Tag Archives: bug

solved : where does FindMy.app alert “Replace the battery on left soon” come from ?

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Question :

Today, on my iPhone I got a message from FindMy.app in my closed screen Notifications, and it is rather cryptic : “Replace the battery on left soon” and soon after I read it, it seems to have changed to “Replace the battery on right soon”… I have no idea what this is about (maybe because the message is not in proper English and makes not sense in that respect either)…

When I clicked on this alert message, the FindMy.app opened showing one of my AIrTags. But since my AirTags are only a few months old, I can’t imagine their batteries are already running low…

What is going on ?

Answer :

What if I tell you that the new AirPods Pro 2 (so the 2022 version) have AirTag-technology and software to make them easier to find ?

Do you also have the new AirPods Pro 2 maybe ?

The current version of the AirPods Pro 2 software has a bug in it that causes erratic alert messages in FindMy.app. You might encounter any of these alerts :

  • Replace the battery on right soon.
  • Replace the battery on left soon.
  • Replace the battery on Case soon.

So, you can deny these alerts. All you can do is hope that Apple fixes this in a software update asap.

enjoy !

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fixed : macOS Sierra downloaded but installer won’t run

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Question :

Since the latest version of OSX (entitled “macOS Sierra) has been yesterday, I wanted to install it on my Mac. I clicked on “download” in the Mac AppStore and  the download started ; on the dedicated product page I could see the status bar filling up and finally stating “downloaded”… but then, nothing happened…

The download wouldn’t install…

I re-checked if macOS Sierra does support my Mac, it does. So I tried restarting the AppStore-app, I tried logging out my iCloud/AppStore-account & than logging back in, I tried rebooting my Mac, I tried rebooting in SafeMode, I tried FirstAid in the Disk Utility app, I tried clicking 10 times on the “downloaded” button repeatedly, I tried installing the DeBug-menus & cleaning the AppStore cache, I tried deleting the hidden AppStore downloads folder… and I tried various command line solutions found online in the Terminal app… nothing helped… I am still stuck with the button under the macOS Sierra icon saying “downloaded”… and nothing happens…

What can I do ?

 

Answer :

You are probably not (really) going to like this answer, because this will set you back hours & hours, in which you can’t use your Mac ; but it’s the only way known to solve this, and you need to have a recent TimeMachine backup (or alike) for it :

  1. shut down your Mac
  2. disconnect all cables  from your Mac (except your keyboard & mouse if you haven’t got a MacBook)
  3. restart your Mac, and be quick to press the [CMD]+[R] key-combo during startup (your Mac will now start up in Recovery Mode)
  4. in the “OS X Utilities” window that appears, select Restore From TimeMachine Backup and click Continue
  5. in the next “Restore Your System” window, click Continue
  6. now first make sure that your Mac can connect to your TimeMachine-harddisk by plugging in it’s USB-cable, plugging in your Ethernet-network-cable or connect to your WiFi router
  7. then select the hard drive that has your TimeMachine backups on it and click Continue
  8. in the next window, make sure you select the most recent backup that is from before you tried to download macOS Sierra ; only if you’re sure you’ve selected the right backup, proceed and click Continue
  9. now wait (or do something more useful in the mean time) and wait and wait ; this is going to take hours and hours ; putting back a TimeMachine backup this way will go a a speed of about 30BG per hour, so if your hard drive is 500GB it may take you about 15 hours (yes, an entire night and an entire morning…)
  10. finally, once the TimeMachine backup-reinstall is done, your Mac will restart… just let it
  11. then, when logged in, open the Mac AppStore-app and notice that the button under the macOS Sierra now says “download” ; click on it
  12. after the download has completed, you should now see the installer window popup on your screen… proceed from there…

that’s it… it’s simple, but very time-consuming…

enjoy !

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fixed : custom Quartz-filters are not available system-wide

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Question :

In the past, I used to create my own custom Quartz-filters in ColorSync Utility, and they were instantly available system-wide in MacOSX. Now, in OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion and OSX 10.9 Mavericks ( and OSX 10.10 Yosemite and OSX 10.11 El_Capitan ), I don’t have access to my Quartz-filters anymore…

What is wrong ? And how can I fix this ?

Answer :

In the latest versions of OSX [*], there seems to be a bug preventing OSX to find Quartz-filters stored outside of the ‘official’ “Filters”-folder that is inside the “Library”-folder in the “System”-folder… so, since all custom-made Quartz-filters are stored inside the “Filters”-folder that is inside the (invisible) “Library”-folder in the User’s “Home”-folder, your custom-made Quartz-filters are not found by OSX…

The solution is to just move them into the right (official) “Filters”-folder. [**]

(Yep, it’s that easy…)

For an in-depth step-by-step guide for doing so, follow the procedure outlined here.

NOTES :

[*] this bug was solved/removed with the introduction of macOS 10.12 Sierra

[**] put differently :

In all versions of OSX from OSX 10.8 Mountain_Lion up to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan,
new Quartz-filters created in Colorsync Utility are/were automatically saved in :
~/Users/[username]/Library/Filters/
But all other applications (including e.g. Preview) weren’t able to access or use them as they could only load Quartz-filters from :
~/System/Library/Filters/
and – only if you created the following folder manually – from :
~/Library/Filters/
So you had to manually move your custom Quartz-filters to :
~/Library/Filters/
to be able to use them in Preview.app and alike

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fixed : SMS (iMessage) not delivered from iOS 7 iPhone to iOS 6 iPhone

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Question :

Lately, some of my friends have complained to me that they did not receive my recent SMS-es at all…

…I was completely sure I had send them, and when I look inside the Messages-app, they’re properly listed as a blue SMS (= an iMessage).

Any idea what could be wrong ? …and how to fix this ?

Answer :

There seems to be a problem/bug/incompatibility between iOS 7 and iOS 6 when sending iMessages from iOS 7 to people who have not yet upgraded to iOS 7 and are still on iOS 6.

FYI : in iOS 7 and iOS 6, the Messages-app auto-detects if you’re sending a text message to an iPhone or not :

– if your text message turns Blue, it has been sent as an FREE Apple iMessage

– if your text message turns Green, it has been sent as a ‘good-old’ (payed) SMS

Fixing this problem/bug/incompatibility is rather simple, even though it’s really annoying…

But the real problem for you-as-a-user is that it’s really hard to tell on forehand if your ‘SMS’ (iMessage) will be delivered or not…

The only thing you can do ‘as an iOS 7 user’ is this :

– in Messages-app, select the recipient and type a text message as you normally would

– when it turns Green, just send it out (it will be send as a regular SMS)

– when it turns Blue, and you’re not 100% sure the recipient is using iOS 7, hold your finger on the text until a few extra options appear, then choose “Send as text message”… now your text message will turn Green and be send (as a regular SMS)

– when it turns Blue, and you’re 100% sure the recipient is using iOS 7, just send it out (it will be send as a FREE Apple iMessage)

…and when you’re not sure if this did go okay after you’ve send the text message : see if there is a red circle with a white exclamation mark next to your (Blue) text message…

…if there is, click on it and choose the option “Send as text message”

…and if you get any complaints from people that they didn’t receive your SMS since you’ve upgraded to iOS 7, select the text message again, hold your finger on it a little longer and select “Send as text message” from the options that appear.

Good Luck !

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