Apple stuff - Mac, iPad, iphone

[Background Noise]

I guess you can 'reset' the airport express then re-install it - when I installed mine it gave the option to add it to the existing network so that it all works together.

[ORAC]

See here.

[Bell_Flyer]

Problem Resolved!

Thanks ORAC. Thanks Background Noise.

I read ORAC's URL, selected the Music Network from Airport, ran the Airport Admin Utility, went thru the screens and ticked the box that said join an existing network. Everything works now and I don't see "Music Airport" any longer but can play the stereo from any Mac at home!

Fantastic!!!

[ORAC]

I have a synch problem between my iPhone and MacBook Air. I wonder if any one has any idea where the problem lies?

The problem occurs when I synch and have to update multiple podcasts. If the download is just a few casts, say 5 or 6, it synchs fine. However, if it many more than that then one of 2 things happens:

a. The iPhone vanishes from iTunes in the middle of the synch. The iPhone shows as synch in progress and has to be unplugged. When the iPod is selected it reports the Library is being updated and finally shows the original, before synch, list.

b. iTunes throws up an error window stating that it "cannot read or write to the disk" and stops the update.

The error can be delayed by doing the synch when both iPhone and Air have just been turned on and/or if I do a hard boot of the iPhone prior to the synch.

There has been an error reported when loading updates to iTunes since also upgrading to Snow Leopard, that errors relates to a USB driver file for a plug-in USB phone modem which is a known error.

The problem did not occur with my MacBook Pro at home, only with the Air since I came on holiday. I did, however, upgrade the iPhone to 3.1 shortly before I left home and, due to errors, had to do a full default reload. I also don't download more than the odd 1 or 2 podcasts whilst at home, so would not necessarily have seen the problem if it also exists there.

AS far as I can see it might be a problem with the MacBook, either from a USB hardware or software fault or it might be related to the USB modem driver. It might also, however, be an iPhone software fault from the 3.1 upgrade - but I cannot see anyone else reporting it. Finally, it may be a fault with the iPhone hardware.

The iPhone is covered by the monthly fee including insurance. The MacBook is covered by Apple 3 year cover.

Ideas?

[Sumdumguy]

Snow Leopard

Is anyone else finding their Mac's performance seems to be a lot slower after upgrading to Snow Leopard? I'm getting the spinning wheel a lot more than I used to, mail takes ages to send email messages, preview takes ages to load pdf documents and front row dvd playback is jerky. I've repaired permissions and reinstalled snow leopard but no change, am considering time machining back to the old Leopard.

[Big Bad D]

I am happy with Snow Leopard performance, particularly start up times (from switching on to being ready to run an application) are significantly improved. So sorry, Sumdumguy, it's not a general problem. I can't think what else to suggest as you have tried the obvious repairing permissions and reinstall. Are you perhaps running some application in the background that is not Snow Leopard compatible and could be causing these slow downs? MacInTouch have a Snow Leopard compatability list that may help.

[AppleMacster]

Sumdumguy,

Sorry you're having problems. It might be worth opening Activity Monitor in your Utilities folder and see what processes are running. I just cured a friend's slow iMac by finding that a PowerPC-based process was running (!).

If you have had any Safari plugins, some of them are only 32bit. They shouldn't load in, but some might cause issues. The most popular is probably Safari Ad Block which will only run in 32bit in Snow Leopard. This means you have to make Safari open as a 32bit application:

Applications>Safari
Click on Safari once to highlight it, then select Command-I to get the Info box up. Once there, click the "Open in 32-bit mode" box.

Applemacster

[kishna]

After upgrade to Snow Leopard

I'm happy following in the installation of Snow Leopard, start up times etc are quicker than before. I'm having a couple of niggling problems though:
1) I can't get my MacBook to recognise my Plustek scanner now - previously I used to scan using image capture. I've installed the latest driver from Plustek but to no avail

2) If I search for something in Spotlight, the results come up in Frence! Has anyone else noticed this - Stickies for instance appear as "Aide Memoire"!. Its almost as though the search is correctly conducted, but the results are displayed wrongly

Any suggestions?!

[Bell_Flyer]

iPhoto and iDVD problems with Snow Leopard

I just upgraded to Snow Leopard and iLife 09.

Does anyone know why when I export my iphoto slide show to iDVD, all of my iPhoto themes like Scapbook, Shatter, Sliding Panels etc disappear?

It used to work OK with iLife 08 and Leopard.

[Booglebox]

Krisha-
1. In 10.6 you can scan directly from the individual printer / scanner control panel (system preferences > printers > select the printer / scanner > options, then scan on the top right). Not all scanners are supported by this though I don't think. The other thing you can try is Software Update- may offer you updated drivers for download.

2. Strange!! Couple of things you can try- reset your system language under system preferences > [regional or language or something I forget and I'm on a PC right now], and you can rebuild your spotlight database. I think there's a system preferences option for this but otherwise you will need to google for the terminal commands.

Bell_Flyer-
Only thing I can suggest is a complete reinstall of iLife 09, sorry... also, it helps to make absolutely sure that you're using the same issue of iDVD and iPhoto so that they talk to each other properly.

ORAC-
Several things you can try...
- a mate's iPod cable (especially if yours is knackered- basic I know, but hey)
- wait until after an update to iPhone 3.1, which you are not the first person to have problems with (IMO it broke a perfectly good OS 3.0!!)
- make sure you're using the latest update of iTunes, AFAIK they already released an update to iTunes 9 (you are allowed to hate the design!!). If you've still got iTunes 8 you may want to stick with it for the time being for another month or so.
- if you're plugging it in to your Air via a hub or somesuch, try not using the hub and plugging it in direct.
- whinge to O2 and / or Apple

[seekayess]

Just for a laugh, go and read THIS rather well written article!

Enjoyed it thoroughly!

[Bell_Flyer]

iPhoto and iDVD (iLife 09) doesn't work properly on S. Leopard

Bell_Flyer-
Only thing I can suggest is a complete reinstall of iLife 09, sorry... also, it helps to make absolutely sure that you're using the same issue of iDVD and iPhoto so that they talk to each other properly.

Thanks Booglebox. That's not the solution, unfortunately.

I went to an Apple Store this morning, created a slideshow in iPhoto with the 'scrapbook' theme, sent it to iDVD and the problem is still there. I spoke and showed it to an Apple 'Genius' and he said it is a bug that only Apple can fix.

My advice - don't upgrade to Snow Leopard if you need to produce Slideshows via iDVD. It all worked fine on Leopard.

[Polikarpov]

Snow Leopard seems good speed-wise but I get the niggling feeling something, somewhere, isn't quite right with my iMac since upgrading. I've had a hang on shutdown a couple of times, and occasionally on start up it'll load the desktop but won't react to clicking on applications in the dock. Never had any problems with Leopard.

And then there's the straight bug - I have a Nikon camera which used to be recognised by iPhoto without a problem in Leopard and now isn't: it sometimes appears without any of the photos, sometimes doesn't at all, and I'm having to do a laborious file import round trip with a proprietary Nikon bridge utility. Is there such a thing as a manual driver refresh with OS-X?

I have Macbook Pros at work and home, they have no problem whatsoever (haven't tried the camera on those yet though).

Cheers, P.

[innuendo]

Bell Flyer:

Does anyone know why when I export my iphoto slide show to iDVD, all of my iPhoto themes like Scapbook, Shatter, Sliding Panels etc disappear?

My wife spent a LOT of time creating a couple of slideshows in iPhoto 08. Specific text, Ken Burns effects, transitions etc. We bought iPhoto 09 and installed it. Guess what, almost all of her hard work was lost with the install of '09.
We went to our local Apple store. They un-installed '09, re-installed '08, brought up a couple of '08 slideshows from our Time Machine backup, installed them and then installed iPhoto 09 again. Same result, the custom details of the slideshows were wiped out.
Nowhere in the Readme of iPhoto 09 was there any warning that previous customization would be lost.
I sent Apple a lengthy complaint. Did I receive an acknowledgement or even a reply? Not a peep.
Apple blew this big time in my view. Even if you had warning, installing '09 would destroy your custom features in your slideshow.
Apple love to claim that they just work, Bah.

[Bell_Flyer]

Going from Snow Leopard to Leopard

Thanks for the feedback, innuendo.

This morning at the Mac Store, the Mac Genius staff told me that he has been advising his regular customers NOT to upgrade to Snow Leopard. He shot straight and told me that there are many compatibility problems with Snow Leopard and iLife 09 and "other problems". When I pressed him for details, he would only say that it is not possible to downgrade from Snow Leopard to Leopard if you are unhappy with the upgrade.

Does anyone know if it is easy to go from Snow Leopard to Leopard? I really need to do that as I have to burn Slide Shows to iDVD.

Thanks
B_F.

[innuendo]

When I pressed him for details, he would only say that it is not possible to downgrade from Snow Leopard to Leopard if you are unhappy with the upgrade.

Well I am no Mac Genius but I wonder if you have your HD backed up with Time Machine if you could not do a format of your HD, install Leopard and then copy your data from Time Machine at a pre Snow leopard time.
There must be some catch as this seems too simple to me.
Any Mac "geneii" care to comment?

[AppleMacster]

Restoring from Time Machine is possible, but might take longer than a clean install from your original system disks (having erased the hard drive first).

Experiences in restoring Leopard from Snow Leopard

Applemacster

[mixture]

If you have had any Safari plugins, some of them are only 32bit. They shouldn't load in, but some might cause issues. The most popular is probably Safari Ad Block which will only run in 32bit in Snow Leopard. This means you have to make Safari open as a 32bit application:

AppleMacster,

You are, of course, assuming that the poster's Mac has booted up in 64 bit mode.

I belive you'll find that OS X Leopard Desktop will boot in 32 bit by default unless you tell it otherwise through a two-finger salute on boot. You can verify what mode you've booted up through the System Profiler tool (from memory you click on the "SOFTWARE" header and look at what it says next to "64 bit kernel" ...i.e.YES or NO).

[AppleMacster]

Mixture,

Yes, you are right. I may have assumed too much!

Applemacster

[Fokkerwokker]

Macbook prob

For some reason I can't type anything directly into the URL bar at the moment on my Macbook. It is dead as a Dodo. I must have done something to get to that state but it is not obvious.
(Edit: Typing normal text or directly in to the 'Google box' is fine tho').


Any ideas/fixes?

Ta

FW