24" Core Duo iMacs and external Firewire disks

Hi guys,
I'm having a bit of an issue with the new iMac that I picked up yesterday. There seems to be an issue with mounting disk devices connected to the Firewire 400 port. Disk devices mount fine off the Firewire 800 port. The bizarre thing is that I plugged an old iSight camera into the Firewire 400 port and it works fine. This seems to eliminate both the possibility that the Firewire controller is faulty and that the FW 400 port is dead.
Just to remove the possibility that it could be a crappy driver, I installed XP via bootcamp but I get exactly the same issue. (although windows is a little more specific. It actually detects the name of the disk device but says it cannot be started)
I've zapped the PRAM and left the machine dormant and unplugged for 30 mins to no avail. Could someone plug a disk device into their FW400 port and see if they get the same issue i.e. nothing happens? (card reader, laptop in FW target mode, external HDD)
I'll take the machine back if I have to but I really loathe the though of lugging this thing back to the Apple store.
Thanks.
Danny

I also am having trouble.
I cannot mount my eMac in target disk mode. The only way I could get the eMac drive to mount was if I put a firewire disk in line with the eMac. i.e. a firewire cable from the eMac to the disk and another cable from the disk to the iMac. (Same model 24" 2.4GHz aluminum).
I thought the issue was with my eMac, but when I went to connect my Canon CanoScan 9950F scanner the iMac would not see it unless I also went through the firewire drive.
I have since learned that the drive does not have to be on and spun up, but it has to bridge the connection. The drive I'm using is model PHR-100AF Macally 3.5" enclosure.
I have been able to mount this drive without having to chain it through anything else. I've also been able to mount a Macally PHR-250CC 2.5" enclusure and a el cheapo 3.5" enclosure that uses the Prolific PL-3507 chip. Also, my 3rd generation iPod mounts just fine.
I don't have anything for the FW800 port so all my experiences are with the FW400 port.
My question is:
Is there something wrong with my iMac that it cannot mount my eMac in target disk mode without being chained to another external drive?
Is there something wrong with my beautiful, new 24" aluminum 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo imac that it cannot connect to my Canon CanoScan 9950F scanned?
I expect more from Apple. I expect that it should at least work with their own hardware (the eMac).
Should I go back to the Apple Store and complain?
Thanks,
Chris
p.s. I guess I should ask my own question huh?
Message was edited by: ctopher

Similar Messages

Disk Utility hangs while initializing internal hard disk in Core Duo iMac

I have a 20" Core Duo iMac. Recently the internal hard drive crashed ("invalid B-tree node size" or something reported when Disk Utility tries and fails to repair it). I have all my data on an external hard disk used as a Time Machine volume, so recovery is not my issue. Initially I picked the write zeroes once security option and chose to erase the internal hard disk. Realizing this would take too long, I clicked on skip, and Disk Utility appeared to hang. I quit and restarted Disk Utility, and chose the "don't erase" security option, but when I go to erase the drive it appears to hang while at the "partitioning" stage and doesn't seem to get any further. There is motion in the progress bar, but no additional progress after about an hour. Disk Utility shows the disk but no volumes underneath it (whereas immediately after the crash, it showed an unmountable volume labeled "disk0s2").
Why would Disk Utility be taking so long and not making any progress? How can I reformat this disk if Disk Utility is not able to? Incidentally, I am running the Disk Utility that comes with OS X 10.4.8, since that is the OS X version on my portable hard drive that I booted from. I also tried using Drive Genius to initialize the hard disk, but it also appeared to hang with no progress.

It is possible the drive has failed, but to be sure start by turning off the computer. Wait five minutes. Then do this:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Be sure to boot from the OS X installer DVD, not a backup clone.

What can I do about my 20 inch iMac (Core Duo) doing a LOT of disk activity?

What can I do about my 20 inch iMac (Core Duo) doing a LOT of disk activity?
I have iStat and can see the disk activity which halks other operations till it finishes.
Is there some built-in Optimization software I should use?
Thanks,
Tom

Please carefully read Pondini's Time Machine Troubleshooting guide.

How do i back up my files from an intel core duo imac to an external hard drive?

Hello
How do I back up my files from an intel core duo imac to an external hard drive?

Like you do with any other Mac*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Note: if you have a CoreDuo, you can only upgrade up to 10.6.8. Only Core2Duos and higher can go to 10.7 (Lion).

I backed up my old core 2 duo imac and and was trying to transfer files to my new 2011 imac and when i go to oppen a folder from what i transferred it says "The folder "Music" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."?

I backed up my old core 2 duo imac and and was trying to transfer files to my new 2011 imac and when i go to oppen a folder from what i transferred it says "The folder “Music” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents". Why cant i access the files from my old mac? I tried the time machine and that isnt working either. I have files that I need to use on my new mac, all my old programs and such. I thought they said it was easy to get your files from one mac to another. Please help.

Your account names are probably different on the two Macs. If you know the UNIX command line, open a terminal window and run:
$ id
You should see a line that starts with something like this:
uid=501(your_user_id_here)
now check the owner of the folder you copied over:
$ ls -ld Music
drwx------+ 8 some_user_id_here staff 272 May 14 16:08 Music
Do the IDs match? If not, you could change the ownership. Say your id is "johnsmith"
$ chown -R johnsmith Music
Now try and access it with iTunes.

External FireWire Disk will not boot

Hi Forum,
after some installations (OS 10.4.9, latest security update and Qucktime 7.1.6 I canot boot from my external disk (Lacie) connected to FireWire 800 port. The Apple shows up but then nothing more happens. Does anyone have a hint?
Thanks
Oliver

Add me to the list also. I had an external firewire disk as a RAID mirror for my boot disk. After a system crash (and some problem with my internal disk) I couldn't boot from the firewire stripe. This used to work.
I've tried creating a single-disk "degraded RAID pair" on the external disk and cloning the internal disk to it (using Disk Utility "Restore"). The cloning works fine but I can't boot from the copy. This is how I originally set up the RAID pair (clone, boot from clone, add internal disk to RAID group). This used to work. I bought a new firewire disk and it has exactly the same problems.
My original firewire disk was an Acomdata E5. My new firewire disk is a Coolmax Gemini CD-311 enclosure with a Hitachi 250GB deskstar inside.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Tiger doesn't install on external firewire disk (partition)

hi, i've got a Lacie Porche 250GB firewire drive, partitioned in two parts, and i want to install tiger on the first 50GB partition, but the installer give me an error about the destination: "You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. Mac OS X cannot start up from this volume."
i'm trying to do this with an ibook G4 and the standard Tiger DVD Install.
the external firewire disk is formatted in HFS+
please help me
iMac Intel\iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

A boot disk for the Intel Macs needs to have a GUID Partition Table, the G4 needs the "Apple Partition Map". If you formatted the drive on your Intel Mac, you may need to repartition for the G4. In the "Partition" tab in Disk Utility, use the "Options..." button to choose the partitioning. Backup any data on the drive that you need, first.

Need to Install Safari 6.0.2 on a white Intel core duo iMac. Had to throw out 6.0.3 because of conflict with required software. Downloaded wrong version that was for Mountain lion (I am running 10.7.5). It installs but won't open.

Need to Install Safari 6.0.2 on a white Intel core duo iMac. Had to throw out 6.0.3 because of conflict with required software. Downloaded wrong version that was for Mountain lion (I am running 10.7.5). It installs but won't open, says it is for Mountian Lion.
Of course I can't throw it away since I get a message it's part of the sytem. I can show package contents and throw those away, but evidently not a good idea!!

Need to Install Safari 6.0.2 on a white Intel core duo iMac. Had to throw out 6.0.3 because of conflict with required software. Downloaded wrong version that was for Mountain lion (I am running 10.7.5). It installs but won't open, says it is for Mountian Lion.
Of course I can't throw it away since I get a message it's part of the sytem. I can show package contents and throw those away, but evidently not a good idea!!

10.4.7 update and external firewire problems with HD corrupion

Dear all,
Advised by Jpfresno I started this new topic about Tiger 10.4.7 update.
I will repeat my post and what was happening 2 weeks ago:
“In 5 years 10.4.7 update was a tragedy for my Powerbook Ti 667. When I update from 10.4.6 to 10.4.7 my 300 GB firewire drive gets corrupted, after repairing it with DiskWarrior and after connecting it to my PowerBook my computer freezes and I must shut it down via powerbutton. Safari also crashes after the update.
I just erase my Hard Drive and after that install 10.4 and update with combo to 10.4.7. But I had the same problems: finder freezes with connected firewire devices and also safari when browsing. I spend a week trying to solve the problem but no luck.
Yesterday and with no firewire devices, 10.4.7 freeze and I have big trouble in order to started my powerbook!!! Even when i insert the 10.4 install DVD it did not detected my HD. Finally I get it to work and install 10.4 and combo update to 10.4.6 and everything works. My external firewire drive and safari. I already diagnose my HD with disk utility, TechTool and directories with Diskwarrior and everything is ok.
I clone my 10.4.6 to firewire, boot from it and everything is working. I let my external drive connected and finder does not freeze.
My conclusion is that the problem is 10.4.7 update. It only give me problems and I was getting crazy with it. 10.4.6 is working good and I do not advice anyone to update to 10.4.7.”
Last week after reinstalling 10.4.6 I started to have HD problems with my Powerbook 667. I did a surface scan with TechTool I it reported bad sector. Then I done a zero disk format but after a second surface scan TechTool also reported bad sector. Then I take the decision to replace my internal HD. I bought a Samsung 40GB Hard Drive and installed it on my PowerBook. Then I have done a clean installation of 10.4.6 with all applications that I need and clone it to my hard drive with Intego Personal Backup software. Everything works on 10.4.6. and external firewire drive.
After that everything is ok. But I decided to test if my problem derivates from 10.4.7 update or from previous HD corruption. Then I install 10.4.7 update on my Internal Hard Drive. Everything is working good but after connecting my external Hard Drive the finder started to freeze!!!!!!!!!. After that I tried cloning HD to external firewire with Intego personal Backup. Everything was working good but when it was finishing the backup process started to give errors!! I started panic. I interrupted the backup process but after and after restart I found something strange with 10.4.7. The system started up, I login but I could not started any application!!!??? All my application died!
Then I have done one more clean installation of tiger and 10.4.6 update.
My conclusions are that the 10.4.7 update causes all the problems that I have on my PowerBook, because I used the same methods and same software/hardware on 10.4.6 and did no have any problem.
This last two weeks were very difficult to me. I tough that these problems do not happen with Apple computers but I was wrong!!! It is very hard to me to deal with it. I always said to my friends that I never had problems with Apple computers. I accept that a hard drive died because the use of it but I can not accept that a system update cause me 2 weeks of hard problems and make me loose precious work information! I always love apple computers and Apple OS but now I am disappointed
If anyone can explain what happen or have a solution for those problems?
Thanks for the comprehension and collaboration.
Best Regards
Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi, alsvieira.
There are some things you did not check in all of your troubleshooting:
1. Run the Apple Hardware Test (AHT) that came the affected computer. See my "Apple Hardware Test" FAQ for comprehensive advice on using the AHT in troubleshooting.
2. re: FireWire troubleshooting: Here is some general troubleshooting advice that may help if problems return with your FireWire drive:1. Review the AppleCare Knowledge Base document "What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire device".
2. If this problem occurred after installing a recent Mac OS X Update, and you are also unable to mount CDs, DVDs, or disk images perform the steps in this Mac OS X Hints article. This worked under Panther and may also work in certain situations under Tiger.
3. Power-on the FireWire drive before starting up (booting) your Mac.
4. Reset PRAM and NVRAM.
5. Resett the power-management chip in your Mac.
6. Try a different FireWire port. James Wiebe, CEO of WiebeTech, has published FireWire Port Failures in Host Computers and Peripheral Devices, a white paper providing backgroud information and technical analysis concerning the causes of failure for FireWire ports. This may provide additional diagnostic information.
7. Micromat TechTool Pro version 4 can test the FireWire bus in your computer: this tests the bus — not the ports — but if the problem is on the FireWire bus on the logic board, it should reveal it.
8. Check with the manufacturer of your FireWire drive or enclosure to see if any firware updates are available for such.
9. Hopefully, the partition map on the FireWire drive is not damaged. This can happen if the FireWire drive was not Ejected before being disconnected or powered off. If it still refuses to mount, you may need to employ data recovery tools or services: see my "Data Recovery" FAQ.Note that some of the information above is from the "FireWire Problems" chapter of my book, Troubleshooting Mac® OS X.
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Install Solaris on External Firewire Disk

Hello All,
I have a laptop running windows 2000 and I have a External Firewire Hard Disk of 60 GB. Now my question is, " Is it possible to install Solaris 8 on this external Firewire Hard Disk". When I tried installing, It did not find the external Firewire Disk, the only partition information, which solaris was displaying was from my internal Hard Disk.
Please give me clues/information, how should , I do it.
Thanks
Sanjay

First off, is any of your Macs an Intel Mac, that will complicate matters since they use a different hard drive formatting and need a different installation of Mac OS X.
Secondly, you can't directly install Mac OS X from an Intel Mac to an external hard drive, you have to do a clone with a software like Shirt-Pocket's Superduper for that.
If it isn't an Intel Mac, perhaps your Firewire hard drive isn't Mac OS X bootable? Not all are.
Here's a hint on making the Intel/PowerPC partition table:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2006061610374449
Also note, different Macs which came out after Tiger will only boot off the install disk which came with them, and not the retail disk. So you are best off cloning that Mac to its own partition.

Airport Extreme 802.11n upgrade options for early Intel Core Duo iMac

I have an iMac from mid 2006. I recently purchased a Timecapsule - partly for the wireless back ups, and partly to upgrade my wireless network to 802.11n. There is a software upgrade from Apple that upgrades older 802.11 a/b/g Airport cards in the iMac to 'n' standard. Here is the link:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/D4141ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mco=MjIzMDkzNA
The page states that the upgrade is compatible "If you have a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (except the 17-inch, 1.83GHz iMac)". What it doesn't tell you is that if you have an early version of the iMac (pre-Sept 2006) that shipped with the Intel Core Duo Processor (note - not the Core 2 Duo) then the upgrade will not work. I have also tried to install Airport Extreme updates (2007002 and 2008004) and these report that the hardware is not compatible. Doing some searching around these forums and others, the issue with the original Core Duo iMacs not being upgradeable to 802.11n is out there - shame Apple weren't more explicit.
I have seen that there are various USB based 802.11n adapters available. Whilst searching on this topic, I also came across a site offering various Mac upgrades, including an upgrade to the Airport card to upgrade wireless capability from 802.11g to 802.11n. It looks like a straight replacement for the internal card - link here:
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/productinfo.php?productsid=461
The company offering this is in the UK, but the product appears to be from a Sonnet, a US company. Does anyone out there have experience of installing this product (or having it installed) and can you comment on how it performs? Is it a seamless replacement for the original Airport card?

What it doesn't tell you is that if you have an early version of the iMac (pre-Sept 2006) that shipped with the Intel Core Duo Processor (note - not the Core 2 Duo) then the upgrade will not work.
If it says you need to have a Core "2" Duo processor, then it seems to me they are telling you very clearly that it will not work with the earlier Core (no "2") Duo iMacs.
The "late 2006" iMacs with Core 2 Duo (except for that one education model they mentioned) have wireless networking hardware that is 802.11n capable. When they were initially sold, Apple chose to NOT enable the "n" capability for some reason; maybe because the standard was still in flux and not enough testing had been done with the driver. Later, they enabled the "n" capability with a firmware update. But that was only possible because the wireless hardware was already capable of doing "n."
Earlier iMacs do not have this hardware so there is no way to enable it with a firmware or software update. 802.11g is plenty fast enough for Internet access (you won't notice a difference with "n"). If you are using Time Machine over wireless, it may take a while longer to do that initial backup (you could connected it by Ethernet cable when it is doing that initial backup), but subsequent backups are incremental, so the "g" versus "n" speed difference will not be as critical. Since your iMac is Core Duo (32-bit) and the future of Mac OS X is 64-bit, especially after Snow Leopard's release, it may be best to save your money and keep your iMac intact (not opened).

Upgrade card for Core Duo iMac to benefit from Airport Extreme

I just bought Airport Extreme for "n" speeds. I didn't realize it required Core 2 Duo for the fastest speeds. Does anyone know of an upgrade card I could install to my Core Duo iMac? Thanks.
iMac Core Duo, iMac Core 2 Duo, MacBook Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

There is an article floating around the web of
removing the 2 antennae extreme card from a Mac Pro
and installing it in a MacBook to get 802.11n
connectability, but the connection isn't reported to
be any better or faster.
Also, everything on the network must be 802.11n to
get the n speeds. A mixed network is slower.
I just took the Airport Extreme 802.11n module out of my Mac Pro and installed in my CoreDuo MacBook Pro. After applying the enabler patch off the CD, my network connection speeds report as 270mb connecting to a wide-band N-only Airport Extreme Base Station.
Performance boost on initial file transfer speeds are significant. A 203mb test file took 6+ minutes on my G-only network. The same file, on the N-only network took 49 seconds.
I would call that both better and faster.
Of course for those looking to use it on the mixed B/G/N networks to surf the web aren't going to notice any difference. I think a lot of people forget that regardless of their wireless network speed, even on the fastest of home broadband connections they're not going to be getting more than 8mbs coming into the WAN side of the network if they're on fiber cable. A DSL connection might get 2mbs. The internet itself for most will be a significant bottleneck for most users.
If you're doing a lot of transfers of large files on your internal LAN, the performance is worth the $49 part.
What's really bizarre is that Apple chose to put 100mbs wired ethernet ports on the Airport Extreme Base Station, which means when I hook a USB drive to it, I should actually get faster transfers wirelessly than wired. How bizarre is that?

Clean Installation Of FCE 3.5 UPGRADE On Core Duo iMac?

In a previous post Scott told me that when I get a new Core Duo iMac I will be able to install the UPGRADE version of FCE 3.5 straight away without needing to install the old FCE 3 first. (I will need of course to use my FCE3 serial number).
I have just contacted the UK Apple Store and was told that I would probably need to install FCE3 first! However, when I challenged him the rep wasn't too certain!
Does anyone definitely know whether I can just go ahead and install from the UPGRADE DVDs without needing my original FCE3 DVDs - apart from the serial number?
(Apologies to Scott for harbouring doubts but my middle name should have been Thomas!)
Ian.

EvanTPE550 wrote:
"Is a Win 7 32 virtual client an option?"
What VC are you using?
I use VMWare Player (free) and use it to create virtual clients as needed. Typically the virtual clients are "clean installs" from ISOs. VMWare has it so well mechanized that there's not much to it.
It's pretty quick and easy to install Player and give it a try. Another advantage to that approach is that there's only a single OS at the top level and backups can capture the whole mess w/out having to deal with 2 or 3 different OSs and their partitions.
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество

Upgrading a Core Duo iMac

Is there an "economical" way to upgrade a Intel Core Duo iMac to a Core 2 Duo iMac to be able to run Lion? I think I know what the answer is: purchase a new or refurbished Core 2 Duo iMac but I just wanted to check. I have a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and thought having the iCloud available for both computers would be helpful.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Vernon

Hi Vernon,
The processors on Apple's iMacs are not upgradeable, they are part of the logic board.
Apple has some very reasonable deals on refurbs here and even new iMacs are very affordable. You can also look for good deals for used machines on CraigsList or eBay. It takes some searching to find the right deal but if you work at it you can come up with something worthwhile.
Best of luck.

My 2011 intel dual core duo iMac apparently has "Airport" ans apparently it is "on" although the icon (upper right) is gray. I'm not sure what "airport" is

My 2011 intel dual core duo iMac apparently has "Airport" ans apparently it is "on" although the icon (upper right) is gray. When I click on the <gray> airport icon it says it's "on" and the option is to turn it off.
I'm not sure what "airport" is, and I have no idea what a router is supposed to accomplish. I got a "smartphone" (not an iPhone, an android) and at a "Smartphone class" at the senior center I was told I need a router.

Oly wrote:
OK, so, in installing a router could I attach the router to my Verizon DSL modem and have the iMac get it's internet from the router by wi-fi?
This way I could place the router 1/2 way between the only two places in my home where wifi devices (wife's tablet, my iMac) are.
Yes, exactly.
For the router I suggest you consider one of the three Apple AirPort Base Stations, not only because it will be easier to get help with using them on this website, but they are generally regarded as the most reliable wireless routers. Technical support directly from Apple is free for the first 90 days.
Slightly cheaper alternatives exist. I have tried other manufacturer's wireless routers, and I don't recommend them.

24" Core Duo iMacs and external Firewire disks

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for