Intel iMac can't run extended hardware test
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From: E Z Peaces on 28 Nov 2009 19:30 My aunt, who lives in another city, has had Macs 20 years. In 2007 she bought an Intel iMac. She has OS 10.4.11. A few weeks ago, Safari said she wasn't connected to the internet. When she looked at Network in System Preferences, Ethernet was grayed out, but the light on her modem indicated an Ethernet connection to her computer. In Profiler, clicking Network in the left pane should show Firewire, Airport, and Ethernet in the right pane. This time, the right pane remained empty. Restarting didn't help, but everything was fine when she started up the next morning. Does a cold start reset more things than a restart? When she tried to verify her disk with DU, it kept aborting, saying "stopped by user." The same thing happened when she started with the Install DVD. However, when she clicked Repair, it went through the normal process and told her the disk appeared to be okay. Then she tried to verify her permissions. With my PPC and 10.4.11, when I click either of those buttons, it immediately turns dark, which shows me I clicked it. She didn't get any response at all from either button. Then she tried Hardware Test. She had to use the keyboard to navigate to and click the start button. It ran 65 seconds and said everything looked okay. However, when I run Hardware Test, I see a list showing what it's checking: CPU, Memory, HD, Video, etc. She saw no indication of what it was testing. She was unable to click the button to start the extended test. Unplugging the mouse or the keyboard didn't help. In normal use, both work reliably. Could a disk problem cause these symptoms?
From: E Z Peaces on 30 Nov 2009 00:45
Michael Vilain wrote: > In article <hesfc5$ddc$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > E Z Peaces <cash(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >> My aunt, who lives in another city, has had Macs 20 years. In 2007 she >> bought an Intel iMac. She has OS 10.4.11. >> >> A few weeks ago, Safari said she wasn't connected to the internet. When >> she looked at Network in System Preferences, Ethernet was grayed out, >> but the light on her modem indicated an Ethernet connection to her computer. >> >> In Profiler, clicking Network in the left pane should show Firewire, >> Airport, and Ethernet in the right pane. This time, the right pane >> remained empty. Restarting didn't help, but everything was fine when >> she started up the next morning. Does a cold start reset more things >> than a restart? >> >> When she tried to verify her disk with DU, it kept aborting, saying >> "stopped by user." The same thing happened when she started with the >> Install DVD. However, when she clicked Repair, it went through the >> normal process and told her the disk appeared to be okay. >> >> Then she tried to verify her permissions. With my PPC and 10.4.11, when >> I click either of those buttons, it immediately turns dark, which shows >> me I clicked it. She didn't get any response at all from either button. >> >> Then she tried Hardware Test. She had to use the keyboard to navigate >> to and click the start button. It ran 65 seconds and said everything >> looked okay. However, when I run Hardware Test, I see a list showing >> what it's checking: CPU, Memory, HD, Video, etc. She saw no indication >> of what it was testing. >> >> She was unable to click the button to start the extended test. >> Unplugging the mouse or the keyboard didn't help. In normal use, both >> work reliably. >> >> Could a disk problem cause these symptoms? > > Lack of a visit to an Apple Genuis Bar. If you're the closest she's > got, then get the guest room ready. I think this needs personal > attention rather than pie-in-the-sky guessing via news groups. Make > sure you have a solid backup before you do anything. > When I told her I could fix her computer if she visited me for a few weeks, she said I'd been eating pie in the sky. She says it's her Mighty Mouse. In 2007, Apple published a couple of bulletins saying if you had an eMac or an iMac, Hardware Test wouldn't work with the mouse plugged directly into the computer. The Mighty Mouse uses capacitive coupling instead of mechanical switches. That makes it vulnerable to EMF. The side switches are most vulnerable, and her preferences are set to ignore side clicks in normal use. Plugging the mouse into a metal keyboard might help if your hand is on the keyboard. She visits the Apple Genius Bar Thursdays because drinks are free on Ladies' Night and she can eavesdrop. |