What to do about recurring failure of power adapters?
My power adapter failed 9 months after I purchased my new MacBook Pro. I checked the review of the power adapter on Apple.com and there are over 400 very negative reports with the same problem. MacBook owners are purchasing 3 or 4 new power adapters a year as they fail so quickly. Each one costs $79.00. I am on the way to get my first replacement while my MacBook is still under warranty.
As the reviewers state, that is too much money to continually replace power adapters after spending $1,000 or more on a laptop.
I do not understand why Apple, with its reputation for quality, has not addressed this issue. I also wonder if anyone knows how to influence Apple to fix the design flaw and replace the defective power adapters?
We are an Apple family. My husband has owned 3 desktop versions and I now own my second MacBook. We have never encountered a problem like this with an Apple product. (Note: my older white plastic MacBook power adapter worked fine for 3 or 4 years. In fact it is still working).
Any suggestions besides getting replacements or purchasing the (also expensive) Apple Care service. I could get 2 more replacements under Apple Care and they would still not add up to the $249 cost of the Apple Care Plan.
Suggestions?
Thanks,
Gramx3
If you haven’t already gone:
Stutter problems could be some kind of fragmentation.
They may have you backup & re-initialize the device. (reload). Though it sounds like you have too.
You might be ahead of the game, if you backup a latest backup to your desktop before you go to the Genius Bar,
assuming you have a desktop.
I’ve seen an occasion where this reload was done at an Apple store for an iPad problem & not everything made the trip, as some items were not where they were expected to be & some apps were not App Store purchases. Having that last additional back up might be worth your while.
Similar Messages
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OK, what is it about G4 towers suddenly w/o power?
I got my dual Gigabit Ethernet G4 tower from work when they got rid of Macs about 4 years ago (keep hoping they'll change their minds). When I first got it I had the typical no power problem and a new battery solved the problem (but I had to order it from OWC, the one I got at a local store didn't work).
Right before Christmas we shuffled furniture around in the family room and unplugged the Mac. Now it's dead again. I've tried two different new batteries (one from OWC), I've done the simple reset and the sit for 30 min reset and the sit overnight reset and the take out all the ram and the cards reset. Still nothing.
Now, it appears I'm getting something from the power supply because when I had everything plugged in, the monitor was showing that it was getting power. Does that mean that it's more likely the motherboard than the power supply?
I know it's had a good long life, but I'm really sorry to see it go. I got a good deal on a core2 duo Mac Mini. I think the g4's likely dead; if the problem is the power supply, it's going to be a bear (and $$$) to replace, and although I see motherboards on eBay for a good price, I know I could get that in, struggle to figure out how to replace it, and the darn thing still might not work. Plus the motherboard I just purchased would also be like 8 years old.
So...what is it about G4 towers and suddenly not starting up? I see this problem frequently on the support boards. I love Apple (right now I'm stuck on a Vista laptop and...ugh), and I know that this tower had a long life, but doggone, why do they just suddenly drop dead without any warning?If you have a meter, unplug the AC power plug from the wall and wait a minute, then measure the battery in the holder, working. If you do not see 3.2 Volts or higher, the battery, regardless of its history, is not working.
After fiddling with any Hardware, you should press the tiny reset button for a quarter minute \[with the Mac nominally off, but the AC power plug plugged in]. Then wait at least five seconds before proceeding. Avoid momentary presses, they can crash the microprocessor that controls the clocks and drain your battery in a day. If nothing seems to change, do the procedure again.
If you still have no response, disconnect the drives, remove everything except the processor and memory, do a reset, and try for a startup chime.
If no chime, use this diagram to look for Standby Power on pin 9 of the main DC power connector:
58561- Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) and Power Mac G4: Power Supply Voltage Test -
Maintenance scripts, whats that all about?
In this case I do not actually have a problem, but have heard about on other forums recently something about scripts running in the middle of the night, assuming you leave your computer on that somehow magically keep your Mac working properly. I did a search on the apple forums for this but to no avail.
Anyone know what this is about? Does it actually work, and if so why?
From my perspective it seems like one could cause more problems by always leaving a pc on, due to power failures or surges etc.
Thanks in advance for some insight on this, or links where I could learn more.Yes, the Keebler elves are busy late at night keeping the computer problem free!
There are three maintenance scripts that Unix runs on a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. The scripts are run automatically between 3 and 5 am provided the computer is turned on and not sleeping. The scripts perform certain general maintenance chores such as deleting old log and temporary files, rotating the logs, and updating the lookup database.
These maintenance activities prevent log files from growing to unwieldy size which also tends to keep the logs from becoming corrupted. This does help keep OS X running smoother, but they hardly keep OS X completely free of problems. Other efforts are needed:
Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior. DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption. However, DW is not yet compatible with Intel Macs. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 is Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility called Macaroni that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk 6 (Shareware)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. SuperDuper (Commercial)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - not universal binary.)
7. LaCie SilverKeeper (Freeware - not universal binary)
8. RsynchX 2.1 and PsyncX 2.2.1 (Freeware)
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com. -
I purchased a used 2008 iMac. And although the previous owner said he deleted all of his information, his iCloud account is still the primary. I don't have a clue about what to do about it. I signed him out and logged in with my info, but still no go. Is there any way to eliminate his iCloud account and make mine the primary without rebooting it back to factory settings? There was an update, I believe, that I couldn't install because i didn't have his password that is what made me aware that his acct. was still active. I don't know what to do. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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. -
after finish installing an update, the the status light keeps blinking and a picture of the connection between the micro USB and iTunes shows up - what is this about?
The update failed - using a USB to microUSB lead (that Apple annoyingly don't include!), try to restore the AppleTV software to current version software using instructions here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4367
Pay attention to differences in power connection depending on whether or not you have AppleTV2 or AppleTV 3. -
What is CSCtk82229 about, I canot see it
What is CSCtk82229 about? I understand it is in refernce to NSR failures in CSR-1 that we are experiencing. This has been provided by our Cisco Support Engineer.
Hi Matthew
This bug is currently marked for internal tracking, which is prohibiting Cisco Bug Toolkit in providing any information on this bug.
Please work with the Cisco Support Engineer for additional help.
Thanks
Arun Solleti -
What to do about email with no sender?
I get email with no sender on my iPad only (not on my computer and not in webmail). There is no sender or no message, and it is dated 12/31/69. It will not delete. My ipad inbox is filled with this stuff now and I don't know what to do about it. I get 2 or 3 a day. Another post that I googled said they also had this but that it would delete. Mine will not, and this is getting to be a major problem.
I don't think I can set up a rule on the iPad to stop it. And, any rule that I set up on my iMac does not carry over to the iPad.Janice Fisher wrote:
After 12 Hours the ipad was only 75 percentPercent charged. Not sure what that means except that I'll have to pay a small fortunennkn,njjjkk for a data sync cord. The long and inexpensive one doesn't work apparently.
I am not sure what you mean.
How are you recharging the iPad battery?
What do you mean by "data sync cord"? The USB cable supplied with every iPad? What "long and inexpensive one"?
Using the 10W USB power adapter, I can recharge my iPad's battery from 0% to 100% in just under 4 hours.
I am recharging the exhausted battery right now, and after 2 hours it has reached 64%. -
Intel iMac won't light up and continues to make three load beeps.... What's that about, never happened before.
Hello, sounds like bad RAM...
The following table lists the new tones and their meaning:
Tone(s) Description
1 tone, a 5-second pause, repeat No RAM installed
3 successive tones, a 5-second pause, 3 successive tones RAM does not pass data integrity check
1 long tone when holding down the power button Firmware upgrade in process. See About firmware updates for Intel-based Macs for more details.
3 long tones, 3 short tones, 3 long tones Firmware restoration from CD in process. See About the Firmware Restoration CD (Intel-based Macs) for more details.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2538 -
My 1-year old MacBook Pro Retina shuts itself without giving a warning when the battery is at 5-15% of capacity. Idk what to do about it.
KarnPS,
start recharging your battery when it gets down to 20% — you’ll shorten your battery’s lifespan by running on battery power beyond that. -
This is what I think may have happened. The other day, Thursday Sept 8th, I shut down my pc in the middle of a Firefox upgrade. Now when I try to access Firefox on my pc, I get this error message:
XULRUNNER Error: Platform version '6.0.2 is not compatible with min Version >= 6.0.1 max Version < 6.0.1
What is this about and how can I retsore access to Firefox on my pc?If you use ZoneAlarm Extreme Security then try to disable Virtualization.
Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder.
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser_will_not_start_up#XULRunner_error_after_an_update
*[[/questions/869812]]
*[[/questions/869951]] -
I have just sought to update my lightroom and am now unable to access the develop function and get a note stating that I have reduced functionality what it this about and how do I get my product back
Hi there
I have version 5.7 and every time I opened it I was told that updates are available and to click on the icon to access these. Instead it just took me to the
adobe page with nowhere visible to update. I then sought to download lightroom cc and this is when I could not access the 'develop' section due to reduced
functionality It was apparent that my photos had been put in cc but no way to access them unless I wanted to subscribe.
I have since remedied the problem as my original lightroom 5.7 icon is still available on the desktop and have gone back to that. I do feel that this is a bit
of a rip off and an unnecessary waste of my time though.
Thank you for your prompt reply by the way.
Carlo
Message Received: May 04 2015, 04:52 PM
From: "dj_paige" <[email protected]>
To: "Carlo Bragagnolo" <[email protected]>
Cc:
Subject: I have just sought to update my lightroom and am now unable to access the develop function and get a note stating that I have
reduced functionality what it this about and how do I get my product back
dj_paige created the discussion
"I have just sought to update my lightroom and am now unable to access the develop function and get a note stating that I have reduced functionality what it
this about and how do I get my product back"
To view the discussion, visit: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7510559#7510559
> -
What is it about InDesign CS5 that someone would get this error message?
Hi,
What is is about the .swf file that is generated from the InDesign CS5 interactive workspace that someone would get the following error message when they go to view the site I created?
"This file may contain newer information that this viewer can support. It may not open or display correctly. Adobe suggests that you upgrade to the latest versions of our Acrobat products blah blah blah."
The site doesn't seem to work for four Mac users, but works fine for at least one PC user.
I'm trying to figure out how to save the .swf file down to Flash Player 9, which I've done by exporting a .fla file, then adjusting the Publish setting in Flash CS5. But that throws a wrench into the works...all the animations go haywire by continuously looping and the scale of all the text elements on the first page is much larger than it should be.
Thanks, SteveJohn Black3 wrote:
Many of my songs in my iTunes Library no longer play. I get this error message: "The song xxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
this usually happens when a user moves or deletes files in the finder - a sure way to upset iTunes.
did you move or delete files in the finder ?
I cannot locate the song.
if you let iTunes manage your library, all your content will be in <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)/music. did you look there ? tried a spotlight search ?
if the files are really gone, and have been purchased from the iTunes store, see Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store. -
What is it about this markup that breaks DW CS3 Design View Editing?
Folks:
I'm attaching very simple --and apparently completely valid-- markup that generates the text shown between the markers below:
------------start----------------
yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda badda.
------------end----------------
As you can see by examining the file, it contains only an span enclosing text and spaces, and some following breaks. This file passes DW validation: no errors or warnings.
If I open this file in DW CS3 Design View, select and delete the last word, "badda", the entire text --every "yadda"-- is also deleted. All that text is really gone -- if I immediately save the file and re-open it, there is no text content at all, just the span pair, spaces, and the trailing breaks. This is completely repeatable.
When you edit this file, do you get the same result?
The attached file is a cut-down, simplified version of a production file that exhibits this issue. (That file also passes validation.) When I delete single words, entire content paragraphs disappear. So this is not just a point of curiosity. I need to figure out how to fix the production code and avoid this problem in the future.
What is it about the attached markup that causes this issue? I've fooled around with this code quite a bit and the best I can figure out is that DW is confused when both the start- and end- span tags are followed immediately by a line break. Inserting a space in either place makes the issue go away. But the production code doesn't have any occurances of this pattern. And, anyway, line-breaks have no significance to html, just for source-code formatting, right?
Am I missing something incredibly obvious?
TIA
hen3ryNancy O:
Thank you for your response, which gave me valuable clues to understanding the issues. (Specifically, it led me to re-read and understand better the nitty-gritty of the HTML4 specs, section 7, "The global structure of an HTML Document", especially 7.5.1 The BODY element.)
I believe you are saying --in sum-- that to be reliably edited in DW, each source file must comprise a syntactically correct and complete HTML Document.
I am attaching a second file, "badcode2.html", modified substantially as you suggest. It passes the DW validator, the validator.w3.org test, and the www.totalvalidator.com test. No errors or warnings.
I do this: Launch DW, open this file, choose Design View if necessary, select the final word of text, "badda", and activate Edit-->Cut (or Delete). As before, all the other text is deleted as well. This is repeatable.
It seems to me this sample code satisfies your general principle. Could I be misapplying the three validation tests? Or that passing these tests does not assure the document is syntactically correct and complete? Can you recommend other tests?
I'd like to add the following two points as a matter of background and a bit of niggling:
--I'm aware that complete HTML pages must contain <html> , <head>, and <body> tags, although the HTML4 specification seems to say <body> tags are optional. All my production pages, as served, contain these tags. My underlying design is a php template with individual content files incorporated by inclusion. There may be only one set of <html> , <head>, and <body> in a page. The "outer" template code provides these tags, and individual content files cannot contain a nested set -- so they must be "bare" markup. Is DW able to support this design, in which "bare markup" files are seemingly unavoidable? Is there a mechanism analogous to DW Design-Time Style Sheets to provide virtual existence of these tags so "bare markup" files can be successfully edited? I've looked for such a mechanism but not found one. Or some completely different method?
--You specify the inclusion of <p> or <h1> tags within the body. Is there some special significance of <p> or <h1> with respect to stable editing in DW? My reading of the HTML4 spec indicates that a single block element is the minimal requirement for body content. Either of these tags qualify, right? But so does <div>, and that's what I use in my current example. Am I misunderstanding something?
Bottom line, I'm looking for a pragmatic solution for my problem: Once in a while, among hundreds of structurally similar "bare markup" pages I edit in DW without any problem, I lose data. If inserting an additional tag into all my content include files eliminates these occasional problems, I'm willing to do that, as long as: (1) There is an arguable technical basis for the addition, (2) the added tag does not produce anything visible on the served page, and (3) the validators don't flag the extra tag.
Suggestions, please!
Thanks,
hen3ry -
after upgrading to mountain lion, i find that my mail app does not have a "VIP" Tab. Was wondering if anyone else has this issue and what it is about?
First, select sender(s) as VIPs. Then the VIP category will appear.
To select a sender as a VIP, open an email from that sender, then hover over their name and a star icon will appear to the left. Click the star, and that sender will be set as a VIP (and the category will appear in the pane on the left). -
Does anyone know what to do about iCal colors changing.
Does anyone know what to do about iCal colors changing. Ever since ios7 came out I have many problems. I kind of feel like Apple has become Microsoft at twice the price?? Anyway, today all my calendars (iPhone, iPad, iCloud and on my Mac) all changed colors from the customer colors I had set. I have about 5 calendars.
I was able to change them back on my Mac, my iphone and my ipad, but not in iCloud. Once each of the ones I changed updates / syncs it reverts to the incorrect colors again. I have tested back and forth, and it is definetly coming out of the iCloud.com. The web site will not let me chance colors, so once it updates / sync, all my other devices and calendars sync to the purple in iCloud.
I could go on and on about my frustrations with the apparent lack to testing, and the irony around Microsoft and their "bugs". It is more important that I find a cure, as this is really annoying.
Has anyone else seen this todayDon't spend a lot of time trying to change it. It's an iCloud problem that's happened before, and when it happened in August it went back to the correct colors in a few days. Just be careful when you add new items to the calendar to use the right calendar (even if the color is wrong), otherwise you'll have things out of synch when the correct colors come back.
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