How to Survive the 17 Worst Mac Disasters

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How to Survive the 17 Worst Mac Disasters

Posted 11/13/2008 at 6:07:00am | by Michelle Delio

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: If it’s your MacBook’s screen that gets scratched, don’t attempt a home repair. Anything that’s strong enough to remove scratches will also strip away the screen’s protective coating. We’ve heard about people who take the screen to a jeweler to have scratches buffed out or squish a little Vaseline into the scratch to disguise it, but we can’t recommend these approaches. If the scratch seriously bothers you or obscures a key portion of the display, your best option is to have the screen replaced. Your Apple Care Protection Plan probably won’t cover this, however, as it’s likely to be classified as accidental damage. Companies like TechRestore (www.techrestore.com) can replace MacBook displays for about $350 to $500, depending on screen size. A 17-inch Display for an aluminum G4 PowerBook costs $449.99, including installation, overnight delivery of the repaired machine, and a one-year warranty, but it doesn’t include shipping the notebook to TechRestore, which could range from $29 to $69. If you’re handy, you can buy a new display from PowerBook Medic (www.powerbookmedic.com) and install it yourself. Here, an Aluminum G4 17-inch Display LCD Screen costs $349.95, with a one-year warranty, shipping not included.

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: So you dropped your iPod or iPhone into a body of water (bathtub, toilet, deep puddle, the ocean). If the gods of technology happen to be smiling on you, it may be fixable. Fish out the device and shut it off immediately if it was on when it took the dive—in which case it’s very likely dead, we’re sorry to say. If it was off when it got dunked, your goal is to get the device dried out completely. To facilitate this, place it near the vent on the back of your cable box or air-conditioner. Or bury it in a deep bowl of dry plain rice or a container with a few silica packs—you know, those small packets often rattling around in boxes of new shoes that say, “Warning: Do Not Eat.” If it seems to have absorbed a lot of liquid, prop the device up so that any water can drain out without leaving it sitting in the puddle, or put it on an absorbent surface like a stack of paper or cloth towels (that you should check frequently for moisture). If you know how to open the device’s case (guitar picks are our tool of choice for prying open iPods), do so and remove the battery (this voids the warranty, but, hey, it’s an emergency), which will greatly facilitate the drying-out process. Let the device air-dry for 72 hours, then try turning it on. If this doesn’t work, let it dry for another 48 hours. And depending on what type of liquid it was dropped in, you may also need to open the device and clean it out with some denatured alcohol to remove any residue that might come back to haunt you later.

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: Tiny font files can cause huge problems. Corrupt fonts can cause printing and display problems and even crash applications. And font caches can become hopelessly muddled, causing all sorts of jumbled-type display problems onscreen.
In OS X (Tiger and Leopard), you can check for bad fonts by going into your Applications folder and launching Font Book. Once there, Command-click to choose a group of dicey fonts—perhaps fonts you recently purchased or downloaded for free from possibly shady websites—then go to File > Validate Fonts. If a font is corrupt, you’ll see a round icon with an X in it. Click the checkbox beside the bad font(s), and then click the Remove Checked button to purge the evil from your system. If you see a yellow warning icon beside a font, it may be causing trouble, so remove it from your font folder, restart, and see if the problem is resolved. If you’re using an older version of OS X, you’ll have to manually test groups of fonts half-a-dozen at a time to see which trigger the problem, but this takes more patience than we possess. It’s smarter to buy a font-management application like Extensis Suitcase Fusion ($99.95, www.extensis.com) or Insider Software’s FontAgent Pro 4 ($99.95, www.insidersoftware.com). Both of these apps also offer myriad ways to organize and work with fonts, and both offer 30-day free demos, so you can try before you buy.

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: If Safari is moving at less-than-gazelle-like speeds, purge it  of all the data it’s binged on by choosing Safari > Reset Safari. This will give you the option to delete stored login info, favicons, cache, history, and cookies. If you do a full reset you’ll likely see noticeably improved browser performance, but you’ll need to log in to all the websites that normally “remember” you, so if you doubt you’ll be able to recall all of your login info across the Web, try deleting everything but login info and cookies first to see if that speeds things up.

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: Proving that even Apple can release seriously flawed products, MobileMe is troubled by a variety of issues including outages, syncing problems, and more. Assuming that you want to continue using what Apple has admitted is a flawed service, back up all of the data you’ll be syncing via “the cloud,” and then try resetting iSync. Go to System Preferences > MobileMe, click Sync/Advanced and then click Reset Sync Data. From the pop-up menu choose All Data, unless you’re having a problem with specific sorts of info; if so, pick just the data you’re having problems syncing. Click the right arrow button and you should see text that says “On MobileMe with sync info from this computer.”

disaster

SURVIVAL TACTIC: If the advice in #16 doesn’t fix the problem, or if you’re getting error messages referring to inconsistencies in data, reset the Sync Services folder by choosing Preferences from the iSync menu and clicking Reset Sync History. If you have multiple Macs you may need to do this on all computers that are syncing with MobileMe. Start with the machine that has the most current info. You may also need to reset each computer’s Sync Services folder. Just make sure to back up that data before you reset syncing, as it’s possible it may get overwritten or deleted.

disaster

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, a stitch in time saves nine, and so on. Those old wives obviously knew how to maintain a computer. It’s much easier to prevent problems before they happen than it is to fix them after the fact. Here are five ways to lessen the chances that one of the 17 Mac disasters outlined in this article will befall you.

1. Stay Dry

Keep the beverages away from electronic devices—make it an unbreakable rule not to drink and compute. Ditto any watery activities: Leave the devices at home or buy a waterproof case.

2. Stay Up-To-Date

Mac owners can get blasé about keeping their software up-to-date, as they aren’t plagued with the plethora of PC viruses/spyware/hack attacks. But Apple software does have security holes, and it’s important to get those patches onto your machine. Ditto the fixes from outside vendors—even if the patches don’t address security issues, they do make programs more stable and efficient. To make sure that your machine is up to date, go to the Apple menu, choose Software Update, click the Check Now button, select the items you want to download, then click Install. Reboot and repeat, as some software will only be available if other software is installed. To keep your other applications in shape, drop by the vendor’s site once a month or so to see if there are any updates.

3. Stay Secure

Security always requires trade-offs in usability, but protecting your data from prying eyes is worth it. Don’t enable automatic login, and set password protection for key files by customizing the Account settings in System Preferences.

4. Stay Clean

Keep your Mac happy inside and out with a monthly cleanup, blow the gunk out of its innards (see #5), repair disk permissions, delete or archive old files because a less cluttered hard drive is a more efficient hard drive, purge your Desktop of everything that really doesn’t need to be there, and run those UNIX scripts  (see #4).

5. Back Up. Period

Just do it—OK? We’ll buy you a pony. Backing up your data is the single most important thing you can do to ensure that you—and your precious files—will survive any technological trauma.

COMMENTS: 55

TAGS: Mac OS X, MobileMe

COMMENTS

the STUCK dvd/cd
Submitted by rbj on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:29

the stuck dvd/cd to me is extremely scarey. the first time i absolutely freaked. the machine wouldn't start and the disk just ground away. luckily i could access help on my linux box and learn how to do the cardboard trick. after i got it out then i learned about leaving the thing on for 15-20 mins until it gets tired of not being able to boot and the disk spits out.

both of my experiences with this were with DVD-RW's. guess my machine doesn't like to rewrite. needless to say i don't feed it any more rewritable disks.

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I completely agree (Stuck DVD drive is the worst)
Submitted by gariepyjeanmichel on Fri, 2008-11-14 12:20

My experience involved the bundled blank dvds you buy stacked on a tray with a stick. There was a clear plastic dummy disc at the top to protect the real discs. Without looking I put it in the slot of my Powerbook and the rest is history. It didn't mount properly, it started to spin up and down and smell. I had to send it in for repair right away. When I got it back they said they couldn't salvage the superdrive but they removed the disk and the computer still worked. They gave me back the blackened piece of plastic. The ordeal cost 500$. To my suprise it could still read dvds, but it was unable to write anything (couldn't spin up properly). After a few years though, the whole thing started working again. Technology is very strange.

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Same Here
Submitted by SkinnyLard on Thu, 2009-03-05 14:19

Ii has the same exact thing happen to me it was with an iMac G5 and it only does it with Dual-Layer DVDs it wont mount them. The super Drive makes some squaking noises and trys to spin then makes clanging sounds. Then it will try to spit it out and it cant os i hade take apart the machine and take out the hard drive and start it up again and shake it with the super drive facing down and i t finaly came out.

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Weird
Submitted by GamreMack on Thu, 2009-10-22 21:45

I never had this issue on my mac. it seems like a hardware problem so I dunno. Free MMORPG

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the same problem occured to
Submitted by philtucson on Fri, 2009-11-20 04:20

the same problem occured to me too. But luckily, I had my warranty period running and quickly ran towards the closest Apple shop (luckily again, the shop is a 5 minute ride from my home).Tucson - internet businesses for sale and Cost Training

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Man, the pictures that come
Submitted by blackzarg on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:54

Man, the pictures that come with this article are really, really, REALLY, freaky.

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I just recently got a Mac
Submitted by hildajustice on Fri, 2009-10-09 09:13

I just recently got a Mac and am praying I never have to refer back to this post... I agree, those pics are pretty weird! philadelphia products liability lawyer

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A dying hard drive
Submitted by sobrien140 on Thu, 2008-11-13 15:22

A dying hard drive can easily be fixed by using SpinRite from grc.com. Unfortunately you have to remove the drive and mount it in a PC, because SpinRite uses PC BIOS interrupts. Buy a USB shell or mount the drive directly into your PC.

SpinRite isn't guaranteed to fix the drive, but it makes a huge difference in extending the lifetime of a dying drive and recovering a dead one.

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This is a great tip for
Submitted by rjeff12 on Mon, 2009-10-05 08:46

This is a great tip for those who have never used spinrite. I used it in the past and would have never known this, except for luckily having a good friend who took care of doing it for me. businesses for sale

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Seems this poster really has
Submitted by tlopez23 on Tue, 2009-10-13 06:47

Seems this poster really has some great ideas! Our son dropped my new iPod into a puddle the other day (rain, rain, and more rain). I don't know if it's strictly because of the rice, but following the advice (on page 3) I was luckily able to get it working. Thanks! Pool Resurfacing

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Wow, you got lucky. I wish
Submitted by hildajustice on Thu, 2009-10-15 15:30

Wow, you got lucky. I wish I had found this post before now and had known what to do like you did. Unfortunately, ours didn't make it through our mishap. San Diego Criminal Attorneys

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Malingering?
Submitted by lojoma on Mon, 2008-11-17 14:31

Hey, in Disaster 2 it says "when your Mac has malingered on the startup screen...."

"Malinger" means to fib or fake. I think you mean "linger". In my health profession we refer to patients who fake an illness as "malingerers".

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Does anyone know if Mac OS X Leopard will work on an iBook G4?
Submitted by LeftClicker on Thu, 2008-12-04 15:51

I'm trying to get Mac OS X Leopard to run on my iBook. It's a G4, but it "malingered on the startup screen for an hour or so with no apparent intention of booting up," and I took their advice an ran the system check or whatever it was. The C key had no effect however. Is it possible? Please say yes Please say yes Please say yes...

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The New Generation IBook G4
Submitted by niroshan on Fri, 2009-08-14 20:33

Apple recently introduced the new generation Apple iBook G4 system,
which is better than the G3 versions in many ways. The new computer has
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systems. The G3 version has 800 Megahertz processor, and only 256
Megabytes of memory, which is not a lot. This works with Mac OS XLeopard. Football Forum

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Stuck In Startup Mode: MACBOOKS
Submitted by ma.joelint on Sat, 2009-01-03 22:10

I have had this problem several times when using my macbook. I had read the apple manual and it had said to remove the battery (and power cord) from the computer and hold the power button for 10 seconds. My MacBook worked right after that.

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Hmm well I guess I'v just
Submitted by billV23 on Thu, 2009-10-01 10:19

Hmm well I guess I'v just lucked out so far (thank goodness). I haven't really had any of these problems at all! At least it was a simple fix for you, though. Sounds like some of these guys have had a run of really bad luck with their Macs. free money for bills?

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wow danke
Submitted by LearLear on Mon, 2009-02-16 11:04

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Safari
Submitted by frannylady on Fri, 2009-04-10 03:03

How do I fix safari - keeps quitting on me?

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Typical MAC disasters...
Submitted by Cell Phones on Mon, 2009-04-27 11:44

This is quite a comprehensive guide on the typical MAC disasters. This is highly insightful. Very good posting! :-)

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Definitely! The help about
Submitted by edualdp200 on Thu, 2009-10-01 21:20

Definitely! The help about your sleep settings has really helped mine to run better, although I didn't find the Tinker Tool to be that user friendly. I may give it another go, but right now everything seems to be going good.Eduardo Paredes

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It has built and maintained
Submitted by kanyt on Fri, 2009-10-02 10:23

It has built and maintained this position because Apple has based
Leopard on a principle of constant innovation. You can therefore
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My old Mac Book pro sort of
Submitted by MMORPG on Sat, 2009-07-04 00:58

My old Mac Book pro sort of glitched out and stopped working for me, the tips here were useful, but I couldn't get it to work. I ended up buying the newest gen one though :).

---I'm a fan of Free MMORPGs and Game Music. Politically I'm a Libertarian and my current laptop is a Mac Book Pro [Latest Gen] and I absol

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nice
Submitted by liamkincaid on Tue, 2009-08-04 14:22

Great article! I just love Mac´s

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Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
Submitted by niroshan on Sat, 2009-08-08 08:48

A Mac's operating system, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, is faster, easier to use, and more reliable than Windows. It has built and maintained this position because Apple has based Leopard on a principle of constant innovation. You can therefore achieve more by doing less.

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Macs are pretty reliable
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Macs are pretty reliable computers, but that doesn’t mean  they’re not vulnerable to user error, accidents, and, in some cases, just plain stupidity. inchirieri auto

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I Thought Macs Were the Reliable One....
Submitted by Johnbb090 on Tue, 2009-09-29 08:57

I've never had a Mac, but I thought they weren't supposed to make you suffer through these kind of headaches. discount diamond engagement rings

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Are you serious? I used a pc
Submitted by MartinB090 on Wed, 2009-09-30 13:33

Are you serious? I used a pc for many years and finally took the advice of my friend and got a mac. I haven't had to deal with the problems above since I got it... and hope I never have to. Much better than my PC was. driver detective review

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Really great article for any
Submitted by brwilliam000 on Sat, 2009-10-03 17:47

Really great article for any mac owner. I haven't had too many problems, but I remember searching forever before finding the answer to mine not starting up. "When you see the # command prompt, type /sbin/fsck –fy (“fsck” is a file system consistency check utility) and hit Return. " Every mac owner should write this down and keep it in a safe place.Toronto Real Estate Listings

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I was so excited when I
Submitted by yinka23 on Wed, 2009-10-07 12:24

I was so excited when I finally made the move from PC to Mac. I had it a whole two weeks or so before our son knocked over a glass of sweet tea all over the keyboard. I say definitely shut it all off and take it to a specialist, as I tried to clean it out with alcohol and cotton swabs and was never able to recover it. Fat Loss 4 Idiots Diet

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nice
Submitted by kiddzy on Thu, 2009-10-22 00:05

I was so excited when I finally made the move from PC to Mac. I had it a whole two weeks or so before our son knocked over a glass of sweet tea all over the keyboard. I say definitely shut it all off and take it to a specialist, as I tried to clean it out with alcohol and cotton swabs and was never able to recover it
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Thanks! Another Tip
Submitted by KatieM on Thu, 2009-10-22 13:04

If you ever spill something on your keyboard and it still doesn't work even after all the components dry because the circuits oxidize, you can use an eraser to get rid of the oxidation.

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Nice Post
Submitted by benm on Fri, 2009-10-30 04:13

Great collection of Mac Problems. Definitely will be beneficial in knowing mac more better.

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Interesting post
Submitted by corina on Sat, 2009-10-31 23:01

I can consider this article a good guide for anyone who's attempting to buy a new MAC ;)

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