Mac Newbie trying to fix some bugs

[kdochert]

Hi All,

Finding more bugs than I hoped with my new Mac as follows:

1) Trackpad unable to select anything during boot-up logon, cursor moves but just won't select anything?
2) After powering up if I don't logon within 5-10 mins there is no response from the Apple bluetooth keyboard despite powering it on and off and because of 1) above I have to do a hard shut down?
3) Time machine stops working after the display has gone to sleep. Power settings are so that mac never sleeps just display. I will try unselecting allowing drives to sleep to see if that works. The backup drive is a Seagate barracuda in and enclosure connected via USB 2. I see this problem is common on these forums but not very conclusive answers.
4) No bookmark sorter in Safari, kinda surprised about this one, come on Apple, pretty basic stuff here?

If anybody has tips how to resolve any of these would be appreciated.

Kev Doc

 

[fa8362]

I have the 2.3 i7 and don't have any of those problems.

 

[kdochert]

So at the logon screen if you click say the shutdown icon at the bottom with a trackpad (not mouse) it works? Maybe i haven't paired the trackpad to the mac properly? It's fine after logging on?

How do u sort your safari bookmarks, manually or drag them to finder, sort them, then drag them back or am I missing something?

 

[GGJstudios]

How do u sort your safari bookmarks, manually or drag them to finder, sort them, then drag them back or am I missing something?

Yep, that's how to sort them. There is no built-in sorting in Safari.

 

[fa8362]

So at the logon screen if you click say the shutdown icon at the bottom with a trackpad (not mouse) it works? Maybe i haven't paired the trackpad to the mac properly? It's fine after logging on?

How do u sort your safari bookmarks, manually or drag them to finder, sort them, then drag them back or am I missing something?

I don't use a password, so I don't log on.

I rarely sort Safari bookmarks, but when necessary, I manually sort them within Safari. Just click 'bookmarks>show all bookmarks' and manually drag to reorder, or drag to a different folder on the left. I make extensive use of bookmark folders.

 

[opinio]

Hi All,

Finding more bugs than I hoped with my new Mac as follows:

1) Trackpad unable to select anything during boot-up logon, cursor moves but just won't select anything?
2) After powering up if I don't logon within 5-10 mins there is no response from the Apple bluetooth keyboard despite powering it on and off and because of 1) above I have to do a hard shut down?
3) Time machine stops working after the display has gone to sleep. Power settings are so that mac never sleeps just display. I will try unselecting allowing drives to sleep to see if that works. The backup drive is a Seagate barracuda in and enclosure connected via USB 2. I see this problem is common on these forums but not very conclusive answers.
4) No bookmark sorter in Safari, kinda surprised about this one, come on Apple, pretty basic stuff here?

If anybody has tips how to resolve any of these would be appreciated.

Kev Doc

BT can be temperamental at startup if not properly paired. While logged into the OS try re pairing the devices. Also rename them to be 100% certain they are attached. Also try restarting the devices and pulling the batteries out and restart them. Make sure you do al this while logged in and make sure they are fully operable before shutting or rebooting. I find OSX hates when you play around with BT connecting at startup.

 

[kdochert]

Thanks for the pointers everybody.

I tried the disabling hard drive sleep in power settings last night as an additional attempt to keep Time Machine working (I already had no computer sleep selected in power settings) and Time Machine still fails whenever the Mac has been idle for a while.

Gonna look into updating backup drive firmware as next step, as the only difference between this mac mini and another one I have is the backup drive itself is different and Time Machine is working perfect on the other mac mini.

 

[benwiggy]

1) Trackpad unable to select anything during boot-up logon, cursor moves but just won't select anything?

Are you tapping to select, or actually clicking? The default behaviour for the trackpad is to use the "hardware" physical click. There is an option is the user preferences to use tap to select.

Obviously, at the login page, you haven't logged in and don't have access to your settings.
Using the following Terminal commands will allow tap to select at login:

defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1
defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

 

[justperry]

So at the logon screen if you click say the shutdown icon at the bottom with a trackpad (not mouse) it works? Maybe i haven't paired the trackpad to the mac properly? It's fine after logging on?

How do u sort your safari bookmarks, manually or drag them to finder, sort them, then drag them back or am I missing something?

SafariSort - Get Sorted

Edit: Be aware, I think it only works when it is in the Application Folder.

Yep, that's how to sort them. There is no built-in sorting in Safari.

Just FYI, see above.

 

[GGJstudios]

SafariSort - Get Sorted

Edit: Be aware, I think it only works when it is in the Application Folder.

Just FYI, see above.

Thanks for this. I remember testing this a few years back, and found some reason why I didn't like it or didn't recommend it, but I can't recall what the issue was. It may merit a second look.

 

[justperry]

Thanks for this. I remember testing this a few years back, and found some reason why I didn't like it or didn't recommend it, but I can't recall what the issue was. It may merit a second look.

There still is an issue, it crashes or forces Safari to quit, I opened Safari again when I tried earlier and Glims asked me if I wanted to open the Tabs again, crash protection.

 

[GGJstudios]

There still is an issue, it crashes or forces Safari to quit, I opened Safari again when I tried earlier and Glims asked me if I wanted to open the Tabs again, crash protection.

That's good enough reason for me to continue to avoid it. Thanks!

 

[kdochert]

Are you tapping to select, or actually clicking? The default behaviour for the trackpad is to use the "hardware" physical click. There is an option is the user preferences to use tap to select.

Not sure what you mean with physical hardware click on the trackpad (power button?), but anyway the tap to click option is set in the preferences but this doesn't work at the logon screen for some reason?

 

[kdochert]

Thanks for the pointers everybody.

I tried the disabling hard drive sleep in power settings last night as an additional attempt to keep Time Machine working (I already had no computer sleep selected in power settings) and Time Machine still fails whenever the Mac has been idle for a while.

Gonna look into updating backup drive firmware as next step, as the only difference between this mac mini and another one I have is the backup drive itself is different and Time Machine is working perfect on the other mac mini.

Now trying to update the firmware on my seagate backup drive to see if it prevents the backup failures described above, i burned the firmware iso image onto a bootable CD, the system boots to the FreeDOS as per seagate instructions but I cannot close the read me file using either escape or F10 as it instructs me to do and thus cannot progress with the firmware update?, In fact there is no response to the keyboard at all?, In this setup I have an apple wired keybaord plugged in directly to the back of my mac mini which is working fine in normal bootup? Grrrr

Any pointers anybody? Of course I'm going to contact seagate to see if they can help also.

 

[benwiggy]

Not sure what you mean with physical hardware click on the trackpad (power button?), but anyway the tap to click option is set in the preferences but this doesn't work at the logon screen for some reason?

Yes, if you push the trackpad surface down, it will physically click. This is the default. "Tap to click" is a USER preference, so if you haven't logged on yet, your user preferences aren't valid.

So: either use the Terminal commands I provided to set "tap to click" at the login screen, or press down on the trackpad until it clicks.

 

[justperry]

Now trying to update the firmware on my seagate backup drive to see if it prevents the backup failures described above, i burned the firmware iso image onto a bootable CD, the system boots to the FreeDOS as per seagate instructions but I cannot close the read me file using either escape or F10 as it instructs me to do and thus cannot progress with the firmware update?, In fact there is no response to the keyboard at all?, In this setup I have an apple wired keybaord plugged in directly to the back of my mac mini which is working fine in normal bootup? Grrrr

Any pointers anybody? Of course I'm going to contact seagate to see if they can help also.

Do it on a PC!
Seems like the keyboard drivers are not up to the job when booted from a Mac.

 

[Ledgem]

Obviously, at the login page, you haven't logged in and don't have access to your settings.
Using the following Terminal commands will allow tap to select at login:

defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1
defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

Thank you! I haven't rebooted to test the commands but I've applied them. Not being able to tap-to-click at the login screen drove me nuts.

 

[kdochert]

Yes, if you push the trackpad surface down, it will physically click. This is the default. "Tap to click" is a USER preference, so if you haven't logged on yet, your user preferences aren't valid.

So: either use the Terminal commands I provided to set "tap to click" at the login screen, or press down on the trackpad until it clicks.

How embarrassing, cause I use the trackpad on the sofa I never even realised it had a physical click.......thanks for pointing this out.....twice

 

[kdochert]

Do it on a PC!
Seems like the keyboard drivers are not up to the job when booted from a Mac.

Pc doesn't find usb backup drive when booting up to seagate iso file on a cd......it just finds the internal drive...darn firmware update bollocks. So looks like I need to buy an updated drive to eliminate the Time Machine errors.......