Mac SOS! Any Mac experts can help?

[AlmaataKZ]

Hi!

Problem with 2009 mac mini here -

After working flawlessly for just more than a year, couple of days ago it started to stutter while playing itunes, restarts did not help. today I tried to use it again (copy and convert some files flac to alac) and it started to stutter with conversion and then became completely unresponsive. I had to send it into restart with the power button but it would not even start (white screen with apple logo and running progress circle but no boot-up).

This is my first mac so I do not know where even to start with this.

Any advice?

 

[roger06]

No idea what the problem is (but it sounds worryingly HD health related) but he's where I'd start:

1. how much free disk space is there? OS X does like at least 10% free.

2. Have you repaired permissions?

3. Have you looked in Activity Monitor to see if another process is hogging resources?

Let me know if you need help any of the above.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Thanks, roger!

The disk is abt 60% full.

When the mac started stuttering the first thing I did was to look at the activity monitor. I could not see anything unusual, the only thing strange was peaks on network activity. when it hanged today I disconnected the ethernet cable but it did not make any difference, it still crashed. Note wifi is off.

Repaired permissions? What is that?

 

[chebby]

Sounds like the sort of symptoms I got when my iMac's HD started failing just over a year ago. Luckily it was backed up to an external HD (with "SuperDuper!" backup/restore) and it was still - just - within the 3 year Apple care period by a matter of a few weeks.

Take it to your nearest Apple store or call Apple UK support and tell them the symptoms.

 

[robjcooper]

It does sound as if you have a problem with your Hard drive. What you'll need to do first is attempt to repair it. If this works, then I suggest you get yourself an external drive ASAP and make a bootable back up immediately - although the following may get your machine restarted, if the HD is at fault then it can only be a matter of time before it dies completely and you'll lose everything - use either Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner.

As you can't start up the computer you'll need to repair the hard drive from the installation DVD. (Even if you could start up the mac you'd still have to do a start up disc repair from the installation DVD). You'll need the installation disc for whichever operating system you are presently running (Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard). Power up the machine and insert the disc. Once the disc is inserted, if it still doesn't boot up, power off, then power back on again whilst holding the 'c' key down. If it does start up, then restart with the 'c' key held. This will force the mac to boot from the dvd.

After a while you should see a Mac OSX screen with 'select your language'. Click on the relevant language. It will then give you the 'Install Mac OSX' screen. DO NOT CLICK ON CONTINUE !!. At the top of this screen in the pull down menu bar, you'll see 'Utilities' (fourth one along I think) From inside this pull down menu, select 'Disc Utility'. A screen will appear which should have a window on the left with your hard drive and DVD drive shown, and on the right, 'Select a disk, volume or image'. Click on your hard drive icon in the left hand window. The right hand menu will change to one with buttons for 'First Aid' (which should be highlighted and is what you need to do), 'Erase', 'RAID' and' Restore' at the top. When 'First Aid' button is selected, at the bottom of this window you should see four more buttons - on the left hand side 'Verify Disk Permissions' and 'Repair Disk Permissions' and on the right hand side 'Verify Disc' and 'Repair Disc'. Click on 'Repair Disc'. It will then run a disk repair and if there are any repairable faults it will fix them for you. You may have to do it a couple of times - If there are faults, it will show you them in the white window, but they should lessen on each pass. If however, the damage is too severe it will be unable to fix the drive - there are other tools which can do more (Tech Tool Pro for example) but to be honest, it would be easier to go to your nearest Genius Bar.

If however, you are lucky and it gives you the 'Disc Repair OK' status in green, then you should be good to go. You could also click on 'Repair Disk Permissions' too and it will repair those (don't be worried if it comes up with loads of errors, it will just fix them).

Once you have done all this, you need to attempt to restart the computer from your hopefully repaired hard drive. Go to the 'Mac OSX Installer' button in the pulldown menu at the top of the screen, pull down and click on 'Quit MacOSX Installer, and then select 'Restart'. The Mac will then restart from the hard drive. When it does, log in, eject the dvd and promise yourself you'll get a back up drive and make a back up. I would definitely try and pop into an Apple store and get them to do a hardware check for you.

Oh and if you want to run 'Repair Disc Permissions' at any time (it can be useful if you are about to do a major install or if you have recently installed loads of new software) unlike a start up disc repair, you do not need the install dvd but can run it whenever you like from your hard drive: applications/utilities/disc utility/first aid/repair disc permissions

Hope that helps and if there is anything you're not clear on, post back and I'll see if I can help any more.

Good Luck

Rob

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Wow! thank you for detailed instructions! Very helpful.

I learnt the 'always have a back-up' lesson the hard way so I now back up everything. (if somebody does not do it - you should!).

Using the posts above I managed to restore the system from a recent back-up but did not have a chance yet to check if it works OK now or understand what caused the problem.

As you say it can be disk-related so I think I need to start by checking/repairing the disk. As I am a complete mac novice I do not know where to start even on this kind of basics so your post above is very very helpful. I hope to do that this evening.

once again, thank you. With your post, I hope to be able to tackle it.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Since I did the restore from back-up the macmini worked for a day OK but then when I ran max file converter it started to stutter again and the next day froze and crashed, refusing to restart at all again.

at this point I performed a disk repair and it did not report any problems.

I am now restorign from the same backup again but even if this is successful I cannot be sure it will work.

This is very disappointing to have a premium-priced computer fail straight after the warranty has finished... I used to have high confidence in Apple products but now it is sliding down...

Hmmmmm...

 

[roger06]

I totally understand your frustration. A computer is a collection of bits - a hard drive, a motherboard etc, any of which can fail at any time no matter who makes it.

It does sound like a hard drive problem. I've had hard drive issues on Macs 'cos they're no different to hard drives in PCs.

They'll be a demo on YouTube I'm sure of how to swap out the hard drive on the Mac Mini and hard drives are now very cheap. I guess being annoyed at Apple for a hard drive failure is like being annoyed at BMW for a clutch failure... it happens.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

you are right, roger. as with anything we take our own risks and deal with them.

but I do expect a decent level of support from apple. i'll visit the shop and see what they offer in terms of help inthtis case.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

the macmini crashed again and would not restart even fron the installation cd.

I took it to apple shop and they ran some diagnostics and said there are some problems that thay cannot fully understand and took it for more tests also saying the most likely cause is still hard disc failure or (much less likely) memory failure.

they suggested disc replacement will be abt 150 quid (or I can go to alternative repairers or even try some 3rd-party repair software) to which my reaction was - I would appreciate apple fixing it and consider not charging as it is only 6 weeks out of warranty. They said they would come back to me on that.

the guy at the genius bar was generally helpful. but this high cost of just-out-of-warranty failure does not go well. I was considering gradually replacing our home computers with macs but now have second thoughts - cost of initial purchase and now ownership bills both seems very high.

 

[Chisy1]

The exact same thing happened to me on my iMac. But I had not backed up properly so lost a lot of home movies - however the replaced hard drive has now been in for 4 years without issue. I suggest you don't give up on apple just yet.

 

[roger06]

but this high cost of just-out-of-warranty failure does not go well. I was considering gradually replacing our home computers with macs but now have second thoughts - cost of initial purchase and now ownership bills both seems very high.

I do sympathise. But, as you write, it is out of warranty. Now if you got yours fixed for free out of warranty, would that not be equally annoying to those who'd paid for the extra 3 year Apple care? I'd be annoyed if I'd paid for something others then got for free. There are two sides...

Believe me, go down the non-Apple route and you'll be entering a world of pain you never could imagine.

 

[roger06]

Oh, and just in case you think I'm just blindly defending Apple, I'm not. I've had awful trouble with their after sales service and, as a result, generally prefer to buy from resellers instead of Apple direct.

I had a PowerBook arrive faulty. They insisted on repairing it which I found totally out of order. Anyway, it came back in a worse state than before, damage to the keyboard where they'd lifted it.

I spent ages on the phone to AppleCare who were largely dismissive. However, I then phoned Apple sales who immediately organised a replacement.

 

[6th.replicant]

Even though your Mac is six weeks out of warranty, it's still covered by the Sale Of Goods Act's 'six-year-rule'.

Ergo, if a product fails when it's less than six years old, then it's 'not fit for purpose'.

In turn, the retailer you purchased from is obliged to repair the product free-of-charge. If the retailer is unable to repair, then it must replace the product with a new version.

Assuming you bought your Mac from an Apple Store, all should be straight forward...

And if it's any consolation, since 2005 I've had three iMacs, and now also have a MacBook Pro, and have never had any problems with any of them (touches wood). Sorry to hear that you're having probs with your Mini.

 

[Anonymous]

from the government website...
Are all goods supposed to last six (or five) years?
No, that is the limit for bringing a court case in England and Wales (five years from the time of discovery in Scotland's case). An item only needs to last as long as it is reasonable to expect it to, taking into account all the factors. An oil filter would usually not last longer than a year but that would not mean it was unsatisfactory.

The retailer will argue only 1 or 2 years is reasonable.

 

[6th.replicant]

And from the same website:

"For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement)."

FWIW, over the past few of years I've cited the 'six-year-rule'/ SOGA, following advice (via telephone) from Consumer Direct, re a faulty 2.5-year-old Pana TV (the panel was replaced FOC); a faulty 28-month--old Samsung LCD TV (new circuit board FOC); a faulty Samsung DVD player (full refund after failed repair attempt); a faulty Philips LCD TV (full refund).

If in doubt, give Consumer Direct a call for free advice - 08454 04 05 06.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

And from the same website:

"For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement)."

FWIW, over the past few of years I've cited the 'six-year-rule'/ SOGA, following advice (via telephone) from Consumer Direct, re a faulty 2.5-year-old Pana TV (the panel was replaced FOC); a faulty 28-month--old Samsung LCD TV (new circuit board FOC); a faulty Samsung DVD player (full refund after failed repair attempt); a faulty Philips LCD TV (full refund).

If in doubt, give Consumer Direct a call for free advice - 08454 04 05 06.

Thanks!

 

[AlmaataKZ]

hard drive replaced, free of charge. starts up OK.

Now let's see if 'restore from backup' works this time.

 

[roger06]

Nice one!

Restore via Time Machine should be a doddle...

 

[AlmaataKZ]

restore from bakc-up worked OK, and it all seems to be working now (I was afraid that 'problems' might have copied themselves to the back-up previously, but so far - no probs).

So, thank you everybody for your help! Being a complete mac novice I did not even know very basic things like 'restart holding C' etc! so I could only do things with your help.

Thanks! I can listen to music again!