ICal alarms, a deteriorating problem?

This problem of iCal's failure to send alarms when an event comes due, has been reported in previous threads and in other forums. But now I think that this situation grows worse over time. Here is my experience.
In Tiger, and the iCal version I was using then, I could set up an event in iCal and have it send me an email when the event was coming due. This email got sent even if iCal and Mail applications were not left running.
I upgraded to Leopard (10.5) and email alarms would not get sent under these conditions (iCal and Mail not running) but a message could be sent to the desktop.
I then updated to 10.5.1 and the email alarms seemed to be working for a while. Then at some later date, the email alarms stopped getting sent again, but the alarms to the desktop still kept working.
I worried that something else I installed was interfering.
Now, however, I find that neither email alarms or alarms sent to the desktop will happen if both iCal and Mail are shut down. (My computer never is off and never sleeps, only the screen is set to blank with inactivity.) I haven't tested thoroughly but it seems that when iCal is started running next time, there is a flurry of activity as it tries to catch up. I really haven't installed anything new in the period that this latest failure mode has developed.
I have sent feedback to Apple and would have expected a fix after so much time (10.5.1 has been with us for quite some time) but now wonder how widespread this problem is, since discussion seems to have fallen off.

daniellight,
Try downloading and installing the Mac OS X v10.6.5 Update (Combo).

Similar Messages

  • ICal alarm problem

    I set alarms for most calendar events. They work fine if I have the computer turned on when the alarm is scheduled to go off. However, alarms will not show up if they are scheduled to go off when my Mac is not turned on. For example, if I set an alarm for tomorrow to go off at 10am (for an event later in that day), and I start up my computer at 11am, the alarm doesn't show up. I have the "turn off alarms when iCal is not open" box unchecked. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for any help.
    The Entourage alarm will show all alarms that were due (or overdue) when I start up my Mac. I'm assuming that iCal should function the same way? Other than this alarm business, I prefer the Mac Mail/iCal/Address Book system, so I would like to continue using them.

    Not really, as it works for other people. The next thing I would try is to make a new user, log on as that user, make sure that iCal and Scheduler are in the startup items, and create a couple of events with alarms. Shutdown and restart after the alarms should have fired and log in as the new user.
    If the alarms fire, the problem is in some setting or file in your normal account. If not, it is something system-wide. Post back anyway. You can get rid of the new user again - some people keep a spare around for tests like this, but I think it is better for such tewsts to be run in a newly-created account.
    I will be away for a couple of weeks, likely with no internet access, so I suggest you start a new topic with a summary of everything tried so far. Maybe someone else will spot something.
    AK

  • How prevent iCal ALARM reminders popping up when not wanted?

    Sometimes I don't want to see my alarm box popping up to remind me of things.
    Suddenly, & frequently, the pesky iCal Alarm box pops up in the middle of the screen with another preset alarm reminder, insisting on my immediate attention. Like when I'm watching a video on my mac.
    Then I've got to get up and move it out of the way, but as soon as I touch it, the video which I've set to full screen shrinks to small & I've got to click it to big again. This is just one of the inconveniences.
    Please, how can I set the iCal alarm to give it a rest for a while and save those reminders for later
    I've made lots of iCal alarms to remind me of things throughout the day. so these interruptions are a constant problem.
    Q#2: Why doesn't my ALARM BOX show active the Yellow Button so I could relegate it to the side Dock? Or even the Green Button, so I could enlarge it when I want to see all my open reminders without scrolling?
    Instead, My ical ALARM BOX only has the Red button, which closes it out and loses all those reminders therein until it's their time again.
    Oh, dear, I don't think anybody can solve this problem.
    Or
    can
    you?

    You can look at Adblock Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/1865
    You need to subscribe to a ''Filter list'' (e.g. the ''EasyList''): http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions
    Adblock Plus forum: https://adblockplus.org/forum/

  • Ical alarm default email is incorrect, how do I change it to match "my card" in address book.

    When I create a new event in Ical the default email that appears in the ical alarm drop down menu is incorrect.  I have changed My Card in Address Book to match my new email address but ical still wants to use the old email address.  I have also completely deleted the old email account from Mail too.  Does anyone have a solution to this problem?

    If you've updated the account to have the correct email email address on the other devices tap on the old id id in Settings > iTunes & App Store and log out of it and then log back in with the updated version of the account so as to 'refresh' the account on them.

  • ICal alarm shutting me down

    I am pretty sure I will be reinstalling Leopard because of a reoccurring iCal alarm that pops up randomly several times a day. I thought I would check to see if you geniuses had any ideas, The Apple geniuses felt I would be better off starting over.
    If I put the laptop to sleep the alarm always appears when when the computer is re-woken this also happens on restarts. The alarm has no content in the window that appears but it is a complete processor hog, if I walk away from the computer while it has become active it will grind the machine to a complete stop. Activity monitor will show the memory use for the process steadily climbing to over a gig. The only way to close it is to run a script that I have called "kill ical widow" which was created for me by a apple genius. Any ideas?

    Okay, the only fix that eventually came from this, just to wrap things up for educational purposes... I finally had to bring in to a Mac Genius appt., and after keeping my computer for five days, they reinstalled the OS. And to be sure this never happens again, I've also turned off all alarms as suggested. Reinstalling the OS (am now at 10.5.6) has brought a whole other host of problems. They initially returned my laptop with none of my data on it, and I lost all of my additional programs I'd installed on the computer, some of which I don't have authorization codes or discs for anymore. And iTunes has yet to "find" any of my music (or all of my playlists for that matter), despite all the normal fixes. Going back for 3rd Mac Genius appt. today. Very frustrated. But word to the wise: do NOT allow a Mac Genius that may or may not know what they're doing to reinstall your OS without properly backing up your computer. I couldn't back mine up for a while b/c this iCal alarm issue was disabling to the point I could not even open anything on the computer anymore. But please do yourself a favor, and get a back-up and run it ROUTINELY!!!

  • ICal Alarm show event button broken

    When an iCal alarm reminder pops up, clicking the button to show the details of the event has no effect. This is a new problem since using the transfer wizard to move to a new computer.
    I tried deleting all the iCal preferences and searching the discussions, and to no avail. Any ideas of things to try or similar experiences?

    Hi,
    Try the Applescript "Fix Todo Alarms" on this page:
    http://www.nhoj.co.uk/applescripts/
    Best wishes
    John M

  • ICal alarm malfunction

    My alarms work fine if I happen to have the computer on when the alarms go off. But, if an alarm is scheduled to go off at 4pm, for example, for an evening event, and I turn the computer on at 4:30, the alarm does not go off. This has caused me a few problems with missed meetings.
    I have the "turn alarms off when computer is off" box unchecked. Both iCal and iCal alarm scheduler are in my startup items. I have tried deleting all iCal plists, and the cache file, and restarting with no success.
    What am I missing? any suggestions?

    A Eureka! For some reason, on this Mac, if I check the preference box "turn off alarms when iCal is not open" it works fine. Now, if I have an alarm set to go off at 10:00am and I start up my computer at say 10:30am, the 10am alarm shows up just fine.
    The wording on this preference is a bit confusing, but from other discussion comments, it seems that other Macs are working with the box unchecked.
    Anyway, I'm a happy camper.

  • ICal Alarm - Pass Event data to AppleScript?

    Is there a way that a script called by an iCal alarm can be passed event data as parameters?

    This is a quick one I knocked up a while back to see if it was possible. The problem is that iCal doesn't tell the script what event triggered it, so you have to go looking ...
    click here to open this script in your editor<pre style="font-family: 'Monaco', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; overflow:auto; color: #222; background: #DDD; padding: 0.2em; font-size: 10px; width:400px">(*
    called from iCal as on alarm, will speak the title of the alarm event
    won't work for repeating events
    AK ITCarlow Nov 2004
    set Now to current date
    -- Adjust FuzzSeconds to suit; if too big, close events will speak several times
    set FuzzSeconds to 15
    tell application "iCal"
    set MyEvents to every event of every calendar where ((start date of it) ≥ (current date))
    repeat with ThisEvent in MyEvents --scan the list looking for events that have triggered us
    try
    set MinutesBefore to (trigger interval of open file alarm of ThisEvent) as number
    set TriggerInt to (Now - ((start date of ThisEvent) + 60 * MinutesBefore)) --notionally 0 for firing event
    if (TriggerInt < FuzzSeconds) and (TriggerInt > (-FuzzSeconds)) then
    say (summary of ThisEvent as text) & " at " & (start date of ThisEvent as text)
    --could say other fields too eg location, description ...
    end if
    end try
    end repeat
    end tell
    </pre>
    AK

  • ICal Alarms not working in iPod

    Around six months ago iCal alarms stopped working on my iPod.
    They do not even show up when I view a To Do or Event on my iPod. This happened all of a sudden and I have never changed any settings other than installing standard updates. I cannot recall if it was around the same time as an update. I use iCal 2.0.5 (1069). I was using a 60G iPod when this occurred. My new 80G has the same problem.
    Any ideas? I have searched everywhere(!) to no avail.
    I am very keen to get this feature back. Any suggestions most welcome. Thanks in advance!
    (This is my first post/question on here. I apologise if I have posted in the wrong place or asked a stupid question.)

    Believe me when I saw I have tried everything! I am not technically minded though I have covered all bases. I am just anxious to get this great feature back. It just seems strange that I am the only one with issues. This happened with my 60G then right through to now. I am actually on my second 80G as the first's battery failed after a month.
    Is it an issue with my Power Book? I seriously have not change any settings - EVER. Except for the standard updates.
    Thanks again for your quick reply Anyone got any ideas?!

  • No Alarms Work/ical alarms not firing. I have a solution that worked for me

    If anyone has had a look at this thread and still not found a solution...
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1215043&start=30&tstart=0
    try this (busycal)...
    http://www.busymac.com/index.html
    I was having serious problems with my iCal alarms. They just weren't firing reliably, and I tried so many things to get it fixed. Nothing worked until I installed busycal. it's perfect! It's been totally rock solid for 20 or so days and I just purchased a full licence. Has very neat features like LAN sharing and google cal syncing. Even if it didn't need these features, I'd still use it because I rely on alarms firing, and busycal does it without issues. Support is also excellent (they email quickly, with accurate/helpful replies, and they've even made suggestions to me about settings I can change to make everything run more smoothly. amazing!) the quality of support, frequent updates and reliable alarms is worth the small registration price along!
    and no, i don't work for them, i'm just a very happy user and hopefully it will help some other frustrated ical users out there!
    alex =)

    try busycal support. they really are excellent and i'm sure they can help u work towards a solution. click "email support" in the busycal help menu.
    alex

  • Ical alarms still opening off screen

    Are other people still having problems with Ical alarms opening up off screen After the 10.4.9 update?
    Why would Apple say that it is finally fixed in their descriptions when it is Not?
    I wonder who at Apple tests these things and how they get their results?

    Add me to the list. I'm still getting my alerts almost completely off screen. As a software tester by trade, I'm a bit insulted that Apple would say it was fixed when it quite clearly is not.
    G5 Dual 1.8   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   23" Cinema Screen

  • ICal alarms mostly off screen

    all my iCal alarms show up mostly off screen. I've tried deleting the cache, but I guess I'm deleting the wrong one.
    How can I fix this annoying problem?

    This solved the problem for me:
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3471590#3471590

  • Not receiving iCal alarm

    My iCal alarms are being sent (I can see them in my sent folder in Mail), and they are showing up in my gmail account online. However, they aren't showing up in my inbox in Mail, and I'm not having trouble receiving any other emails.
    What could be the problem?
    Thanks.

    Joe F. wrote:
    > Joe F. wrote:
    >> I've recently completed an install of ZfS MMS and I'm trying to
    >> configure a rule for email alerts, but I can't seem to get the email
    >> to generate. I can generate a trap with no problems, and it will show
    >> up the the active alert log. In my rule, I've got it set to trigger
    >> on Critical and Major events, and the specific trap that I am
    >> generating. Source address is set for the specific server I am
    >> generating the trap on and there are no time intervals set.
    >>
    >> Under Actions, Enable is checked, I've got SMTP configured to our SMTP
    >> server, From has my name, To has my email address, and I filled in
    >> text for Subject and Message Body.
    >>
    >> So what am I missing here? Recently, I've noticed that the trap I
    >> generate isnt showing up in the active alarms list, but I see it show
    >> up on the Ticker. Any reason why it wouldnt show up as an active
    >> alarm? I dont have any filters active...
    >
    > Well, I found the log, here is the error I'm getting:
    >
    > SMTP_Client: SMTPClient Submit Exception for SMTPServer mail.xxx.xxx,
    > Port 25 because java.lang.NullPointerException
    Figured it out. Relaying was my problem. We have an internal SMTP
    server that I should have been pointing to...All is working...

  • MY iCal alarms do NOT work...

    MY iCal alarms do NOT work since January 2009! Not during Leopard and not now in Snow Leopard. I have tried desperately to get my sounds back and checked ALL preferences for iCal. Anyone else have this problem and WHAT can I do about it? What is the "fix" for this stupid glitch???? 911...

    +*MY iCal "Update" to those who might experience the same i-s-s-u-e of no alarms popping up and no sound either.+*
    I did go to my Apple Sore and traipsed up to the Genius Bar with my 24" iMac... AFTER I made a reservation online of course. I do have that great little AppleCare Protection card.
    The good news is that Brad, my genius, at the Apple Store Genius Bar fixed my problem! My iCal now pops up my alarms which I "hear" clearly and on time! *Problem fixed in 5 minutes. WOWZER!* He also told me the iCal problem wasn't my fault, there were some files he needed to delete in my library and cache folders and that the problem seemed to be just a glitch that shouldn't happen again. He didn't know why the files where there... they just were. Thank you, Geniuses at my Apple Store in the Millenia Mall, Orlando, Florida.
    Problem in iCal solved. *So this is my story and I'm sticking to it. ;-)*

  • Duplicate ical alarms using external boot drive

    I have an external firewire drive that I boot Leopard from. I carry it between home and work. At both home and at work I have similar, but not identical Mac Pro (Intel) desktop machines that stay put. In either location I can just boot from my external firewire drive and have all my OS environment and files with me. I've been doing this for months.
    Every since I've set it up, though, I have had a problem with iCal alarms. If an iCal alarm goes off, say, while I'm using my external HDD at home, and I dismiss it, it never shows up again at home, even if I reboot. But if I then take the HDD into the office and boot from the external HDD there, all the alarms that went off and were cleared at home, show up all at once when I boot up at work. It also happens in reverse -- alarms cleared at work show up the next time upon boot at home. Note that I'm running from the same boot disk in both cases. I don't sync multiple calendars with .Mac.
    This is particularly annoying because I have some automator ical scripts that are triggered once/day and if they run at home late at night, I don't want them running again when I boot up the next morning at work.
    Anyone know a fix/workaround for this. I searched the iCal prefs, iCal help, this discussion list, and did a google search to no avail.

    You can use the hardware, but will have to repartition and reinstall the OS from the disk shipped with the new Mac Mini.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303220
    If you create a disk image of the Lacie on your Mini, you can later use setup assistant to restore users and applications from that image.

Maybe you are looking for