[Update: I've joined an elite group who have their screens turn black. A Mac Forum came up with some possible work arounds, but not real fixes. People seem to think it has to do with the picture preview and I've been using iPhoto and now iMovie. I can get something back if I hit the F10 key or those around it, but the edges of the screen are black and then it all goes black.][Update Sept 23: for the progress of this still ongoing issue, see comments to this post and check the label (right column bottom) 'snow leopard.' As I write I'm waiting for a new adapter cord that is coming by Fedex from Apple. I've narrowed it down: the only time I get the black screen is when the adapter cord (the white cord the comes with the Macbook) is connected and I don't touch the keyboard for a few minutes. When it runs on battery and I leave, nothing bad happens.]
I bought a copy of Snow Leopard when it came out almost two weeks ago now I think. At the Apple User Group that following Wednesday I saw a copy of the ebook, Take Control: Upgrading to Snow Leopard. That seemed like something useful to look at before upgrading.
I did learn some things. I thought I had a bootable back up before, but apparently not. So I downloaded Carbon Copy Cloner at the book's recommendation. But after going through lists of all the things that can go wrong, I was less inclined to install Snow Leopard. (Snow Leopard is the operating system upgrade for Macs. It follows Leopard, Tiger, and Panther.)
Finally I realized that I was getting advice that was appropriate for going to the moon but I was just going for a bike ride. The odds were good that nothing bad was going to happen and if it did, I'd go back to the MacHaus and have them help me. So, today, I finally installed Snow Leopard. The instructions in Snow Leopard merely said to stick the disk into the computer and push the install button. (The ebook was about 80 pages of things to worry about.) Actually, it would be nice for installation material to tell people to have the 5 gb free that they told us at the meeting (the ebook said, well, you really should have 10 gb free). It took 1 hour and 25 minutes.
At the meeting, Ben, the Apple guy from Best Buy who comes to the meetings regularly and really knows his stuff, told us we'd get 7GB freed up when we had Snow Leopard installed. That's pretty cool - not only does it not take up more room, but it cleans up stuff already there and you have more room when you are done than when you started. Well I started with 7.53 GB free and when it was over I had 21.56 GB free. (Yeah, I know, it must have been a real mess in there. But at least the installation cleaned it up.)
So I still have to send in a review for the ebook. It's for people who really want to take precautions for every possible thing that could go wrong. My suggestion is to make sure you've got 5 gb free and then go for it. Well, back up all your files first, at least, on an external hard drive. The ebook is for people who want to know the details of every possible illness they could ever have.
Now I'm checking things out. It says I should have a download 'stack' but I don't see one. One of the coolest new features is the ability to draw Chinese characters on the trackpad, but I haven't tried that either. If it were Thai letters, I would have tried by now.
So now I can start plowing through all the other manuals for electronic equipment that have been pouring into my life.
[Update Oct. 3 - see this later post for what the Snow Leopard problem was for me. Doesn't mean it will work for you, but it seems to have solved my problem.]
Drag any folder to the right hand side of your dock (by the trash) and it will create a "stack". A default install of X puts your "downloads" folder there by default, but if you had removed it at some point, I don't think Snow Leopard would have put it back.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty surprised your install took as long as it did. The installs I've done have been much quicker.
I work at MacHaus Wasilla.
Anon from MacHaus - thanks for the comment, I just thought it would be there and I don't think I did anything to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteDo you know anything about the black screens. It's always reassuring to know I'm not the only one, and since it's posted on an Apple.com forum, I'm assuming someone is working on it.
Scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteI just bought a new computer for my studio. The first one in nine years. My eMac couldn't accept the last two upgrades of Finale, and I need the newest one, because I'm writing three new big pieces of orchestral music.
So I bought a 24" iMac.
Cool unit.
The UAA book store gave me a link to get Snow Leopard (what's next - Yeti?) for about seven dollars.
Should I get it? There's already a lot to install.
I love this computer.
I remember the total grief I had installing System 7.0 on 3 office Macs years ago. That's when Macintosh moved chips the first time. Made me very leery of early upgrade paths from then on.
ReplyDeleteI wait for a correction version .1 at least now. Let us know how it all works for you and good luck.
Heads up.
ReplyDeleteI know it's not 'snow leapord' specific, but have any of you had all your photos in iPhoto 'disappear'.
Happened to me and that's the first time Mac's reputation for infallibility has failed on my machines.
Tried to rebuild the photos by redoing the library file, now several photos are 'lost' and the rest of the file duplicated itself and re-arranged itself so the total is twice as large now and the duplicates are scattered all over.
Try to edit the photos, spinning beachball of interminable delay is the result. I estimate another few hundred hours before it can be fixed.
Anyone else? It's a topic in any number of Mac and Apple forums.
I just called Apple finally and there's already a patch - 6.10.1.
ReplyDeleteThe guy walked me thru and we'll see if it cures my problems.
I also learned from him that the engineers don't look at the forums. If you want to get their attention you're supposed to go to www.apple.com/feedback/.
Anon, haven't lost any photos yet. But I do have them backed up in two different external hard drives. Along with the rest of my documents.
Phil, they said that Snow Leopard is so cheap ($29) because they really want everyone to upgrade. But you might want to wait a couple of months until all these glitches are cleared up. This is the first time I've gotten an update so fast. I'll wait next time.
Well, it went black again while I was on the phone to someone. I got a different technician who had me do some things which reset my "parameter ram" and SMC (system management controller).
ReplyDeleteWe'll see if it solves it this time. But this guy sounded like he'd done this problem before. And he gave me his number to let him know if there are still problems.
I have not heard of the "black screen" you describe, but obviously others are witnessing the same behavior. I don't know when you last looked at the thread but someone posted instruction regarding icon previews that seems to have fixed their issue.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to update to 10.6.1 (which came out yesterday) even though it doesn't (apparently) address the black screen issue, it does address other issues.
Regarding iPhoto: We've found that the most common cause of problems stem from people messing around in the actual iPhoto Library (in ~/Pictures) I'm not saying that's what Anonymous did, but that's the easiest way to completely break iPhoto. actually changed the way the library works in iLife '08, so that it is no longer a folder; a move to try and persuade people to *stay out of it*, but there are still simple ways to get into it.
iPhoto always keeps a copy of your original photos. Even in a worst case scenario, it should be possible to find the "Originals" folder in the library, drag it out, and basically start from scratch with a new iPhoto library. Stop by one of the three MacHaus locations and have the friendly staff help you out. ;-)
(Anon from MacHaus Wasilla.)
It's after 10pm and I haven't had any problems since the last fix. So I'm hoping this guy solved it.
ReplyDeleteBut it took up a bit of time and made working on the computer difficult. So the next post isn't up yet.
Sunday 8pm: After no problems since getting off the phone with the second Apple expert Friday, the black screen returned now. Left a message with the second guy to try more. Do I have to send them my computer? Nooooooooo!
ReplyDelete