As requested by the Mod, I'm helping out on the Mac servicing, repair, hardware issue and tips parts. I will break the sections into dekstop and laptop. iPods and iPhone will have their specific thread later on, handle by different member(s).

These tips will be as general as possible, and for more specific issue(s) you are welcome to post a reply and we'll look into it and advice accordingly. You are welcome to contribute to this thread by PM me or the mod in charge of this section.

Please be aware the following guide/tips are for reference only, we do not responsible to any damage done. Please do not attempt the following guide if it's endanger your safety in your situation and or you're unsure about the situation.

Important
Keep this number 1-800 803-638 in your phone and bookmark the following link. These are the AppleCare phone support numbers, call them in case you run into trouble with your mac and have no where to asked for help:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html

Desktop Mac
This will cover the following:
- Mac Pro
- PowerMac G5
- iMac Intel & G5
- Mac Mini
(for older model pls consult respectively by reply or PM)

Warning
Never attempt to touch the unit internal parts when current is running (power on). Unplug the unit and leave it for an hour before touch any conductive parts. Never touch parts that labeled extreme hot & do not touch.

• Lighting strike, liquid spill
Immediately turn-off and disconnect power plug, do not attempt to use the unit. Call AppleCare and or your technician and seek professional help immediately. Do not touch the Mac unit or attached peripheral as the they might still carry current or charges. Never try to boot the unit.

Suggested first aid: Non, do not attempt.


• Fall
Immediately turn-off and disconnect power plug. Leave the unit to discharge (at lease 30mins) or wear protective non-conductive glove to move the unit on proper surface. Never try to boot the unit. Call AppleCare and or your technician and seek professional help immediately.

Suggested first aid: Disconnect all your attached peripheral. Remove your hard drive and put it in external casing for data recovery if you can still reach it safely.


• Self-shutdown
Turn-off and unplug the main power. Inspect for burning smell or burned mark. For quad core Powermac G5 unit, check for internal liquid stain. If found, please do not turn the unit on. Seek professional help immediately.

If non of above found, leave it for an hour or two before attempt to turn on. Run Apple Hardware Test (found on your unit's original package, DVD or CD format) first thing it boot up. Send to Apple Service Center or technician if failure detected or unit can't turn on. If non failure report, you may use the unit again. If same shut-down incident repeated please consult professional help.

Suggested first aid: Check for dust cloaking near exhaust area. Check for broken power cable. Check if RAM module seated properly. Remove your hard drive and put it in external casing for data recovery.


• Frequent Crash (kernel panic, spinning beach ball of death or freeze crash)
Run Apple Hardware Test (found on your unit's original package, DVD or CD format). Call Applecare if failure detected. If no failure found, create a new admin account (System Preferences > Accounts > "+") and run the new admin account to see any crash incident happen. If no crash happened, you might have corrupted user account or user level system issue. You should migrate your media file to the new account and remove the old account if possible. You should not move over your "library" and "system" folder. If crash still happen on new admin account, you should consider to re-install Mac OS X. If problem still exist after re-installing OS X, please consult with professional.

Suggested first aid: Boot into Fire-wire target disk mode and do your data recovery. Disk Utility scan and repair.


Laptop Mac
This will cover the following:
- MacBook Pro 15" & 17" Aluminum & Unibody
- MacBook Air
- MacBook 13.3" Aluminum & Unibody
- PowerBook G4 Aluminum
(for older model pls consult respectively by reply or PM)

• Lighting strike (refer to desktop mac section)


• Liquid spill
Depends on how severe the spill is. If it's a minor dash of liquid, unplug the main power if adapter are connected, quickly turn the laptop over if the splash is on the keyboard. If the spill happen on other parts, place the laptop counter the direction of the spill came from, for example, the water came in from air vents, placed the air vent facing down. Remove the battery if applicable. Do not wait for shut-down. Press and hold power button if battery are not removable. Do not do it on your lap. You should place the laptop on the edge of a table with clothe as protection also to absorb the spill. Leave it for few hour. Send it to service center by closing the unit with some tissue placed in the gap between keyboard and LCD. Always leave the unit upside down, with battery compartment facing up. Never try to turn it on. Severe spill, unplug the main power if adapter are connected. Leave the unit and call for professional help.

You should wear protective non-conductive glove when handling the wet unit to protect yourself. A non-leaking plastic bag might do the job too.

Suggested first aid: Non. You should seek professional help ASAP.


• Fall (refer to desktop mac plus following additional steps)
Remove the battery if possible. Do not attempt to close the lid if the condition do not permit.


• Self-shutdown
Turn-off and unplug the main power as well as battery if possible. Inspect for burning smell or burned mark.

If non of above found, leave it for an hour or two before attempt to turn on. Run Apple Hardware Test (found on your unit's original package, DVD or CD format) first thing it boot up. Send to Apple Service Center or technician if failure detected or unit can't turn on. If non failure report, you may use the unit again. If same shut-down incident repeated please consult professional help.

You should never use your laptop under poor air circulation condition to ensure proper heat discharge. For example, using it on top of soft linen surface will also have similar result, bed for instant.

Suggested first aid: Check if battery still hold charges. Check if power adapter broken. Check for dust cloaking near exhaust area. Check if RAM module seated properly. Remove your hard drive and put it in external casing for data recovery.

• Frequent crash (refer to deaktop mac section)

This post has been edited by wei: Nov 21 2011, 09:11 AM

Jargons
Kernel Panic (AKA Gray Screen of Dead- GSOD)
- OS crashing. WiKi explanation


Spinning Beach Ball of Dead (SBOD)
- OS crashing or related crash. WiKi explanation

Reset PRAM/ NVRAM
Apple knowledge base explanation and guide

Restart/Reboot
- Soft reset of your Mac, archive by selecting "Restart..." in Mac OS X menu or pressing the physical reset button found on older Mac models.

Shut down
- Completely quit the running OS and turn off the Mac, archive by selecting "Shut Down..." on Mac OS X menu.

Finder
- The file manager for Mac OS.

Activity Monitors
- Build in Utility application. Besides of monitoring free space and RAM usage, you can also use it to monitor running Application. Force Quit those that crashed and not responding including Finder itself.

Disk Utility
- Build in Utility application. Use it to scan and repair permission errors on volumes. Scan and repair file system. Perform drive formatting and partitioning. Also a tools to create DMG and burn supported disk/disc images.

Short-cuts
CMD + Option + ESC
Bring up the "Force Quit Application" menu.

Fast Quitting
If you accidentally launch the wrong application or in urge to shut down the Mac, you can quickly stop running application by right click on the icon, then press and hold "Option". Select "Force Quit".

This post has been edited by wei: Apr 14 2009, 03:52 PM

I don't have MacBook Unibody. Try PM those that are using one in the hardware showoff thread.

Is your MacBook 1.83GHz?

And when the green lights on, you can't use the iSight. Photobooth will report camera off or device not found.

This is a complicated issue, my experience the issue is related to the LVDS cable and or logicboard itself. Do you have issue with firewire/USB ports as well?

macaulai, the problem are most likely hardware related. I have a MacBook that exhibit exact problem. But I sort of found out how to avoid the issue:
- Never operate without power adapter & battery, both must in use.
- Sleep - wake seems to trigger the problem more.
- Shutdown instead of restart.

Other than that you have to send it in for diagnose.



Masamune, Try this in order, only move on if doesn't work:

1) Create a new admin account n try.
2) Re-download combo update from Apple.com/download, then apply the update again.
3) Re-install OSX

This post has been edited by wei: Apr 9 2009, 08:50 AM

Just enable "Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver" under "Security" inside sys pref. Set hot corner to activate screen saver. The next time you move away from your desk, just activate the screen saver by moving your mouse to hot corner(s).

This post has been edited by wei: Apr 9 2009, 08:01 PM

Nope, but will check with my contacts as well as VR Tech in KL.

All the Mac Laptop does that for a moment when it's preparing the charging. As long as it start charging after a minutes or two it should be fine. If it's not charging at all, bring it to service center or call Apple Care.

Why would Apple bundle the new 24" LED Apple Cinema Display if the MacBook doesn't support it? Try a different cable and adapter and see.

If you need support, please provide more info like:
which model of Mac exactly?
what is the model of accessories you having issue with? in your case name the LCD model.
Also tell us what type of connection you using, VGA? DVI? Dual Link DVI? HDMI?

I suggest you try with another screen with the same cable and adaptor. Have you tried that before? Your LCD might not compatible due to some reason. Mini Display port is still new for me. Yet to have much experimental with it, but so far VGA out to projectors seems working fine. Will check with some of my contacts that using one and see any issues.

May I suggest you bring to the retail you bought it (if it's local). And test their ACD. Apple says MacBook unibody support up to 30" ACD.

If you're in Sg Buloh area, I can meet up with you to test as well.

I'm no Dr.

Can you tell us what type of HDD are they? Brand? Connection you using?
Is your MBP powered by adapter or battery when that happened?

Prompt you to shutdown meaning the gray color screen and everything freeze?

do a search next time: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=364508&hl=

That's Kernel Panic. Run Disk Utility and check if the disk is fine. See if the external drive manufacturer provide softwares to boost cache speed. Manufacturer like WD provide such apps.

Any worse scenario you still have warranty. Now you know why its important to buy AppleCare.

Glad to hear that. Another case closed.

hardware failure friend.

Prasys, standard diagnose only apply when the machine still show screen and can boot.
Steady white light signal bad logicboard unable to boot but able to power-on only.

For costing, please refer to reseller directly. We're in discussion on issues here only.
We don't want to invite price war in this section.

You need to have X amount of dead pixels only Apple will honor it for warrant claim.
If 1-2 pixels it doesn't count officially. Unless you "find a way" to make them help you with it.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1721
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/04/08..._anomalies.html

press Fn ?