Macintosh Help
Troubleshooting Information
Mac Help
Suffering from the Macintosh FREEZE?
With older machines and newer software, at times, we truly test the
capabilities of both machine and software.
First thing to remember always is:
SAVE everything FIRST and FREQUENTLY!
This step alone can minimize data loss to a tolerable amount.
Patience is a virtue, but if your machine stops responding here are some
things to try.
- Press [Apple]+[Alt]+[Esc] to force the stalled program to quit and return to the
desktop
- Press [Apple]+[Control]+[( ] to restart your machine
- Toggle off your power switch (if applicable); wait at least 30 seconds and
restart
- Unplug the machine's power cord; wait at least 30 seconds and restart
No-room-in-the-inn syndrome...
To check the amount of available room on your hard drive (HD) click once on your HD icon,
press [Apple]+[I] to "get info" and check the number displayed at the top of the
window. It may be time to clean house. Remove old files to disks, or delete
them. Clear the cache of temporary files stored on your HD from using the Internet.
Check for duplicate copies of files or programs. If you need help deciding
what or how to remove... call the Help Desk.
It is not a bad idea to reformat your machine once every year or
two. To do this you need to save all your personal files to a single desktop folder
or to removable disks. (All data is erased when a HD is reformatted.)
Gather your system software, and all the programs that you want re-installed and then call
the Help Desk to set up a time - when you have a down time - to have a technician reformat
your HD and reinstall your software.
Printing Problems
Make sure the printer is turned on.
Go to the menu underneath the Apple and make sure its
connected to the right network (Ethernet), either in Control Panels under Network or
Appletalk.
Make sure all plug ins are securely plugged in both at the
outlets and in the computer. Try unplugging and replugging in both places.
Try also connecting to email or Netscape. That should
help define whether or not it is in the line or the port.
Turn off both the printer and the computer for 1-2 minutes;
restart both, then try again.
Printer may not have enough memory if it is a large
document; has multiple fonts; or has graphics. Try sending your information to
another printer to see if that helps.
Turn the Asante Box off; leave for a couple minutes, and
then turn back on.
Make sure correct printer is chosen. Some people
forget they have chosen another printer once and forgot to change it back.
Make sure there's paper or that the paper tray isn't empty,
missing or improperly positioned, or that you haven't chosen manual feed by accident and
there isn't any paper in that slot.
Check to see if others who print to the same terminal are
having problems. It could be that the whole system is down.
Freezing Problems
Boost amount of RAM each program uses: Select the program
icon, get the information by pressing {Apple} + I, and change the allotted memory in the
preferred box. Boost the preferred memory by a thousand or two.
Rebuild desktop. Reboot your computer and hold on to
the {Apple} and {Option} Key until you see the message, "Do you want to rebuild your
desktop?" Then click on "Yes."
Run Norton Utilities to defragment hard drive and run Disk
Doctor (if computer has a cd-rom drive).
Make sure no more than one program is open at a time,
otherwise you can be using a lot of RAM you're not aware of. At the very least, it
will cause your computer to run slower and at worst, if your computer doesn't have a lot
of RAM, it may cause you to freeze.
Check the launcher to see if these are aliases or originals
in the launcher folder. If they are originals, either drag back to the application
folder or do a command Y to put away.
Sometimes the Finder preferences corrupt for no apparent
reason and will cause the computer to freeze. By throwing away the Finder Preferences in
the Preference Folder (inside the Sysem Folder) and restarting, it forces the computer to
create a new Preference File.
LAST RESORT!! Zap PRAM (Command,Option, P, R, and
Restart Key, after hearing the startup sound twice, let go).
Data
Transfer
Macintosh -> PC
If you are running the same program on both machines, more than likely
you will be able to bring the file(s) straight across. You must, however, save the
file to a PC formatted disk for the transfer. Your PC won't read Macintosh
formatted disks, but the Mac will read either. So, save your file to your PC disk
and then put the disk into the PC and open the file from within the program you will use
it with.
If you are not running the same program on both machines, there may be
an extra step. Open the file on the Mac and save it as an RTF file to the PC
disk. This includes putting the .rtf extension in the name. (The
file named "mydoc" on the Mac should be saved to a PC formatted disk with the
name: mydoc.rtf Then you can put the disk into the PC and open the file from
within the program you will use it with.
If saving with the .rtf extension isn't successful. The file can
be saved to a PC formatted disk as "Text Only". Most of the formatting
will probably be lost, but the text will be there when you open it on the PC from within
the program.
Error Types
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