Andy's Un-Official Unsolicited Mac Advice Thread

patch29 · August 7, 2006

wxwax wrote:

I'll check, but I don't think so.

I think I figured out how to make it shutdown consistently. I just need to run a program that uses some processor power. iview rebuilding 1000 previews to 640 thumbnails does it. Time to go to the Apple store. :uhoh

wxwax · August 7, 2006

23" Apple Cinema display for $999. Not bad.

No mention of MacBook Pro. :cry

Andy · August 7, 2006

MAC PRO,CTO
Z0D8
3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
1GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC-2x512
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
16x SuperDrive DL

Shipping next week

Off to find 4gb RAM.

yay!

ian408 · August 7, 2006

patch29 wrote:

Does anyone else have a macbook out there?

I am still trying to find the source of my problem. I want to be able to replicate it, so I can show it at the Apple store.

One thing I have noticed is, when I reboot, it goes to the grey screen with the apple, then mine flips to a black (power off type) screen and then maybe a blue, with the apple box and progress bar, then to the desktop.

If you have a Macbook could you reboot and see if you get the black screen in-between the grey and next screen?

Thanks,
Patrick

I'll give it a twirl tonite.

DavidTO · August 7, 2006

patch29 wrote:

Does anyone else have a macbook out there?

I am still trying to find the source of my problem. I want to be able to replicate it, so I can show it at the Apple store.

One thing I have noticed is, when I reboot, it goes to the grey screen with the apple, then mine flips to a black (power off type) screen and then maybe a blue, with the apple box and progress bar, then to the desktop.

If you have a Macbook could you reboot and see if you get the black screen in-between the grey and next screen?

Thanks,
Patrick

I have seen that before, but I'm not aware of any patter with it. Have you tried resetting the PRAM? Also, is there an external drive attached? Or a disk in the DVD slot? Anything that it has to search before starting from the boot drive?

thebigsky · August 7, 2006

Andy wrote:

MAC PRO,CTO
Z0D8
3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
1GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC-2x512
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
16x SuperDrive DL

Shipping next week
Off to find 4gb RAM.

yay!

Nice, let me know how you get on sourcing your RAM, these FB-Dimms seem very expensive. As far as I can tell 4x1GB seems to be the most cost effective way to reach 4 Gig, working out around $675. Also, have you any idea if you can source a standard 'PC' ATI X1900 and put it in yourself?

rutt · August 7, 2006

In all the jubilation, don't miss this: http://www.vmware.com/

Probably still the fastest way to run Photoshop on your Mactel without a reboot. Maybe even the fastest way of all.

wxwax · August 7, 2006

rutt wrote:

In all the jubilation, don't miss this: http://www.vmware.com/

Probably still the fastest way to run Photoshop on your Mactel without a reboot. Maybe even the fastest way of all.

Interesting, thanks Rutt. Now we just need a guinea pig (and a copy of the software.)

wxwax · August 7, 2006

patch29 wrote:

I think I figured out how to make it shutdown consistently. I just need to run a program that uses some processor power. iview rebuilding 1000 previews to 640 thumbnails does it. Time to go to the Apple store. :uhoh

That's good.

Definitely no black screen when I turn on.

nathan · August 8, 2006

patch29 wrote:

Does anyone else have a macbook out there?

I am still trying to find the source of my problem. I want to be able to replicate it, so I can show it at the Apple store.

One thing I have noticed is, when I reboot, it goes to the grey screen with the apple, then mine flips to a black (power off type) screen and then maybe a blue, with the apple box and progress bar, then to the desktop.

If you have a Macbook could you reboot and see if you get the black screen in-between the grey and next screen?

Thanks,
Patrick

You may be experiencing a battery problem. You should check to see if your MacBook and or battery are part of the exchange program.

https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/

I had a MacBook that started to spontaneously shutdown and would sometimes startup weird immediately afterward. It turns out I had a bad battery.

patch29 · August 8, 2006

nathan wrote:

You may be experiencing a battery problem. You should check to see if your MacBook and or battery are part of the exchange program.

https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/

I had a MacBook that started to spontaneously shutdown and would sometimes startup weird immediately afterward. It turns out I had a bad battery.

Thanks, but I only have a Macbook and the batteries seem to be a pro issue.

It also happen running on the battery or plugged in.

patch29 · August 8, 2006

DavidTO wrote:

I have seen that before, but I'm not aware of any patter with it. Have you tried resetting the PRAM? Also, is there an external drive attached? Or a disk in the DVD slot? Anything that it has to search before starting from the boot drive?

PRAM, yes
PMU, yes (if what I read was correct)
No external drive
different times I had a DVD of jpgs, but not all. I will have to check again.

It shuts down now very consistently. I only need to run something that uses some processor power.

I have also had this problem now on different OS version, 10.4.6, 10.4.7 and a clean install off the original Macbook discs, both with stock HD, ram and aftermarket. I may be off to visit Apple tomorrow. :cry

thebigsky · August 8, 2006

rutt wrote:

In all the jubilation, don't miss this: http://www.vmware.com/

Probably still the fastest way to run Photoshop on your Mactel without a reboot. Maybe even the fastest way of all.

I'm assuming Andy knows that PS may well run slower on his new box until there's a universal binary?

rutt · August 8, 2006

Another really cool development. Check out Moka5. This is a next generation virtualization technology. What's different about it is that it caches the most commonly used data for your virtual machine and keeps the rest on an internet server. The result is that you can keep a computer or three on a keychain usb drive or a flash card of some sort. The virtual machine software runs either as a windows application or a standalone application which can also fit on the drive. On a mac, you use bootcamp to boot up the virtual machine and run one of your virtual machines. So far, not that special for the OS X crowd, BUT here is a cool thing. It is also supposed to be able to virtualize OS X systems. This means you can capture your OS X environment, store on your keychain, and use it on a PC at work or whereever. You don't need a mac to run it.

I haven't tried this, and it's a beta thing. A very good friend of mine is CEO and she gave my son and myself the pitch at dinner last week. She asked him, "How many computers do you think I have in my purse?" My son guessed none and I guessed 10 to the 500th (just raise the bar.) The real answer was 10 on 2 different usb keychain drives. Monica thinks that the idea of having to haul around an actual computer just to have your environment is so 2000. Why not have a different computer for each of the things you do? The game computer uses windows. The photography computer uses os x. Your 7 year old daughter might have a "hello kitty" computer.

I'm going to try this out soon, but if you like this sort of thing it has the potential to be very fun.

Andy · August 8, 2006

thebigsky wrote:

I'm assuming Andy knows that PS may well run slower on his new box until there's a universal binary?

Yeah but how many grains of sand are on the beach?

rutt · August 8, 2006

Andy wrote:

Yeah but how many grains of sand are on the beach?

Fewer than the number of computers I thought were in Monica's purse.

colourbox · August 8, 2006

thebigsky wrote:

Nice, let me know how you get on sourcing your RAM, these FB-Dimms seem very expensive. As far as I can tell 4x1GB seems to be the most cost effective way to reach 4 Gig, working out around $675. Also, have you any idea if you can source a standard 'PC' ATI X1900 and put it in yourself?

My favorite RAM and hard drive store just posted their Mac Pro RAM page.
Still a few months before I can afford to order a MacPro...

W.W. Webster · August 8, 2006

Andy wrote:

MAC PRO,CTO
Z0D8
3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
1GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC-2x512
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
16x SuperDrive DL

Shipping next week
Off to find 4gb RAM.

yay!

Way to go, Andy!

It should really fly and I'm very envious, but a little surprised at your choice of video card! Unfortunately there'll be a wait for users down under if they also want the real deal 3.0GHz option. In this hemisphere, only the 2.66GHz model is being offered at present, and God alone knows what the price will be by the time everyone down the line takes a clip out of the ticket.

wxwax · August 8, 2006

colourbox wrote:

My favorite RAM and hard drive store just posted their Mac Pro RAM page.
Still a few months before I can afford to order a MacPro...

Do they support their product well, in the event of problems?

DavidTO · August 8, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Do they support their product well, in the event of problems?

They're a well-respected and recommended site. Lynnesite first introduced them to me years ago. Buy with confidence.

wxwax · August 8, 2006

DavidTO wrote:

They're a well-respected and recommended site. Lynnesite first introduced them to me years ago. Buy with confidence.

Thanks, David.

patch29 · August 8, 2006

My Macbook left today. The genius took it without even trying to check it out himself, especially after I read off my list of trial solutions. It did shutdown once while it was on the counter, which probably helped too. I hope they have a permanent fix for it and it gets back to me quickly. :cry

I also learned today that you can make an appointment online for the genius bar, something I could not do last time I went.

That was the most frustrating part finding out they could not see me for two hours, so I made an appointment from the one store to go to the other one since it was not as busy. I showed up and they were ready ahead of schedule.

wxwax · August 8, 2006

Cool, good to know they're willing to address it. Any estimate of how long lon it will take 'em?

Andy · August 8, 2006

DavidTO wrote:

They're a well-respected and recommended site. Lynnesite first introduced them to me years ago. Buy with confidence.

Yabbut 4gb for $1099? that's abt the same as Apple. I just bought from crucial.com, 4gb for under $700

Andy · August 8, 2006

W.W. Webster wrote:

but a little surprised at your choice of video card!

I don't do gaming, nor video on my Mac. So, is there going to be any benefit to me in upgrading? I've been happy with the vid card on my G5 thus far...

Andy · August 8, 2006

rutt wrote:

Fewer than the number of computers I thought were in Monica's purse.

Well, my point is, CS2 is dang fast on my Macbook Pro, under Rosetta, so I expect it to be just fine on the Mac Pro, too. Will report results next week!

wxwax · August 8, 2006

Andy wrote:

Yabbut 4gb for $1099? that's abt the same as Apple. I just bought from crucial.com, 4gb for under $700

2GB for Macbook is $218 at Other World and $256 at crucial.

Andy · August 8, 2006

wxwax wrote:

2GB for Macbook is $218 at Other World and $256 at crucial.

Macbook, not Mac Pro

wxwax · August 8, 2006

Andy wrote:

Macbook, not Mac Pro

Think I care about you? I'm all about me, baby.

Andy · August 8, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Think I care about you? I'm all about me, baby.

that's ok. But I don't want anyone to get their rams mixed up, worlds collide, y'know?

Andy's Un-Official Unsolicited Mac Advice Thread

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