Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide for Mac OS

Chapter 1. Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide

Introduction

Macintosh computers work quite smoothly. And Mac users find them relatively easy to use. However, on some occasion, your Mac might need a repair, or you might need help figuring out how to troubleshoot a problem with Mac hardware or software.

This book is useful in these types of situations. We hope it will save you an unnecessary trip or tech-support call. In this guide, we give you the technician’s answers to frequently asked questions. We also let you know which problems are serious enough to require help from an expert.

This book is essentially a list of common questions and answers. It’s short enough that you can read through it and discover some useful new tricks, but it’s also organized by topic, so that you can flip to the section you need in an emergency. And it’s small enough that you can throw it in your computer bag if you’re using a laptop.

We cover the following topics:

• Avoiding the technician or consultant

• Being prepared

• Crisis situations

• Bombs and crashes

• The System (OS 9.x and earlier)

• Mac OS X (including passwords and multiple users)

• Printers

• Connecting older devices to newer Macs

• SCSI, FireWire, and USB devices

• Monitors/displays

• Memory

• Viruses

• Powerbooks and iBooks

• Communications, the Internet, and AirPort

• File sharing

There’s also a section on other questions that don’t fall into these categories.

We indicate tips that apply to Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X by including [9] and [X], respectively, at the end of the section ...