It provides (provided?) a summary of all the Mac rumour sites which I found very handy for a daily checkup, but I haven't been able to connect to it for some time now. Have they shut up shop?
Does anyone know if the iMacs will be replaced/upgraded soon? I am saving up for one, but if there will be a new model released soon I'd like to wait for it..
Does anyone know if the iMacs will be replaced/upgraded soon? I am saving up for one, but if there will be a new model released soon I'd like to wait for it..
What say ye, oh gurus of the apple!
Here's a handy guide. Lots of rumors about an iMac upgrade.
It provides (provided?) a summary of all the Mac rumour sites which I found very handy for a daily checkup, but I haven't been able to connect to it for some time now. Have they shut up shop?
It disappeared around 27 April 2007, when the last update to it's whois registry was processed. (dunno what that update was, it likely wasn't a direct cause of it to go missing, but they happened at roughly the same time.)
The whois information points to sitelink as the owners of the domain, their site links to it still, even though it's dead.
SmugMug Sorcerer - Engineering Team Champion for Commerce, Finance, Security, and Data Support http://wall-art.smugmug.com/
Mac Pro 2.66's are rare there. One showed up today. I went through the ordering process. Out of stock.
Of course, they let you go through the entire freaking process before telling you.
I got mine through the refurb store
I ended up with the dual 3.0/2Gb/X1900XT and am VERY happy with my pruchase
I pondered the purchase for 2 months, and expected the model I bought to sell at any time, but it never did. I bought mine and expected the entry to disappear, but there was another on list immediately. They dont seem to list the real number available on the list, maybe as an inticement to get you to buy sooner rather than later
No problems found with my refurb so far. Loks like a brand new box. Have added 2 Gb of memory and 2 300Gb drives in a raid and its still going strong 8-)
Count this as a real vote for the refurb option
Andy
A Brit among the HAWKEYES Canon 5D Mk III Canon 24-105L IS USM; Canon 16-35 f/2.8L USM; Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM; Bigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM My Galleries
Yeah, the 3.0's are always available. But rarely the 2.66, and almost never the 2.0. Wasn't always that way, but has been for a few weeks, now.
This morning dealmac.com alerted readers to the appearance of refurb Mac Pros at all price points. It's a good site to watch if you're keeping an eye out for something. Looks like the refurb 2.0s are already gone tonight; at $1899 that's not surprising.
This morning dealmac.com alerted readers to the appearance of refurb Mac Pros at all price points. It's a good site to watch if you're keeping an eye out for something. Looks like the refurb 2.0s are already gone tonight; at $1899 that's not surprising.
I finally snagged a 2.66, the box is stting next to me.
Bad blocks?
OK, Mac gurus, let's see if you can help with this.
My son's macbook pro seems to be developing some bad blocks (maybe it always had them?) The symptom is stalls reading certain files and the system log has something like:
May 28 11:27:36 weegee kernel[0]: disk4s2: I/O error.
Or once in a while and even more disturbing:
May 28 21:27:06 weegee kernel[0]: jnl: write_journal_header: error writing the journal heade\
He tried for a while to do a backup (I don't know exactly how) to an external drive, but that failed every time it hit a bad block. I was able to draw on the old fashioned unix command line tool ,rsync, to backup his home tree to an external drive (with his computer mounted on mine via firewire), skipping the damaged files. Reassuringly enough, two separate runs found the same damaged files (about 300 of them.)
Neither Disk Utilities nor Disk Warrior find any problems. S.M.A.R.T. shows the disk is OK. It seems they aren't checking the media at a low enough level. I seem to remember that there are some low level tools which will do this, without erasing the media. But I don't know which of these are available on OS X (as opposed to Silicon Graphics, Sun, or Linux.)
AppleCare has been pretty unhelpful. My son went to the genius bar and they told him everything was fine. On the phone they say to backup (they don't say how) and reinstall. They will accept the computer for a mail in repair but don't promise to actually fix anything, since they don't believe anything is wrong. (This was after I talked to the guy and told him about the error messages in the system log!)
So here are my questions:
Does anyone know how to do a block by block media check without completely erasing the disk?
Does anyone know a way to check for bad blocks and recover as well as possible, adding to the disk's bad block list?
What do we have to do to get some higher level of Apple help on this one?
Your drive is dying. It's as simple as that. The I/O error is a dead giveaway -- there are blocks that it can't write to. Ordinarily the drive would AUTOMATICALLY hide this from the OS so the fact that it's propagating through means bad things.
Are you experiencing hanging (beachball) issues with the machine? If an I/O error occurs and the disk doesn't get back, the machine can lock up.
The problem with S.M.A.R.T. is that there are a number of pre-defined criteria which must be met for a drive to fail. These aren't simply "# of errors," but more like "# of errors in a specific time frame." So let's say a S.M.A.R.T. criteria is "if you get 15 soft errors in 20 minutes, you fail the drive." You could get 14 errors in 20 minutes, then the counter gets reset, and then 14 more in the next 20 minutes. So 28 errors, where 15 is the threshold, but it won't trigger it.
AppleCare's note of "re-install the OS" will fix the problem... for a while. Because on reinstall the bad sectors will be written around. But if you have some bit rot going on (basically, a sector on the disk is flaking off magnetic material), the problem will come back... eventually.
I went through this same issue and got the same feedback from AppleCare's Tier 1 folks. Given I know OS engineers (in fact the guy who wrote the journaling code -- I ride bicycles with him 3 or 4 times a week) I was able to pull strings, and I got a replacement drive.
Do you have AppleCare on the machine (that is, not just the standard warranty)? If so, why don't you private message me and I'll send you a phone number for AppleCare which is *supposed* to be for our higher-level business customers only. It will get you to the Tier 3 agents who should be quicker to replace this. Though because it's a laptop this will require you to send the machine in.
Dude, you're a valuable guy to have around! Great post.
Somethin' has to pay the bills... given it's not my photography
Oh, and now that Don buys most of the SmugMug storage from Amazon S3 and not from us I have to go trolling for other customers and fight fires like this more often :cry
When viewing my Activity Viewer, how can some applications use over 100% of my CPU?
It is Lightroom that is spiking to 113-132% CPU on my G5 Dual 2.7. When is goes over 100% does that mean it is tapping the second processor, so I would have 200% available?
When viewing my Activity Viewer, how can some applications use over 100% of my CPU?
It is Lightroom that is spiking to 113-132% CPU on my G5 Dual 2.7. When is goes over 100% does that mean it is tapping the second processor, so I would have 200% available?
Yes. You can have 100% per CPU, so e.g. on my 8-core if an app were truly able to get absolute max concurrency, you could get 800% on it.
Comments
Yeah, because I'm pretty sure (though not postive) that I installed from a non-admin account, which might account for my firewall staying on?
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
That could be. I just check my G5 and it was off and the settings were the same as my Macbook.
It provides (provided?) a summary of all the Mac rumour sites which I found very handy for a daily checkup, but I haven't been able to connect to it for some time now. Have they shut up shop?
What say ye, oh gurus of the apple!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
It disappeared around 27 April 2007, when the last update to it's whois registry was processed. (dunno what that update was, it likely wasn't a direct cause of it to go missing, but they happened at roughly the same time.)
The whois information points to sitelink as the owners of the domain, their site links to it still, even though it's dead.
http://wall-art.smugmug.com/
http://www.looprumors.com/
http://www.macrumors.com/
http://www.appleinsider.com/
http://www.macsurfer.com/
http://www.hardmac.com/
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Mac Pro 2.66's are rare there. One showed up today. I went through the ordering process. Out of stock.
Of course, they let you go through the entire freaking process before telling you.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I ended up with the dual 3.0/2Gb/X1900XT and am VERY happy with my pruchase
I pondered the purchase for 2 months, and expected the model I bought to sell at any time, but it never did. I bought mine and expected the entry to disappear, but there was another on list immediately. They dont seem to list the real number available on the list, maybe as an inticement to get you to buy sooner rather than later
No problems found with my refurb so far. Loks like a brand new box. Have added 2 Gb of memory and 2 300Gb drives in a raid and its still going strong 8-)
Count this as a real vote for the refurb option
Andy
Canon 5D Mk III
Canon 24-105L IS USM; Canon 16-35 f/2.8L USM; Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM; Bigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM
My Galleries
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
http://waffle.wootest.net/2007/05/18/hither-and-dither/
http://wall-art.smugmug.com/
This morning dealmac.com alerted readers to the appearance of refurb Mac Pros at all price points. It's a good site to watch if you're keeping an eye out for something. Looks like the refurb 2.0s are already gone tonight; at $1899 that's not surprising.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Congrats, my refurb 2.66 has been serving me well for months. Just added 4 more gigs 'o' RAM.
Report.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
OK, Mac gurus, let's see if you can help with this.
My son's macbook pro seems to be developing some bad blocks (maybe it always had them?) The symptom is stalls reading certain files and the system log has something like:
Or once in a while and even more disturbing:
He tried for a while to do a backup (I don't know exactly how) to an external drive, but that failed every time it hit a bad block. I was able to draw on the old fashioned unix command line tool ,rsync, to backup his home tree to an external drive (with his computer mounted on mine via firewire), skipping the damaged files. Reassuringly enough, two separate runs found the same damaged files (about 300 of them.)
Neither Disk Utilities nor Disk Warrior find any problems. S.M.A.R.T. shows the disk is OK. It seems they aren't checking the media at a low enough level. I seem to remember that there are some low level tools which will do this, without erasing the media. But I don't know which of these are available on OS X (as opposed to Silicon Graphics, Sun, or Linux.)
AppleCare has been pretty unhelpful. My son went to the genius bar and they told him everything was fine. On the phone they say to backup (they don't say how) and reinstall. They will accept the computer for a mail in repair but don't promise to actually fix anything, since they don't believe anything is wrong. (This was after I talked to the guy and told him about the error messages in the system log!)
So here are my questions:
Thanks in advance.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Your drive is dying. It's as simple as that. The I/O error is a dead giveaway -- there are blocks that it can't write to. Ordinarily the drive would AUTOMATICALLY hide this from the OS so the fact that it's propagating through means bad things.
Are you experiencing hanging (beachball) issues with the machine? If an I/O error occurs and the disk doesn't get back, the machine can lock up.
The problem with S.M.A.R.T. is that there are a number of pre-defined criteria which must be met for a drive to fail. These aren't simply "# of errors," but more like "# of errors in a specific time frame." So let's say a S.M.A.R.T. criteria is "if you get 15 soft errors in 20 minutes, you fail the drive." You could get 14 errors in 20 minutes, then the counter gets reset, and then 14 more in the next 20 minutes. So 28 errors, where 15 is the threshold, but it won't trigger it.
AppleCare's note of "re-install the OS" will fix the problem... for a while. Because on reinstall the bad sectors will be written around. But if you have some bit rot going on (basically, a sector on the disk is flaking off magnetic material), the problem will come back... eventually.
I went through this same issue and got the same feedback from AppleCare's Tier 1 folks. Given I know OS engineers (in fact the guy who wrote the journaling code -- I ride bicycles with him 3 or 4 times a week) I was able to pull strings, and I got a replacement drive.
Do you have AppleCare on the machine (that is, not just the standard warranty)? If so, why don't you private message me and I'll send you a phone number for AppleCare which is *supposed* to be for our higher-level business customers only. It will get you to the Tier 3 agents who should be quicker to replace this. Though because it's a laptop this will require you to send the machine in.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Somethin' has to pay the bills... given it's not my photography
Oh, and now that Don buys most of the SmugMug storage from Amazon S3 and not from us I have to go trolling for other customers and fight fires like this more often :cry
Here.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
It is Lightroom that is spiking to 113-132% CPU on my G5 Dual 2.7. When is goes over 100% does that mean it is tapping the second processor, so I would have 200% available?
Yes. You can have 100% per CPU, so e.g. on my 8-core if an app were truly able to get absolute max concurrency, you could get 800% on it.