Screen goes out sometimes for no apparent reason
Sometimes when I open my MacBook when it is in sleep mode, it comes on but the screen is dark. If I look at it from the side I can barely see my screensaver picture and desktop items. It seems like it's working normally, but I can't see anything. The brightness key (F2) doesn't do anything. I have to turn it off and on again.
This is annoying, but it's also a problem because of something else I want to ask about. I have a huge music library, which I keep on an external hard drive that I normally leave connected to the computer. If I have this screen problem, when I turn it off and on, it tells me I didn't disconnect the hard drive properly. (I can't eject it if I can't see the screen.) Once that happens, it seems like the only way I can get the hard drive to work again is to connect it to a PC -- NOT a Mac. We have a Mac desktop in the house, but it still shows it as unusable if I connect it to that Mac. But if I take it into work and connect it to a PC, it's fine and then it will work again on the Mac. This is frustrating as I need to do this about once a month for one reason or another. Is there any easier way to get the external hard drive working? Thanks for answering either of these questions.
If you cant use the F2 button, I'd suggest trying your very best to look at the screen from an angle, go into system preferences, (preferably from your dock as its a bigger icon to click) and you can adjust the brightness from there, this will save you from having to turn your MacBook off and on again and prevents corruption of your external drive.
System Preferences > Hardware Section > Displays > Brightness Bar
I'd suggest calling apple, best to be the nearest store to you.
Hope this helps, regards.
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Oddly enough, the size/format of some names can make odd things happen with network Time Machine backups, and at least one of yours may be involved. See #C9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Do your self a favor, though. Even if you get this working, do not depend on these backups 100%. There's a reason Apple doesn't support it -- it's not reliable.
There are any number of threads here and in the Airport Extreme forum similar to this one: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2483045
If you still want to do it, see Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). -
Monitor goes into Standby for no apparent reason
System Spec:
AMD 2800+ CPU
MSI KT6V LSR A DDR 400 Motherboard
1GB RAM
ATI Radeon Sapphire 9600XT 256MB DDR AGP
Windows XP SP2
During normal PC use, the system switches to standby mode for no apparent reason. The leds and fans are still running on the PC.
The BIOS settings for power save are switched off.
There is no pattern, sometimes it happens quickly after boot and sometimes it takes a while.
Can anyone suggest what is wrong?Take a look at this thread, I to had the same problem with the monitor turning off but the computer continue to run. Solved it by the introduction of the Enermax from using the ThermalTake that had 18A on the +12V rail. Hope it helps.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=75922.0 -
Printer goes off-line for no apparent reason
<Repeat posting - I couldn't find "post new topic" links when I first put it up over the weekend - administrators please remove my post at message ID=8913195>
For about five days I have not been able to print over a home network from either an iMac (PowerMac G5, or an Intel-based MacBook Pro. My wife's WinXP PC prints no problem.
The first few times I tried, the printer progress bar would just hang at 98% complete, but now when I clear stalled jobs and try to print a new one, the printer goes offline within a couple of seconds. Clicking on "Start jobs" does no good, it just shuts off again.
I have installed security updates recently, but don't remember exactly if this was done since I last printed successfully. Can anyone tell me if the updates could be screwing with my printer connection and/or is there another explanation?
Hardware and system information:
1) Both Macs are running OS10.4.11 and both the PPC and the Intel machine behave the same.
2) Both Macs are using their AirPorts to connect to the router, but when I rebooted I shut off AirPort and use ethernet for the iMac, it still goes offline as soon as I try to print.
3) The router is an Actiontec MI424WR (from Verizon). I read some complaints about this before getting it in March, but haven't had any connection problems which I can attribute to the router.
4) Both Macs ping the printer no problem. (Printer is configured with a static IP, and Boot IP and DHCP are turned off to keep from confusing the slow-witted Windows cousin.) System Profiler knows the printer is there (information displayed in System Profiler):
Magicolor DL2430:
Status: Idle
Print Server: Local
Driver Version: 1.3.0
Default: Yes
URI: lpd:///
PPD: KONICA MINOLTA magicolor 2430 DL
PPD File Version: 1.3.0
PostScript Version:
5) I don't regularly share files between PowerBook and iMac, so I doubt this is due to a real security issue.FYI - If you read through the details about troubleshooting the network, you will realize that this is not the "exact same problem" since your printer isn't recognized. Since you can print a couple of pages, I doubt it's a driver or the network, but in getting ready to call customer service at Canon, you might want to try a few of these tests:
1) Launch System Profiler: click on the blue Apple icon in the top left corner and select "About this Mac" and then click on "More Info..." (lower button).
In the left-hand column of the System Profiler, toward the end of the Hardware list, select Printers. This should give you details of any recognized printer hardware. If it's there, the problem isn't a connection, so it ought to be due to printer setup or configuration.
(You can highlight and copy the information displayed, so you might want to save this in a text file and/or print it out. Tech support people can be remarkably resistant to recognizing information which tells them that you don't need to waste time making sure it's plugged in, checking your cables, etc.)
2) Get your printer user manual and see how to set the network settings. Try what I did - set the IP address to a fixed number (e.g. 192.168.1.199) instead of using DHCP to dynamically reassign an IP # after reboot. Write this number down and remember it.
3) Reboot your computer and router (some of this may be unnecessary, but we mere mortals never know which are required to get network recognition and which aren't) Now check your printing with a document with little content but which runs over 3-4 pages.
4) Go to your Applications directory in a Finder panel and open the Utilities folder, then launch Terminal. At the prompt type:
ping <IP number, i.e. 192.168.1.199 if that's what you set it at>
If you get a series of responses at ~ 1 sec intervals ("64 bytes from IP address..."), this confirms hardware and network connections are OK, and you should be looking at configuaration problems.
5) Even though it's getting to seem like the sound of one hand clapping, keep checking back here. Also, try Canon if they don't want $70 an hour to tell you "Oh, we don't know much about Macs!) There may be one or two non Mac-allergic folks on their staff.
Good luck! -
IMac screen keeps waking up for no apparent reason
Here's a fun one. So we all know you can put your Mac screen to sleep by pressing controlshifteject on a Mac keyboard. This is what I usually do with my iMac as I tend to have it doing something at night (be it downloading, processing large files, ect.) but lately the screen only seems to want to sleep for about 10 minutes or so before it will turn right back on.
My old MacBook Pro used to do this but you could actually dim the screen right down to zero anyway so it wasn't that big of an issue. You can't do that with an iMac.
I've heard mention that it might be bluetooth related and I am using an Apple bluetooth keyboard and Magic Mouse but it seems to be doing it much more often of late. I thought it might be a battery issue but even with fresh batteries the issue continues.
Anyone know what's going on?Next time you want to put your iMac screen to sleep, try switching off the Magic Mouse, wait for the notification to come up on the screen telling you the Magic Mouse has been disconnected, wait for it to disappear then press the keyboard shortcut to put the screen to sleep. See if that helps and we'll go from there. If that doesn't help, can you just say wether the screen always turns back on the same time every time?
Hope that helps
David -
I have a iPad, 32g, and for no apparent reason, the screen goes black and whatever app I am using is closed on me. It seems to be happening more and more frequently, especially when loading apps, or trying to watch a YouTube video. I try to open safari or youtube again and it will often crash several times before it may or may not decide to load for me. It is extremely annoying and getting to the point where I can not use it
Standard troubleshooting steps in order are as follows:
Power the iPad off and on.
An iPad reset, which is done by pressing and holding the home button and the sleep/wake or on/off button simultaneously until you see the Apple logo and then release.
Restore your iPad with iTunes from your iPad's backup.
Restore your iPad with iTunes as a new iPad or not from your iPad's backup.
If no change after the last step, your iPad has a hardware problem. -
Recently having problem with flickering on monitor (viewsonic vg2436wm). When coming out of sleep mode. It will flicker, the screen goes gray, sometime out. Have to press power button to get screen on. Problem stops. Getting more frequent. After sometime problem stops. My system is a Mac Mini 2010, 2.4 intel core 2 duo, 2 GB, running OSX10.8.5
See if it's related to this...
The 2012 macs (and later apparently) not waking normally from sleep after hours being in sleep. (noted here ...
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/feb13/022813.html#2012macswontwake
"Why 2012 iMac/2012 Mac Mini won't Wake After Hours of Sleep (Hibernates/Powers Off)")
The sleepimage file still reappears even if never slept. Delete it (hibernate off, etc) - within minutes its back.
A note on that here - http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/Chameleon_SSD_Optimizer.html
About iMac sleep...
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1529750
Try this: "sudo pmset autopoweroff 0" and "sudo pmset standby 0"
http://xlr8yourmac.com/archives/sep13/091313.html#10.8.5SleepEjectTip -
For no apparent reason I can no longer receive or send emails. In fact when I touch the email icon all I get is a blank screen. I have checked my email settings all seems fine. Regards Kim
Try turning the account off and on : Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars , then tap the account on the right, slide Mail to 'off', exit settings and go back into the Mail app, and then go back to Settings and slide Mail back to 'on'
If that doesn't work then try closing the Mail app completely : from the home screen (i.e.not with the Mail app 'open' on-screen) double-click the home button to bring up the taskbar, then press and hold any of the apps on the taskbar for a couple of seconds or so until they start shaking, then press the '-' in the top left of the Mail app to close it, and touch any part of the screen above the taskbar so as to stop the shaking and close the taskbar.
Also do a reset : press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot. -
For no apparent reason my Mac (2 GHz PowerPC G5) running 10.4.11 has put a mesh-like pattern over the folders on my desktop and also a band of the same pattern across the top of the screen and down the right-hand side over the dock. (See screen grabs below.)
It doesn't affect any operations but makes folder names and drop-down menus difficult to read through the pattern.
I'm not aware of changing any settings so suspect I must have clicked on something without noticing. How do I get rid of the overlaid pattern, please?Information about my computer is as follows:
Machine Name: iMac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac8,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.5f1
It looks like this at the back: -
Zoom-in, zoom-out pinch gesture stopped working a few days ago for no apparent reason.
Zoom-in, zoom-out pinch gesture stopped working a few days ago for no apparent reason. I went to Preferences>Gestures, turned off the selection, turned it on again, rebooted, etc. HELP. Any suggestions?
Try Settings>General>Siri>Off. Restart the phone then go back and turn Siri on again. It can take a few minutes for Siri to totally activate again.
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New to Macbook Air. Screen suddenly expands to 4-500% for no apparent reason. Have to use back arrow to return but lose what I've been typing. What am I doing to cause this?
Next time you want to put your iMac screen to sleep, try switching off the Magic Mouse, wait for the notification to come up on the screen telling you the Magic Mouse has been disconnected, wait for it to disappear then press the keyboard shortcut to put the screen to sleep. See if that helps and we'll go from there. If that doesn't help, can you just say wether the screen always turns back on the same time every time?
Hope that helps
David -
one account goes offline for no apparent reason. I check Mailbox drop down menu for Take all accounts online, check correct password OK, turn mail off and on, reboot computer, etc. Nothing seems to work. Has happened in the past, but has also "fixed itself" after unknown time periods. One account has not been working now for awhile. I would like to get to the bottom of this.
Hello,
Who is your eMail provider, the part after the @ sign?
In Mail's Window Menu, choose Connection Doctor, any red dots for status, if so what is the message?
Then click the Show Details button & Check again. -
Hi folks! My MacBook Air is making awkward little chipping sound... For no apparent reason. My Macbook Pro does the same. Goes like "chip... chip... chip", always three times in a row, for no apparent reason. Does anyone know how this occurs?
It seems to be linked to the sound being on. When I mute the thing, it doesn't do it. When I plug headphones into it, it does it over the headphones.
Thanks for your help!Hi folks! My MacBook Air is making awkward little chipping sound... For no apparent reason. My Macbook Pro does the same. Goes like "chip... chip... chip", always three times in a row, for no apparent reason. Does anyone know how this occurs?
It seems to be linked to the sound being on. When I mute the thing, it doesn't do it. When I plug headphones into it, it does it over the headphones.
Thanks for your help! -
When using Safari, my iPad 1 will end Safari and return to the home screen for no apparent reason, any ideas as to cause and solution?
See if the following help.
Try clearing Safari's cache : Settings > Safari > Clear Cookies And Data and also Clear History
If that doesn't work then try closing Safari completely and then re-open it : from the home screen (i.e. not with Safari 'open' on-screen) double-click the home button to bring up the taskbar, then press and hold any of the apps on the taskbar for a couple of seconds or so until they start shaking, then press the '-' in the top left of the Safari app to close it, and touch any part of the screen above the taskbar so as to stop the shaking and close the taskbar.
A third option is a reset : press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot.
Turning off iCloud and multitasking gestures on the iPad might also help. -
OSX Logs Me Out For No Apparent Reason
Hi All
I have a weird problem where OSX logs me out for no apparent reason. I have a MacBook 13" late 2008
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.2
The logs say
8/10/12 10:16:57.696 PM iPhoto[3141]: NSProButtonCell: attempt to decode an unrecognized element (0)
8/10/12 10:19:42.135 PM Locum[3164]: Connection with distnoted server was invalidated
8/10/12 10:20:35.063 PM Locum[3165]: Connection with distnoted server was invalidated
8/10/12 10:29:41.670 PM BusyCalAlarm[787]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.671 PM Dropbox[797]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.671 PM com.apple.dock.extra[799]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.671 PM talagent[760]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.672 PM Safari[3135]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.672 PM SystemUIServer[763]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.672 PM WebProcess[3137]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.686 PM com.apple.dock.extra[799]: port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
8/10/12 10:29:41.683 PM Dock[774]: HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
8/10/12 10:29:41.742 PM WebProcess[3137]: port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
8/10/12 10:29:41.753 PM Dock[774]: port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
8/10/12 10:29:41.759 PM Dock[774]: Lost connection with usernoted.
8/10/12 10:29:42.030 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.Dock.agent[774]) Exited with code: 1
8/10/12 10:30:18.273 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.gamed) Ignored this key: UserName
8/10/12 10:30:18.273 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.gamed) Ignored this key: GroupName
8/10/12 10:30:18.274 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.ReportCrash) Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
8/10/12 10:30:18.282 PM loginwindow[3189]: Connection with distnoted server was invalidated
8/10/12 10:30:21.488 PM talagent[3234]: _LSSetApplicationInformationItem(kLSDefaultSessionID, asn, _kLSApplicationIsHiddenKey, hidden ? kCFBooleanTrue : kCFBooleanFalse, NULL) produced OSStatus -50 on line 623 in TCApplication.m
8/10/12 10:30:21.490 PM talagent[3234]: _LSSetApplicationInformationItem(kLSDefaultSessionID, asn, TAL_kLSIsProxiedForTALKey, kCFBooleanTrue, NULL) produced OSStatus -50 on line 626 in TCApplication.m
8/10/12 10:30:27.048 PM SystemUIServer[3235]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
8/10/12 10:30:27.063 PM SystemUIServer[3235]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
8/10/12 10:30:28.469 PM talagent[3234]: CGSReleaseWindowList(cid, windowIDList, count): CGError 1001 on line 918
8/10/12 10:30:32.432 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.afpstat-qfa[3278]) Job failed to exec(3). Setting up event to tell us when to try again: 2: No such file or directory
8/10/12 10:30:32.432 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[203]: (com.apple.afpstat-qfa[3278]) Job failed to exec(3) for weird reason: 2
8/10/12 10:30:50.835 PM Backup Engine[3284]: MaxBack Engine MaxBackEngineController-- MoreSecCopyHelperToolURLAndCheckBundled #1
8/10/12 10:30:50.838 PM Backup Engine[3284]: MaxBackEngineController-- calling MoreSecExecuteRequestInHelperTool
8/10/12 10:30:50.839 PM Backup Engine[3284]: MaxBackEngineController-- back from MoreSecExecuteRequestInHelperTool
8/10/12 10:30:50.840 PM Backup Engine[3284]: MaxBack Engine Error: An error occurred: 0xffffec78 (-5000)
8/10/12 10:30:57.113 PM GrowlLauncher[3263]: Launching Growl at URL: file://localhost/Applications/Growl.app/Contents/MacOS/Growl
8/10/12 10:30:57.363 PM AddressBookManager[3262]: Validate metadata timed out, cancelling
8/10/12 10:30:58.004 PM 1Password Helper[3264]: Starting 1Password Helper 3.9.6 #39600.038 built Jul 6 2012 21:08:25
8/10/12 10:30:58.636 PM 1Password Helper[3264]: reloadAllObjects
8/10/12 10:31:00.005 PM 1Password Helper[3264]: Database (AGHtmlDatabase:file://localhost/Users/deanne.grinter/Dropbox/1Password/1Passwo rd.agilekeychain/) load time [Cache]: 1.365+0.000 (18 objects)
8/10/12 10:31:05.849 PM Growl[3302]: Setup timer, this should only happen once
8/10/12 10:31:05.850 PM Growl[3302]: Next image check no earlier than 24 hours from 2012-10-07 12:59:00 +0000
I'm not sure whats causing this, help is apprecaited!
Regards
DeanneLaunch the Console 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.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
In the Console window, look under DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION for crash or panic reports. A crash report has a name ending in ".crash" and a panic report has a name ending in ".panic" Select the most recent report from each subcategory and post the contents — the text, please, not a screenshot. In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)
Please don’t post shutdownStall, spin, or hang logs — they're very long and not helpful.
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