Mac Repair
Important! Never attempt to fix a Mac at Western Technical College. Tell an instructor if you have problems.
Troublshooting, diagnosing and repairing a Mac computer is a complex and ever-changing process. When I first started in this business, in 1988, we had to do a lot to maintain our Macs and 44MB Syquest disks (look it up). Over the years I've seen repair utilities come and go (some are still here and they still aren't very good). Over the years I've also seen Macs grow in stability—and need far fewer repairs. We have a 10 year old mac PowerBook that has never, yes never, seen the inside of a repair shop.
Sometimes things will go wrong, and when they do my preferred utility for repair is to call our IT dept. If it's a major issue I'll call IT or a local Mac repair shop or Apple directly.
Caution!
A word of caution… I've seen many Mac-repair-amateurs do more damage than good while trying to fix it themselves. I used to fix my own '73 Ford Mustang too. Now, when I look at the computer-driven engine under the hood of my Honda CR-V, I go get the phone book. Things change—let the experts do the technical work, and you do the creative work.
Now… I know some of you will have to attempt repairs yourself due to money constraints, or a looming deadline. So I've assembled a few options(below) that I have used personally.
Note: all of the information and links below come directly from Apple. I like to have their "seal of approval" whenever I attempt to repair or troubleshoot my Mac. Be cautious following repair tips from 3rd party web sites, blogs, forums, or even friends.
Local Tech Support
- The Mac Guys
Three Rivers Plaza -
40 Copeland Avenue, Suite 111
La Crosse, WI 54603
608-782-1565 or 866-622-4899 - Best Buy
9420 St Road 16 Pralle Center
Onalaska, WI 54650
(608) 783-0100 - Apple Store-West Towne
18 West Towne Mall
Madison, WI 53719
(608) 827-9840
Make an appoitment with an Mac Genius at the Mac Store-West Towne
Drive Genius
A brilliant and helpful utility for Macs. It has its own web page—visit here: Drive Genius.
Apple's Disk Utility
Wikipedia: Apple Disk utility
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2055
You can accomplish a bunch of maintenance tasks with Disk Utility when your computer is started from the Mac OS X 10.4 Install DVD. From the Utilities menu, choose Disk Utility to open it.
What can you do with Disk Utility?
- You can test and repair many hard disk issues, including ones on your main drive. If you can't access a disk or you're getting disk errors when you use one, use Disk Utility. For more information, check out this document
- You can access disk images on a hard disk (if you can access the volume that they're on, of course).
Note: You can work with existing image files while started from the Tiger Install disc, but you won't be able to create new ones.
- Want to erase or partition your hard disk into smaller volumes? No problem! See this document for the details. Important: You should back up important files and data before erasing or partitioning a drive. Doing so erases the hard disk (including things on your desktop). Note that you can't burn discs while started from the Install disc.
To learn more about testing and repairing disks, open Disk Utility, in the /Applications/Utilities folder, and choose Help > Disk Utility Help.
Repair Tip - New Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Use with: Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.5
Symptoms: Instead of seeing the Finder or the login window after startup, your computer may stop responding and the display may only show a persistent gray screen (you may also see an Apple logo, spinning gear, spinning globe, prohibitory sign, or a folder with a flashing question mark on it). Note: These steps may not apply if a blue screen appears during start up.
Repair Tip - Older Mac OS X: Blue or Gray screen appears during startup
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1411
Use with: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier
Symptoms: Nothing can be more frustrating than turning on your Mac only to find that it won't start up. Instead of seeing the Finder, you see a blue or gray screen, an icon of a broken folder, a kernel panic, a flashing question mark, or a computer that just sits there. What can you do? Don't worry. It could be a simple issue that you can fix yourself.
Repair Tip - Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
Summary
Safe Boot is a special way to start up when troubleshooting. Safe Mode is the state Mac OS X is in after a Safe Boot. To perform a Safe Boot, hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.
Starting up into Safe Mode does several things:
- It forces a directory check of the startup volume.
- It loads only required kernel extensions (some of the items in /System/Library/Extensions).
- In Mac OS X v10.3.9 or earlier, Safe Mode runs only Apple-installed startup items (such items may be installed either in /Library/StartupItems or in /System/Library/StartupItems; these are different than user-selected account login items).
- It disables all fonts other than those in /System/Library/Fonts (Mac OS X v10.4 or later).
- It moves to the Trash all font caches normally stored in /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/(uid)/ , where (uid) is a user ID number such as 501 (Mac OS X v10.4 or later).
- It disables all startup items and login items (Mac OS X v10.4 or later).
- Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later: A Safe Boot deletes the dynamic loader shared cache at (/var/db/dyld/). A cache with issues may cause a blue screen on startup, particularly after a Software Update. Restarting normally recreates this cache.
Taken together, these changes can help resolve software or directory issues that may exist on the startup volume.
Some features don't work in Safe Mode
Safe Mode can be useful for troubleshooting. However, certain Mac OS X features do not work in Safe Mode. For example, you can't use DVD Player, capture video in iMovie, use audio input or output devices, or use an internal or external USB modem. The behavior of some devices such as an AirPort card may vary depending on computer and Mac OS X version.
Safe Mode in Mac OS X v10.5 or later also disables Quartz Extreme (hardware accelerated graphics). Applications that depend on Quartz Extreme will not open, and the Mac OS X menu bar will appear solid even if "Translucent Menu Bar" is enabled in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.
Safe Mode in Mac OS X v10.6 or later also disables File Sharing access. This means you will not be able to mount Time Capsule disks or volumes being served by other computers running Mac OS X.
Advanced Repair Tip - Single-User Mode
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
You can use key combinations to start up the computer in either single-user mode or verbose mode. These may be used for troubleshooting or software development.
Starting up in single-user or verbose mode
- Shut down your Mac if it is on.
- Press the power button to start the computer.
- Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and one of the following:
- the "s" key for single-user mode. (Command-S)
- the "v" key for verbose mode. (Command-V)
You have successfully entered single-user or verbose mode when you see white text appear on the screen.
To exit single-user mode type reboot then press Return. Verbose mode exits automatically when the computer's startup process progresses sufficiently and the blue screen appears.
If the computer does not progress beyond verbose mode, and does not show progression messages, press the power button until the computer shuts down. See this article for information about troubleshooting startup issues.
Additional Information
Notes
- If you do not develop software, verbose and single-user modes are only needed when troubleshooting a startup issue.
- You cannot enter single-user or verbose mode if the computer owner or administrator has enabled Open Firmware Password Protection.
- When in single-user mode, the keyboard layout is US English.