Got a problem with your Mac? Don’t panic! (update)

Posted by Daniel East Mar 22, 2009 at 4:35pm

So your Mac has an intermittent problem, suddenly quits or won’t boot up. What do you do? Well, first thing, don’t panic. In this article, I’m going to go over some of the options you have to get your Mac running smoothly again.

Where To Find Help

 If your Mac is still in warranty, give AppleCare (1-800-APL-CARE in the US) a call. If the problem is a software issue, they should get you going over the phone. If by chance the problem is hardware-related, they will instruct you how to get your Mac serviced for free.

Tip: If your Mac is less than a year old and you haven’t got the AppleCare Protection Plan, you may want to considder purchasing it. It will provide you with free unlimited support phone calls for 3 years. This can prove to be invaluable—especially if you’re new to the Mac operating system and have a lot of questions.

Find Help Locally

 Go to an Apple Store near you. There are over 200 stores worldwide with Apple “Geniuses” waiting to help you.

 Find an Apple Specialist in your area. Apple Specialists provide customer-friendly, Apple Authorized, Sales & Service across North America. They will also handle any warranty work you need done.

 Find an Apple User Group in your area. Groups are for everyone from first-time computer users to experts—from every profession, background, and age. They are always willing to help answer your questions or help solve your problems.

Find Help Online

 Search Macsimum MacOSG Forums. We have a large database (over five years) of information to search from. If you can’t find an answer, post a question in the forums. Questions are usually answered in less than 24-hours. Their are usually members hanging out around the forums 24/7 willing to help you out.

 Search Apple Discussions. These are Apple’s support forums. You can search their database of information or post a question there also.

 Search MacOSX or submit a support question via their email support system.

 Search MacFixIt. MacFixIt has a large database of information to search from, but you have to have a paid subscription to access a lot of their older archived information.

 Search The X-Lab. This site has a treasure chest full of troubleshooting and preventive maintenance tips. Example: If you are experiencing kernel panics, check “Resolving Kernel Panics” explaining all about them in detail.

Find Help via an iPhone/iPod touch

 If you’re mobile and have an iPhone/iPod touch, call on Mac611. Simply type Mac611.com in your Safari mobile browser and you will have access to various support options.

Basic First-Step Troubleshooting Tips

1. Try to determine if the issue is software or hardware-related. To test hardware, you can run your hardware tester to check your internal electronic components, such as your logic board, memory, optical drive, thermal sensors, etc. Also, you can boot from your install disc and run your Disc Utility to check the integrity of your hard drive.

2. If you find or surmise the problem to be software-related, try to determine if the issue is “local” (in your User Library) or “system-wide” (in your System and/or hard drive Library). One way to do this is to login to another User account. (If you don’t have one, create one in your “Accounts” preference pane and call it “Test.”) If the problem is gone when logged into a different account, the problem is most likely “local” in your main User Library.

3. If the issue is intermittent, note the exact time the issue occurs and check your system logs in your Console (located in your Utilities folder) application for clues to the cause. You can always post these readings in a forum for help also.

Here is more information on troubleshooting:

MacOSG: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 101—isolate the problem (part 1)

MacOSG: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 101—Isolate The Problem (Part 2)

If you don’t want to take the time to find the suspected software-related problem by troubleshooting, a simple Archive and Instal should fix the problem. As a rule, an Archive and install will usually fix most any software-related problems.

Practice Preventive Maintenance

Of course, the best way to prevent Mac problems, is to be pro-active and practice preventive maintenance. Below are some utilities I recommend using for that.

1. OnyX – OnyX is a free multifunction utility for Mac OS X (PowerPC and Intel). It allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure the hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock and of some of Apple’s own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome and more.

2. Little Snitch – Little Snitch is a great security monitoring tool. It informs you whenever a program attempts to establish an outgoing Internet connection. You can then choose to allow or deny this connection, or define a rule how to handle similar, future connection attempts. This reliably prevents private data from being sent out without your knowledge. Little Snitch runs inconspicuously in the background and it can also detect network related activity of viruses, trojans and other malware.

3. Activity Monitor – The Activity Monitor is a great tool to monitor what’s going on inside your Mac and can also be used as a troubleshooting tool. It’s located in your Utilities folder will allow you to do the following things:

• View and monitor the computer’s CPU load
• Check the amount of random access memory in use or swapped out
• Check the amount of hard disk read-ins and write-outs
• Check the capacity of storage devices
• Monitor the computer’s network usage
• Inspect running computer processes
• View a process identifier number
• View information about a particular process
• Quit or “kill” a computer process

4. smcFanControl – Allows you to monitor and adjust (for better cooling) your Mac’s fan(s) speed. You can also monitor your CPU’s core temperature.

5. Hardware Monitor – Hardware Monitor is an application to read out all accessible hardware sensors in Macintosh computers. The program can visualize the history graphs of the readings, display measured values in a large variety of fashions, or announce readings by speech output. It can also store and export readings. This information can be very valuable when troubleshooting—especially thermal-related problems.

6. ClamXav – ClamXav is a free virus checker for Mac OS X. Although viruses on a Mac are almost non-existent, it doesn’t hurt to run this utility periodically—especially if you download files off the Internet via BitTorrent. It will also detect trojans that are often embedded in Mp3 files.

Finely, If you post your problem in a forum, be thorough. Give as much information about the problem as possible—including all the stats of your Mac (amount of RAM, HD size, processor size, etc.). This can help troubleshoot the issue faster. Tip: It’s always a good practice to put your Mac stats in your signature file on a support forum.

UPDATE: Apple recently added a new support feature called “Contact an Apple Expert.” You simply fill a form out on their website describing the problem and Apple phones you back with an answer. Leave it up to Apple to offer an innovative approach to support.

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