iLife 09 hangs on install
July 2, 2009 at 2:57 pm | In Mac OS X, Software | 1 CommentTags: 10.5.7, hangs, iLife, iLife 09, install, installation, installer, restart, won't restart
Installed iLife ‘09 on two Macs today, and both hung at the end of the installation process. The iLife installer reported that installation was successful, but clicking the “Restart” button failed to reboot the computer; instead, the Installer window closed, the menu bar disappeared, and all that remained was a non-functional Dock. None of the usual tricks (e.g., Force Quit) would work, so I had to resort to powering off by holding in the power button. The system log showed the following:
LaunchServices/5123589: coreservicesd is running an unsupported version, 0 ( we are 10500000 ), so we cannot talk to it.
— last message repeated 153 times —
Very annoying. I suspect the iLife ‘09 installer isn’t completely compatible with the most recent Mac OS X (10.5.7).
Software update hangs at “Configuring installation”
December 19, 2008 at 1:08 pm | In Mac OS X | Leave a CommentTags: 10.5, 10.5.5, 10.5.6, hangs, Leopard, Software Update
When upgrading from Mac OS X 10.5.5 to Mac OS X 10.5.6, you may find that Software Update hangs at “Configuring Installation”. This is apparently due to an incomplete download of the update. Apple has posted instructions for fixing this if it should happen to you.
Personally, I didn’t encounter the above when upgrading. However, on one of my Macs I did run into a problem starting the update. Basically, I clicked the “Install” button and then Software Update hung with the spinning colored disk.
Fortunately, I was able to quit all other applications and log out (partially, at least) before I had to hold down the power button to shut down. After rebooting, I was prompted to download the update again and this time it worked without a hitch. Perhaps Apple’s update servers are a bit overwhelmed by the size of the 10.5.6 update?
iChat video freezes
October 18, 2008 at 6:36 pm | In A/V, Mac OS X | Leave a CommentTags: 10.5, 10.5.5, freezes, freezing, iChat, Leopard, video
Lately, I’ve found that the video in iChat tends to freeze partway into a conversation. Curiously, audio is unaffected. Once the video has frozen, I can no longer access the iChat menus (clicking on a menu produces the spinning colored ball). However, I can continue conversing with the other party until I am ready to end the conversation, at which point I have to force quit iChat.
There are several active discussions on this topic on the Apple Support discussion board (see, for example, iChat freezes after 10.5.5 update). The resolution that has worked for me so far is the following:
- In the QuickTime System Preferences, click on the “Streaming” tab and then choose “1 Mbps Cable” for the streaming speed.
- In the Audio/Video iChat Preferences, choose “500 kbps” for the bandwidth limit.
- Relaunch iChat
You’ll notice that the size and quality of the video are reduced, but at least it works!
Is Apple’s iDisk secure?
July 22, 2008 at 5:38 pm | In MobileMe | 2 CommentsTags: encryption, iDisk, Mac, MobileMe, security, WebDAV
When Apple replaced its aging .Mac service with MobileMe this month, it doubled the amount of storage from 10GB to 20GB per individual account. Coupled with iDisk Sync, which promises the speed of local storage with the convenience of remote storage, this greatly added to the appeal of iDisk for accessing files from multiple Macs.
But is the new iDisk secure? Sadly, a message from Apple support reveals that it is not:
When you connect to your iDisk, the authentication of your MobileMe member name and password is done via Digest Authentication. This is a common, secure way to handle authentication for many HTTP-based services (such as webpages) or WebDAV servers (such as iDisk). For more information about Digest Authentication, you can search for the term in your favorite search engine.
Once you are connected to the iDisk and after the authentication process, the actual transfer of data is not encrypted. This includes publishing pages or photocasts with iWeb or iPhoto, using Backup, syncing with iDisk Syncing, publishing calendars with iCal, or simply copying a file manually to your iDisk.
This is unacceptable. Since iDisk stores and retrieves files in the clear, a local or wireless network eavesdropper could easily capture sensitive files as they are read from or written to iDisk. This is particularly egregious since Mac OS X already supports WebDAV over HTTPS, which could easily provide the needed encryption.
As a workaround, Apple suggests first saving sensitive files to an encrypted disk image, but this negates the convenience of iDisk Sync. It is also unreasonable to expect novices, presumably the intended users of MobileMe and iDisk, to anticipate the need for—not to mention possess the ability to—create encrypted disk images.
Reinstalling SPSS on Mac OS X
June 12, 2008 at 10:17 am | In Software | 1 CommentTags: reinstall, SPSS, uninstall
If you ever have to reinstall SPSS on your Mac, you may encounter the following error message:
Install has detected the presence of SPSS 16.0 Graduate Student Version for Mac. Please uninstall the existing version before installing this version of the product.
This message may appear even if you used the SPSS uninstaller to remove the previous version. The solution, as reported in this blog post, is to manually delete the “InstallShield” folder from your home directory before running the SPSS installer. Who would’ve thought?
iPhoto displays exclamation mark instead of photo
May 10, 2008 at 7:58 pm | In Mac OS X | 4 CommentsTags: exclamation mark, iPhoto, missing photo
Has iPhoto ever surprised you by displaying a giant exclamation mark instead of your photo? I had this experience after importing and cropping several photos today. The thumbnails appeared just fine, but when I double-clicked on one of the cropped photos I got a giant exclamation mark where my photo should have been!
I first tried rebuilding the iPhoto database (see iPhoto 4 or later: Rebuilding the iPhoto Library), but that didn’t help. Then I came across this document on Apple Support: iPhoto 6: Image appears when browsing but is blank or exclamation mark when editing. Apparently, the exclamation mark indicates that iPhoto is unable to find the file for the photo. My splitting, merging, and renaming of events (perhaps because at one point I had two events with the same name?) must have caused iPhoto to lose track of the cropped images.
Fortunately, selecting the photos’ thumbnails and then choosing “Revert to Original” from the “Photos” menu restored the photos. I then just had to re-crop them.
Dot Mac won’t sync bookmarks
April 2, 2008 at 2:48 pm | In Mac OS X | Leave a CommentTags: bookmarks, dot Mac, Safari, sync
Today I discovered that my Safari bookmarks had stopped syncing via .Mac. Moreover, the usual trick (i.e., going to .Mac Sync Preferences, clicking “Advanced…”, clicking “Reset Sync Data…”, and opting to have the bookmarks on my computer replaced with sync info from .Mac) didn’t work.
Fortunately, I found a quick fix on Apple Support (see Safari 3.1, Mac OS X 10.5.2: Bookmark syncing issues with iPhone, iPod Touch, .Mac). Basically, it involves running the following command in a Terminal window:
defaults delete com.apple.safari RegisteredSafariSyncClient
After executing this command, you’ll need to sync with .Mac the normal way.
Missing delete key on Mac keyboards
March 31, 2008 at 2:43 pm | In Mac | 3 CommentsTags: Apple, delete key, forward delete, keyboard, Mac, right delete
I love the new Apple wireless keyboard
The only problem? There’s no forward-delete key. This might not seem like a big deal until you realize just how many applications require the forward-delete key to delete an object.
Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. If you hold down the function (”fn”) key and then press the normal delete key, the keyboard will generate a forwards-delete instead of a backwards-delete. I think I can live with that.
(The above applies to Apple laptop keyboards as well.)
Open Firmware Password utility in Leopard
March 1, 2008 at 7:30 pm | In Mac OS X | 11 CommentsTags: 10.5, Leopard, Open Firmware, password, utility
Today I needed to boot a PowerBook into target disk mode to transfer some files. Since I had previously set the Open Firmware password, holding down the “t” key while booting wouldn’t work. A brief attempt to find an Open Firmware command for booting into target disk mode was unsuccessful, so I decided to temporarily disable the Open Firmware password.
Under Panther, I had used Apple’s Open Firmware Password utility to set the firmware password. According to the download page for the utility, though, it’s not compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Instead, the reader is directed to the /Applications/Utilities/ folder on the installation disc. Frustratingly, when I inserted the Leopard installation disc, I couldn’t find an Applications folder, let alone a firmware password utility.
Turns out the preferred means for setting, resetting, or disabling the Open Firmware password in Leopard is to boot from the installation disc. Then at the “Welcome” screen choose “Firmware Password Utility” from the “Utilities” menu and proceed as directed. If you haven’t set an Open Firmware password, booting from the installation disc is simply a matter of inserting the disc and holding down the “c” key as you boot. If you have set an Open Firmware password, though, it’s a bit tricker. Insert the installation disc and hold down the Option key as you boot your Mac. When you see the padlock image, enter your Open Firmware password. On the next screen, click on the “Mac OS X Install DVD” button and then click the right arrow. Your system should now boot from the installation disc.
Another option is to run the Firmware Password Utility from the command line. First log into an account with administrator privileges and then insert the Leopard installation disc. Next open a Terminal window and type “open /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/Applications/”. Now you can access the Utilities folder and double-click on “Firmware Password Utility”.
For more information on Open Firmware and firmware password protection, see the Apple Knowledgebase article Setting up firmware password protection in Mac OS X.
GoLive “could not mark in use index.html”
January 2, 2008 at 4:59 pm | In Software | Leave a CommentTags: Adobe, Error 13, GoLive, Version Cue
Today I received the following error message in Adobe GoLive CS2 when I tried to edit a file:
Could not mark in use index.html. Version Cue reported an error. Error: 13 The requested operation could not be performed because it would override a conflicting change.
Odd, since the file was not checked out by anyone. Searching the web, I found mention of this problem in the Adobe Forums under Could not mark in use index.html. For that user, the fix involved erasing the problem file and copying it back, presumably from the Version Cue server.
Unfortunately, every file in my project seemed to be affected. (But only this project, no others.) So I decided to rename the original project folder and completely recreate it from Version Cue, which I did by choosing “New” and then “Connect to Site” in GoLive.
That did it—problem solved!
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