Affiliate 4. Troubleshooting Os X

Bone X is a robust operating arrangement; while issues are rare, they do bear witness up from time to time. Since these problems always seem to present themselves at the worst possible moment, it helps if you know the best means to troubleshoot them. That's what this affiliate is all about, and it's a great reason to go along this book in your pocket!

Common Bug

At that place are a lot of things that tin go wrong with your Mac: Hardware problems, software glitches, and configuration issues tin can happen at whatever moment. Most of the issues you lot'll come across tin be easily addressed or diagnosed by following the steps in this chapter.

However, some problems are unusual or won't respond to the fixes listed in this chapter. A bully resources for those situations is Apple'south website: www.apple tree.com/back up . As you'd look, you lot can scan manuals and tutorials on that site. More useful when trying to fix that quirky problem, though, are the communities y'all tin can access via that site, where you lot'll likely detect someone who'south having the same problem you lot are—and the set up.

If the information there doesn't resolve things, you could have a unique consequence, in which case a trip to your local Apple Shop or a call to Apple is in order. Y'all tin can find a consummate list of technical support numbers for Apple at www.apple.com/back up/contact/phone_contacts.html . In the The states, the number is 1-800-275-2273.

Misbehaving Applications

One of the almost common bug on a Mac is an application that isn't behaving as expected. This consequence comes in many forms: an application that unexpectedly quits repeatedly, stops responding, or just doesn't perform the way it normally does. This section suggests means to resolve all these issues and more than.

An awarding stops responding

Occasionally, an application will simply stop reacting to anything. Your mouse or trackpad volition even so work, and other programs will be fine, but if you want to use the troublesome program, all you'll get is a spinning beach-brawl cursor (instead of the mouse pointer) and yous'll have no style to input anything.

Don't panic—there's an like shooting fish in a barrel ready. Simply right-click or Control-click the stalled application's icon in the Dock to bring upward its Dock menu (Figure 4-1). If yous see Application Not Responding in faint text at the acme of the menu, you'll too see a Strength Quit option. Select Force Quit and Bone X will kill the program.

You may also demand another way to kill applications, because occasionally a plan can go unresponsive without OS X realizing that the program is in peril. For these times, launch the Force Quit Applications dialog box either by selecting Strength Quit or using the key philharmonic Selection-⌘-Esc. Yous tin can besides endeavor holding downwardly Shift as you click the menu, then select "Force Quit [application name]" to kill the frontmost awarding.

There's some proficient news when it comes to strength quitting applications in Mountain Lion. In the sometime days of OS Ten (before Lion), any changes you fabricated between the last time yous saved a document and the moment the awarding started misbehaving were gone forever. Just thanks to Auto Save, if you're forced to quit an awarding, Mount Lion preserves the piece of work you've done since the concluding fourth dimension you manually saved.

Force quitting Safari

Effigy four-1. Force quitting Safari

Warning

"Save early, relieve frequently" is still expert advice, since Auto Save works merely with applications specifically built with Auto Save in mind. That means that work you do in apps designed for Lion or Mountain Panthera leo will be saved, but applications that haven't been updated since Lion came out won't automatically relieve your piece of work.

The Finder stops responding

The Finder is just another plan, and then information technology can get hung up, too. If that happens, either head to Force Quit or use the key combination ⌘-Option-Esc. If zilch happens, try clicking the Dock or some other awarding first, and then use the card or ⌘-Selection-Esc to invoke the Force Quit dialog box.

Annotation

When you select an application in the Forcefulness Quit dialog box, the dialog box's button reads "Force Quit." However, if you select the Finder, the button reads "Relaunch" instead. Why? Unlike every other application, the Finder will be restarted immediately after it's forced to quit.

Force quitting greedy processes

If you suspect something is eating up too much processor fourth dimension or hogging as well many system resources (because your Mac is running actually slowly, say, or the fans are running at full speed for no obvious reason), Forcefulness Quit won't help you lot figure out which application is the culprit. Instead, open Activity Monitor (ApplicationsUtilitiesActivity Monitor), click its CPU tab in the lower half of the window, and and so expect for whatever processes that are using a lot of CPU resources for more than a few seconds. (Safari and its helper applications occasionally exercise this, particularly with delinquent Flash or JavaScript code.) When you identify a doubtable, single-click the renegade process's proper name and then click the large reddish Quit Process button (you can't miss it—it's shaped like a cease sign).

Warning

Exist conscientious which applications you quit in this way. At that place are some programs that your Mac runs in the groundwork, and many of these are important in helping your computer operate normally. Here's a rule of pollex: if you don't recognize the name of the program as an application that you launched, don't kill it. Instead, practice a Google search on its name (for good mensurate, include the terms "OS X" and "cpu," also). Chances are good you'll find a solution for whatever is causing that procedure to use up and so much CPU time.

USB device problems

Information technology seems similar computers never have enough USB ports, so almost of united states of america end upwards using USB hubs (or keyboards that have extra USB ports). So we plug some fantastic new USB device into the hub—and it doesn't piece of work. In fact, if you lot dig through Organization Information (information technology's in the /Applications/Utilities folder) and look at the USB Device Tree (click USB in the list on the left), the hub shows up, but non the device.

Frequently the problem is that the device requires a powered USB port and yous're using an unpowered hub (or you've maxed out the power capabilities of the hub or port). Switching to a powered hub might fix the problem, just that isn't guaranteed. What works virtually oftentimes is plugging the device directly into your Mac, which ways you'll need to shuffle your diverse USB devices around. If any of them tin can run off of their own external power supply rather than taking power from the USB port, that may help as well (sometimes these ability supplies are sold separately; cheque with the device's manufacturer).

The second method of attacking USB device issues is a little more involved. First, shut down your Mac and unplug all the USB devices (even the ones that use external power supplies). Reboot your Mac, then plug them back in 1 at a time while watching the USB Device Tree (it's updated chop-chop so you'll see each device appear as information technology'due south plugged in) to figure out which device isn't playing nicely with others. Sometimes going through this procedure results in all the devices suddenly working. But if y'all discover that simply a certain device isn't working, the fix may be to install a new driver for it. Check the manufacturer's website for updates.

Battery bug

MacBook users are faced with a problem that desktop users don't have to worry about: the bombardment. The goal of almost Apple batteries is to still provide 80% of the original charge chapters afterwards a certain number of cycles (charges and discharges). The number of cycles varies depending on your machine. For Mountain Lion–capable MacBooks, the cycle count is either 750 or ane,000 cycles (depending on the model). If you lot notice your battery isn't holding a charge for every bit long as it used to, the first thing to do is launch Organisation Information (ApplicationsUtilitiesOrganisation Data) then click Power in the list on the left; see Figure 4-2.

The Power section of System Information tells you all about your battery

Effigy 4-2. The Power section of System Data tells yous all nearly your bombardment

The Bombardment Information list includes your battery's full accuse capacity, how many cycles it's been through, and its condition. If the condition is listed as Replace Shortly or something equally ominous, it's time to retrieve virtually getting a new bombardment. If the cycle count is low but the battery is still running out of juice prematurely, here are a couple of things yous can endeavour:

Calibrate the battery

Inside every MacBook battery is a microcontroller that tells your reckoner how long the battery is going to concluding until information technology runs out of juice. Over time, this estimation tin go further and further from real-globe performance. To get the figurer and the microcontroller on the same page, you need to recalibrate the battery from time to time. To do so, fully accuse the battery and and then continue your computer plugged into the power adapter for two more hours. Next, unplug the power adapter and fully drain the bombardment. When a alarm pops upwardly alerting you lot that the battery is running dangerously low, save your piece of work and keep on trucking until your computer automatically goes to sleep. Then let the estimator sleep for more than five hours to make sure every drop of power is gone. Finally, plug in the power adapter and let your computer fully accuse. The battery indicator should at present exist successfully recalibrated.

Note

If your MacBook has an internal battery, Apple recommends non calibrating the battery considering these internal batteries should be serviced only by an authorized repair center.

Reset the SMC

SMC is curt for the System Direction Controller, a chip that'south responsible for difficult bulldoze spin-down, sleeping your Mac, waking your Mac, and keyboard backlighting. A malfunctioning SMC can preclude the bombardment from charging, and so you need to reset the SMC. How you do that depends on whether your MacBook has an internal battery (similar all the newer MacBooks) or a bombardment that you lot tin can easily remove. If information technology has a removable battery, shut it down, unplug the power adapter from the wall and the figurer, and so remove the battery. Next, printing the ability button for v seconds. After that, replace the battery, plug in the power adapter, and so restart the computer. If your MacBook has an internal bombardment, shut down the computer and plug it into an adapter that's getting power. On the left side of the keyboard, hold down Left Shift-Control-Option, then press the power push button. Proceed all these buttons depressed (including the power button) for 5 seconds and and so release them all simultaneously. Pat yourself on the back for pulling off an impressive feat of manual dexterity, and so press the power push button to restart the estimator.

If those remedies don't restore your battery, it's likely time for a trip to the local Apple Store or authorized repair center. If your reckoner is nether warranty and your cycle count is low, Apple will probably supercede the battery for free. If your cycle count is over the recommended number and the performance degradation is within expectations, you'll probably need to pay for a new battery or live with the reduced (and always-shrinking) battery chapters.

Note

Like many computer makers, Apple tree has had its share of battery recalls, both for safety and performance reasons. So check with Apple tree to see if your battery is nether recall. If and then, it's probable that it will replace the bombardment even if your computer is out of warranty.

Brandish issues

Nearly Macs come with a born display that doesn't require special configuration, and so display problems are uncommon. When they do happen, they're ofttimes acquired by user error. The ready, while usually easy, isn't readily apparent. Hither are some things to try:

Fuzzy/tiny display

If your brandish is fuzzy or everything is suddenly bigger than you remember, it's possible that someone changed the brandish'southward resolution (on some systems, this may too manifest itself as a small screen with black bars effectually its edges). Head to Arrangement PreferencesDisplays and await for the monitor'south native resolution (on Macs with built-in displays, this is usually the highest resolution available—the one at the top of the list). Once you select the optimal resolution, things should wait normal once more.

Your display moves with your mouse

The weird thing is that this always happens when children under five are on your lap while you're using your computer. Is at that place some kind of kid detector in your Mac that causes this? Nope—your kid only pressed some keys while you were working. (If you lot don't accept kids or lap cats, and so information technology was probably y'all.)

There are a couple of key combinations that will cause your Mac to zoom the screen. The most mutual is holding down Control while you zoom in or out with your mouse or trackpad. Once you lot're zoomed in, your mouse will all of a sudden first dragging the screen around, which is disconcerting if you aren't expecting information technology. To turn it off, hold down Control and zoom out with your trackpad or mouse wheel.

There are a couple of other primal sequences that tin can be invoked accidentally: Option-⌘-viii toggles keyboard zooming on and off, and holding down = or − while pressing Selection-⌘ zooms in or out, respectively.

Startup Problems

A misbehaving awarding is bad plenty, simply a Mac that won't start properly is truly disconcerting. The good news is that most such problems are repairable. The general method of assail in this case is to get your Mac to a country where you can run Deejay Utility and repair the drive. However, there are some situations where you can't fifty-fifty get to that betoken.

Your Mac beeps instead of starting

If your Mac just beeps at you when y'all effort to start it up, it'due south trying to tell you something: i beep means at that place'due south no retention (RAM) installed, and three beeps means your RAM doesn't pass the integrity cheque. The problem could be a bad RAM module, so you lot'll demand to open upwardly your Mac and replace the module.

Try installing some retentiveness that yous're certain is fully functional to see if that resolves the trouble. If you don't have any spare retentivity lying effectually, effort removing all the RAM modules then replacing them one by ane until yous've isolated the bad module.

Note

If you don't know how to supersede memory in your Mac, cheque the user guide that came with it. Or if your Mac is yet nether warranty, just have it into an Apple tree Store for service.

Your hard drive is making noises

If you doubtable you've got a physical hard drive problem, you need to cheque things out quickly before they get much, much worse. If you hear a foreign noise coming from your machine, that's an obvious sign of a hard drive problem, but these bug can also exist indicated by the figurer stalling for several seconds at a time (or making a clicking sound when stalling).

Just as with a auto, when a bad audio is emanating from your hard drive, it's usually a bad thing. If you've e'er listened to National Public Radio's Machine Talk , you know that 1 of the highlights is when callers try to imitate the sounds their cars are making. If you're inclined to try identifying your hard drive'southward audio by ear, head over to http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php and have a listen to the sounds of dying drives, sorted past manufacturer.

Warning

If your hard drive is failing, yous're probable to lose more information every moment information technology'due south running. If you don't take current backups, your all-time bet is to replace the drive immediately and either seek a data-recovery professional or, if you don't have the money for that, install the damaged bulldoze in an external drive enclosure and use the GNU ddrescue utility ( world wide web.gnu.org/software/ddrescue ) to recover the data on the damaged drive.

If you aren't hearing any unusual sounds but still suspect your hard bulldoze is causing your bug, head to Disk Utility (ApplicationsUtilitiesDisk Utility) and check the S.K.A.R.T. status of the drive. (Using a estimator means loving acronyms, and this time the acronym is clever, if a fiddling forced: S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology.)

Note

Due south.M.A.R.T. isn't available on every drive, so if you don't see this option, don't worry!

The idea behind S.M.A.R.T. is that many hard disk failures are predictable and computer users, if given a heads-up that their hard drive is on the verge of declining, volition exist able to recover data before the failure actually happens. You tin can notice your drive'south S.K.A.R.T. status by opening Disk Utility and selecting the disk you lot're worried near in the list on the left. In the lower-right part of the Disk Utility window, yous'll see the Due south.M.A.R.T. Status (Figure 4-3): either Verified (everything is fine) or "About to Neglect." If you get the "About to Fail" detect, don't waste any time: if your Mac is under warranty, take information technology into an Apple Store; otherwise, back upward your data as shortly equally possible and kickoff pricing out a new drive.

Figure 4-iii. "Verified" means this drive is fine

Alert

S.Chiliad.A.R.T. isn't perfect (that'due south no surprise—nothing is). Y'all tin have a problematic drive that S.M.A.R.T. won't recognize. And so if yous're having consistent problems and Southward.Thou.A.R.T. keeps telling y'all everything is fine, don't discount the drive equally the source of the problems after you've exhausted other fixes.

Startup troubleshooting

Thankfully, the hardware failures just described are relatively rare. Much more than common are software failures: decadent files, wonky login items, and even font bug can cause a startup failure. These issues are by and large repairable, hopefully without data loss. Unfortunately, when you have ane of these issues, the cause isn't immediately obvious. When faced with a Mac that won't kick, in that location are a few things you can effort to get your calculator dorsum to a usable country:

Restart your Mac

A lot happens when Bone X starts upwards: information technology checks your Mac's hardware, prepares the system software, and more. During the startup process, at that place are ample opportunities for something to go wrong, especially right after yous install an update to Os Ten or fifty-fifty an application. If your Mac won't complete the startup sequence, don't panic; simply restart the machine by holding downwards the ability push button until you hear a chime; chances are everything will be fine.

Warning

If you come across a flashing question mark when you try to first your Mac, it means that your auto can't find its startup deejay. In that instance, skip ahead to "Restart in Recovery Way" later in this listing.

Safe Boot

If a simple restart doesn't do the trick, it means you have problems that persist beyond restarts, so the next step is a Safe Boot. In Safe Manner, all your Mac's startup items are disabled, font caches are cleared, and some other potentially problematic items are avoided. More than important, Safe Kick gives yous a chance to run Disk Utility, uninstall any software that may be misbehaving, or back up your data earlier whatever is causing the problem gets worse. To boot your Mac in Safety Way, restart information technology while holding the Shift key. One time you see a progress bar announced on the lower half of the screen, y'all can release the Shift key and your Mac will boot in Safe Mode. Once it has booted, run Disk Utility (ApplicationsUtilitiesDisk Utility).

Note

When you're booting in Safe Style, the Login window automatically appears even if you ordinarily apply Automatic Login. Don't exist alarmed by the change—it'due south a sign that Safe Mode is working as expected.

Restart in Recovery Mode

Before King of beasts, one remedy to try when your Mac went bad was to boot from the DVD yous either got with your Mac or purchased when you upgraded to Snowfall Leopard. But since yous don't use any physical media—DVD or otherwise—when yous install Mountain Lion, this trick doesn't work anymore. Fortunately, Apple realizes that, when problems occur, you might need to boot your Mac from a different source than usual, and so Mount Lion includes Recovery Mode.

Note

You demand to be connected to the Net to apply Recovery Mode to reinstall Mount Lion. The Reinstall Mountain Lion option will download every byte of the Mountain Panthera leo installer, so you might want to try other fixes before going through that process.

Recovery Way lets you boot from a virtual partition chosen Recovery 10.eight. When you boot into Recovery Mode, you'll notice yourself running a special organization that lets you restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup, reinstall Mountain King of beasts, use Safari to await for solutions to your problem online, or run Deejay Utility. (Don't be agape to launch Safari even if you're not connected to the Cyberspace; there's a static web page with basic instructions that automatically opens when you launch the plan.)

Note

You can only run one awarding at a time in Recovery Mode, and then if you're running Disk Utility, say, you can't also launch Safari. Being aware of this limitation can save you some frustration and endless restarts.

In improver to Recovery Mode's obvious choices, you lot tin besides run Firmware Password Utility, Network Utility, and Concluding by visiting the Utilities drop-downwardly card at the elevation of the screen. With all of these options, you'll likely find one that can fix your Mac woes.

To kick in Recovery Style, hold down the Option fundamental while starting your Mac (this process should be familiar if you've booted Macs from alternative disks earlier). Y'all'll be presented with a screen that shows all the feasible startup partitions bachelor. Double-click Recovery-10.8, and you'll be well on your way to diagnosing (and hopefully fixing) whatever problem is currently plaguing your Mac.

Note

If y'all take a brand-new Mac (1 that came with Mountain Lion installed), you accept one more pull a fast one on you can use: Internet Recovery. If something terrible happens to your machine (a massive hard bulldoze failure, say) or you lot desire to install Mountain Lion onto a completely blank hard drive, concur down the Selection fundamental while starting your Mac, and then choose Internet Recovery. In one case you tell your reckoner which network to use, it will kicking from Apple's servers. Once booted, your Mac will download the Recovery 10.8 image from Apple tree. Afterwards that, the process is the same as for a standard Mount Lion reinstall.

This section emphasized tools that come with Mount Lion because, well, if y'all've installed Mountain Lion, you accept admission to them. But these tools aren't the only ones available when things go incorrect. At that place are several disk repair programs (many of which are more powerful than Deejay Utility) from third parties, such as DiskWarrior ( world wide web.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior ) and TechTool Pro ( www.micromat.com ).

Reset your PRAM

This maneuver gets its own section merely because it's i of the oldest troubleshooting techniques in Mac history.

PRAM (parameter random admission retentiveness) is where your Mac stores many of its hardware settings. Resetting the PRAM well-nigh never resolves a startup consequence, merely it'southward something Apple support commonly asks y'all to exercise when troubleshooting a problem (and it does, in some rare cases, assistance). To reset the PRAM, turn on your Mac, immediately press and hold Choice-⌘-P-R, and continue to hold those keys until your Mac restarts and yous hear the startup chime a total of three times. After you exercise this, yous may have to reconfigure some of the system settings (similar appointment, time, and possibly keyboard/mouse settings if you've customized them).

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