Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

Feb 2012

Restored to wrong user

Scotty,
I had a crash the other day and this was the error message - I screen captured it, attached below.
Is my mac dying?

Screen shot 2012-05-30 at 9.15.22 AM
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It’s very hard to tell without looking at the entire log. Console has the ability to email a crash log and you are welcome to do that if you’d like. I would recommend checking the disk by running disk utility and “verifying disk”. Overall however, the best way is to check the disk from an alternate boot method. If on Lion, you could hold down option while booting and you could boot to a recovery partition that would allow you to more effectively check the disk but even then you are still checking one partition from another on the same disk. The best way would be to boot from an external hard drive that already has a copy of a known good operating system on it then run disk utility. Of course it goes without saying you should back up everything before doing anything.

Most common issue I see is hard drive failure. However, with Mac Pro’s considering all the PCI slots that can be involved it could be a third party additional hardware that is causing the problem. If the problem persists, unplug all third party devices and see if the problem goes away. If not run from an external drive for a while with the internal drive(s) disconnected. If the problem still doesn’t go away, then that is a strong indication that the logic board is at fault. And that’s what you don’t want. $$$$$.

That’s troubleshooting 101.

Calendars not syncing accross devices

Scotty - 
Hi. You suggested a printer for me the last time you were here and I have lost my notes on it. Any chance you know a good suggestion for me? I don't want to spend a ton - but hate the one I have ( It is a HP Photosmart C4480 All in one) It is the one that came with my desktop computer and I am over it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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I like the HP Photosmart 310 and 410. Printers are changing so quickly these days one model isn’t around for very long until it’s updated to a new model number. As long as your new printer has “ePrint” or “AirPrint” technology it will work with the iPad. So that’s something to look out for. I like to avoid 2 cartridge printers. Black and tricolor. The quality won’t be as good and the ink runs out faster. If you are printing lots and lots then you will want to consider a laser jet. More expensive and no great photo quality because you can’t print on high gloss paper but great for text prints.

Overall I think the HPs are the easiest to use. The very large majority of all my clients have HPs and are happy with them. Hope that helps a little.

Hard Drive is full…3 choices

Hi Scotty,

Hope all is well.
As you can see from pics my daughter dropped her iPad 2 and screen is cracked. Apple wants $250 to fix. Can you do it cheaper and is it worth it?

Thanks.

photo 3

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I do not do physical repairs on iOS devices. You may want to check out
iPhone Repair – Cell Phone Repair | uBreakiFix.com They are based in Charlotte but I have not worked with them before.

iPhoto previous version

Hey Scotty,

What do you know about a cheaper iPad coming out in the fall?  How will it compare to existing iPad?  I just got a Kindle Fire.  It is fine, but it is not compatible with any of my iphone and mac apps.  Kind of a pain.  I amy return it or my hubbie might take it because he is a droid geek.
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I know just as much as you do about unannounced Apple products. Any information not released officially by apple is pure speculation and should be taken with a grain of salt. You can definitely count on new products being released about once a year for each product line. If you are looking for a by-the-numbers breakdown on product release trends then you can check out the macrumors buyers guide. Again, that to is merely guess work but fun to check out and use as a guide for estimated release dates.

Applications aren't opening after HD replacement

I forgot to add myself as a new user before I restored everything.  Now that I've done that, is there a way to change it or will I lose all the stuff I've restored?  I've restored all my files to the admin user acct apparently.
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The only way to do it would be to create that new user and do it again.  You can then delete the other user after you feel you've completed the transfer into the new one.  Then start using Time Machine!  Get away from the umbrella.
This image is a theme.plist hack