Tag Archives: MacBook

fixed : wake MacBook from deep sleep

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Question :

Whenever I think I am only closing the lid on my MacBook for a few minutes, but get distracted and end up not turning back to it for about an hour, my MacBook seems to have fallen into deep sleep. Then nothing seems to help to get it ‘back to life’, and even though the battery is still indicating about ‘half full’, the usual click on the SPACE-bar doesn’t help, and neither does typing any key or key-combo on the keyboard…

My MacBook’s sleep is actually so deep my wife calls it ‘hibernation’, and my children call it ‘zombie Mac’…

So I always end up either taking out the battery to completely restart my MacBook or keeping the power-button pressed until it finally restarts…

Isn’t there any other way to wake my MacBook from deep sleep ?

Answer :

Yes, there is.

The solution you have been so near to the simplest solution, but you didn’t recognize it…

Instead of keeping the power-button pressed, you should just press the power-button for one quick second…

…that’s is. Then your MacBook will slowly wake from deep sleep… it will first show a faded white-ish screen with a progress bar… and if that’s finished loading, your MacBook (Pro) will be right back were you left off…

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fixed : update Seagate Momentus XT firmware from TD27 to SD28

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Question :

To keep my aging MacBook Pro up-to-date and up-to-speed, I’ve replaced the internal harddisk with a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid-harddisk. I’ve found on the internet that Seagate’s SD28 is the latest firmware for the Momentus XT, and since Seagate claims it’s an essential upgrade, I would like to install in also. I’ve followed the instructions from Seagate, but when I run the firmware update, it refuses with a “Specific model not found”-error and quits…

In “About This Mac”, I’ve found that my version of the Momentus XT is the ST95005620AS and the current firmware is TD27. I’ve searched the internet and can only find info on firmware versions SD24, SD25, SD26 and SD28, but not on SD27 (or TD27, what’s the difference anyway ?)…

Is there any way to upgrade my Momentus XT to the SD28 firmware ?

Answer :

Yes !

First a little background info :

The Momentus XT hybrid-harddisks have not only been released by Seagate, they have also been issued by Toshiba as OEM-harddisks. Where it gets confusing is that the Toshiba issued ones still have “Seagate”-branded info stickers on them… The main thing Toshiba seems to have done is install a Toshiba-version of the firmware named TD27… (TD seems to mean Toshiba Drive, as opposed to SD for Seagate Drive…)

Seagate itself has skipped version SD27 of the firmware for unknown reasons, but Toshiba has (only ?) issued their version of exactly that skipped firmware revision : TD27…

More info can be found here :

Momentus-XT-Secret-Code-Names-Model

So much for the confusion…

Now let’s get to the solution…

Here’s how to upgrade your Momentus XT from TD27 to SD28 firmware on a Mac :

[ NOTE : doing firmware updates is potentially very risky for your hardware, software and data !! not following the instructions to the letter is even more risky !! every thing you do is at your own risk !! ]

– download the SD28 firmware upgrade (in .ISO format) from Seagate :

 Momentus XT firmware upgrade SD28

– after the download, find the “MomentusXT-ALL-SD28.iso” disk image and mount it on your Mac

– burn the (Windows/DOS) files that are on the disk image onto a CD-r

– eject the freshly burned CD-r and label it “Seagate Momentus XT firmware upgrade SD28”

– now back-up the entire current contents of your Mac’s harddrive (= your internal Momentus XT) ; the easiest way to do this is to choose “Back Up Now” from the Time Machine menu (assuming you have Time Machine back-up installed)

– now print this manual for reference during the actual firmware upgrade

– when the back-up is finished, re-insert the CD-r (with the SD28 firmware installer), disconnect all cables (USB, Ethernet, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, FireWire, etc.) from your Mac, only to leave the power-cord in (that’s essential !) and reboot your Mac while pressing the [ALT]-key

– once you see the Apple logo with the spinning gear, you can release the [ALT]-key

– now you will see about three tiles of possible startup-drives to choose from, select the CD-rom (that will probable be titled “Seagate” of “Windows”) and click [ENTER]

– now your screen will go entirely black and then display Windows/DOS-like white texts (if you do not see white text appearing and you are on a MacBook, open your MacBook and look on the MacBook’s own screen ; this would mean you did not follow the instructions to unplug your second screen… as mentioned before : doing firmware upgrades is potentially very risky and completely at your own risk !! do yourself a favor and follow the instructions to the letter to minimize your risk !! )

– just follow the on-screen instructions (press [ENTER] when suggested, and press the [D]-key to select the firmware upgrade)

– everything will seem to go fine, until you get this text :

“Error: Specific model not found. Various expected   ************************   Turn off the power now.”

– if you see that, don’t power down your Mac, but press the [CTRL] + [C] keys on your keyboard instead, and you will get this text :

“Control-Break pressed. Terminate batch file ‘C:\FLASH-M.BAT’ (Yes/No/All) ?”

– then, press the [CTRL] + [C] key-combo again, and you will get this text :

“(Seagate boot) C:\>”

– that’s your command-prompt (just like in DOS or in OSX’s Terminal-app), now type [exactly as shown here, but without the quotes] the following command :

“FDL497A -m ANAK -f ANSD28.LOD -i Seagate -s -x -b -v -a 20”

– then press the [ENTER] key, and the firmware upgrade process will start

– during the upgrade process, a text like this will display :

“Model SEAGATE ST95005620AS SN xxxxxxxx FW TD27 on Generic PCI ATA Bus 0 Device 0

Model SEAGATE ST95005620AS SN xxxxxxxx FW SD28”

– after about 1 minute, the word “SUCCESS” will be displayed in big blue letters, followed by “(Seagate boot) C:\>” in regular white letters

– now, the firmware upgrade is complete and you can reboot your Mac

– when your Mac has restarted in OSX, eject the CD-r and have a look in “About This Mac”, there you will find that the firmware of your internal harddisk is now SD28

…that’s it

Enjoy !

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fixed : install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on unsupported Macs

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Question :

I read somewhere that it is possible to install the latest version of OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on my Mac, even though the official installer refuses to install.

Can you give me any directions ?

Answer :

Updated answer :

MLPostFactor has been succeeded/replaced by MacPostFactor, and is now being updated by a new crew of programmers. MacPostFactor also supports installing OSX versions up to OSX 10.10 Yosemite on older Macs. And a new version that supports installing OSX 10.11 El_Capitan is in the works.

For more info (and downloads), go to the info page on MacRumors.com :

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-yosemite-on-unsupported-macs-guide.1761432/

 

Original answer :

Yes, thanks to the guys from MLPostFactor, it’s now possible to install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion (even 10.8.4) on these older Intel-Macs :

Early 2006 (and newer) versions of the iMac and Mac mini

Late 2006 (and newer) versions of the Macbook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Xserve

Early 2008 (and newer) versions or the Macbook Air

…and I must say : “(in my case) it runs smoother than MacOSX 10.7”, but there are a few downsides, especially these ones :

– regular OSX updates are disabled, you can only use a special OSX-update routine

– some (but very little) software is not compatible due to various reasons ; e.g. PhotoBooth, Little Snitch

– the SMB client is not working properly (the SMB server is), so file transfer is crippled

– it’s provided “as-is”, so no support from anyone (neither the developer nor me), and no guarantee it will fully or even partially work in your case (especially not if you do not strictly follow all of the directions !!)

…in short :

!!! THIS IS FOR (RATHER) EXPERIENCED MAC-USERS ONLY, AND SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON YOUR ‘ONE AND ONLY’ MAC !!!

What you need :

– one of the Intel-Macs mentioned above (running MacOSX 10.7 Lion and at least 2GB of RAM)

– an official version of the OSX 10.8 installer, (re)downloaded from the Mac App Store inside your Applications Folder (sorry, pirated versions don’t work…)

– the 32-bit MLPostFactor v3.0 installer-patcher (should be put inside your Applications folder also) you can download from here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Download.html

or alternatively :

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/MLPostFactor.shtml

– a full backup of your current harddrive running OSX 10.7 Lion and all your personal files (simply put : “a Time Machine backup of your Mac”)

– a partition of 8GB to create the patched OSX 10.8 installer on ; according to the official directions this should be a partition on your main harddisk called “Install”, but it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can also use an 8GB USB-stick or an 8GB partition on an external USB- or FireWire-harddisk for this [simply put, MLPostFactor does what Lion DiskMaker does AND includes a patch that’s needed for older Intel-Macs]

– a partition of at least 10GB called “ML” to install the new (patched) OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion onto ; this is will to be your final, ‘new’ harddrive for your ‘old’ Mac… it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can assign this to your current MacOSX 10.7 Lion harddrive [provided you have a good (TimeMachine) backup]

Exact directions on how to install can be found here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

…or the video that HackerWayne (one of the MLPostFactor developers) has issued :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

You should follow the step-by-step instructions above, but just to give a quick impression of the routine :

– make a Time Machine backup and make sure both the OSX 10.8 installer and MLPostFactor are in you Applications folder

– run MLPostFactor to create the patched installer (8GB) for OSX 10.8.4 (or an other version if you prefer that one for some reason…)

– reboot from the patched installer and install the patched OSX 10.8 onto (the desired partition of) the internal harddrive

– this will either end in an error or a white screen (seemingly ‘hung’)

– reboot from the patched installer and run MLPostFactor from there onto the partition you have just installed OSX 10.8 on (= your internal harddrive)

– then reboot from the fresh OSX 10.8 partition (= your internal harddrive)

– if you get a “WiFi: No Hardware Installed”-error, get the KextUtility for OSX 10.8 and install the Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3

!! REMEMBER : DO FOLLOW THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

or the ‘official’ video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

…that should be it !

enjoy !

😉

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fixed : “Service Battery” warning

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Question :

When I started up my Mac today, and looked at the battery indicator in the top menu bar, I noticed that there was something unusual… so when I clicked on it, the pull down menu did not show the usual battery info. It showed a warning saying “Service Battery”.

As I do not believe my battery is dead, this looks like a bug to me… is it ? And what can I do about it ?

Answer :

The “Service Battery” message (a.k.a. warning) just indicated that your battery has not been calibrated for a long time… this might occur when you have not once fully used your battery ; you have not used your fully charged battery until it was completely empty once in the last three months… this is noting serious, you just need to do so again.

More on this can be found on Apple’s website :

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

In short, for any MacBook or MacBook Pro that has a removable battery, the battery calibration routine is :

1- plug in the power cord and charge until the battery is fully loaded (so until the LED-light in the connector stays green) [ during this you can still use your Mac ]

2- leave the power cord connected for at least 2 more hours [ during this you can still use your Mac also ]

3- unplug the power cord and leave your MacBook (MacBook Pro) running until the battery is empty [ during this you can also keep using your Mac, but remember to save all your open work when you get a warning that your battery is nearly empty ]

4- when your MacBook (MacBook Pro) goes to sleep when the battery is completely empty, just let it.

5- then let your MacBook (MacBook Pro) ‘rest’ for at least 5 hours

6- when the 5 hours are over, reconnect the power cord and fully charge your battery again [ during this you can use your Mac, in a normal, modest way, just don’t exaggerate : use as little applications at the same time as possible and shut down any non-vital applications that are running in the background ]

That should be it, but if it doesn’t work for you, you might want to try this :

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

More info on doing so, can be found on Apple’s website :

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

And if that doesn’t help either, you will probably have a non-original Apple battery, or if you do have an original Apple-battery, it is probably broken due to falling or shock.

Either way, you’ll probably need to buy a new battery… [ note : from experience, I can tell that an original Apple-battery is better value-for-money even though the price is high ; imitation batteries usually start out right, but then suddenly die within about one year… ]

info : are you ready for Mountain Lion ?

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Apple is getting everything in place for the release of OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” due later this month.

The names of the Macs that will be able to run OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” have been published on the Apple website :

http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

From eldest to newest these Macs are :

– iMac “mid 2007” or newer (so any “Aluminum” iMac)

– MacBook Pro “mid/late 2007” or newer (so any MacBook Pro with an NVIDIA graphics card)

– Mac Pro “early 2008” or newer (so any Mac Pro with the Xeon 5400 “Harpertown” processors or newer)

– MacBook Air “late 2008” or newer (so any MacBook Air with Thunderbolt or MiniDisplayPort)

– MacBook “Aluminum” = “late 2008″ (so the 13” MacBook Pro look-alike)

– MacBook “White – early 2009” or newer (so only the ‘original’ white polycarbonate design versions that have an NVIDIA graphics card)

– Xserve “early 2009” (so only the latest generation with Xeon 5500 “Gainestown” processors)

– Mac mini “early 2009 & late 2009” (so only the original Mac mini design that have an NVIDIA graphics card)

– Mac mini “Aluminum” = “mid 2010” or newer (so any Mac mini of the extra flat redesign)

…that’s the bad news (for some  – those of us with older Macs…)

and the good news is :

you don’t need to have MacOSX 10.7 “Lion” installed to upgrade, you only need MacOSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” with the “Mac App Store” application (since OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” is only available from the Mac App Store…)

info : setting up Back To My Mac through a TG712 modem-router

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Question :

How do I setup my Thomson TG712 modem-router to allow me to use the the Back To My Mac function of my Macs ?

Answer :

Here’s how to turn on Back To My Mac when you have a TG712 modem-router :

– on your Mac, go to Apple —> System Preferences —> iCloud

– then put a check mark at “Back To My Mac” to turn the service on

– if there’s a “More…”-botton click it, just for your information ; if a warning is listed, read it, keep it in mind, and don’t bother…

– then open Safari (or any other internet browser) on your Mac, and type the web based control panel’s IP-address of your router-modem as the URL ; for the TG712 router- modem, the IP-address is 192.168.1.254

– in the web based control panel, go to “Toolbox” (in the menu on the left) –> “Games & Apps Sharing” (in the menu on the left)

– then in the middle of the page, at the bottom, from the “Choose a task…” list, click on “Add a game or application to a local networking device” (the first link in the list)

– in the page that opens, put check marks both at “Use UPnP:” and “Use extended security:”

– and set the “Game or App”-dial (the one that is initially at “ABC (Another Bittorent Client)”) to “Back To My Mac”

– set the “Device”-dial to your Mac (which is the Mac that you would like to use with Back To My Mac, so probably your Mac-server or desktop-Mac)

– just to be able to trace possible errors, put a check mark at “Logging”

– then click on the “Add”-button

– wait for the router-modem to restart

– logout by closing the browser-page with the web based control panel on it

Now you should be able to log into your (home) Mac, when being at a remote location (if there’s internet connection there…)

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BEWARE ! : FBI warns not to upgrade software through free-WiFi !

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The FBI has reported that users of ‘out-of-home-WiFi’ (free-WiFi hotspots, hotel WiFi, etc.) have become infected with malware, while upgrading ‘a widely used software product’.

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams

The original report states :

“Recently, there have been instances of travelers’ laptops being infected with malicious software while using hotel Internet connections. In these instances, the traveler was attempting to set up the hotel room Internet connection and was presented with a pop-up window notifying the user to update a widely used software product. If the user clicked to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop. The pop-up window appeared to be offering a routine update to a legitimate software product for which updates are frequently available.”

Even though the software product is not mentioned by name, it is good to inform you that one of the most common software products using this type of upgrades is Adobe Flash… so watch out when upgrading Adobe Flash (and any other software upgrade that is offered) when you are not on your own private WiFi-network.

So… here are some useful guidelines regarding software updates while traveling :

1- if you can do without upgrading, don’t upgrade while traveling ; wait until you’re back home on your own trusted WiFi-network

2- if you really need to upgrade, take these precautions : when you are prompted to upgrade any software while on an ‘out-of-home-WiFi’-network, click to close the pop-up window that is urging you to upgrade. Then either use OSX’s built-in “Software Update…” feature, or open the (Mac) App Store to download your updates from there, or manually type the URL of the known software-maker and download the software update directly form their site (after having double checked that your installed version is not the latest one).

Note : in the case of of the Adobe Flash browser plugin, the software-maker’s website is Adobe.com