MacIntosh Troubleshooting

and other helpful Information

These are my notes from the presentation Kevin O'Neill gave at our "Mac Troubleshooting Tech Fair" on November 30, 2001. If you find that something is missing or is incorrect, please let me know.

You can go to Mac.com for free website space if you'd like your students to create their own website.

• Cut down on the number of operating systems on your network
• Prune your extensions:
  • printers
  • launcher
  • location manager
  • communication icons
  • audio help
  • fax software
  • conflict catcher
  • templates
• Control Access to your Desktop

TROUBLESHOOTING PROCESS

• Have a Problem Inquiry Process/Form
• Do not allow indiscriminate Installation of Software .... Have a Software Policy.
• Stay up-to-date with software fixes .... but if everything is working, don't update. Don't use the software update in the Control Panel.
• Don't be too helpful. The teachers/staff need to take some of the responsibility.
• Art vs. Science
  • isolate
  • OS X requires no memory reallocation and requires no extensions... it takes care of that automatically.
• Happy Mac, Sad Mac, Startup Tone: The sound of the Mac starting up is a good indication of whether it's a hardware problem or a software problem.
  • sad face on the little Mac during start up, indicates that there is a hardware problem
  • flashing question mark indicates that the computer cannot find a valid system folder

STARTUP PROBLEMS

• Flashing question mark (?): means the system folder cannot be found or that something is corrupt in the system folder.
  • The system folder must contain the system icon and the finder icon.
  • Could try to put the preferences icon in another folder.
• Watch the bottom of the screen on startup. The last icon you see before the error message is giving is usually where the problem is.
• Extensions Manager
  • "View as packages" (under View in the file menu) - under the Apple/Control Panels/Extensions Manager
• Preference Folder
  • Throw away unused preferences; i.e. finder preferences
  • Preferences are regenerated everytime you use that program
• Hardware Problems
  • Swap out parts with a working machine.
• Network Problems
  • Check cabling
  • Isolate

TOOLS

• Guru - this is a good site for identifying what came with your older computers, what the memory requirements are for certain computers, etc.
• Ramseeker.com - this is a good site for memory (cheap).
• TechTool - This site will help you with things like ... (It is what I would call a "search site".)
  • rebuilding your desktop [open apple + option keys]
  • resetting your PRAM [open apple + option + P + R keys]
• Mac FixIt Library
• Version Tracker

TIPS

• Never assume!
• Restart your Macintosh often!
• Don't run File Sharing if/when you don't have to.
• Don't keep extra printer protocols
• Don't keep servers mounted and don't have them automatically mount
• Don't use unnecessary system extensions
• Don't change your TCP/IP settings (lock them in)
• When you do have trouble, do NOT unplug from the network right away
• Don't disrupt network wires
• Try the Apple Support website, now called the "Til" (used to be The Knowledge Base)
• Try the Mac Central website
• Try MacInTouch website

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