I just finished a website project for Gary Reed at Coldwell Banker in Oakville, Ontario.
GaryReed.org
It is a good source of information for buying and selling your home in Oakville, Milton, Burlington and Mississauga. Pictures of Oakville, and links to Oakville sites have been incorporated.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
No sound comes out of iPod Classic
I have a 30 Gig iPod Classic, purchased in December of 2006 as a gift for my wife. Last week, a couple months shy of 3 years later, the iPod output went dead. No sound came out of the headphones, but everything else worked properly. Resetting and reformatting did nothing.
I found this link on MACNN that tells you Apple is aware of the problem. If you press on the lower right hand corner, you can momentarily get the sound back. It is a manufacturing defect. Call 1-800-275-2273 and let the tech know that Apple is aware of this, that if you press the lower left corner, sound comes back, they will forward you to a product specialist. That is of course, if this is true for you. I had to press and fiddle for a few minutes, and got a few seconds of audio.
Don't put your iPod in the freezer because this will cause condensation, which may produce water damage. When Apple asks you return the device, they will look for water damage as well. I just called, followed the procedure, and they said it will be repaired or replaced. Chances are, it will be replaced because they said I may have to wait an extra day for the custom engraving. If they were going to fix it, the engraving wouldn't change.
I would have posted a thank you and reply on MacNN, but the site has this impossible registration process that either tells me I cant use my name, or I have typed in the wrong captcha letters. After 2 or 3 attempts, I really didn't care anymore. Sorry MacNN, your registration sucks.
I found this link on MACNN that tells you Apple is aware of the problem. If you press on the lower right hand corner, you can momentarily get the sound back. It is a manufacturing defect. Call 1-800-275-2273 and let the tech know that Apple is aware of this, that if you press the lower left corner, sound comes back, they will forward you to a product specialist. That is of course, if this is true for you. I had to press and fiddle for a few minutes, and got a few seconds of audio.
Don't put your iPod in the freezer because this will cause condensation, which may produce water damage. When Apple asks you return the device, they will look for water damage as well. I just called, followed the procedure, and they said it will be repaired or replaced. Chances are, it will be replaced because they said I may have to wait an extra day for the custom engraving. If they were going to fix it, the engraving wouldn't change.
I would have posted a thank you and reply on MacNN, but the site has this impossible registration process that either tells me I cant use my name, or I have typed in the wrong captcha letters. After 2 or 3 attempts, I really didn't care anymore. Sorry MacNN, your registration sucks.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Convert mds and mdf files on OS X
mdf and mds files are created by the PC application Alcohol and can be burned or mounted on a Virtual Drive in Windows. However, sometimes these data DVD's or CD's need to be read and burned on a Mac.
On a Mac, you don't need the smaller .mds file, just the .mdf one. Highlight the mdf extension and change it to ISO. The Mac will ask if you want to change to iso or keep mdf, select ISO. Now you can mount it with Disk Utility, burn it or copy files from it. If this doesn't work for you, then most likely the file is corrupt and a last ditch effort to get it to mount with Alcohol on a PC may or may not correct any errors.
On a Mac, you don't need the smaller .mds file, just the .mdf one. Highlight the mdf extension and change it to ISO. The Mac will ask if you want to change to iso or keep mdf, select ISO. Now you can mount it with Disk Utility, burn it or copy files from it. If this doesn't work for you, then most likely the file is corrupt and a last ditch effort to get it to mount with Alcohol on a PC may or may not correct any errors.
Blogged with Flock
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Maxtor One Touch III and formatting on OS X
What is it with hard drive makers and the Mac? Western Digital has the same poor software implementation, but at least you can format a WD drive using the OS X Disk Utility. With the Maxtor One Touch III, when you try to format it to a Macintosh Extended Journaled (GUID so its bootable) format, you get an error.
OK, let's fix this one as well. First off, don't install any of that crappy Maxtor software. If you did, then go to your System folder/Library/Extensions and remove these two, MaxtorPowSecDriver.kext and IOFirewireMxBt.kext. Find your startup items folder and remove the MxBtDaemon and any other file that has Mx or Maxtor associated with it. You will also find NotificationExec next to MXBtDaemon, dump that too.
That is the important stuff.
Now, how to format. First, go to the Maxtor support site and find the software package for Mac for the OneTouch4. It's called OneTouch 4 Lite. Here
(UPDATE) Here is the link for the Plus version.
Now unzip this folder of about 200MB, and you will see a bunch of Windows stuff and a Mac application called Mac OneTouch 4 and a disk image called OneTouch 4.dmg.
If you have messed up your OneTouch, you can use disk utility to format it as MS-DOS for now and mount it. Once it is mounted, drag the Mac OneTouch 4 app and the OneTouch 4 DMG to your attached OneTouch III drive. Now launch the Mac OneTouch 4 application from your new drive.
It will run an applescript, mount the disk image and format your drive you as a Macintosh Extended Journaled one. Now, when you launch disk utility, you can reformat any way you want, including MS-DOS or Macintosh.
Now throw out all that Maxtor software. If you want to clone a drive, I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner. You can also use Apples new Time Machine software. Leave the one button stuff alone.
OK, let's fix this one as well. First off, don't install any of that crappy Maxtor software. If you did, then go to your System folder/Library/Extensions and remove these two, MaxtorPowSecDriver.kext and IOFirewireMxBt.kext. Find your startup items folder and remove the MxBtDaemon and any other file that has Mx or Maxtor associated with it. You will also find NotificationExec next to MXBtDaemon, dump that too.
That is the important stuff.
Now, how to format. First, go to the Maxtor support site and find the software package for Mac for the OneTouch4. It's called OneTouch 4 Lite. Here
(UPDATE) Here is the link for the Plus version.
Now unzip this folder of about 200MB, and you will see a bunch of Windows stuff and a Mac application called Mac OneTouch 4 and a disk image called OneTouch 4.dmg.
If you have messed up your OneTouch, you can use disk utility to format it as MS-DOS for now and mount it. Once it is mounted, drag the Mac OneTouch 4 app and the OneTouch 4 DMG to your attached OneTouch III drive. Now launch the Mac OneTouch 4 application from your new drive.
It will run an applescript, mount the disk image and format your drive you as a Macintosh Extended Journaled one. Now, when you launch disk utility, you can reformat any way you want, including MS-DOS or Macintosh.
Now throw out all that Maxtor software. If you want to clone a drive, I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner. You can also use Apples new Time Machine software. Leave the one button stuff alone.
Blogged with Flock
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Early 2007 24 iMac freeze. One source found.
When I purchased my Early 2007 24 inch iMac, I also bought an external Western Digital MyBook Firewire 800 drive to keep a full backup on hand. Little did I know that this drive would cause me problems.
A random freeze, usually while browsing in Safari, brought my whole system down. It began with the spinning beachball, and was sometimes associated with a hard drive click from inside my iMac.
This resulted in a force restart, and many times caused directory damage. I did not think crash reporter put logs in my root directory HD/library/logs/crashreporter, but it does. Upon checking them, I found each and every file was named WDBMService_date-of-crash. Every single one.
It had never dawned on me that some tiny little piece of software supplied by Western Digital would do so much damage. It was random, and about once a month.
The piece of software is called WD Button Manager. It controls the blue LED light on the front of the hard drive. Removing it has not made any difference that I can see. Apparently it showed the disk space left, but I never figured that out. It still powers down when I want it to.
So remove this buggy software if you have a Western Digital MyBook. Go into terminal and type
sudo /usr/bin/uninstall-WDButtonManager
Done.
UPDATE February 2008
Western Digital have come out with a firmware update and have also come out with a new Button Manager dated February 2008.
I have installed these and so far, no problems. Support from Western Digital is pretty bad, but maybe they read the blogs and address the issues. Whatever works, as long as it gets fixed. NOTE: The links I have given here are for MyBook Pro Edition. You can go to the general page of downloads here.
Addenda: Apple has also released Hard Drive 1.0 for you can read the release notes and get the patch here.
Patch
This is for iMac Core 2 Duo systems and may solve a hard drive shutdown problem with the original 24 inch iMacs. The drive would click off, resulting in a spinning beachball for a few seconds until the hard drive spun up again.
Technorati Tags: western, digital, mybook, firewire, apple, imac, freeze, crash, wdbmService, crashlog
A random freeze, usually while browsing in Safari, brought my whole system down. It began with the spinning beachball, and was sometimes associated with a hard drive click from inside my iMac.
This resulted in a force restart, and many times caused directory damage. I did not think crash reporter put logs in my root directory HD/library/logs/crashreporter, but it does. Upon checking them, I found each and every file was named WDBMService_date-of-crash. Every single one.
It had never dawned on me that some tiny little piece of software supplied by Western Digital would do so much damage. It was random, and about once a month.
The piece of software is called WD Button Manager. It controls the blue LED light on the front of the hard drive. Removing it has not made any difference that I can see. Apparently it showed the disk space left, but I never figured that out. It still powers down when I want it to.
So remove this buggy software if you have a Western Digital MyBook. Go into terminal and type
sudo /usr/bin/uninstall-WDButtonManager
Done.
UPDATE February 2008
Western Digital have come out with a firmware update and have also come out with a new Button Manager dated February 2008.
I have installed these and so far, no problems. Support from Western Digital is pretty bad, but maybe they read the blogs and address the issues. Whatever works, as long as it gets fixed. NOTE: The links I have given here are for MyBook Pro Edition. You can go to the general page of downloads here.
Addenda: Apple has also released Hard Drive 1.0 for you can read the release notes and get the patch here.
Patch
This is for iMac Core 2 Duo systems and may solve a hard drive shutdown problem with the original 24 inch iMacs. The drive would click off, resulting in a spinning beachball for a few seconds until the hard drive spun up again.
Technorati Tags: western, digital, mybook, firewire, apple, imac, freeze, crash, wdbmService, crashlog
Blogged with Flock
Monday, November 05, 2007
Installing Leopard on G4 eMac
Installing Leopard OS X on the G4 1 Ghz eMac (1 Gig of RAM) went a little slower than the 24 inch iMac. Before installing, I repaired permissions, rebooted into single user mode (Apple S), and ran fsck -fy.
Some people actually think that running the disk utility from the CD (while booted from the CD) is better than fsck. I have read, that some belive if you run from an external disk, the disk first aid can fix "the whole disk", whereas, they believe, fsck, cannot. Wrong.
Sometimes, your machine may not boot from the CD. Fsck should be standard operating procedure.
The eMac rebooted into the Leopard install, and told me it would take 2 hours and 53 minutes. After checking at the one hour mark, it said that it had 18 minutes left. When it said that there was one minute remaining, it took about 15 minutes more. You can open an active log window during the installation and see that there is activity.
Only one major annoyance. Gmail status, although updated to 1.08, does not work on any of my Macs. It is there in the menu, but is invisible. Quickbooks Pro 5 still works fine, which is another older application I use. CNN flash video is still jittery on the eMac for some reason, but works fine on every other site.
Leopard also installed without a hitch on the G4 1.42 Ghz iBook which currently has 512 MB of RAM, and my 24 inch 2.16 Ghz iMac with 2 GB of RAM. Leopard on the iMac now launches Safari and Textedit in one bounce. This is 3 or 4 times faster than before.
Flock, my preferred Web 2.0 browser is also faster. It gives me instant access to my Flickr, YouTube and Blogger accounts and allows drag and drop between any two. Probably the best browser that no one knows about. Also the most Mac like. Even Safari 3 now looks like its Windows counterpart.
Overall, Leopard is a winner. Very fast. The only disappointment is Time Machine. I thought it would make a bootable backup and it does not. I will stick with Carbon Copy Cloner and maintain a full, bootable backup. Everyone should do this. No sympathy if you do not back up.
Technorati Tags: , leopard, imac, emac, g4, ibook, install, ram, fsck, apple, os, x
Blogged with Flock
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Nate Berkus talks shop on Oprah. Home Advantage Interiors in Carlisle Ontario.
Oprah Winfrey had Nate Berkus on today discussing updating your home decor. Home Advantage Interiors offers the latest styles and fabrics. Maxwell, Robert Allen, Kravit and Joanne are among the many designer fabrics that Home Advantage offers.
If you still have dusty,dried flower arrangements, wallpaper borders and pink frilly curtains, chances are you need to update your home. Let Home Advantage Interiors decorate your home from top to bottom. Re-upholster your furniture, update your paint colours and change your flooring. You'll be very happy with the end result and be proud to invite guests in.
Home Advantage Interiors is located in Carlisle Ontario Canada and serves surrounding areas, such as , Oakville, Waterdown, Campbellville, Burlington and Milton.
Contact HAI at (905)659-4668
Visit Elaines blog here.
Technorati Tags: oprah, winfrey, nate, berkus, home, decor, decorate, design, interior, drapery, carlisle, oakville, ontario, burlington, waterdown, freelton, campbelleville, canada, home, advantage, interiors
Blogged with Flock
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Snapshots on Inventive Rants
Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com
I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.
Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.
Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Luciano Pavarotti 1935-2007
Luciano Pavarotti died at the age of 71 on September 6, 2007.
He will be missed.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Part of what my new business does is make small business aware of the new Web 2.0
By participating in the web and contributing relevant information, even the smallest business can become the de-facto source for information within hours. Small business doesn't have to be.
Monday, April 09, 2007
What happens if you drive behind a 747?
I remember Mythbusters couldn't get this right and thought this was interesting.
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