About this Mac won't show serial number. What then?

I have an iMac running Mavericks where "About this Mac" won't show the serial number. I checked the "System Report" and no serial number there either. What is causing this? Guess I have to look at the physical number.

Was your logic board or hard drive replaced? In my case, the tech forgot to re-associate the logic board with my serial number and I also had none showing. He had to come back with a special tool to be connected to a particular Apple site and input it manually (fortunately, I had made a record of it).
If there was a repair/replacement, call Apple and/or take it to your nearest Genius Bar so they can take care of it. FWIW, it should also be visible on the bottom of the iMac stand, so take a look (after you shut down the Mac and unplug it) and copy it for future reference.

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Hi im new apple user ..Bought a mac 3 weeks before my mac does not show serial number on screen .Also I am unable to sign in imessage n facetime it gives network error like .! What can be this issue n how to solve it??

hi im new apple ,ac book pro user ..Bought a mac 3 weeks before my mac does not show serial number on screen .Also I am unable to sign in imessage n facetime it gives network error like though i can access web site n etc .! What can be this issue n how to solve it??

Hi,
If the machine is brand new I don't see why the serial Number is missing (it is entered on to a special chip at the factory)
However if the machine is a return and has been refurbished then the Logic/mother board may have been changed and someone forgot to put the info back to the new board.
for the Points
7:44 pm Thursday; January 16, 2014
 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

In "about this mac" menu it shows that i have 4,6GB on movies on my mac. but its not true. help please

hi everybody.
when i go to the apple symbol on the top left corner , and than on more info and than on storage, itshows me that various things which are ok, but also it shows me that i have 4,6 GB movies on my mac somewhere. i'm 100% sure there is not a single movie on my mac. how can i find out where this movies are , if i have them. could it be that i hide them by accident? or why does he show me that???
please see screenshot so you know what i'm talking about.
please help me.
thanks

hi,
i just done that, but the only movies it showed me are the movies from my iphoto library. small movies i made with my camera. there are not enough movies to ad up to 4.6 GB.
sorry.
any other suggestions please

About This Mac Storage shows wrong size

Hello, the story so far
Actions:
- MBA early 2014 (128GB) maverick updated to yosemite in November 2014
- fresh install of Yosemite via wifi in January 2015 - followed instructions as suggested here http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14243
Consequences after fresh installation:
- About This Mac > Storage shows total hard disk size 120GB, About This Mac > Storage shows 110GB
- About This Mac > Storage shows approx 9GB of apps. The actual applications folder size is far, far, far less than 9GB as showed in Terminal.
- About This Mac > Storage shows approx 1GB of data for videos, audio and photos. There are no photos, video, documents stored on MBA.
For the records, no device data was sync after fresh installation and the trash is being emptied securely.
I am new to MAC so I would be grateful if you could help me understanding why About This Mac > Storage is showing more data stored than Terminal and Finder and what I should do to rectify the discrepancy.
Many thanks of your understanding and support.
Cheers, puzzled_me

Kappy, may thanks. No difference, Get Info for the folders returns same data size as About This Mac > Storage
On a different note I have noticed that there are two Library folders under harddrive. See screenshot attached.
System/Library (6.8GB) folder contains subfolders that are also contained under Library (2.7GB) folder.
Could that be the problem?? Is that normal to have two Library folders??
Thank you for your help.

Why does my mac retina only show shared graphics card in about this mac?

Im completely new to mac's bought this mbp retina 15 and in about this mac it only shows intel 4000 shared 512mb graphics and in system report it does show the GT 650 M but when I novabenched it it only showed the intel one again.
ANY THOUGHTS?
APOLOGIES IF THIS HAS BEEN ASKED A MILLION TIMES

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Your Mac switches between graphic cards when needed, so About this Mac and third-party applications detect the graphic card that is being used at the moment, in your case, the integrated graphic card.
If you want to use your dedicated graphic card, open System Preferences > Energy Saver, and disable the option to switch graphic cards. Also, you can use gfxCardStatus > http://gfx.io

"About this Mac" (System Profiler) won't open

I have been having some strange problems with my computer. I got a new MBA a couple of weeks ago. I installed 10.6.4 with all the old folders and files from the old computer (MBA too Rev C).
Now "About this Mac won't open". It opened before I shifted everything over to the new computer.
The other thing is that an external USB drive won't mount. It mounts on the Powerbook I have and I can move files from and to it. However, on the new MBA, only the external drive appears. The other part is grayed out, and it doesn't mount, as I have said.
I don't know whether these two things are related or not but I thought I would just mention this other problem I just noticed at the same time. (I will make a new question about it.)
The external USB memory drive is formatted to MacOSX extended journal.
I did repair and verify on Disk Utility and these things checked out OK.
I just checked it on the old MBA (same OS) and it mounts fine and I can manipulate contents of the drive.
Is it something to do with firmware issues?
I just tested another USB memory drive and it has the same problem as the other USB memory drive.
I don't know what my next step is.
I want to use the newer MBA instead of having to use the older MBA and the Powerbook to use the USB memory drives. These USB memory drives are USB 2.0. As I have said they work fine on the other older computers.
On the older MBA, "About this Mac" works fine.
I haven't done that much since I migrated everything over to the new MBA. I have just been surfing the Internet. I don't know when the System Profiler failed to work. I tried to open it for the first time since I moved the contents of the old MBA over just now.

I opened System Profiler by launching it from Utilities.
It comes up with a different name to the admin name though. Maybe that's why it won't open from "About this Mac"?
For example, the computer's name when I set it up using the USB installer stick is "Harry Potter".
But the old MBA that I had was named "js".
When I install programs, it comes up with "Harry Potter", put in password.
However, when I look up the System Profiler information using Utilities, it comes up with "js's MacBook Air (2)".
Does that matter?
Is the name thing causing the problem with the "About This Mac" not opening?
I am really confused about all of this.
The information in the System Profiler is about the newer MBA.
Should I just not worry about this problem? And just open it up from Utilities if I need to look up System Profiler information?

Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full. When I go to "About this Mac - Storage" almost all of the HD is occupied by "Other". Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can remove some of it?

Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full. When I go to "About this Mac - Storage", it shows that it is entirely filled with "Other". Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can delete some of it?

First, reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data.
Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To really see everything, you have to run it as root.
First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
After installing ODS in the Applications folder, drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal.

How do I change about this Mac to reflect my new iMac info and not my old G4 info?

After loading Lion and finding out that none of my software is compatible with it, I reloaded Snow Leopard from the Mac OS X Install DVD. I then migrated my software and files from my old G4 Power PC. When I go to About this Mac, it is showing the profile for the G4 not for my iMac. How can I change this? I am also not able to print to my HP Laserjet 5000N. Was able to yesterday and can't today and I can't figure out why. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Now that you are back to using SL you should begin on a strategy to update your software. Eventually you will need to do it anyway so do it as time and finances allow. Then when you're ready to upgrade the OS you're more prepared.
The apps that will work in Lion are Intel & Universal apps, what doesn't work as you know are PPC (Power PC) based apps. You can tell what each app is by running System Profiler (Applications - Utilities - System Profiler) then click Applications on the left and finally look in the Kind column. The Kind column will clearly indicate if an app is Intel, Universal or PPC. Once you have identified the PPC apps then you can start your plans. Some upgrades may be simple and free some may be more painful.

About This Mac doesn't display system serial number!

Hello. I've had this for a couple of months now and it wasn't up to now that it really started worrying me.
Just a month after I bought my MacBook, I had to send it in for repairs (logic board fried... in one month!) and after I received it, I noticed something strange. When I open  > About This Mac and look for my serial number... it just... doesn't show any. It shows either SystemSerumb or SystemSerialNumb. Why? How? What?
How can I write down my computer's serial number as it's supposed to be written? I know the number: I have it on the laptop's box and "under" the battery, so I won't write it wrong...
Help!

There is no need to be concerned as software does not ask for serial numbers.
Software may look at existing hardware as CPU type or RAM or Disk space as well as OS version, previous installation, possible registration, but not the serial number.
Technically, a serial number is more a software designation of the hardware, not hardware itself.
Message was edited by: roam

Serial number? I have a MacBook Air (mid 2011). When I go into about this Mac, all it says for serial number is systemserial

Serial number? I have a MacBook Air (mid 2011). When I go into about this Mac or any of the other ways to look up the serial #,all it says for serial number is systemserial#. Is there a way to fix this?

About This Mac will show something like this:
Click on More Info... leads to some thing like this:
Serial Number is the second line from the bottom.

Serial Number in About This Mac and System Profiler says "System Serial#"

I recently had my hard drive and motherboard replaced under warranty.
I wanted to check the expiration of my warranty so I could buy AppleCare before my year is up. I went first to About This Mac, and then to System Profiler - both of them say my Serial Number is "System Serial#" - any ideas on how to get my real serial number displayed?

How strange! I'm not sure if this will show anything different, but you can also try to get the serial number via Terminal. Just open the Terminal application and copy in this command:
ioreg -l | grep IOPlatformSerialNumber

Serial number unavailable in about this mac

serial number unavailable in about this mac

" Yosemite Development Build"...." iMessage and other processes which require the internal serial # arent functioning "
Uhhh so a beta version of Yosemite? Some of those other processes have not been working even with the latest version of Yosemite.
The serial number should still be on the bottom. Even if the bottom is changed the Apple standard operating procedure is to write the serial number on the inside of the new bottom case.
" arent functioning because of this issue"
So it's asking you for the serial number?

Why is my MBP serial number and model year no longer displayed in "about this mac" (have NOT replaced logic board)?

I have not replaced or manipulated the logic board (or any other hardware) on my mid-2012 13 inch MBP. Under the "about this mac" tab, the serial number is no longer displayed (it now states "unavailable") and the model year is also no longer displayed. I understand that I can find the serial number and model year several other ways, I am seeking to determine why this happened and if it could indicate further problems.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thank you in advance for any help or insight.
JB

Man oh man. What a day. New symptoms again!
Lets start with the MBP dying in its sleep. I closed my MBP and left it for a few hours to come back to find it completely dead. Looked into this issue and with the help of the activity monitor cleaned up some things, turned off some sharing settings, got rid of some extensions, etc. Seems to have solved this issue.
Later on, I picked up my MBP while it was on with my left hand and the same display (horizontal lines), freeze, auto shutdown happened. Out of curiosity I tried to recreate the symptom. Sure enough, pressing (with little force) on the left side of the bottom case caused it to happen again. I researched this a bit and found several possible culprits (bad logic board, metallic sticker may cause shorts, bad RAM bank, google drive). The google drive one really surprised me, I removed google drive (worked for many people) and it did not fix the issue. A buddy had some good RAM for me to use today so I swapped it out and had the same issue. Decided to test the individual RAM banks and it turns out that the deepest bank must be faulty. Running with only one 4 gig stick in the outermost bank and the freeze, shutdown, beep issue is gone!
So, it seems I have fixed the dying in sleep problem and have a temporary work-around for the bad RAM bank. The SN issue remains.
I am going to try to find out what could make a RAM bank be faulty and if there is a way to repair it.
What are the chances that all this happens as soon as I try to find out why the SN is unavailable??
Below is the thread that I found interesting and useful.
2011 Macbook Pro 3 Beeps/Freeze

I looked up serial number in About This Mac and Support site says it isn't

I can't find my Apple Care plan or read the bottom of the computer but I looked up the serial number on my iMac under About This Mac. I copied and pasted it into the box to get a call for technical support and I get a message saying it is not the right number. Now what? How can I call them to get support without the number?

A valid Apple product serial number is eleven characters long, does not contain the letters I or O—though the numerals 1 and 0 are valid characters—contains the numeral 0 though 9 in the third position and the numeric string 01 through 52 in the fourth and fifth positions.
On your model, it's found screened beneath a barcode on the underside of your foot, or can be found as you were instructed using About This Mac or using the System Profiler application. If your logic board has been replaced and is not the original unit installed at the time of manufacture, your logic board may not have the serial number embedded in firmware. In that case, it is not available to display using the About This Mac dialog or the System Profile application.
The most reliable source of such information is typically the number screened on, inscribed or affixed by label to your Apple product.

HT1349 I received a new logic board and now my computer has no serial number under 'about this mac', and I need it to submit questions to apple. What do I do?

I can't find the serial number for my mac after getting a new logic board on recall for my macbook pro.

You can open System Profiler and see if it contains your serial number.
Or have the computer near a previous connected Wifi or on a Ethernet cable to your router.
Reboot holding the D key down for like what would appear to be 10 minutes until Hardware Test appears on the screen.
You can run a test if you wish.
There is a pane at the top if selected will give you your new serial number.
You also can use Terminal
You can quickly retrieve any Macs serial number via the command line by using the following command string:
system_profiler |grep "r (system)"
The command results will look something like this:
$ system_profiler |grep "r (system)"
Serial Number (system): C24E1322XXXX
If that fails you can give them your MAC address which is unique to each machine and there are records at Apple with it.
Open Utilities > Terminal. Copy, paste and press enter:
For your computers Ethernet (wired) MAC address: ifconfig en0 | grep ether
For your computers Airport (wireless) MAC address: ifconfig en1 | grep ether

About this Mac won't show serial number. What then?

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