Trackpad Problem: Hardware or Software?

I've been using 'Tap to Click' since I got my MacBook, and it's been working very well.
But yesterday I unchecked the 'Tap to Click' in Trackpad System Preference and found that my Trackpad couldn't click anything. I am sure I did press the trackpad and I haven't installed any Applications related to the trackpad.
Is there anyone having the same problem?
Is my trackpad problem caused by the hardware itself or just the software?
Should I send my MacBook to an Apple Retail Store to have it repaired?
Thanks.
P.S. Please forgive my poor English. I am not a native speaker.
Message was edited by: erikatto

How much free RAM do you have? What percentage of free harddrive space?
Many unknowns...
I would try resetting the PRAM. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

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Keyboard problems: hardware or software?

The keyboard on my iBook G4 has dead keys, not all in a row but grouped on the right side of the keyboard (they include the enter key, 'l', the comma, and three or four others). There's no obvious damage to the keyboard (I've lifted the keyboard out and inspected the connector, and nothing looks cracked or broken).
Is there any means to tell if this is a hardware v. software problem? I can use my logitech keyboard and mouse with the iBook (in fact, I'm doing that now). I've restarted, repaired permissions, zapped the PRAM and run other maintenance scripts with no success.
Thanks!

I don't have a firewire external hard drive or a bootable backup (I do have a Time Machine backup to a USB hard drive, but I don't see that I can boot from that external drive). I did boot from the OS10.5 disk, but of course there's nothing (so far as I can see) that allows me, once booted, to test the keyboard -- i.e., no text edit.
I can use my external (logitech) keyboard just fine, and nothing else seems to be wrong with the computer, so I'm leaning toward replacing the keyboard (I'm not against that anyway, just on the grounds of preventative maintenance). So, a related question: what's the best way to be sure that I buy the right replacement keyboard for my 1.42 GHz G4? Is the part number on the keyboard itself, or available through System Profile (I could not find it there). As always, thanks!

N97 GPS Problems - Hardware or Software?

Sorry to start yet another thread on the N97 GPS problems, but reading through all the threads there seems not to be any clear conclusion as to whether or not the issue is a software/firmware one, in which case potentially fixable, or a hardware one, in which case the phones have to be sent back and replaced.
My personally feeling is that it's hardware. Some people have no issue but many have a problem. I have the same issues with losing the satellites, poor GPS accuracy, etc. both with Ovi Maps 3.01 and with Google Maps, which again to me points to a hardware fault. Updating firmware from v10 to v11 made no difference to GPS performance.
So, I wonder if people agree with me that it is a hardware issue and the phones have to go back, or if there is some hope of it being a software issue and thus being fixed?
Anyone had any success in sending back an N97 for replacement because if the GPS issue? Mine is a UK 3 branded N97 black, free as part of a contract, and I have a feeling that 3 are likely to resist replacing the phone if they can.
Mark

I believe that the GPS problem in N97 not a hardware problem but a software problem with the Nokia (Ovi) Maps 3.
Below explanation why:
I have been using Nokia Maps 2.0 on my previous phone – E71 for more than one year. It worked pretty well and stable. One important remark – it is important to configure the server for AGPS under Settings well...
About one and half month ago I decided to install on my E71 the newest Nokia (Ovi) Maps 3.0. And ... immediately my problems started. The GPS performance worsened – I was continuously getting messages about GPS lost, recalculating and usually concluding that I am on a parallel road to the road which I was actually driving – horrible...
Also my colleague with N82 made the same mistake (installed Maps 3.0) and got the same problems.
Because of this problems I have removed this new version on my E71 and went back to Nokia Maps 2.0. And guess what? - The problems were gone!
Two weeks ago I bought my N97. It comes only with Maps 3.1 so I was expecting problems. And ... indeed I have them all. Bad thing is however that I cannot go back to Maps 2.0 on N97...
I tested GPS accuracy with three different phones (N97, E71, E75) and two versions of Nokia Maps. What I can see is that its normal to be about 80-100 meters on average. This is not a specific N97 issue! And apparently should not be a problem because Nokia Maps 2.0 works great even if this application shows accuracy of 100 m. Probably thanks to the Assisted GPS.
So my conclusion is that it is not a hardware problem but a problem with (a part of) the software of the Nokia (Ovi) Maps 3.x ! Maybe with a GPS Driver? Or the functionality of the assisted GPS?
Message Edited by concordia on 16-Aug-2009 04:04 PM

Unknown problem - hardware or software ?

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but here goes.
I have a Mac Pro G5 Dual. I have been running Tiger on my main hard drive and Leopard on my second internal drive. Both systems have been very stable. A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to Leopard on the main drive. The installation went seamlessly and I upgraded to 10.5.6.
All was fine until a couple of days ago when I turned on and found that the second internal drive had not been recognised. I ran Disk Utility and verification and repair failed so I reformatted and loaded Leopard. This seemed to go OK, but then I noticed some very strange behaviour.
I happened to have windows open showing the Desktop for both of the drives. As I created a new folder on Hard Drive 1 it simultaneously appeared on Hard Drive 2. If I trashed a folder it would also disappear on the other drive. I definitely didn't set up any RAID array.
I then fitted a brand new replacement drive in the Hard Drive 2 bay and loaded Leopard. This time the duplication behaviour had stopped, but I tried to verify the new Hard Drive 2 and it failed. Likewise Hard Drive 1 failed verification in Disk Utility running from Hard Drive 1 (It actually locked up and I had to turn off). If I ran Disk Utility from the Installation Disk it passed both drives. Other odd things were happening - some apps running slow and not quitting.
It seems to me that the problem was not with the Hard Drives, but with them being recognised. I really don't know what to think - is this a hardware or software failure? I was really concerned that there was a Logic Board or other Hardware failure so I ran Hardware Test from the Installation Disk. Everything passed OK.
At the moment both drives are operational, but I am concerned that they are failing verification. I am going to reinstall the 10.5.6 update on Hard Drive 1, but meanwhile, does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this behaviour?

After reinstalling 10.5.6 all was well for 24 hours, but now trying to verify in Disk Utility produces a freeze and the mirroring behaviour is back.
Any suggestions?

Multiple Problems - Hardware or Software?

I've been having a lot of problems lately with my MacBook Pro and I have absolutely no idea why. I called one Apple store and was told I should reinstall Leopard, do an Erase and Install, and not restore from my Time Machine backup because my file structure or my folder structure or something like that is probably corrupted. Apparently if I restore from the Time Machine backup it will corrupt everything all over again.
That makes no sense whatsoever to me. So I asked my 3D modeling teacher at school (who used to be a tech at an Apple store) and he told me my logic board might be going out, which sounds a little more believable to me. In any case, I'll be taking it to an Apple store on Wednesday to have it checked in and see if they can tell me what's going on, but I figured I'd get some opinions in the meantime. Here's what's going on:
1 - Finder gives me the message "This operation cannot continue because _____ is still in use" whenever I try to delete a file that was previously being used. For instance, I install something, eject the virtual drive, then delete the DMG. I go to empty the trash and it refuses to empty because the file is still in use. I go to Terminal and type "killall Finder" and I'm able to empty the trash.
2 - My PRAM keeps resetting itself for no reason. I'll start my MacBook up and find that all of my keyboard shortcuts are gone, my screen saver has changed, my trackpad settings have been reset, etc.
3 - I'm getting incredibly high CPU usage at random times from random processes. My CPU also spikes whenever exporting a Flash project file as an SWF, exporting a GarageBand song as an MP3, or converting audio or video files (WAV to MP3, MPG to AVI, etc.). CandyBar for some reason takes up about 50-90% CPU on average, repairing permissions in Disk Utility will take 80-95% CPU, and a few other apps I can't think of at the moment have occasionally been giving me problems. Running nothing but Finder can sometimes take up to 30-40% CPU, but it usually stays around the 0-10% range.
I'm finding it hard to believe that this is all software-related, but I don't have that much experience with Macs so I can't really say. Any ideas/thoughts/suggestions? I've already run the Apple hardware test and the TechTool hardware test and neither one found a problem, but from what I've heard neither of those is all that reliable.

Allan - I actually don't have DiskWarrior but I managed to borrow it from a friend who does so I'll post the results after I run it. CandyBar has never given me any problems before, it's just one of the random apps that seem to spike for no reason. I might try uninstalling it if nothing else helps, though.
etresoft - I recently installed ClamXav, but all of these problems started before I downloaded it. I actually haven't even gotten around to using it yet. The PRAM resetting doesn't happen after every restart, and I can't figure out what (if anything) is triggering it, but the next time it happens I'll see what shows up in Console.
As for my CPU spikes, I've been using both GarageBand and Flash for over a year and a half and have never had this kind of problem until a few weeks ago. I've been teaching myself game development in Flash for the past year or so, so I'm constantly testing my project files to make sure everything works and work out any bugs. I'm used to having a slight slowdown while exporting, but this is something else entirely; my entire system slows down (Finder, Camino, everything), my CPU usage goes through the roof, and I get the Pinwheel of Death for a good 20 or 30 seconds before it finishes. Exporting files in GarageBand gives me pretty much the same result except that it takes even longer to finish.
Here's what I found after poking around a little in Console. I'm a complete noob when it comes to the inner workings of OS X, so I'm just posting anything that sounds like it might be bad:
6/14/08 3:16:59 AM kernel vmnet: Failed to clone mbuf: 12.
6/14/08 3:16:59 AM kernel vmnet: bridge-en1: SendToVNet mbuf_dup failed: 12.
6/14/08 4:02:35 PM SecurityAgent ((1778)) (ipc/send) invalid destination port : CGSReleaseShmem : Cannot release shared memory
6/14/08 10:07:05 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd ((2581)) Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
I replaced the brackets with double sets of parentheses because the numbers were being turned into links.

Wi-Fi problem - Hardware or Software/Firmware Related?

I have an original iphone, purchased when they first came out so it's no longer under warranty. After I "upgraded" to the 2.1 firmware my wi-fi started losing connection through out the day. It has gradually gotten worse, and now I'm lucky if I can pick up any wi-fi signal at all, and if I do it rarely last more than 5 minutes.
I've tried resetting my router, power cycling my router, rebooting my iphone, resetting network setting on the iphone, and resetting the iphone totally. Nothing seems to work for more than 5 minutes.
This is a major problem for me, because I live in an area out of cell phone range, so I can't use EDGE for anything. I totally rely on wi-fi at my house and almost always have my phone set to "airplane mode" but with wi-fi enabled (although I've tried turing "airplane mode" off to solve the problem).
Does anyone have any insight into whether this is hardward related or software/firmware related? If it's software related, does anyone have any other suggestions? (I've included my network setting below.) If it's hardware related, has anyone had any luck getting the problem fixed even if their phone is out of warranty (at $400 one would expect not to have these types of problems after little more than a year!).
My network settings are as follows...
IP Address: 192.168.2.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.2.1
DNS: Have tried original assigned, my router's IP address, 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2
I'm using a Linksys Wireless-G 2.4GHz router (WGT54G) with NO WIRELESS SECURITY enabled.
THANKS IN ADVANCE

Thank you both for your help, and sorry for the delay getting back to you, I was traveling without my computer.
I tried updating the firmware on my router...
I tried restoring the phone from backup...
I tried restoring and setting up as a new phone...
I tried a full DFU restore...
I tried downgrading to firmware 2.0...
I tried upgrading to firmware 2.2
I tried the above using itunes 7.7...
I tried the above using itunes 8.0.2...
Unfortunately, nothing has worked. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Anyone else with this problem have any luck getting their original iphone replace if it wasn't under warranty?
Thanks again for any help you can provide!

Premiere CS5.5 y CS4 andan lento Problem: ¿Hardware o Software?

Buenas, como estan?
Mi problema es el siguiente, tengo la siguiente PC:
AMD Athlon X3
ATI RADEON HD 5770
4 Giga RAM
Mother GIGABYTE 870A
Disco 1 TB partido
SO Windows 7 64 Bits
Instale el Premiere CS5.5, y con desdicha descubri que la visualizacion de los videos andaba los primeros 5 segundos de manera fluida, pero luego se trababa, andaba lento y a los tirones, de manera imposible de editar.
Procedi a desinstalarlo e instalar el CS4, con el cual descubri que los videos practicamente no se movian al reproducirlos.
El sonido siempre anduvo fluido.
El video con el que hice las pruebas es formato Pelicula AVI 720 x 576 25Cps, son 18 minutos en un peso de 711 MB para que se den una idea.
Como dato adicional aclaro que el sistema operativo lo instale yo desde cero, pero que baje Direct X 11, los drivers son todos originales (los que me vinieron con las partes de la PC) y que instale un pauqete de Codecs.
Espero que haya una solucion que no tenga que ver con la placa de video oel procesador, ya que necesito ponerme a editar ya!!
Muchas gracias por escuchar el problema.

Requsitos hardware para Premiere 5.5:
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/tech-specs.html
Respecto al hardware, la CPU utilizada (AMD X3 ?) cumple el mínimo requerido aunque un Intel i5 actual ofrece benchmarks 2 veces más rápidos.
La memoria mínima es de 2GB, Adobe recomienda 4Gb o más, respecto al disco indicas su capacidad pero no el modelo para conocer la velocidad de rotación y el tamaño de cache.
La tarjeta gráfica es adecuadad para juegos y trabajos gráficos, (Photoshop, etc.) pero Adobe recomienda otra clase de tarjetas para edición de video.
Te recomendaría que abras el Administrador de tareas y desde la pestaña de Prestaciones la del Manager de Recursos y veas lo que consume de memoria, etc.
En el lado del software te aconsejaría que contactases al soporte de Adobe. (Gratuito para productos originales)

[SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

I have a Thinkpad L412 running Arch 64-bit, and it has a recurring problem. Sometimes the special function keys (lock, battery, sleep, wireless) stop working. Whenever this happens, the cpu fan stops spinning, forcing me to cool my computer with an external fan. This problem comes and goes--but most of the time the buttons and fan are not working.
Usually these buttons come across as ACPI events and I handle them with acpid. However, when the buttons stop working, I no longer see their presses logged by acpid.
I dual boot, but I use Linux 99% of the time--the few times I do use Windows, the keys and fan don't work there either.
I've argued with the Lenovo tech support guys for some time, and they're all convinced I have some sort of software running that is causing this trouble. I did convince them to replace my motherboard, but it only temporarily fixed the problem.
So my question is: is it somehow possible there is some software bug in Linux that messes with my hardware, causing it to break? to me this doesn't seem possible, but I am no expert. I need to figure out the root of my problem so I can fix it and have a working laptop again.
Last edited by namelessone (2012-02-17 20:06:14)

namelessone wrote:
I regularly leave my computer plugged in when the battery is fully charged. This means that the system board's capacitors became fully charged, resulting in complete board malfunction. I was able to discharge the caps by removing the battery, unplugging the AC adapter, and pressing the power button 10 times, and then holding it for 10 seconds.
Now my lappy works as expected, and I have no more excuses for not getting work done.
This is an old "IBM" trick for ThinkPads. I had a ThinkPad T42 (build circa 2005) that froze while on battery and I was able to do a hard shutdown using the power button, but I was unable to get it to power back up. Performed the above trick and the T42 started right up. This only happened to me one time. The T42 still works till this day. I've since upgraded to a ThinkPad X220 within the last year.
I've known about this trick for several years and know some ThinkPad gurus from the ThinkPad forum (forum.thinkpads.com) that suggest trying it when a ThinkPad will not start up. Of course it certainly doesn't work on every dead ThinkPad...
Last edited by David Batson (2012-02-18 04:26:34)

IPhone Problem Hardware and Software Overview

Dear iPhone Users, over the time I myself have been using the iPhone for some months and discovered some hardware and aoftware problems, with perhaps some solutions to such problems.
a) The "Dead-Flashlight" Error: This is an annoying error, which is based on a hardware problem. I read a topic on the web which pointed out:
i) There are two flashlights: Camera Flashlight and Flicker Flashlight. Camera Flashlight is adjusted near to the camera recorder, this is the exact place of error. It seems that if this light does not turn on, you've probably managed to move its original place to behind the camera lens, where it may have become non-progressive. While flicker flashlight is adjusted on the other side or portion, even if you manage to drop your iPhone this light will not lose its function.
ii) Solution: Apple company should manufacture the next product carefully, just so that in near future the company does not get defeated by competing industries. Finally, if you want to fix it, you should go see a hardware mechanic, they probably can fix it.
b) No "Adobe Flash Player": First of all, Steve Jobs, explained that Adobe Flash should not be allowed to run on iPhones due to security reasons, what are those reasons?
- Unauthorized Camera Access through Flash?
- Redirecting to virus defined websites?
- Recording the voices of a user while the Flash Object runs?
- Too much cookies (save/load object files being stored)?
- Decrease in Acceleration?
To all these I would reply: "Bull-Crap". Flash is one if the best advancements ever created, it provides benefits like:
- Most widely used for entertaining purposes.
- Allows people/users to watch flash videos at low size but at high-quality.
- Does not buffer, once loaded a flash onject video, you may stream it over and over again.
- Provides great interface for educational purposes.
- Easy to code, has examples all over the world wide web.
- Many Popular MMORPG/RPG games are available.
- Easy to upload and share.
- Has great interface.
- Almost all websites provide uploading and sharing facility.
There are many more benefits, Flash should be on the iPhones.
c) Wifi/GPRS related signal problems: The signals are very weak compared to product of Samsung Company (Samsung Galaxy Siii).
Solution: Please make a product that is worth the money people pay your company, for gods sake!
d) New Opportunity? Merge/Joint Ventures: Well, if iPhome wants to really be dominant? Then there is one company out there that will Make there next iPhone even more powerful, destroying its competitors. And when the name is displayed people rush to the iPhone stores: e.g "iPhone 6 Nexus"/iPhone 6N.
Well I might know a company, but not going to tell until I think Apple is ready.

Basics from the manual are restart, reset, restore.
Have you tried all of these?

Hardware or Software Problem?

Hi
Every six weeks or so, my IMAC G5 slows down until it doesn't respond (pinwheels galore).
Ultimately I run disk utility from the Leopard Disk, but verify disk and repair disk both fail. So I erase the hard drive and re-install. Everything is then great for about six weeks until I start waiting for godot again...
How can I tell if this is a hardware or software issue? I'm sick of doing this, so if the solution is hardware I'd be willing to get new hardware. I don't want to get new hardware, and then have the same problem when I transfer of the data.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob
Message was edited by: RKS1971

How much free space do you have on your hard drive? Do you allow the computer to perform its regular maintenance tasks? You can use OnyX to clear your caches, and how much RAM do you have? Increasing that might speed things up as well. Make sure your trash is emptied as well.
These are a few things you can do to speed your machine up, you can also clear out deadwood, run [whatsize|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/44018] to see if anything you don't use is taking up lots of space.

Windows xp pro stalls - blank screen- hardware or software problem?

Hi Guys,
My system is about one month old and has been awesome in performance and graphics.
Suddenly it (windows xp pro) stalls after flashing the windows loading screen and it goes blank. Looks like a software problem?
I am posting on this forum because when I check cmos, no hard drives are registered.
I can't get into safe mode, can't get past the administrator/user screen because no mouse operates here and can't select icons with the keyboard.(No admin passwords were set up anyway)
Booting from CD, repair console doesn't work because it can't find any hard drive.
Reluctant to do a complete reinstall because of precious stuff on the hard drive.
Using f8, "last known good..." just gives the same blank screen.
Using floppy boot, no other drives are recognized.
If my root directory has been wiped out by a virus or something, how come it gets past post and starts to load windows? If it's merely the graphics driver or similar not loading, how come the cmos shows no hard drive?
Is this a hardware or software problem? Any help much appreciated.

THE ANSWER !!
Hi Guys,
I finally got to talk to the guy who set up this system and he said that it is normal for RAID drives not to show on BIOS/CMOS. 'Think of it like a vrtual drive' he said. When the black and white initialization screen shows something like: 'Nividia Stripe-healthy'...then THAT is the hard-drive.
He said that as long as Windows was getting to the loading screen, that means that the computer itself was functioning okay, so don't worry about BIOS, the problem is a file corruption in windows, or virus etc.
Also he said that when trying to use recovery console or reinstall windows, because the system can only read the RAID drives through a SCSI interface, you have to load the Nvidia SCSI drivers from floppy by pressing f6 when asked to at the bottom of the pale blue screen (from Windows cd boot), before trying to do anything with windows (or windows will just tell you it can't read the drives, as it did before with me.)
So in the end, I reinstalled windows by that method and everyting seems fine so far. YAY!
Thanks you people for being kind enough to help someone out. I really appreciate it.

My hp failed to start it says, A recent hardware or software change may be the problem.

my hp failed to start it says A recent hardware or software change may be the problem. It gives the option of Launch start up repair or Start windows normally, it freezes after clicking any option. What can i do?
My pc is a Compaq Presario CQ62-216DX Notebook. It also says on the screen, Description: fix problems that are preventing windows from starting.

Hi,
Shut down the notebook. Tap away at f10 as you start the notebook to enter the bios menu. Under the Advanced or Diagnostic tab you should find the facility to run tests on both the Hard Drive and Memory. Post back with the details of any error messages.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

I'm having trouble with my new iPhone.it seems it likes to turn it self off for no reason at all.i would like to know is this a hardware or software problem or just a iPhone problem i don't know.

I'm having trouble with my new iPhone.it seems it likes to turn it self off for no reason at all.i would like to know is this a hardware or software problem or just a iPhone problem i don't know.

basic troubleshooting steps from the User Guide are restart, reset, restore from backup, restore as new.
Have ANY of these been tried?

Is there a diagnostic test to detect hardware or software problems?

Hi All
Is there a way to run a diagnostics test to find if there is a hardware problem? or software problem? or even a computer history that I can pull up that shows what led up to the crash? (...like in iDVD
I was working on several large video projects in FCP and my space became limited on both my internal drives ( Hitachi and Macintosh)_
I moved files to the Trash bin and when I hit delete, the screen went grey, the fans went into high gear, and an error message came up stating that I'm required to shut down the computer by holding down the ON button. (Crash)
Is this is "blues singin' time" or is there hope to this scenario. Is there a way to run a diagnostics test to find if there is a hardware problem? or software problem? or even a computer history that I can pull up that shows what led up to the crash? (...like in iDVD)
I reinstalled MAC OS X v 10.4.11 but I'm getting the same results.
Processor: 4 x 2.5 GHz PowerPC C5
Memory 4,5 GB DDR2 SDRAM
Thanking All in advance.

Your Mac should have come with an Apple Hardware Test on the DVD that came with your Mac.
For software, run First Aid that is part of Disk Utility on the DVD that came with your Mac or the Tiger install DVD. For directory corruption, the best is DiskWarrior that you have to buy.
Will it boot in Safe Mode? See
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Takes a while to run, but it usually "fixes" problems.
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
 Cheers, Tom

Is black screen for iPhone hardware or software problem

Is black screen for iPhone hardware or software problem.

Don't know until you troubleshoot. First step is a reset:
hold down the home button along with the sleep/wake button until the screen goes black and you see the Apple, then let go. (No data loss)

Trackpad Problem: Hardware or Software?

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