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Preventative measures -- maybe
May. 27th, 2010 06:40 pmSo when minimax was doing the bizarre newfangled progressive scan mac snow crash last week, I noticed the video cord and its adapter were hanging loosely on the back of the machine. Mind you, plugging it in solidly didn't appear to have any effect, but still.
So today I received and have plugged in a new DisplayPort-to-DVI cable. It's half the length, needs no adapter, and is generally less clutter.
We'll see if it forestalls any more snow crashes. Since it was a $10 part, wouldn't that be amusing.
So today I received and have plugged in a new DisplayPort-to-DVI cable. It's half the length, needs no adapter, and is generally less clutter.
We'll see if it forestalls any more snow crashes. Since it was a $10 part, wouldn't that be amusing.
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Well. *That* was different.
May. 20th, 2010 07:38 pmMinimax just did a another snow crash.
It still does that about every 4-6 weeks, so nothing new there.
What was new this time was, it did it progressively while I was working on the machine. I saw what looked like transparent horizontal bands of the TV-like snow; then the whole desktop was mildly transparently "snowy" while the band of most snow continued to jump around the screen; then the whole thing went to flat-out snow.
JWMA.
It still does that about every 4-6 weeks, so nothing new there.
What was new this time was, it did it progressively while I was working on the machine. I saw what looked like transparent horizontal bands of the TV-like snow; then the whole desktop was mildly transparently "snowy" while the band of most snow continued to jump around the screen; then the whole thing went to flat-out snow.
JWMA.
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Snow Crash of the Living Dead
Jan. 14th, 2010 02:47 pmMinimax just did a snow crash again.
Not the standard one, though. This time it happened while running Front Row as I was doing the dishes. The screen had gone completely blank, as if the system was trying to run the screensaver. OTOH, I thought the whole point of the album cover flips in Front Row was to inhibit the screensaver -- perhaps I'm wrong.
So, with the screen dark, I pressed Shift to get out of the saver... And then saw snow. As I was sitting there thinking, "Oh, no. Not this again. Now what?" the audio continued to play. Then suddenly, the snow cleared, and I had Front Row's normal screen again. It's the first time I've seen a snow crash clear of its own accord.
AKICOLJ: I ask again, "Now what?" Go ahead and take it back to Apple? Grit my teeth and bear it?
EDITED TO ADD: I just went into Energy Saver in System Preferences, and set both Computer Sleep and Display Sleep to "Never." I also unchecked the "hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option. ADDING TO THE ADDITION: OK, I've dialed it back a bit from there, but by as little as I can -- 3 hours before sleep.
Not the standard one, though. This time it happened while running Front Row as I was doing the dishes. The screen had gone completely blank, as if the system was trying to run the screensaver. OTOH, I thought the whole point of the album cover flips in Front Row was to inhibit the screensaver -- perhaps I'm wrong.
So, with the screen dark, I pressed Shift to get out of the saver... And then saw snow. As I was sitting there thinking, "Oh, no. Not this again. Now what?" the audio continued to play. Then suddenly, the snow cleared, and I had Front Row's normal screen again. It's the first time I've seen a snow crash clear of its own accord.
AKICOLJ: I ask again, "Now what?" Go ahead and take it back to Apple? Grit my teeth and bear it?
EDITED TO ADD: I just went into Energy Saver in System Preferences, and set both Computer Sleep and Display Sleep to "Never." I also unchecked the "hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option. ADDING TO THE ADDITION: OK, I've dialed it back a bit from there, but by as little as I can -- 3 hours before sleep.
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All due props
Jan. 8th, 2010 02:40 pmAfter giving me a window of 3-5 days to get Minimax back, the Southcenter Apple Store called last night and said it was ready. I've picked it up, and everything appears to be doing well. 1 day turnaround is pretty good.
In an interesting way of setting what the marketing jargon calls a "reference price," they printed up a receipt to let me know this Main Logic Board replacement would have cost $617.81 had the machine not been under warranty. That's about as much as it cost new. No, nobody's trying to sell an Applecare extension, why do you ask?
Now comes the most difficult part of trying to fix an intermittent problem like this: Waiting to see if it goes wrong again, while realizing early success may only be a Black Swan.
Oddest side effect found so far: My serial number isn't in System Profiler any more. It only says,
"Serial Number (system): System Serial#"
Having kept all my receipts, though, I think that'll be OK.
In an interesting way of setting what the marketing jargon calls a "reference price," they printed up a receipt to let me know this Main Logic Board replacement would have cost $617.81 had the machine not been under warranty. That's about as much as it cost new. No, nobody's trying to sell an Applecare extension, why do you ask?
Now comes the most difficult part of trying to fix an intermittent problem like this: Waiting to see if it goes wrong again, while realizing early success may only be a Black Swan.
Oddest side effect found so far: My serial number isn't in System Profiler any more. It only says,
"Serial Number (system): System Serial#"
Having kept all my receipts, though, I think that'll be OK.
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In the Shop
Jan. 7th, 2010 03:43 pmSo I went to the Genius Bar at Southcenter to have my Mac Mini looked at for the snow crash problem. (No, I didn't mention the web form issue. Ach, well.)
Anyway, my expectation was that they'd either a) try to troubleshoot the specific screen saver software, or b) replace the memory chips, since I think the Mac Mini uses shared memory for video.
Nope. They're going to replace the MLB, which is Apple's IBM-like TLA for "main logic board" -- what the rest of the industry calls a motherboard.
{blink}
Well. That's unexpected. In a good way -- it's a more substantive replacement than I thought likely.
That's the good news; that and it's covered by warranty, so no charge. The bad news is, they gave me a 3-5 day turnaround timeframe. On the gripping hand, it's not like I haven't been using![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akirlu's PC for months at a stretch lately.
I'd dearly love to see their database for how frequently the problem has come up.
Anyway, my expectation was that they'd either a) try to troubleshoot the specific screen saver software, or b) replace the memory chips, since I think the Mac Mini uses shared memory for video.
Nope. They're going to replace the MLB, which is Apple's IBM-like TLA for "main logic board" -- what the rest of the industry calls a motherboard.
{blink}
Well. That's unexpected. In a good way -- it's a more substantive replacement than I thought likely.
That's the good news; that and it's covered by warranty, so no charge. The bad news is, they gave me a 3-5 day turnaround timeframe. On the gripping hand, it's not like I haven't been using
akirlu's PC for months at a stretch lately.I'd dearly love to see their database for how frequently the problem has come up.
Genius Bar appt web form -- FAIL
Jan. 5th, 2010 04:13 pmSo I've been told many times from the Apple faithful about the snow crash issue, "Hey, just take it in to Apple. You're under warranty. No problem."
Since moving the Mac by the kitchen window (and thus, using the Mac more) I've been seeing snow crashes more often. So I finally went and made an appointment for the Southcenter Genius Bar for Thursday.
One of the things they have as part of the form is a Comment section. "Tell us why you're coming in." So I start writing, with a pointer to the YouTube video of the Mac snow crash, and I begin saying how I've observed it only when waking up from "sleep," and not "live" while an app is running, and...
...and suddenly the screen refreshes. Apparently I'd reached the character limit for the Comments field. Did they tell me of such a limit? No. Did it just stop and say I'd hit the limit? No. Did I have a chance to give a full report, and maybe help the poor schlub whom I'm going to be venting on come the appointment do his or her job? Nope, nope, all that would be too respectful of both the customer's time and the employee's time. Plus, when I go to Apple's site and look at "My Reservations" (as in, "My Reservations: Let me tell you them."), guess what doesn't show my comments nor a link to same? So, odds are, I'm going to end up having to explain it all again.
"Just Works My Ass."
Since moving the Mac by the kitchen window (and thus, using the Mac more) I've been seeing snow crashes more often. So I finally went and made an appointment for the Southcenter Genius Bar for Thursday.
One of the things they have as part of the form is a Comment section. "Tell us why you're coming in." So I start writing, with a pointer to the YouTube video of the Mac snow crash, and I begin saying how I've observed it only when waking up from "sleep," and not "live" while an app is running, and...
...and suddenly the screen refreshes. Apparently I'd reached the character limit for the Comments field. Did they tell me of such a limit? No. Did it just stop and say I'd hit the limit? No. Did I have a chance to give a full report, and maybe help the poor schlub whom I'm going to be venting on come the appointment do his or her job? Nope, nope, all that would be too respectful of both the customer's time and the employee's time. Plus, when I go to Apple's site and look at "My Reservations" (as in, "My Reservations: Let me tell you them."), guess what doesn't show my comments nor a link to same? So, odds are, I'm going to end up having to explain it all again.
"Just Works My Ass."
New Mac table/workplace
Dec. 26th, 2009 06:08 pmBack in August, when Sarah was operated on, I ended up losing my office. Not literally, but it was down in the basement, and Sarah wasn't able to make it down the staircase.
At least Sarah was happy to be with me when she was able to make it down the stairs. Kaylee, on the other hand, is too afraid of the stairs to try negotiating them. So I've lost my office again, on a day-to-day basis. It was tough to leave Sarah alone upstairs because she'd chew on her bandages. Kaylee, unsupervised, will chew on... Any random thing that strikes her fancy.
So.
So this week we found an inexpensive computer table ($20) for me on Craigslist, and I've moved my Mac upstairs to a snug place in the kitchen between the corner dining table and the refrigerator. In addition to being on the main floor, it's also by a window. My basement office has no windows at all. (The quick comparison is here.)
At least for now, I have to wear my Filson hat to keep the sun out of my eyes at the brightest.
At least Sarah was happy to be with me when she was able to make it down the stairs. Kaylee, on the other hand, is too afraid of the stairs to try negotiating them. So I've lost my office again, on a day-to-day basis. It was tough to leave Sarah alone upstairs because she'd chew on her bandages. Kaylee, unsupervised, will chew on... Any random thing that strikes her fancy.
So.
So this week we found an inexpensive computer table ($20) for me on Craigslist, and I've moved my Mac upstairs to a snug place in the kitchen between the corner dining table and the refrigerator. In addition to being on the main floor, it's also by a window. My basement office has no windows at all. (The quick comparison is here.)
At least for now, I have to wear my Filson hat to keep the sun out of my eyes at the brightest.
Steve Jobs ate my homework
Sep. 2nd, 2009 06:28 pmThere I was, yesterday, about 30 minutes away from picking akirlu up from the train and then going on to my Chinese class. We were supposed to do a skit in class, and I'd cleverly organized the other two students so we'd worked on it via email. Now it was time to print it out, so I'd have a reading copy for class.
So I went into GMail, prepared to print, and...
...found my Samsung ML-1210 printer had disappeared, as far as my Mac was concerned.
Power cycle the thing, no joy. Start Googling... and found out the ML-1210 was one of the printers whose support had been dropped by Apple in the Snow Leopard upgrade even if you'd had a perfectly valid driver installed for Leopard.
I went to class without a printout, having run out of time. Fortunately, one of my classmates is also a bright fellow, and printed out extra copies.
*^*^*
In case someone runs into the same problem, and needs a workaround for this specific printer:
The Linux Foundation (of all places) has drivers that appear to work with the Samsung ML-1210 printer and Snow Leopard.
NB: You need the three files shown there, Samsung-GDI, Foomatic-RIP, and Ghostscript. However, they should be installed in the reverse order they're shown on the page, thus:
* First, Ghostscript 8.64
* Followed by Foomatic-RIP 4.0.2
* And finally, Samsung-GDI 1.816.2
Why they're not listed on the page in the order they need to be installed is one of life's enduring mysteries. It probably has to do with the Linux Philosophy: If it was easy, anyone could do it, and as few people as possible should be using Linux/*NIX, n'est-ce pas?
akirlu up from the train and then going on to my Chinese class. We were supposed to do a skit in class, and I'd cleverly organized the other two students so we'd worked on it via email. Now it was time to print it out, so I'd have a reading copy for class.So I went into GMail, prepared to print, and...
...found my Samsung ML-1210 printer had disappeared, as far as my Mac was concerned.
Power cycle the thing, no joy. Start Googling... and found out the ML-1210 was one of the printers whose support had been dropped by Apple in the Snow Leopard upgrade even if you'd had a perfectly valid driver installed for Leopard.
I went to class without a printout, having run out of time. Fortunately, one of my classmates is also a bright fellow, and printed out extra copies.
*^*^*
In case someone runs into the same problem, and needs a workaround for this specific printer:
The Linux Foundation (of all places) has drivers that appear to work with the Samsung ML-1210 printer and Snow Leopard.
NB: You need the three files shown there, Samsung-GDI, Foomatic-RIP, and Ghostscript. However, they should be installed in the reverse order they're shown on the page, thus:
* First, Ghostscript 8.64
* Followed by Foomatic-RIP 4.0.2
* And finally, Samsung-GDI 1.816.2
Why they're not listed on the page in the order they need to be installed is one of life's enduring mysteries. It probably has to do with the Linux Philosophy: If it was easy, anyone could do it, and as few people as possible should be using Linux/*NIX, n'est-ce pas?
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I have a lot of music files. No, I mean, a lot -- 35330, sez iTunes.
I've been carrying them around on USB hard drives for a while now. I figured, "Hey, I know... I have this new shiny Mac that Just Works, and I'll consolidate them on my desktop hard drive!"
Big mistake.
See, since iTunes 7, Apple added a "feature" called "gapless playback." This was designed to smoothly segue from one track to another on those albums where the tracks all do just blend together.
The problem? To do that, iTunes has to "determine gapless playback information"... for every single track. It's at the track level, not at the global level, and it can't be set as a preference by the user. It does this in increments of 453 songs at start-up. iTunes is slow as frozen molasses until it finishes.
Google gives 1400 hits on this problem. The number one hit goes back to 2006. It suggests a solution (select all your tracks, set "gapless album" to "no"). It also notes this solution doesn't work for everyone. {cough}
It may occur to the more mathematically minded that 35330 divided by 453 is about 78. I can look forward to this problem the next 78 times I start iTunes. I can't even just let iTunes run for a few days while it finishes this pointless job, because it only grabs things 453 tracks at a time, and, yet again, that isn't user-configurable.
Ah, Apple... So many hard-to-discover "features."
I should count my blessings. At least this isn't causing a Mac snow crash.
I've been carrying them around on USB hard drives for a while now. I figured, "Hey, I know... I have this new shiny Mac that Just Works, and I'll consolidate them on my desktop hard drive!"
Big mistake.
See, since iTunes 7, Apple added a "feature" called "gapless playback." This was designed to smoothly segue from one track to another on those albums where the tracks all do just blend together.
The problem? To do that, iTunes has to "determine gapless playback information"... for every single track. It's at the track level, not at the global level, and it can't be set as a preference by the user. It does this in increments of 453 songs at start-up. iTunes is slow as frozen molasses until it finishes.
Google gives 1400 hits on this problem. The number one hit goes back to 2006. It suggests a solution (select all your tracks, set "gapless album" to "no"). It also notes this solution doesn't work for everyone. {cough}
It may occur to the more mathematically minded that 35330 divided by 453 is about 78. I can look forward to this problem the next 78 times I start iTunes. I can't even just let iTunes run for a few days while it finishes this pointless job, because it only grabs things 453 tracks at a time, and, yet again, that isn't user-configurable.
Ah, Apple... So many hard-to-discover "features."
I should count my blessings. At least this isn't causing a Mac snow crash.
Dog bites man
May. 11th, 2009 03:26 pmI submitted the Mac Mini snow crash video as a news item to Slashdot. They rejected it.
So, apparently, this happens on Macs so often it is not news. "Dog bites man," rather than, "Man bites dog."
"Just Works," My Ass.
{Direct link to the YouTube video.}
So, apparently, this happens on Macs so often it is not news. "Dog bites man," rather than, "Man bites dog."
"Just Works," My Ass.
{Direct link to the YouTube video.}
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mac mini snow crash
May. 9th, 2009 12:05 amEarlier today, it happened again. My mac mini had a snow crash.
I'm no fool -- this time I documented it. Here's the still. The video is uploading to YouTube as we speak.
I'm no fool -- this time I documented it. Here's the still. The video is uploading to YouTube as we speak.
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Snow Crash
May. 1st, 2009 05:42 pmWell, a month-plus in to using Minimax (my Mac Mini), I can report I've seen it do something I thought was only an exaggeration:
A snow crash.
I wish I was kidding. I sat down at my desk to see my monitor flickering away. It wasn't the classic black-and-white TV snow -- it was more finely grained, and colorful.
It was snow, though. And completely unresponsive to anything other than a power cycle.
I haven't made much of the hiccups I've come across, because I know I have enough Mac devotees that it would only annoy them. Still, there's something that's become a catch phrase in these parts:
"'Just Works,' My Ass."
Little did I know I'd learn Neal Stephenson wasn't making a compelling picture to throw upon the imagination of the reader.
A snow crash.
I wish I was kidding. I sat down at my desk to see my monitor flickering away. It wasn't the classic black-and-white TV snow -- it was more finely grained, and colorful.
It was snow, though. And completely unresponsive to anything other than a power cycle.
I haven't made much of the hiccups I've come across, because I know I have enough Mac devotees that it would only annoy them. Still, there's something that's become a catch phrase in these parts:
"'Just Works,' My Ass."
Little did I know I'd learn Neal Stephenson wasn't making a compelling picture to throw upon the imagination of the reader.
faces cork board, 2009-03-29
Mar. 29th, 2009 01:04 amAn example of the Faces view in iPhoto.
Kind of cool, since it becomes a mix of family, fandom, and photojournalism subjects. Very early on, obviously, and many to add, but... Yes, I like this.
Kind of cool, since it becomes a mix of family, fandom, and photojournalism subjects. Very early on, obviously, and many to add, but... Yes, I like this.
Mac Mini - 1st install
Mar. 11th, 2009 12:54 amTo davidlevine and kateyule: I am a new immigrant to your country, and barely speak the language.
To everyone else: Well, I've been living off of $150 3rd-hand Dells from UW surplus for a while now. So after a hard squint at the fisc, we thought getting me a machine a bit more modern would be a useful piece of capital expense. (Let alone, it means we can hope I won't hog so much time onakirlu's quad-core Dell, my present to her last year.)
And, just because the price point is not bad, and it's the one major OS I haven't spent all that much time with personally... I decided to take a deep breath and get a Mac Mini.
Those of you who've known me for years are laughing quite hard now. You're welcome. :)
Mind you, I don't really expect to have fewer problems than other platforms from this move -- I just expect to have different ones. Perhaps that's a low bar to set, but we'll see.
davidlevine and kateyule: I am a new immigrant to your country, and barely speak the language.To everyone else: Well, I've been living off of $150 3rd-hand Dells from UW surplus for a while now. So after a hard squint at the fisc, we thought getting me a machine a bit more modern would be a useful piece of capital expense. (Let alone, it means we can hope I won't hog so much time on
akirlu's quad-core Dell, my present to her last year.)And, just because the price point is not bad, and it's the one major OS I haven't spent all that much time with personally... I decided to take a deep breath and get a Mac Mini.
Those of you who've known me for years are laughing quite hard now. You're welcome. :)
Mind you, I don't really expect to have fewer problems than other platforms from this move -- I just expect to have different ones. Perhaps that's a low bar to set, but we'll see.
