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mac acting very weird

  • 26-04-2006 11:14am
    #1
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭


    This is strange. yeasterday morning some small dots and striped lines appeared in safari's window... so i 'reset' safari and hoped that was the end of that. But it happened again this morning and they also appeared in iTunes... so i restarted the computer and thought i'd better back-up my files just in case anything REALLY weird happened.

    2 minutes ago I tried to open iTunes and I got a message telling my there was something wrong with my music library and it was going to attempt to rescue some files... with the result that 90% of my music seems to have been wiped!!!!!
    (luckily I have it on an iPod, but still!)

    What the hell is happeneng???

    What can i do?????


Comments

  • #2
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    What kind of Mac is it ? Does it boot normally and then exhibit these symptoms ?

    ZEN


  • #3
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    Hi Zen,
    yeah, boots normally.
    I've been doing a bit of looking around and it seems that iTunes deleting the library isn't that unusual (!), i still have all the music on the hard drive, but can't get it back to iTunes library. Anyway that might mean that the probs i've been having are unrelated.

    Still don't like those dotty lines.... but i haven't seen any for a few hours.


  • #4
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    What Mac is it ?
    The iTunes thing seemed out of place with the other fault. The library file can become corrupt ok, touch wood it hasn't happened to me yet !

    I would have thought display breakup was a problem with graphics RAM but if it's only happening on specific apps then that's wierd. Can you describe it a bit more ?

    ZEN


  • #5
    luckat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭luckat


    What kind of screen has your Mac? Laptop, desktop, flat screen...?


  • #6
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    got the iTunes thing sorted - I just had a freakout when i thought everything was going wrong.

    The visual thing hasn't happened in a few hours. i'll take a screenshot if it happens again... I've noticed it in Safari and iTunes. Several parallel broken lines appear across the screen..like a row of minus signs and full stops, but smaller. Not all the way though, they might not be in the window I'm typing in now for instance, but be in the bigger window around this one.
    then another thing, when I hovered over the iTunes icon in the dock earlier it went weird, like the pixels all broke up or something, like a tv screen full of static.

    I dunno,

    any ideas appreciated.

    edit: a big desktop screen.


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  • #7
    Oriel
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Oriel


    Oh sweet jesus...


  • #8
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    What Mac Have You Got ????? :confused::confused:

    ZEN


  • #9
    Oriel
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Oriel


    Is the screen a flat screen or is it a big CRT monitor?
    is the Mac computer built into the screen, or is it a seperate box?
    While on the desktop, click the apple on the top left of the screen and select "About this Mac" and tell us everything that it says in there please.

    S.


  • #10
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    oh sorry, he he he, how did I miss that?
    a G4, about 5 years old.


  • #11
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    OSX.4.6
    Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4
    2MB L3 cache per processor

    512 MB SDRAM

    Scree is a big CRT monitor.
    Seperate box.


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  • #12
    Oriel
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Oriel


    See there anything magnetic beside the monitor/speakers etc?
    Anyway, try and take a screenshot of it. Do you know how?


  • #13
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    Aww come on will ya !!
    Most of Apples computers 5 years ago were G4 ! Can you be a bit more specific ?

    Power Mac G4 (AGP - PCI - DA - Gb eth - MDD etc) Cube G4 (Rage 128 & Radeon 7500) - iMac G4 (CRT + LCD Models) - PowerBook G4 - iBook G4 - XServe G4 ??

    To me it sounds like a video card hardware/software issue. The G4 Cube had well documented problems with ATI Radeon Cards. PowerMac G4's came in PCI Graphics and AGP Graphics models - I can help you with the Cube and AGP Graphics machines 'cos I have a few Mac Radeon Cards lying around here but I need more detail on your computer.

    ZEN


  • #14
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    I'd guess if it's hardware the grab utility wont capture the fault. I have a couple of spare AGP cards I can lend you if it becomes a process of elimination.

    ZEN


  • #15
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    Yes I know how to take a screen shot.


    Guess what? I know f*ck all about computers! So that big list of letters in your last post mean nothing to me Zener.

    I appreciate any help you might have been able to offer, but if its too much hassle, forget it.

    Thanks for all your patience lads.


  • #16
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    If it was too much hassle I wouldn't be offering you a couple of very expensive video cards to help solve your problem would I ? We can't read your mind - you need to provide more information than you did in order to elicit help from people who have their own things to deal with but are prepared to assist when they can. The help here costs you nothing . . try be appreciative of that !!

    ZEN


  • #17
    Hugh_C
    Registered Users Posts: 2,852 ✭✭✭Hugh_C


    Jim10000 wrote:
    some small dots and striped lines appeared in safari's window...


    It's a hardware problem almost certainly. Seeing as you know f*ck all about computers, maybe you should have it fixed professionally. Seeing as the computer is 5 years old, it may be cheaper just to buy a new one in the long run.

    hc


  • #18
    SouperComputer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,949 ✭✭✭SouperComputer


    Dual 1GHZ is more than likely a "Mirror Door" with AGP.

    If you have a look at the label on the back to the machine, it should give a part or "family" number. For example M5183 is a G3 desktop.

    I work on macs for a living, drop me a PM if you want me to take a look at it for you.


  • #19
    Jim10000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭Jim10000


    OK, so I think it's a G4 "quicksilver" with AGP Graphics... does that make sense?

    Nothing magnetic near the monitor...

    If there turns out to be an ongoing problem I will definitely get help from Apple, but I have found the advice here to be very helpful in the past in just getting my head around what the problem might be and I genuinely do appreciate it.

    Also, thanks a lot for your offer SouperComputer, but I'm not actually in Ireland. And I couldn't see the number you were describing...thanks though...


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