Messages

1

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: August 02, 2003, 09:27:28 AM »

[You have given us plenty satifaction, I, and others I'm sure, have enjoyed your lovely prose, and heart felt enjoyment of using TS. Thanks, and keep those post coming. ]

Lovely prose?! How kind you are.  And yes, I plan to keep hanging around the TS. I like this place.

Lindsay

2

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: August 01, 2003, 09:27:31 AM »

[I'm sorry things didn't work out the way we hoped.  Sounds like the disk directory is beyond repair, except for a reformat.]

You've been helpful in that I have learned a lot about troubleshooting the iMac. I have owned this computer for only 10 months, and didn't pay as much attention as I should have to how it is different from previous Macs.

I am a technical editor (medicine & pharmacy). Files are backed up, in duplicate, on CDs and Zip disks.  I work in a home office, and will wait until the immediate project is done until I reformat.

When I orginally called Apple about this problem, 2 weeks ago, Apple thought it was hardware rather than a software problem.

A technician at MBS, where I bought the computer last year. suggested I do a clean reinstallation of the system software. There's no point in doing that, is there?

Lindsay

(I hope that someday I will be able to -give- advice on the TS rather than just take it.)

3

2003 / How about this?

« on: August 01, 2003, 09:06:05 AM »

With Safari 1.0 and an iMac G4, I get a textured black-and-white display that looks like carpet, and at the very bottom, half of 2 wheels of the car.

Lindsay

4

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 31, 2003, 09:25:31 PM »

I have come to the stony end of troubleshooting the "keys out of order" disk error on my iMac. Got Disk Warrior up and running on my Powerbook, linked the iMac and the Powerbook with a firewire cable, and started the iMac in target disk mode.

Disk Warrior crashed within a minute or two when it tried to repair the hard disk. It couldn't even graph the disk.

I can only wonder what kind of disk error is severe enough to crash Disk Warrior and Disk Utilty, but not disable the iMac except for one operation: it cannot run InstallerVise.

Lindsay

5

2003 / Apple and Best Buy might

« on: July 31, 2003, 01:29:42 PM »

>As an Apple guy for the Bestbuy store and employees, I was told to sell to the PC users >because that's were the money is.

Outside of a few major markets, Macs are hard to buy (at least in stores, where they can be seen and used) and hard to repair.  They are like terrific cars that you'd better know how to repair yourself if they break down, or be prepared for a long wait or a long drive for service.   It should not be a big deal to find Macs in a store, or to get repair service.  But it is.

Partnering with a big chain will at least get the computers seen and used.

Lindsay

6

2003 / Apple and Best Buy might

« on: July 30, 2003, 10:19:46 AM »

>The point is will Apple dig deeper into the past mistakes that all parties
>concerned made to create workable solutions?

 I recently relocated from an area that was wonderful for Mac users (Gaithersburg, MD) to one that is not (Pittsburgh, PA). This city, the second largest in Pennsylvania, is served by one Apple store, MacOutfitters, and a small display at one CompUSA store. MacOutfitters also serves customers in parts of Ohio and West Virginia, and as far as I can tell is the only Apple store for more than 100 miles.  (I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this point.)

The situation around here does not inspire people to buy Macs, unless they are already loyal, or unless they have the dumb luck to live near MacOutfitters.

If Apple wants to try again to "hold hands" with Best Buy, I wish them all the best.  

Lindsay

7

2003 / Can you critique?

« on: July 29, 2003, 12:24:49 PM »

Safari 1.0 (v85)  handled every element perfectly. What pretty places they are.

Lindsay

8

2003 / Weekend humour....

« on: July 25, 2003, 09:47:33 AM »

Hey, thanks to all for the Friday  


Lindsay

9

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 23, 2003, 11:33:32 AM »

>Also if you have a Mac laptop or can borrow a friends laptop, you can hook them up in target disk mode, to get the same affect.    <

I have a G3 Powerbook, but realized last night I didn't have a firewire cable. Will get one  and try target mode, using the version of DW that works with OS 9 -- as the Powerbook is not up to running OS 10.  

I gave BootCD 45 minutes to boot up. The iMac went to sleep. When I woke it up, I saw a . . . blue screen. I concluded that life is not long enough to boot up using that method.

And you all were right about Drive 10. It took more than 2 hours to scan the hard disk before it told me it could not make any repairs. Wasted money and wasted time. I calculate since I tried to fix this problem I have lost the equivalent of 3 working days.

 This troubleshooting of mine is snake-bit.  

Lindsay

10

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 22, 2003, 03:26:11 PM »

>BootCD works fine, I've used it, but it is very very slow when booting the computer,

I found BootCD, downloaded it, downloaded Disk Warrior, and burned the startup CD per BootCD's instructions.

After 15 minutes, I had nothing but a blue screen and the pointer, and all was quiet. At that point, I lost faith.    

Lindsay

11

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 22, 2003, 09:53:50 AM »

[Harv] There goes the neighborhood.

Not hardly. You still live in a great place for Mac users. Do you know about the new Apple store that started up in the OBA bank building on 355? I know about it because OBA was and is my bank (there was no need to change).  

In the entire Pittsburgh area, there is only one Mac store -- on the other side of town.  Its name is MacOutfitters.

>Sorry I was not of help.

Well, I was the one who moved.

At least there is TechSurvivors. The advice I have been getting here about this disk error is better than the advice I got anywhere else . Apple thought it was a hardware problem; even authorized a warranty repair. MacOutfitters told me, over the phone, that the only solution was to reformat the hard disk. MBS in Gaithersburg gave me some good trouble-shooting advice, though the guy who helped me advocated for Drive 10 over Disk Warrior.

Lindsay

12

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 22, 2003, 09:17:14 AM »

[Harv] Since we are neighbors (sorta)....

If only. I moved to Pennsylvania in May. I now am about 12 miles south of Pittsburgh.  

Lindsay

13

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 21, 2003, 04:36:19 PM »

> I hope drive 10 can fix your problem, but I seriously doubt it can. I have Drive 10 and  >it has never fixed a file problem for me yet. However,  since I'm wrong at least 50% of >the time. . .

I'm wrong at least 50% of the time, too.  I'll let you know.

BTW, how do you create an OS 10 boot disk? Disk Warrior 3 can be downloaded from the Alsoft site, but you gotta have that boot disk . . .


Lindsay

14

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 21, 2003, 09:24:11 AM »

I went to the Alsoft site, ready and willing to order Disk Warrior, only to find out the new version is backordered, and there is a 4- to 6-week wait for delivery.  

Somewhat frustrated, I asked the technician at MacBusiness Systems who has been helping me via email what disk repair utility he recommends.  He said he mostly uses Drive 10, although he liked Disk Warrior too. Drive 10 was available at once, so I got it. It will most likely arrive Tuesday.

Micromat has a promotion on now, where if you get Drive 10 you will get the newest version of TechTool free, when it ships next month.

In the meantime, the iMac keeps going.

Lindsay

15

2003 / Keys out of order

« on: July 18, 2003, 12:26:25 PM »

>Do you have it backed up or a way to back it up?

Yep. The data are backed up.

>For sure run Disk Utility from the Installer CD.

Running Disk Utility from the Installer CD results in a crash when DU encounters "keys out of order."

My TechTool boot CD will not run at all in OS 10 mode, but I don't think this is related to the problem. I think it is just a bad disk.

Disk Warrior sounds like a worthwhile purchase, but it will take several days to arrive.

So, there's nothing for it, but to reformat the hard disk? Looks like it. [sigh]


Lindsay