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so I made the Switch, but have many problems....


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so I made the Switch, but have many problems....
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-18, 17:49

Hi Everyone,

First time poster, but I've been visiting this forum daily since last June's Intel announcement. After reading all of the great testimonials from the Mac faithful, after playing around with my best friend's powerbook G4, after having the "Apple gives you a complete package" speech by my mentor @ school, after playing around with various iPods, and finally after being fed up with Windows machines, I decided to make the Switch.

After all the hype and fun of Macworld, and after watching Steve's keynote on Tuesday, I decided it was the right time to buy. I bought a 12" iBook G4 stock from an Apple Store (not the closest Apple Store, but the second closest, which will be a factor as you read along), along with the Apple Care plan and a .Mac account.

3 days ago I booted up my iBook and was amazed at what followed: cool 3-D boxes flipping around, "welcome" in a variety of languages, etc.... I went through the complete process, then upgraded all the Apple software and started exploring Finder as well as a few aps. Around 30 mins into the experience, I noticed that the trackpad wasn’t really responding to my touch as the trackpad does on my friend's powerbook or the store's display iBook (by this, I mean that with my finger pressed on the trackpad, the cursor arrow still lagged a bit as I moved my finger; I even changed the speed of the cursor arrow under Preferences, but still experienced the lag). I thought nothing of it. "New computer, cold feet," I thought. "It will warm up soon enough."

I installed the driver for one of my compatible HP printers. Then I started to mess around with Safari. That's when I noticed that the ibook was bit slow to open Safari (the only things that were opened at the time were Finder and Dashboard, so I thought 512 gigs of ram would be enough to handle 3 aps at once....right?)..... played around with Safari, then closed it.
I went to open my Hard Drive, and doing that was also a bit slower than when I first opened it.

I then went on to install software for another compatible HP printer. At the last step, I got my first "spinning beach ball", and that ball kept spinning for minutes. At least 10 minutes. So something was not right. Using the key commands for Force Quit, the Force Quit Box popped open. But every time I tried to move my finger to force quit the application, the arrow cursor did not move. So I rebooted, pressing the power button.

Once the system rebooted, the final installation step for the HP printer appeared on my desktop. So I went through the same steps. Again, spinning beach ball for another 10 mins. Again, tried to Force Quit. Again, the trackpad failed to sense my movement, leading me to believe that the Fore Quit window froze, too. Again I had to reboot holding down the power button. (Am I wrong to think that the Force Quit box should respond as quickly as Window’s Task Manager box?)

Once it rebooted, I was able to uninstall the HP software, and I sent it to the traschcan. To end the day on a good note, I decided to move some photos and set up my desktop background pic. I am totally in love with the idea that my desktop background image will change everyday!

so day 2..........
Started off much more promising than Day 1. I installed office 2004, but had a bitchy time trying to install VPC. After realizing that I really don't plan to use VPC on this machine (it's free software b/c my school has an agreement with M$), I just uninstalled the set up assistant. I was able to set up a wireless network in my lab via the Airport Extreme I got a while back. No problems there.

I went out to buy a Logitech wireless mouse (the one that's Mac compatible and boasts " up to 1 year" battery life). Went home and downloaded the driver for the mouse. No problems with the cursor movements at all; in fact I had had no problems with the cursor movements all day. I thought that ibook got over the problems it had the day before. Man was I wrong....

I installed Firefox and Palm desktop. No problem. Then my friend---the one with the powerbook--- called to see how I was doing. He then helped me set up iChat. Then he totally freaked me out when he "called" me using the voice feature. I was blown away.

But about 20 minutes in, I couldn't hear him anymore. Then iChat froze while I was having a total of 3 buddy conversations. At this time, iChat was the ONLY ap open, so I was little confused as to why my desktop froze again.

Again, I tried to Force Quit using the key commands, and again, the Fore Quit Box did not respond to my movements. So I rebooted holding down the power button.

Once the system restarted, I noticed that the cursor arrow started to lag in time compared to my actual mouse movements. I double checked by using the trackpad, and low-and behold, like the night before, the cursor was slow to my finger movements.

I decided to shut down for the night and hopped back onto my PC to converse with my powerbook friend as what to do next.

Then it hit me: my HP laptop was being MORE reliable than my new ibook!

Today is Day 3. To my disgust, my first post on AppleNova is not about how great my new ibook it, but rather a post for help. It's a little ironic that I am typing this up right now on my HP, not my iBook!!!

so, any advice? is this the "routine" experience for breaking in an Apple product? Where might have I gone wrong? Or is this the computer equivalent to a "lemon" car?

should I use the Deluxe disc that came with the AppleCare package? Or should I just call Apple Care anyway? OR should I just march back into the AppleStore and demand a new machine? If so, the apple store I bought it is 30 miles away, but the nearest Apple Store is 12 miles away (can I return it to the nearest Apple Store, even though that it is not the store I bought it from?).......

sorry that this is a long thread, but from reading the posts from this forum during the last 6-7 months, I got the impression that this community was all about helping other Mac users, and I'd like to be part of the Mac faithful even if I'm having a bad first time

...man, and to think, if my first week with a Mac went great, I would have went online and ordered a custom iMac G5...... (yes, I do realize that I had saved enough $ for a powerbook, but you can flame me for that at another time )
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-18, 18:00

perhaps I should have posted this in "Purchasing Advice?"...if so, sorry...
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Wickers
is not a kind of basket
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2006-01-18, 18:02

*blinks*


EDIT: Ahh good, you edited it for better reading.
EDIT2: Ahh it was FFL that edited your post... Good job FFL, my eyes stopped hurting.
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2006-01-18, 18:04

this looks like a Genius Bar topic actually.

I had to edit your post and insert some line breaks, before even TRYING to read your post, though. Now I can read it, and I'll get back to you with some specifics in the near future.

Anyway, there's a PC habit for you to unlearn.... return-return instead of return-tab to start a new paragraph.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2006-01-18, 18:05

phew. Now I might get more than a third of the way through.

Welcome to AN, ime_NY.
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julesstoop
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
 
2006-01-18, 18:11

Welcome. And such bad luck

I my experience, installing drivers from HP has always resulted in (big) trouble, be it on OS X or on Windows XP. Most probably Tiger has your printer driver pre-installed so you don't need to run the HP installer.

But reading on, it seems you might have a lot more problems than can be accounted for by a printer driver.

I suggest you do a clean install, run software update once you have it running, and start all over. If you run into problems again, I'd return the machine.

A black hole is where god divided by zero.
http://settuno.com/
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-18, 18:13

Ah!!!

Thanks! I'll work on that one the next time I boot up the iBook.
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ghoti
owner for sale by house
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
 
2006-01-18, 18:13

Your question would have fit better into Genius Bar, perhaps somebody will move it.

One thing to try (usually the first thing in such a case) is to run the hardware test on the included CDs. Put the CD which says "Hardware Test" on it into your DVD drive, reboot, and hold down C. Then you can select what to boot, and there you select the hardware test. Run the simple test first, and then the complete test (don't remember what they are really called). This will take some time, but should give you an indication of what is wrong.

Your problems are certainly not normal, and it looks like something is overheating, or you have faulty RAM. Hardware test will detect that. Then you can go to the nearest Apple store (it shouldn't make a difference which you take it to, but you might want to call ahead to make sure) and tell them to replace it. Knowing what is wrong makes that easier because experience shows that you can never reproduce a problem when a technician is watching
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2006-01-18, 18:17

With all these hard reboots your machine might be trying to re-index everything. That might explain some of the initial startup sluggishness.
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2006-01-18, 18:20

Quote:
Originally Posted by julesstoop
installing drivers from HP has always resulted in (big) trouble, be it on OS X or on Windows XP. Most probably Tiger has your printer driver pre-installed so you don't need to run the HP installer.

But reading on, it seems you might have a lot more problems than can be accounted for by a printer driver.

I suggest you do a clean install, run software update once you have it running, and start all over. If you run into problems again, I'd return the machine.
What He Said.
Specifically, if you still have problems after doing an Archive and Install (instructions in this forum's sticky thread) I'd back up anything that isn't backed up somewhere else, and boot from your Apple iBook restore DVD (hold down the C key immediately after restarting) and go to the Disk Utility, then erase the drive and use the Write Zeros option.
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Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2006-01-18, 18:26

I think what happened here was:

The HP printer drivers were sucky. I had a similar experience with Canon ones.
You turned the mac off at the power switch. (You had no choice, I hasten to add!) This is, in my experience, the Number 1 cause of bad behaviour in a Mac if you don't immediately do the preventative things mentioned below.
You turned the mac back on after a hard restart, and didn't run FSCK and permissions repair. It might be worth checking if your HD is "Journalled" which helps avoid these problems.
Every time you had a problem beyond then, you did another hard restart, compounding the problem.

Basically, it looks like you can trace most of your problems to that dodgy HP software. In the meantime, look up the thread in the Genius bar called "Check This First" and run a FSCK (FileSystem ChecK) and repair your permissions. While you're repairing permissions,you'll be able to tell in the same application whether your HD is Journalled.
Also try the Archive and Install as mentioned above. Hopefully, that'll cure it.
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shell
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2006-01-18, 18:33

When I first started reading I thought "this is a trackpad problem, easily solved" - but then I realized it was a lot worse than that. If I were you I would take it back to Apple and hopefully have it replaced. It sounds to me like your tackpad is screwed up, and I don't know why.

First though I have to ask why you were installing a driver for your printer? Most, if not all, hp drivers are already included with the OS.

I don't have the first clue what the Windows Task Manager is like, but the way you describe Force Quit is definitely not right. It should quit only the application and not require a reboot. Also, you don't need to use the mouse to force quit, as soon as you open the "Force Quit" dialog box, the program you were last using should be highlighted. Simply press the "enter" key and the program should quit (note that it is not the "return" key, but the small "enter" to the left of the arrow keys).

Last edited by shell : 2006-01-19 at 12:20.
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-18, 20:50

thank you for all your suggestions!

I'm going to try ghoti's and FFL advice....wish me luck and let you know what happens....
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2006-01-18, 21:19

here are Apple's instructions for the Archive & Install:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

good luck, and let us know how you progress
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-19, 23:19

Hello

update: I deleted the drivers and went under Disk Utilities to verify and repair the disk. So far so good.

Thank you all for your help!
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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2006-01-19, 23:31

First thing you should do when adding new hardware: plug it in and see if it "just works". More often than not, you'll find it does and you don't have to install a bit of software or crappy drivers to get it working. I've got 5 printers set up on my powerbook. Not one of them required ANYthing more than telling the computer they were there. 2 of them were set up automatically without my doing a thing.

Let this be a lesson to you: no drivers needed unless you're 100% sure it won't work.

Enjoy your Mac. Where "plug and play" really means "plug and play".

If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong.
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2006-01-20, 00:04

5 ?

My sister has 5 and I cannot possibly understand the redundancy...

1 Photo printer
1 Laser Printer
1 Ink Jet

that makes the maximum three on a bad day and two if you aren't a freak.
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williamsdirect
New Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2006-01-20, 18:07

I read somewhere once, that you are supposed to repair permissions before and after an install, it is quite critical and logical that all your permisions are functioning correctly before you install anything and that you repair them after just to make sure that the instalation process hasn't upset anything, I have always done this and never had any problems, I would imagine that multiple instalations over the top of already damaged permissions is asking for trouble.
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Franz Josef
Passing by
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London, Europe
 
2006-01-21, 02:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by torifile
Enjoy your Mac. Where "plug and play" really means "plug and play".
That's the new ad right?
  quote
torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2006-01-21, 08:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky
5 ?

My sister has 5 and I cannot possibly understand the redundancy...

1 Photo printer
1 Laser Printer
1 Ink Jet

that makes the maximum three on a bad day and two if you aren't a freak.
It's my powerbook. We've got 2 printers at work. I've got a photo printer and a laser at home and I've got the kinko's color laser setup too. That doesn't seem too excessive, does it?

If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong.
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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2006-01-21, 08:03

Quote:
Originally Posted by Franz Josef
That's the new ad right?
It should be, shouldn't it? I think I've heard that before so I can't take credit for it.
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awilso
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Devon - UK
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2006-01-21, 11:31

Buddy, Send it back - Whenever I have had a mac which didn't work properly I have sent it back (one so far thankfully) and then refused to have it back untill it works.

My friend did this and gave me the advice.

Generally they will play with it a bit more rather than screwing around with a diagnostic tool and then they realise like we do "oh this machine is shit - there's something wrong" and then they fix it.

I have just had this happen on my mac mini - I sent it back, they rang me saying they couldn't find anything wrong, so I said check the log (then thay thought "ooh he knows something", then they went away for two weeks, then rang me saying they have replaced it.

My default postion with mac, and I have had 6 machines so far, is that they all work perfectly, so when one doesn't, I'm complaining, I am not a techie, so I'm not going to fart around with Unix, but I can dial TNT and pay for postage.

Hope this helps


The force is strong in this one
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-01-22, 03:04

update: sent it back...now waiting another week to get the ibook (with a bigger hard drive).

I reached the tipping point on Friday when the ibook refused to recognize my USB flash drive again...o well..

I agree with awilso in that i'm in no mood to mess around with UNIX....the store employee said there was no problem in returning, so I was pleased with the service....however, I wish they could have warned me about the $100 restocking fee

*patiently waiting*
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psgamer0921
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2006-01-22, 14:53

Sorry to hijack a thread, but people here may be able to answer this, since it's already been discussed in the thread

I have an HP OfficeJet d135. This is one of those "all-in-one" printers. I know you can plug the printer in and print fine, but what about scanning stuff in? Would that require the HP drivers?
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MCQ
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: NY
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2006-01-22, 15:25

Quote:
Originally Posted by psgamer0921
Sorry to hijack a thread, but people here may be able to answer this, since it's already been discussed in the thread

I have an HP OfficeJet d135. This is one of those "all-in-one" printers. I know you can plug the printer in and print fine, but what about scanning stuff in? Would that require the HP drivers?
If the scanner itself is TWAIN compliant you might be able to use Image Capture for scanning.
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ime_NY
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
 
2006-02-03, 19:52

update:

I am currently loving my new iBook 1.33/1.5/ 80 !!!! wooohoo!!! no slip ups and everything works like a charm. Thanks for all your help!
  quote
Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2006-02-03, 22:36

I'm glad that you like your Mac. I've never had problems like that, so it looks as if your first machine was definitely a dud. But what about the $100 "restocking fee"? You should not have to pay them to restock to replace a dud.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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