Power Mac with Insomnia

Suddenly, my Mac refuses to go to sleep. It keeps trying, automatically, but a second later, fans whirr and the screen relights. I can't even make it go to sleep manually, it simply refuses and powers back up. I have no idea what's causing this, since I've not added any new apps or programs. HELP! I've had this Mac for several years -- is it just overwhelmed? It has run beautifully so far.....

Thanks to both Carolyn and Malcolm. Carolyn, I was able to locate two of the files you listed and dumped them -- no effect on the insomnia issue. Then I decided, to **** with it, and lugged the tower to the Apple store and the so-called Genius. Wouldn't you know it, Malcolm, but as soon as the tower was hooked up to a store monitor, keyboard and mouse, I was able to put the system to sleep. I figured the silly thing simply needed a car ride, like an infant. Genius suggested the same thing you did -- plug in all my peripherals one by one since it didn't seem to be a software problem. Back home, I plugged in the monitor, mouse and keyboard and presto! Problem back. I unplugged keyboard and monitor and plugged the mouse into the monitor -- same problem. I switched my old Pro Mouse with my daughter's Mighty Mouse and was able to put system to sleep. How odd. OK -- maybe the fault lay with my old keyboard and mouse which have had many years of abuse, including liquid spills and crumbs. Off to the store for new keyboard and mouse. Back home, plugged in all peripherals, including new purchases, booted up system and put to sleep. Same old problem. Now I'm really confused and irritated. To cut a long evening of multiple variations short, I finally discovered that if I plugged my new mouse into the monitor and plugged everything else into the tower, I was able to put system to sleep. Is that crazy? If anyone can explain to me what's going on, I'd be thrilled. Thanks in advance.

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How do I get OS X 10.6 pon my OS X 10.5.8 Power Mac with only a dual processor

how do I get OS X 10.6 on my OS X 10.5.8 Power Mac G5 with only a dual 2 GHz PowerPc G5 processor. I do not see how or where to buy 10.6. Am wondering if it won't download to a powerpc 10.5.8...any ideas how I can do it?

Hi, we're out of luck, it cannot run on G5s.
10.5.8 is as high as any G4/G5 can go.
10.6.x/Snow Leopard General requirements...
   * Mac computer with an Intel processor
    * 1GB of memory (I say 2GB at least)
    * 5GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)
    * DVD drive for installation
    * Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
    * Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
If it's a core Duo & not a Core2Duo, then it'll only run in 32 bit mode.
Lion/101.7 System requirements
    •    x86-64 processor (Macs with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, or Xeon processor.)
    •    At least 2GB of memory, I say 6 GB
    •    Latest version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8), with the Mac App Store installed
    •    At least 4GB of disk space for downloading, I say 50 GB.
Like Snow Leopard, Lion does not support PowerPC-based Macs (e.g., Power Macs, PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs (G3-G5), eMacs).
Lion also does not support 32-bit Intel Core Duo or Core Solo based Macs. Rosetta is no longer available in Lion, which means Lion no longer supports PowerPC applications.

G5 Power Mac with bad graphics card?

I have a 3 year old G5 Power Mac running 10.6.4 and a 30" Cinema Display. Sometimes, in the middle of a task, my display goes black. Can't bring it back and have to sometimes restart the computer 2-3 times before the display comes back on. This has also happened with my previous 23" monitor so it seems to be the computer. Is my graphics card going bad?
Thanks for any help.

Did you ever update the firmware?
http://support.apple.com/downloads/ATIRadeon_X1900_XT_FirmwareUpdate
Is the card clean? The X1900 is a notorious dust catcher, resulting in premature death due to over heating.
One example (of many):
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/radeonX1900XT/X1900XT_dustbuildup.html

Windows Safari Abends - Dual G5 Power Mac with Windows Virtual PC

Installs, but abends when bringing up my google home page.
Power Mac G5, Power Book G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I should have indicated Windows XP - sorry.

I have a G5 Power Mac with dual 1.8 processors. I recently upgraded the software fro 10.4.11 to 10.5.8 in order to get an iPad 2. Now my Adobe Photoshop 7 won't work any longer. All the newer Phtoshop versions only work with Intell processors. Does anyone

..know of an older Photoshop version that will work with my processors and system 10.5.8?
Thanks,
Don

I believe I had this issue with PS7 when I first upgraded from OS 9 to OS X 10.2 Jaguar.
Couldn't get PS 7 to launch at all.
I ended up having to update all of my Adobe apps to the CS edition to be sure every Adobe app functioned without a hitch.
I am not sure where you'll find older versions of Adobe software, though.
You could try and contact Adobe direct to see if they have any older versions on disc left in stock or not.
Short or that I really do not know.
PS CS 4 was the last universal version that works with PPC Macs.
Pixelmator used to be available for 10.5 Leopard, but it's no longer available for PPC Macs, either.
http://www.pixelmator.com/
Could contact them to see if they have the older version still available on disc or as a download.
This is a pay app, also.
Another pay app that may work for you is Graphic Converter.
http://www.lemkesoft.com/
The other options are the ones already mentioned in the previous reply.
Other than Pixelmator, the other offerings are quite limited compared to PS.
Here's the link to Seashore.
http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html
A free open source Unix replacement for PS is The Gimp
http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/
You need to install X11 in order to use this app.
If you installed 10.5, you'll need to check your Applications folder to see if X11 was installed by default.
If not you'll need to go back to your OS X 10.5 install discs and do a custom install and just install X11 from disc.
This will just add the additional program and extensions and will not erase your installation of OS X 10.5.

Where do I get an older version for a G5 Power Mac with 10.3.9 OS?

I tried to download 3.6.17 three times from one site but it said the file was corrupt and it would not install. I really hate the propriatory nature of macs... I hate their browser...but I can't seem to install Firefox nor IE? I'd much rather prefer Firefox.

OS X 10.4.11 will support iLife 08. iLife ’08 system requirements
OT

G4 Power Mac compatibility with new monitor

Have a G4 Power Mac with dual 1.25 processors and a Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card. What limits on flat panel monitors does this system have? 22", 24" or resolution?

What monitors work with a given graphics card is limited by the resolution the card will support. Size of the screen, as such, is irrelevant. The Radeon 9000 I believe supports up to 1920 by 1200 pixels via ADC or DVI and up to 2048 by 1536 via VGA (through a VGA extractor).

ITunes 10.4.1 does not function on my Mac with 10.5.8.

HELP HELP !!!!!!!!! I have a G5 dual processor Power Mac with leopard 10.5.8 installed. I have used itunes with my iphone and ipad for 3 years and never had any problems.
I updated to itunes 10.4.1 and now itunes doesn't show the ipad or iphone in the left column to sync. It automatically starts the itune app
when i plug in the iphone or ipad but that is all. I also can not access the itunes store now either. iphoto seems to work fine --it recognizes the iphone and ipad.
I have tried various things from uninstalling iTunes and deleating the Apple mobile device support and more. I downloaded iTunes 10.4.1 to my desktop
and reinstalled. Ended up with same issue. Someone said to use the diagnostics under the help meny in iTunes....That isn't availiable with mine.
If I use time machine to reinstall itunes 10.3.1 it syncs just fine and i then can access the store.
Has anyone any other ideas???????

I had a similar problem. My iTunes didn't start automatically when I connected any of my devices after the upgrade to iTunes 10.4.1.
I found I had to add the iTunesHelper.app in System Preferences->Users & Groups under my account on the Login Items tab.
You have to navigate to it in finder, because I couldn't seem to do "Show Package Contents" on iTunes.app in the Applications folder from the file dialog you get when you hit '+'.
Once you have opened the package contents of the iTunes.app then the iTunesHelper.app is in Contents/MacOS. I just dragged and dropped into the Login Items window, then ticked it to start on login.
Note, this will only start it when you log in, to start it immediately just double click iTunesHelper.app in finder.

I bought a new mac with software installed and my username will not update from another account?

I recently bought an new power mac with Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro Installed.
When I updated to the new OS X operating system, they need to be updated as well. And will no longer work.
But it says it is on another account. Not sure what account. How do I find out what account they are on? How or can I do I move them into my other account?
The Power Mac is registered to the account I am logged in on.

Before buying a second-hand computer, you should have run Apple Diagnostics or the Apple Hardware Test, whichever is applicable.
The first thing to do after buying the computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. You—not the original owner—must do that. Changes made by Apple over the years have made this seemingly straightforward task very complex.
How you go about it depends on the model, and on whether you already own another Mac. If you're not sure of the model, enter the serial number on this page. Then find the model on this page to see what OS version was originally installed.
It's unsafe, and may be unlawful, to use a computer with software installed by a previous owner.
1. If you don't own another Mac
a. If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) installation disc from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller—not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine is very old and has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. Preferably, install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.
b. If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the installation media that came with it: gray installation discs, or a USB flash drive for a MacBook Air. You should have received the media from the original owner, but if you didn't, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.
To start up from an optical disc or a flash drive, insert it, then restart the computer and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.
c. If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, you don't need media. It should start up in Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.
d. Some 2010-2011 models shipped with OS X 10.6 and received a firmware update after 10.7 was released, enabling them to use Internet Recovery. If you have one of those models, you can't reinstall 10.6 even from the original media, and Internet Recovery will not work either without the original owner's Apple ID. In that case, contact Apple Support, or take the machine to an Apple Store or another authorized service provider to have the OS installed.
2. If you do own another Mac
If you already own another Mac that was upgraded in the App Store to the version of OS X that you want to install, and if the new Mac is compatible with it, then you can install it. Use Recovery Disk Assistant to prepare a USB device, then start up the new Mac from it by holding down the C key at the startup chime. Alternatively, if you have a Time Machine backup of OS X 10.7.3 or later on an external hard drive (not a Time Capsule or other network device), you can start from that by holding down the option key and selecting it from the row of icons that appears. Note that if your other Mac was never upgraded in the App Store, you can't use this method.
3. Partition and install OS X
a. If you see a lock screen when trying to start up from installation media or in Recovery mode, then a firmware password was set by the previous owner, or the machine was remotely locked via iCloud. You'll either have to contact the owner or take the machine to an Apple Store or another service provider to be unlocked. You may be asked for proof of ownership.
b. Launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive—not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive.
c. An unusual problem may arise if all the following conditions apply:
          OS X 10.7 or later was installed by the previous owner
          The startup volume was encrypted with FileVault
          You're booted in Recovery mode (that is, not from a 10.6 installation disc)
In that case, you won't be able to unlock the volume or partition the drive without the FileVault password. Ask for guidance or see this discussion.
d. After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. If you're installing a version of OS X acquired from the App Store, you will need the Apple ID and password that you used. When the installation is done, the system will automatically restart into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
e. Run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. To upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, get it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the original owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed—you have to repurchase them.
4. Other issues
a. If the original owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're irrevocably linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Mac App Store Customer Service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.
b. If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able to authorize it immediately under your ID. In that case, you'll either have to wait up to 90 days or contact iTunes Support.
c. When trying to create a new iCloud account, you might get a failure message: "Account limit reached." Apple imposes a lifetime limit of three iCloud account setups per device. Erasing the device does not reset the limit. You can still use an iCloud account that was created on another device, but you won't be able to create a new one. Contact iCloud Support for more information. The setup limit doesn't apply to Apple ID accounts used for other services, such as the iTunes and Mac App Stores, or iMessage. You can create as many of those accounts as you like.

Three Monitors in a Power Mac

Dear All,
I have a Power Mac with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 card, I need to connect three monitors to that card. The main one and I need the second and third monitor having the same video or image, I already bought a DVI splliter and did not work, and also I used two mini DVI connecters and the regular DVI with three monitors and I am not getting the three signals.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions.
ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics

The Apple articles tell you the path Apple has laid out for your success, but not the entire picture.
To drive three displays off these cards, you need all converters to be ACTIVE, POWERED converters. The signal levels must be re-driven, and the Driver circuits to do this cannot quite get enough power off the card itself to do this.
This article on AMD/ATI web site has an additional descriptions and "Rules" in the paragraphs at the top of the page. The tables below list some qualified adapters under the correct headings.
Read Carefully: DisplayPort is not MINI DisplayPort, and there are headings for ACTIVE as well as PASSIVE included.
Also note that Amazon searches do not always return EXACT results.
"Dual-Link" contain double data signals, for servicing SINGLE displays that are wider than 1920 wide.
The Mac is completely capable of Mirroring displays in any combination on the same Display card.
The USB-to-DVI box BDAqua cited is an interesting way to get an additional display output, but is probably not needed since your 5770 can already support three displays if you use the right adapters. It is said to be s-l-o-w.

OS 9 won't install on Power Mac G5

OS 9 was pre-installed on my Power Mac G5 when I purchased it in May of 2004, enabling running of old apps in Classic mode, but was wiped when I later installed OS 10.5. When I recently got a new iMac to replace it as my main machine, I decided to restore OS 10.3 on the Power Mac with the restore disks that came with the computer (never before opened), and while it appears that "Classic" software was installed, no version of System 9 was installed, or even available among the restore disks. A friend loaned me what appears to be a generic retail version of System 9, but the "install" program on the 9 disk would not install it, and I could not get it in via the "Software Utility" that came in with System 10.3 either. Simply dragging the software onto the disk, of course, doesn't work. How can I get System 9 on this old Power Mac G5 running OS 10.3? Thanks!

Brodie's boy:
Welcome to Apple Discussion.
When you down graded from Leopard back to Panther, did you completely erase and reformat the HDD. I ask because you may not have OS 9 drivers installed. Go to Apple Menu > About this Mac > More Info > Hardware > ATA and in the right pane look to see if OS 9 drivers are installed. If they were installed is should show: OS 9 drivers Yes.
cornelius

Local Server Admin app on G5 power mac

Apologis if this is obvious, but just installed 10.5.8 server on a recycled G5 1.8GHz late 2004 power mac.
Seems to work well, but no idea how to locally admin the machine.
Trying to run Server Admin loads the program, but majority of menu options are greyed out and clicking 'new server admin window' doesn't actually open a server admin window. Means I can't manage any services locally on the machine. This is from the user admin account set-up during installation.
I can run it from an user admin account setup after installation was complete, but not from the account created during installation.
I can also run server admin remotely on my laptop.
Am I missing something?
Thanks
Andy

G5 Power Mac with OSX server (I think 10.5)....When using Alt or pressing C to start-up from a Snow Leopard installer......Am I missing something?
A Power Mac G5 CANNOT run Snow Leopard (10.6x).
Any use of a Snow Leopard disk WILL fail to install, format WILL produce a non-booting drive (without extra steps) and repair with a SL Disk Utility may worsen a damaged drive directory.
We also have a Time Machine backup from the Friday night before the failure.
However, we still can't start-up from the DVD to restore the Time Machine backup.
What you need to be doing is booting to the real, currently installed OS install disk and using the restore function available with it and Time Machine.
Without the install disc of the currently used OS, you're chances of recovery without reinstall may be slim.
Repair of a drive directory may be possible using fsck. Start by booting to Safe Mode.
Read more here:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk ...
Anyhow, stop mucking around with Snow Leopard in a G5.
Unless, of course, what you are really talking about is a Mac Pro, then we need to start all over again as a Mac Pro and a G5, save for a cosmetically similar case, are completely different.

Architects office server: Xserve or Power Mac?

We're about to purchase a dedicated server for our office. At the moment a maximum of 11 computers connect to the server locally. Over the next couple years this may go up to say 15 (all Macs except for one PC). We work directly off the server, the main applications being Vectorworks (CAD & modelling), and Artlantis (model rendering), iCal, Microsoft Office and Retrospect.
We also run an extranet but use is limited, just a wiki available when people are out of the office. And we have AFP running for a couple of people when they work from home, but they download files to their machine before working on them.
So our main requirement is local performance/speed over the network. The server is in use 8am-7pm each day so admin can take place at any other time and we don't need hot swappable drives. Our current disk use is 160 GB although only 80 GB of that is our actual data (although disk use seems to be accelerating with our ability to make ever more detailed models).
Our first thought was to get an Xserve but installation requirements has made us think again.
It'd be nice to have the ECC RAM but even this would seem of limited use to our type of needs.
Would the two gigabit ethernet ports make any difference to us?
Would there be any day-to-day advantage in configuring the Power Mac with two hard drives as opposed to one?

It'd be nice to have the ECC RAM but even this would seem of limited use to our type of needs.
ECC RAM isn't going to make much of a difference in a file serving situation.
Would the two gigabit ethernet ports make any difference to us?
Maybe. There is essentially no difference between the two built-in gigabit ethernet ports on the XServe and a PowerMac with a second Apple gigabit ethernet card installed, so you can get the same physical configuration on a PowerMac.
The only advantage, though, is that *if your switch supports it* you can configure the two ports into a single trunk, giving your server a 2GB connection to the network. This should improve performance when multiple users are accessing the server. This will only work if your switch supports 802.3ad Link Aggregation.
You also gain a degree of redundancy - if one link fails for any reason you can continue to use the second link.
Would there be any day-to-day advantage in configuring the Power Mac with two hard drives as opposed to one?
Day-to-day? no, but having two drives that are mirrored will make a big difference when one of the drives fail and your server keeps ticking.
With a single drive setup, if that drive fails your server is offline and you run the risk of losing the data on that drive. By mirroring the drives you can keep running with your data intact until it's convenient for you to swap drives.

Upgrading my Power Mac G4 (MDD) (to do 3D animation/video editing stuffs)

Hi,
I have a Power Mac with 1GHz PowerPC G4, 1 MB L3 cache, 1.25 GB DDR SDRAM.
I'm wondering, is it good enough to run those 3D softwares (Lightwave, Maya, Cinema 4D) and video editing apps (After Effects), if I upgrade it to 2 GB RAM.
I did a little googling and found that I can upgrade my processor to 1.6 GHz Dual. (from http://lowendmac.com/musings/07/0522.html)
My Mac is very slow for me. I'm wondering if I should upgrade it. I do not have the money to get a new mac as I'm still a college student. Doing a little freelance to get some money.
Should I do the upgrades (2 GB RAM, 1.6 GHz Dual) or should I wait for few more years to get enough money to get a new Mac?
By the way, about RAM, are there faster speeds for my mac? Or these are the only ones my Mac can support?
I'm using two 512 MB DDR SDRAM, PC2100U-25330 and the 256 MB DDR SDRAM, PC2100U-25330 that comes with the Mac.

That much upgrading could cost as much or more than a newer Mac that does what you need. The architecture of the MDD limits the number of processor upgrades available; the only one that OWC currently lists for the MDD is a dual 1.8 and it costs US$600. That's probably more than a 1G MDD is worth on the private sale market.
Even if you do upgrade the processor, you still have a relatively slow 133mHz system bus.
Your RAM is correct for your 133mHz bus. If you install RAM like PC2700 (used on the faster 167mHz bus of later MDDs) that RAM will clock back and run no faster than your 133 bus can support. So no gain.
If you figure out how much you are willing to spend on upgrades to your current computer, you might wish to check the market and see if that sum will buy you a used G5 machine or faster. You may be surprised.
I have upgraded processors before and was taken in by the processor speed numbers alone without considering the effects of the slow bus on an older machine. The end result was slower than I expected. I bring up these things only to caution you to consider every aspect. It's quite easy to put $1000 worth of upgrades into a $400 computer and end up with a $500 computer.

How to erase a hard drive on a i MAC Power PC with OSX 10.5.8 pre-intel?

I got this i Mac G5 Power PC with a 20" screen (no iSight) and last generation of i Mac repaired. Capacitors and a power supply did revive my machine and it works fine. I would like to donate my machine and want to erase the hard drive and make sure that all my personal data is gone.
I have the Leopard disk and I am told that if I booth my machine with the disk while holding the C key then I can go to Disk Utility and erase my hard drive.
Does anyone have a step-by-step approach to guide me through this?
Any help will be most appreciated!
Thank you,
Guy

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 Utilities menu.
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. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) 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 Security 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.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

Power Mac with Insomnia

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