Most Macs in use today arerunning one of the versionsof the operating system Mac

OS 8 - the most recent being 8.6. How-ever, many of the problems and solu-tions outlined below will applyequally to Macs running an incarna-tion of the previous operating system,System 7, although support peopleshould be aware that sometimes thenames of particular files or folders dif-fer between 7 and 8. The equivalentsare usually guessable.

A great deal of this article will notapply to those very few Macs still run-ning versions of System 6 or earlier,which became obsolete in 1991. And,at the other end of the timescale, we arenot specifically considering the newiMac range, which is primarily forhome use.

BasicsThe Mac requires only a single-but-

ton mouse, and on those few Macs thathave two-button mice, it’s the buttonused for standard operating-systemcommands to which we refer below.

On the keyboard, the term “com-mand key” refers to the key to the leftof the spacebar which bears an Applesymbol - this is sometimes also calledthe “Apple key”. “Period” refers to thefull-stop key.

The terms Finder, Desktop and Sys-tem are often used in Mac circles withvague interchangeability. Below, weadhere to strict definitions. The Systemis the operating system in its entirety(which includes the System folder, theSystem file and all the innumerablefonts, extensions and so on to which atypical Mac is subjected).

The Desktop is the screen on which

disk and folder contents are displayedand manipulated. The Finder is a pro-gram, part of the System, which man-ages disks and files and allows userinteraction with the Desktop. UnlikeWindows Explorer, however, which isvisibly a distinct application, from theuser’s point of view the Mac Finderand Desktop are the same thing.

Major And OS Problems

The computer will not start up prop-erly, or crashes or freezes immedi-ately after startup.

This may be indicative of major prob-lems. However, before calling in a hard-ware engineer, consider the following:

● Check the monitor, keyboard andmouse are properly connected, andsubstitute alternatives if possible;failure of these may give the im-pression of a “frozen” Mac.

● Disconnect all peripherals.● Substitute an alternative power ca-

ble and socket, particularly if therehave been electrical problems.

● Check the computer is on a levelsurface.

● Check there are no disks in thefloppy or CD drives; the Mac maybe erroneously attempting to startup from these, or stalling whilereading from them.

● If the startup process reaches thestage of displaying the “HappyMac” icon and “Welcome to Macin-tosh” (or similar) message, andfreezes only once the operating sys-tem appears to have loaded, theproblem is probably not a serioushardware one. Try restarting withthe shift key held down to disableall Extensions.

● If the measures above do not work,or the startup process shows a “SadMac” icon, the computer is prob-ably unable to boot from the startupdisk’s System software. If available,insert an emergency floppy disk orCD containing basic System soft-ware, and reboot. This is not a long-term solution, but unless the harddisk is seriously damaged this willallow you to view it, retrieve filesand solve problems.

● As a general precaution, always en-sure that there is no more than onecopy of the System software on astartup disk. (If it is necessary to

Update 137 (April 2000) Page 9 File: P1038.1

The Mac’s supposed to be easier to use than the PC, but there are still manyfiddly problems to sort out. We provide some solutions.

By Barnaby Page

Troubleshooting TheApple Mac

“The icon of the problematic disk willappear on the Desktop greyed-out. To

persuade the Mac that the disk is indeedmissing, press Command-Period to cancel

when one of these dialogs appears.”

PC Support Advisor

Problem Solving:Hardware

keep multiple copies, store them ascompressed archive files.)

The computer does not respond tokeyboard or mouse input, but reportsno error message.

The most likely, and surprisinglyfrequent, explanation is that the ADB(Apple Desktop Bus) cable has becomedisconnected either from the keyboard(through which the mouse connectionis routed) or from the CPU.

Alternatively, this may be an appli-cation crash. Press Command-Option-Escape simultaneously and the Macwill usually bring up a dialog box al-lowing you to quit to the Finder(equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-Delete and EndTask in Windows). Any unsaved workin the crashed application will now belost, but other running applicationscan be entered and work saved there.A restart is now advisable.

This Command-Option-Escapecombination may also work when thecrash occurs in the Finder, althoughdepending on the cause it may leadyou into a cyclical series of crashesfrom which the only escape is a restart.

Less likely is a complete Systemcrash; this usually produces someform of error message or screen distur-bance. However, if the problem doesnot lie with ADB, and it is not possibleto force a quit from an errant applica-tion, consider the steps outlined in theproblem below.

The Mac reports a System error andwill not respond to any user actions.

A System error is the Mac environ-ment’s term for an OS-level crash. If anerror code is provided, log it; numer-ous Web resources and specialist pub-lications explain these codes fortroubleshooting. Usually the only op-tion is to restart the Macintosh, losing

all unsaved work (see below).However, there is a last-ditch resort

- the interrupt switch. Consult themanual, if possible, to see if the Macmodel has an interrupt switch; not alldo. If there are two tabs on the side ofthe CPU, it is the one further back; ifthere are two buttons on the front, it isthe one on the right.

Press this switch. A dialog box mayappear containing a > (greater-than)symbol. Type:

SM 0 A9F4

Press return, and type:

G 0

Be sure to enter the spaces accu-rately and use zeroes rather than theletter O. In some circumstances, thiswill return you to the Finder, at whichpoint you should save any work instill-running applications and restart.

To forcibly restart a Macintosh aftera crash, preferably use the reset button.If there are two tabs on the side of theCPU, it is the one further forward; ifthere are two buttons on the front, it isthe one on the left. Alternatively, Con-trol-Command-Power key (the key atthe back of the keyboard, with an ar-row) forces a restart.

If none of these options works (andsome older models including Classic,LC, IIsi and PowerBook do not havereset buttons) the last resort is topower down and up again.

Newly-installed software causes theOS or applications to behave improp-erly, unexpectedly quit, or fail toload.

Very likely the problem is a conflictamong Extensions, which add func-tionality to the OS. Use the Extensions

Manager Control Panel to determinewhich Extensions should be loaded onstartup, eliminating the most recentlyinstalled ones in turn to locate theproblem.

Remember, though, that the diffi-culty may not lie solely with a newExtension, but in its interaction with anolder one. With patience you can breakall installed Extensions down into setsand test each to determine which com-bination is at fault; however, this is atime-consuming process.

You can also disable all Extensionsby holding down the shift key atstartup (although this itself will causemuch software to operate incorrectly).

Custom icons are replaced by genericdocument icons.

This is not a problem which seri-ously affects operation, but it can beconfusing to users. The simplest solu-tion is to rebuild the Desktop: holddown Command-Option while start-ing up the computer. This updates theinvisible files Desktop DB and Desk-top DF, which contain icon informa-tion.

If this does not work a file-manage-ment utility will be needed to deletethem altogether, and they will be re-constructed when the computer is nextstarted up. Note that, on all versions ofthe System software prior to 7.5.3, thisalso removes any comments that usershave entered in files’ Get Info boxes.

The Macintosh reports that it was im-properly shut down.

Usually, if the computer is notproperly shut down - for example, ifthe power supply is switched off - itwill report this at the next startup. Thisis not necessarily indicative of a prob-lem and, provided there is a satisfac-tory reason for the unconventionalshutdown, no action is required. Thefacility can be turned off through theShut Down Warning option in theGeneral Controls Control Panel.

If an improper shutdown is re-ported even when it is known that thisis not the case, most likely there is aproblem with the Shutdown Checkfile. A file of this name is created ateach startup and deleted each time thecomputer is correctly switched off us-ing the Special Shut Down menu op-

File: P1038.2 Update 137 (April 2000) Page 10

“If the startup process shows a“Sad Mac” icon, the computer is probably

unable to boot from the startup disk’sSystem software.”

PC Support Advisor

Problem Solving:Hardware

tion. Thus, if a copy of the file existswhen the machine is switched on, theMacintosh assumes that an impropershutdown has occurred.

The solution is to create a new textfile (using TeachText, for example)containing only the words “ShutdownCheck”, and save it to the root level ofthe startup disk under the name Shut-down Check. You will be askedwhether you wish to replace an exist-ing (invisible) file of the same name;confirm this. Note that because Shut-down Check is an invisible file, thenormal Mac Find File will not locate it,although the Sherlock file-finding util-ity or specialist file-management utili-ties will.

Custom sets of extensions arechanged when new applications areinstalled.

Newly-installed software does notalways respect the user’s carefully-cre-ated custom extension sets. The solu-tion is to lock the extension sets, whichare located in the folder System-Pref-erences-Extensions Manager Prefer-ences. Use a tool such as ResEdit tochange their file types from ESET toRSET.

The Empty Wastebasket option in theFinder does not empty the Waste-basket completely.

Some files in the Wastebasket maybe in use, or may be locked files. Quitall running applications to ensure thatno files are in use (and if that doesn’tdo the trick, restart the Mac). Now tryEmpty Wastebasket again. Any filesleft in the Wastebasket are probablylocked files; select them one at a time,select File-Get Info in the Finder, anduncheck the Locked box.

When the user tries to drag some filesto the Wastebasket, the Mac won’tallow it, saying they are in use.

The files may genuinely be in use byan application or by the operating sys-tem, in which case they can’t be de-leted. However, some applications arepoor at recording which files are cur-rently in use, and may mark them assuch even when they’re closed. So quitall running applications and try again.

Text in the Finder, such as menu op-tions, appears in a foreign languageor a non-Roman character set.

A foreign-language version of theSystem is installed. There may be aSystem-switching utility presentwhich will allow you to change on thefly to an English language System. Al-ternatively, restart with an Englishlanguage System disk in the floppydrive. The Mac will boot from this ver-sion of the System and you will at leastbe able to see disk contents in Englishand proceed to solving the problem.

A floppy disk is stuck in the drive.Dragging a floppy disk’s icon on the

Desktop to the Wastebasket (or Trash,as it’s called on American systems) willnormally eject the disk. Reassure usersthat, although this is indeed themethod used to delete individual files,it does not delete the floppy’s contents.

If this doesn’t work, or the disk iconis not present, press Command-Shift-1

to eject the disk from the built-infloppy drive; to eject it from a secondor external floppy drive, press Com-mand-Shift-2.

If these don’t work, you will need torestart the Mac. There is no reason whyyou should not save any open files, sodo that, then select Restart from theSpecial menu in the Finder. If that stilldoesn’t work, try Special-Restart againwhile holding down the mouse button.

As a last resort, you can physicallyforce disk ejection by poking a strongthin object - a straightened-out paper-clip works well - into the small holenext to the built-in floppy drive. Pushfirmly; some strength is required totrigger the ejection mechanism.

The Mac will not complete some com-mands without requesting the inser-tion of a specific, named floppy diskwhich has nothing to do with the op-eration concerned.

This means the disk is missing fromthe drive but was not ejected using theapproved Wastebasket method (seeabove). The icon of the problematicdisk will appear on the Desktopgreyed-out. To persuade the Mac thatthe disk is indeed missing, press Com-mand-Period to cancel when one ofthese dialogs appears.

Of course, in some operations suchas installing new software the Macmay genuinely require a specificfloppy.

Opening or saving files on a harddisk is very slow.

The Mac may be short of memory.Go to the Finder and, from the Applemenu, select About This Macintosh. Ifthe amount of available memoryseems very small, click on the icon atthe top right of the Finder screen to seewhat applications are currently run-ning. You may well find some mem-ory-hungry applications are runningwithout documents open - and there-fore invisibly - but aren’t needed. Sim-

Update 137 (April 2000) Page 11 File: P1038.3

“With the LaserWriter 8.6 driver,included in OS 8.5.x, pressing

Option-Shift-2 will print a Eurosymbol in many fonts even if another

character appears onscreen.”

Online ResourcesApple’s Tech Info Library is on the Web at til.info.apple.com/ , and containsanswers to many system-level technical questions.

An excellent collection of Mac troubleshooting links (a few of them out ofdate) can be found at www.hths.mcvsd.k12.nj.us/wmtr/ .

PC Support Advisor

The Apple Mac

Problem Solving:Hardware

ply bring each into the foreground byselecting its name, and quit it.

Alternatively, large amounts ofmemory may have been reserved byan ill-mannered application which,even after it’s quit, doesn’t hand themback to the operating system. Thismeans restarting the Mac.

Finally, the disk may be highly frag-mented. Run a disk-checking utility toconfirm this suspicion before acting, asthe cure is non-trivial: backing up allthe data off the hard disk, and refor-matting it. See also the next problem.

Opening floppy disks in the Finder isvery slow.

Rebuild the Desktop file of thefloppy by holding down Command-Option when it is inserted.

Certain applications or files won’trun or open, or functions can’t be per-formed; the error message says a pref-erences file is corrupted.

Most likely, a preferences file is cor-rupted! Fortunately, Mac preferencesfiles are usually easy to find - in thePreferences subfolder of the Systemfolder. Simply quit the application ifit’s open, delete the offending prefer-ences file, and relaunch the applica-tion, which will create a new virginfile. Needless to add, you will nowneed to reset any previous user prefer-ences.

This happens repeatedly with somesoftware (for instance, versions of thePC printer driver PowerPrint). In thiscase, it’s worth backing up a copy ofthe relevant preferences file which youknow does work onto another disk, orsimply into a hard disk folder otherthan the System folder. That can thenbe used to replace the damaged file

when necessary.When doing this, Option-drag the

good file to the Preferences subfolderso that it is copied rather than moved,and you retain an incorruptible ver-sion of the good file.

Software Problems

Compressed files can’t be expanded;when double-clicked upon, eitherthey open as gobbledegook text or theMac says the necessary applicationcould not be found.

Even if you don’t have the compres-sion utility which generated the ar-chive, assuming it is a Mac-created fileyou can probably decompress it usingthe shareware StuffIt Expander 4.0.1(available from many online and CD-ROM sources). This will handle .sea(self-extracting) and .cpt archives cre-ated by the Compact Pro utility, .hqxBinHex files, .bin binary files, and the.sit files created by StuffIt.

For PC-generated .ZIP archives, theshareware ZipIt is your best bet.

QuarkXPress 3.32 keyboard shortcutsmake the computer change applica-tions.

If the user has recently upgraded toMac OS 8.5 or above, they will find thatthe Command-Tab and Command-Shift-Tab shortcuts used by XPress forswitching tools are recognised by thesystem software and have the effect ofswitching among open applicationsinstead. They should switch to usingCommand-Option-Tab and Com-mand-Option-Shift-Tab respectivelyin XPress.

Peripherals/Comms

An Internet connection will not close.This can occur if there is an applica-

tion crash during an Internet sessionwhich affects the PPP or Remote Ac-cess Control Panels.

If there is a handset attached to thesame line as the modem (or you canattach one), try picking this up andhanging it up. Alternatively launch aterminal program such as the commu-nications module of Claris Works, typeATH and hit Return. This should hangthe modem up. As a last resort, restart.

The user cannot operate applicationswhile a modem is connecting.

This is not a serious problem assuch, but may be irritating if the usertends to connect to the Internet bylaunching an application such as aWeb browser, and they find no otheraction is possible until the connectionis complete. Instead, they should con-nect through one of two Control Pan-

File: P1038.4 Update 137 (April 2000) Page 12

“If the user has recently upgraded to MacOS 8.5 or above, they will find that the

Command-Tab and Command-Shift-Tabshortcuts used by XPress for switching

tools are recognised by the systemsoftware and have the effect of switching

among open applications instead.”

“Some applications are poor at recordingwhich files are currently in use, andmay mark them as such even whenthey’re closed. So quit all running

applications and try again.”

PC Support Advisor

Problem Solving:Hardware

els: PPP (Mac OS 7.6-8.1) or RemoteAccess (8.5 and above).

The Control Panels will connect inthe background, allowing the user tocontinue work in other applications -especially useful if multiple redial at-tempts are expected.

PCs can’t read Mac disks.You need MacSee, available (in-

cluding a free demo version whichsupports limited file sizes) fromwww.reevesoft.com . Note, however,that all but the oldest Macs can readand write PC-formatted disks, so pre-vention is simpler than cure.

The Mac’s ConfigPPP Control Panelreports an Internet connection asopen when, in fact, it is not.

Close ConfigPPP and reopen it; theconnection should now be shown asclosed. In fact it was closed all along,but ConfigPPP is poor at updating itsdisplay.

This problem is peculiar to olderMacs, as newer versions do not useConfigPPP (and some users of oldermachines may also have alternativesinstalled).

Communications software reportsthat it cannot initialise a modem, orthat a connection failed.

This problem can have a largenumber of origins, ranging from aloose physical connection to arcane in-compatibilities. There is no single solu-tion (although shutting downeverything - including the modem -and restarting will often cure tempo-rary difficulties), but do not ignore thefrequent possibility that the modem isjust fine and it is the error messagewhich is erroneous.

Files or programs downloaded viamodem to a PC won’t open or run ona Mac.

When Mac files are downloadedfrom a remote computer they need tobe received in MacBinary format. Maccommunications software will do thiswithout being asked, but PC packageswon’t.

The solution lies in a piece of share-ware called StuffIt Expander, whichwill perform the necessary manipula-tions to turn the files you have broughtfrom the PC into MacBinary.

SCSI devices such as external harddisks or CD-ROM drives do not ap-pear on the Desktop.

The SCSI devices are not mounted.Save all work, then turn off the Macusing Special-Shutdown from theDesktop. Turn on all external SCSI de-vices and finally turn on the Mac again.Often, SCSI devices are only detectedproperly at startup.

Ensure that all SCSI devices have aunique ID (usually set via a smallwheel at the back of the device). SCSIID 0 is reserved for the internal harddisk, and ID 7 for the CPU. The orderin which you connect them doesn’tmatter, but the last device in the SCSIchain - the physical chain, not the IDorder - must have one of its two SCSIports terminated with a terminator.

If none of these checks solves theproblem, try the utility SCSIProbe (orany similar product), widely availablefrom online and CD-ROM sources.This allows you to actively poll theSCSI chain after startup, and mountany miscreant devices.

Alternatively, if you have a diskmaintenance utility such as NortonUtilities on the hard disk, cycling

through the choice of attached drivesbefore disk diagnosis will oftenachieve the same effect with missingSCSI disks, though not other devicessuch as scanners.

Note that none of this applies to therecently-introduced series of Macswith GE processors. These do not useSCSI - they use Universal Serial Bus(USB) - and do not suffer from thesame termination problems.

Print And Display

The monitor displays no image, or anunusable image similar to interfer-ence on a TV.

Check power supply and cablingconnections first - these are the mostlikely faults. If the monitor is a PCmonitor connected to the Mac throughan adapter, the DIP-switch settings onthe adapter may be incorrect (refer todocumentation), or the PC monitormay require a specific setting fornumber of colours in the Mac’s Moni-tors Control Panel.

If the CPU-monitor cable is custom-made, the cable pin-outs may be incor-rect. All of these possibilities are morelikely than a complete failure of themonitor.

A program will not run, reportingthat more display colours are re-quired.

Open the Monitors Control Panel,usually accessible through the ControlPanels option on the Apple menu atthe top left-hand corner of the screen,and select the required number of dis-play colours.

Fonts (typefaces) appear blocky andbitmapped; this grows worse thelarger they are.

If all fonts are affected, the AdobeType Manager utility, present on mostMacs, may be turned off. Check theATM Control Panel, usually accessiblethrough the Control Panels option onthe Apple menu at the top left-handcorner of the screen.

If only certain fonts are affected, thefont files may be missing or damaged;check that they are present in the Fontssubfolder of the System folder, andreinstall if necessary.

Update 137 (April 2000) Page 13 File: P1038.5

“The disk may be highly fragmented.Run a disk-checking utility to confirmthis suspicion before acting, as the cureis non-trivial: backing up all the dataoff the hard disk, and reformatting it.”

PC Support Advisor

The Apple Mac

Problem Solving:Hardware

There may be an incompatibility be-tween the application and Adobe TypeManager, or a certain font; this occa-sionally happens with old software orshareware.

If a font-management utility is inuse, check that the fonts concerned areopen. To be doubly sure, close all fontsand quit all applications; open the de-sired fonts, and restart the applica-tions.

The user cannot obtain a Euro cur-rency symbol.

Although the Euro symbol does notappear on Macintosh keyboards, in re-cent versions of Mac OS - 8.5 and above- it is built into many fonts and can beobtained through the key combinationOption-Shift-2. Fonts which offer thesymbol are Apple Chancery, Capitals,Charcoal, Chicago, Courier, Gadget,Geneva, Helvetica, Hoefler Text, Mon-aco, New York, Palatino, Sand, Skia,Techno, Textile, Times. The symbolcan also be obtained in the Symbol fontthrough Option-T.

It is also worth noting that with theLaserWriter 8.6 driver, included in OS8.5.x, pressing Option-Shift-2 willprint a Euro symbol in many fontseven if another character appears on-screen.

Alternatively, for users with olderversions of the Mac OS, Adobe offersfree fonts (one each of sans serif, serifand monospaced) which produce onlythe Euro symbol. These fonts are avail-able from Adobe’s Web site atwww.adobe.com/support/downloa-ds/503a.htm . Any key pressed inthese fonts will produce the Euro sym-bol. This is a less satisfactory solutionas it means the user must change fontevery time they wish to use the sym-bol.

Image files which appear correctlyonscreen are blocky and bitmappedon a printout.

Leaving aside the question ofprinter resolution - which is unlikely tocreate a dramatically bad problem aseven a basic 300 dpi laser printer willproduce acceptable smoothness - themost likely explanation is that the useris printing out a document into whichthey have inserted an image file whichhas since been deleted or moved. Con-

sequently the application can’t accessthe high-resolution image data and isjust printing out the screen rendering.You will need to show the applicationwhere the original image file is, or re-import it.

A similar problem arises when us-ers try to print Encapsulated Post-Script (EPS) files on a non-PostScriptprinter: only the screen preview isprinted, because the device can’t inter-pret PostScript. Here, the solution is touse a PostScript printer, or convert theimage to PICT format.

Courier text appears on a printoutwhere another font should be used.

The correct font is missing, andCourier has been substituted for it.You will need to install the correct fontor change the font of the text.

Some text which appears correctlyonscreen does not appear at all on aprintout.

This is probably a result of using aQuickDraw (ie, non-PostScript)printer which will not, for example,print angled text from applicationssuch as QuarkXPress which expectPostScript output. If so, the solution isto switch to a PostScript printer. Alsocheck that the text has not had a “hid-den” style applied to it by the user, orbeen coloured white.

The space between characters of partsof the text, which appears correctlyonscreen, is significantly different ona printout.

This is usually a result of printingon a QuickDraw printer, which doesnot have the fine control over typespacing that a PostScript printer does.

The printer won’t print.Apart from the obvious power and

connection issues, there are some par-ticular gremlins which may strikehere:

● The printer driver may have be-come disabled, perhaps whilemodifying custom Extension sets. Ifit does not appear in the Chooser, itmay be in the folder System-Exten-sions (Disabled); return it to thefolder System-Extensions. Like-wise Open Transport may have be-

come disabled; make sure that it isin the active startup set of Exten-sions, and that the user has notstarted up with Extensions turnedoff.

● If you are using an AppleTalkprinter, make sure that the Apple-Talk Control Panel has the correctport (modem or printer) selectedfor the printer.

● The LaserWriter 8.x driver some-times suffers from a corruptionproblem. You can try deleting theLaserWriter 8 Prefs file from thefolder System-Preferences, andthen select Setup in the Chooseragain to re-establish the printer.

● Finally, you may wish to try theexotically-nicknamed “Zappingthe PRAM”, meaning emptying theParameter RAM of information.Restart and, during startup, holddown Command-Option-P-R. Notethat this may change some generalsystem settings, such as the date,time, and monitor colours.

Copyright ITP, 2000

File: P1038.6 Update 137 (April 2000) Page 14

PCSA

The AuthorBarnaby Page (barnaby.page@itp-journals.com) is an electronic pub-lishing editor and a frequentspeaker and trainer. He was formany years an IT journalist spe-cialising in the Apple Mac anddesktop design.

PC Support Advisor

Problem Solving:Hardware

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