Thursday 13 December 2007

Airport problem

Hi,

My name is Jessica, I was wondering if you could give me a call or help regarding a problem with my colleagues new Mac she has just bought.

Myself and the other girl who works with me have both got apples as well and are connected to the internet via an airport but Josie (the girl with the new Mac) hers keeps coming offline, I cant seem to find the problem, any ideas?

Many thanks for your help
Kind regards
Jessica

Hi Jessica

Is Josie working in same room as yourself or in another room? Is she sitting next to anything that may cause interference eg, microwave oven, TV, radio? What is the signal strength from the airport indicator in the menu bar? How many bars are black?

Settings you can try are: switching on "Use interference robustness" or change the channel that Airport broadcasts. These options are discussed in the Airport base station setup guide.

With regards to Mac MOT, I'm afraid geographic distance prohibits this. We're based in Scotland. May I suggest looking at the classified ads at the back of MacWorld or Mac User for London based Mac Help.

Regards
MacDoc

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Apple Mac ON but nothing on screen

Hi there

I have one of the original apple mac - bought in 1999, think it is the G3. It has harldy been used. Have just reconnected it and it makes three beeps when I turn it on - it didn't do this before, and the screen will not come on even though the power is on. Do you have any suggestions as to what might be wrong with it? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Cheers
Katie Hayes


Hi Katie

There could be a number of reasons why you're not getting normal service from your Mac, but you could try a few simple checks:

There could be a number of reasons why you're not getting normal service from your Mac, but you could try a few simple checks:
  1. To state the obvious, check the appropriate cables are in the right sockets and a tight fit. Then test.
  2. Assuming you have the Blue & White G3; if the green power light is on and you can hear the fan humming, the video card may be loose.
    1. Power down the Mac
    2. Open it up
    3. Using the video cable as a reference, trace it to the video card
    4. Gentle remove the video card and using a soft eraser, very gently "erase" the gold contacts. This should remove any oxidation deposited during the time you didn't use the computer.
    5. Replace the video card, connect up and try starting up again.
  3. If you still, have no video, and you'd had left the computer unconnected to the mains supply for a length of time, a small battery that powers the internal clock and CMOS settings may have run flat.
    1. Open the Mac up again
    2. On the Logic board you'll see a battery about an inch long
    3. Very gently remove it
    4. Goto your nearest Electronic store, eg Maplins and get a replacement for the battery, about £4.
    5. Very gently re-insert the new battery, connect up and see if there are signs of life.
  4. If still no signs of life, then I'm afraid it's the electronic mountains in China for the machine, as, really it'll be rather uneconomical to repair.
Regards
MacDoc

Monday 3 December 2007

Seeing Black & White!

My mac's display is presented in a negative format. All my screens look like a photo negatve. How do I change back the settings ?

JO JO

Hi JoJo

Quick way...

Hold down the very bottom left hand three keys on the keyboard at the same time then tap 8

Ctrl + Alt +  then tap 8

Or, slightly longer method...

Blue Apple > System Preferences > Universal Access > Seeing > Black on White.

"Quick way" method toggles the effect.

Hope that helps.
MacDoc