data saved to – iCloud for example.

[Jonnas]

No, when I bought the machine, the chap restored it to factory which was snow leopard. I then upgraded to Maveriks and then set up time machine and started to use the machine. The last backup would be within an hour of the HDD failing.

The boot disk I have for the machine is for Snow Leopard, I'm just asking whether I boot from that disk, upgrade to Mavericks and then do the TM restore or do the restore first then upgrade the OS.

I think I've answered my own question really, it makes sense that I get the machine running on Mavericks before doing the TM restore.

Mind you, I'm just investigating whether I can boot the new drive from the TM backup?

New drive in installed, I just need to decide what to do!

[qube_TA]

Jonnas said:

Ok so my iMac (27" late 2009 if that makes any difference) is telling me that the hard drive is about to fail. It is one of the Seagate ones that was subject to a recall but the previous owner (I bout it second hand) never got around to getting it changed and now its not covered. The machine was shipped with Snow Leopard as the operating system on the boot disk and it was running Mavericks when it started to fail.

My question is once I have replaced the hard drive, do I need to boot from the boot disk to Snow Leopard, restore from my time machine backup and then upgrade through to Mavericks or do I upgrade the operating system and then restore from my back up?

I'm no expert but I'm quite prepared to have a go so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi,

contrary to other suggestions you can just install OSX.9.4 fresh, once the computer is up and running then use Migration Assistant (it's under Utilities) to restore all your data/apps/settings etc it'll act as if you've just bought a new Mac and want to copy everything over from your old one.

You'll need to create a boot drive to install the OS from.

1) go into the App Store on the Mac and download Mavericks again, it'll tell you that you're already running it but click OK and let it download, once it's done it'll run, cancel the install.

2) Now download and run Diskmaker X - http://diskmakerx.com/downloads/DiskMakerX.dmg it'll ask you for a memory stick to write the installer too and ask for the image file to install from (it'll be under /Applications, should find it automatically).

3) swap the dying drive for the new one and reboot the machine with the memory stick plugged in. It'll automatically boot from it and present you with the installer, let it do that.

4) once done plug in backup drive and run Migration assistant to copy all your stuff back.

This is much quicker than installing from CD and then upgrading but regardless don't try to restore from backup until you're running 10.9.4 as before.

[Jonnas]

qube_TA said:

This is much quicker than installing from CD and then upgrading but regardless don't try to restore from backup until you're running 10.9.4 as before.

I think this is the bit of information I was after. I booted the machine from the boot disk last night, formatted the new HDD and then tried to restore from by TM backup but it threw up a load of errors and now you have said what you have said above, I am assuming that is the reason why.

I can't do anything with the dying drive now as its not in the machine. It was properly dead anyway, I couldn't boot it up in any way, shape or form.

I'll try installing Mavericks on the new drive tonight and then restoring from my TM backup once I have done that and see what happens.

It amazes me how much time this stuff absorbs if you don't really know what you are doing!!

Edited by Jonnas on Tuesday 16th September 12:15

[qube_TA]

Do you have access to another Mac, a friends maybe? Could make the installer stick on that.

If your backup is from a newer Operating System then trying to restore it on 10.6 will just cause weirdness as the versions of the apps you're running are unlikely to run.