ICal Alarm Editing Bug, not fixed yet in 10.5.3?

Question

Hi All Mac users,
I have noticed this bug for quite a long while, which I cannot remember from when, but I think it was from around 10.3 or 10.4. I am used to it, and can deal with this since I know it. But, it still seems to persist even after updating to 10.5.3, and I have finally wanted to raise the issue up to this forum, in order to get it fixed, or obtain knowledge on how to fix this in my Mac.
When you double-click or Command+I an event in iCal, the detail of the event shows up, and you click "Edit" button at the bottom to edit it. Most of my events' "Alarm" are set as "Alarm with Sound". To edit this, you click right next to "Alarm" to bring out the pull-down menu. You can change "Alarm with Sound" to "No Alarm", etc. Also, you will see a list of the latest settings you used at the bottom of this pull-down menu, with date, time and sound, etc. to choose from.
*My Bug Phenotype:*
ALL of the listed settings in this pull-down menu are EXACTLY *4 hours* (FOUR HOURS) later of what that actually sets and do. For instance, I set a new event at "2008/6/1 10:00, playing Susumi sound". This setting will newly show up in the for-mentioned pull-down menu. But, because of a bug or by an unknown reason, within the list it shows "2008/6/1 14:00, playing Susumi sound", showing the time 4 hours later. Continuously, if you edit another event's alarm setting, and choose the previous setting of erroneous "2008/6/1 14:00, playing Susumi sound" that shows up from the pull-down menu, the event you're editing will actually be set to "2008/6/1 10:00, playing Susumi sound", which is correct with the very original setting I first used, but then again it is 4 hours ahead of what you see in the pull-down list. Once set, all event will show the proper Alarm time set, and work at the correct timing. It seems that there's a bug just in this pull-down menu showing the previous settings, adding and showing 4 hours later to what it should be, but also correctly stores and set the original time.
Does everybody understand what I tried to explain?
Does anyone else have the same experience?
Is this just me?
Is it always 4 hours?
Any way to fix this?
Is this an iCal Bug, to be fixed?
Thanks for your help in advance!
Dr.MORO
PS: Is there a way to directly (Online) way to tell (email, post, etc) this problem to Apple?
PPS: I have used many different disk maintenance tool of most kinds, both free and commercial, but nothing has helped.

Answer 1

Dr.MORO,
1. Try refreshing the iCal plist file. Navigate to your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences Folder, and find the com.apple.iCal.plist file. Drag that file to your desktop, log out/in or restart.
2. What time do you have set in your iCal Time Zone Window?
3. Have you tried to change your settings in System Preferences...>International>Formats>(Region:) (Dates) (Times)? Customize... Quit iCal before changing these settings, and repeat #1 above before opening iCal.
4. Do you have a default time checked in iCal>Preferences...>General>Add a default alarm to all new events and invitations?
5. Do you have "Turn on time zone support" checked in iCal>Preferences>Advanced?
6. Do you have the proper "Time Zone" selected in System Preferences...>Date & Time?
7. Are you syncing any of your computers?
PS: Is there a way to directly (Online) way to tell (email, post, etc) this problem to Apple?
Only through AppleCare, but your equipment is probably no longer covered. As far as I know you could still use AppleCare but it would cost an arm and a leg for phone support since you no longer have a contract. Do you have an Apple Store or Authorized Apple Provider nearby?
PPPS?: This is my second post on this iCal issue this year, last time on May 30, 2008, but no one seems to care...
Since Apple Discussions participation relies entirely upon other users for possible solutions, it is my guess that no one had the same problem or could offer a reasonable solution. Sorry to hear that you did not get a response to your previous post, but I care.
;~)