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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh
- Thread starter 3N16MA
- Start date
I no longer upgrade macOS immediately anymore after my nightmare experience with El Capitan. Apple rewrote the entire USB stack which broke a bunch of devices and it wasn't fixed until the .4 update six months later. No bueno, not going through that shit again.
And the OS before that had the major mDNSResponder / discoveryd issue which broke networking for a lot of people.
macOS just seems to be in a weird state right now where most of the changes are to core technology things on the backend (like this entirely new file system in High Sierra) and yet they don't really have the manpower/resources to pull it off without issues. It feels too risky to update macOS these days unfortunately. I'll be waiting until the .2 or .3 release first.
And the OS before that had the major mDNSResponder / discoveryd issue which broke networking for a lot of people.
macOS just seems to be in a weird state right now where most of the changes are to core technology things on the backend (like this entirely new file system in High Sierra) and yet they don't really have the manpower/resources to pull it off without issues. It feels too risky to update macOS these days unfortunately. I'll be waiting until the .2 or .3 release first.
eyeball_kid
Member
I don't think the APFS team is really under Mac specifically, as they already had a flawless rollout of APFS on millions of iPhones with 10.3. The Mac presents more complicated usage scenarios, so yeah, there might be some issues with esoteric use cases. I hope not, and everyone should absolutely have a backup of their data before upgrading. I imagine common setups will be fine though.
That discoveryd lib though, yeah that was a disaster.
To be fair, the "gold standard" for rock-solid releases everyone uses, Snow Leopard, had absolutely terrible issues. There's a reason they ended up shipping a 10.6.x update disc because the early releases were not great.
The only major issue now is that Apple wants to put out a new release every year. If they just stuck with an every two-year cycle I think we'd all be happy.
The only major issue now is that Apple wants to put out a new release every year. If they just stuck with an every two-year cycle I think we'd all be happy.
Yeah the one year cycle really sucks.
If for whatever reason you want to stick with a particular release, there isn't much time to iron out the bugs for that release before they move on.
I'm on El Capitan, mostly because I use Aperture still (I know, I know, but it works marvellously at the moment - even better than on yosemite and mavericks before it), but there is at least one near show-stopping bug that kind of ruins it. I found a workaround, but it's not really ideal.
For the record, the hug was something in the notifications daemon that causes the whole mackvine to lock up. It can freeze the machine requiring a hard reset or it MIGHT work through it.
The work around was to kill that process in activity monitor IF you caught it a time the right time. I found out it was often the time machine notification that triggered it most often, typically when I didn't plug my second back up (which I don't do as regularly), and it notified that it hadn't backed that one up.
My ultimate workaroundwas to turn time machine off, and just hit
Manual backup whenever I feel like it, which can thankfully be done even if time machine is switched to off.
Backed up last night, but currently I'm not sure if I want to update directly.
Will using an external drive as time machine backup wipe the contents? Or will it basically just add a folder containing the backup so to speak?
I wanna do a backup just in case before the update, haven't done one before since all my important data on the MacBook is synced to the cloud anyway. Don't have an empty drive on hand however
E: nvm
I wanna do a backup just in case before the update, haven't done one before since all my important data on the MacBook is synced to the cloud anyway. Don't have an empty drive on hand however
E: nvm
Well, heard back from the Genius Bar...my late 2013 MacBook Pro needs a logic board replacement. $400 for this model.
killer! but I need a laptop...so if I do get the board replaced and swallow the almost-half thousand dollar repair, will it be worth it? I really just need a shoulder to cry on. thanks mac-gaf
killer! but I need a laptop...so if I do get the board replaced and swallow the almost-half thousand dollar repair, will it be worth it? I really just need a shoulder to cry on. thanks mac-gaf
In my opinion a 4 year old computer - you're in the grey area. If t were only 1-2 years old it'd be more cost effective to pay for the repair as you basically have a recent computer. 5 and older you're nearing "vintage" and the money would be better put towards a new machine, especially since you are probably due to update it anyway.
3-4? Tough call. Depends how close you were itching to get a new computer. Of course your funds would need consideration as well.
What actually happened? It's unfortunate that with the way things are built, any problem with the logic board be it CPU or a USB port, it's an entire board replacement.
LordOfChaos
Member
I'm wondering if Apple services will start pushing h.265 to devices that only support it in software decode, i.e much slower/hotter.
Bloody hell. I stupidly bricked my iPad just two weeks ago, and now my Mac mini is dead too. Great, just fucking great.
After restarting, the progress bar below the Apple logo fills until about 60%, and then the Mac simply turns off.
Gonna try running diagnostics and recovery mode and whatnot next, but I don't have any hope.
edit: To avoid any misunderstandings: I did not install High Sierra.
edit 2: I was able to boot into recovery mode. My trackpad's battery was empty, because of course it was. I put new ones in, turned it on, moved the cursor towards the Next button, and halfway it lost connection. Now I'm trying to reconnect, but it just doesn't work. The trackpad just keeps blinking.
This is gonna be of of those days.
After restarting, the progress bar below the Apple logo fills until about 60%, and then the Mac simply turns off.
Gonna try running diagnostics and recovery mode and whatnot next, but I don't have any hope.
edit: To avoid any misunderstandings: I did not install High Sierra.
edit 2: I was able to boot into recovery mode. My trackpad's battery was empty, because of course it was. I put new ones in, turned it on, moved the cursor towards the Next button, and halfway it lost connection. Now I'm trying to reconnect, but it just doesn't work. The trackpad just keeps blinking.
This is gonna be of of those days.
Those days suck. Best of luck!
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Weirdest thing with APFS and I don't really know what causes it. Might not even be APFS fault rather the drive maybe?
I have a few large external hard drives. I got a new one and am shuffling files around. Two that I'll mention. One is a new 8TB drive and the other is an older 6TB drive. I was able to reformat the 8TB as APFS, but the 6TB drive won't let me format as APFS nor will it let me partition it. I never noticed it before because I don't really want to partition it, but I didn't notice that partitioning wasn't an option with this drive until I went to reformat it and noticed APFS wasn't an option, and just happened to look up at the toolbar and noticed the Partition option greyed out.
What could cause a drive to not be eligible for APFS or partitioning? I didn't know this was a thing.
For the record I also have a 4TB drive that will be demoted to backup serving that will be partitioned and partitioning does seem to be an option for that one. So I don't know why the 6TB drive is blocked off like that.
The drives are all various types. All either Western Digital or Seagate. I know they're not the best but whatever. I just buy whatever the biggest capacity I can when the time comes. So I have some older MyBooks from WD, some Expansions and Backups from Seagate, and the new ones from WD are EasyStore drives which look to just be rebranded new-style MyBooks. The 6B drives are the WD MyBooks. The new 8TB drives are the EasyShare drives. (Which look exactly like the MyBooks)
Disappointed because I wanted to make it APFS so I could use the new volumes adding stuff for easier partitioning but I cant even use regular partitioning. Very confused.
I have a few large external hard drives. I got a new one and am shuffling files around. Two that I'll mention. One is a new 8TB drive and the other is an older 6TB drive. I was able to reformat the 8TB as APFS, but the 6TB drive won't let me format as APFS nor will it let me partition it. I never noticed it before because I don't really want to partition it, but I didn't notice that partitioning wasn't an option with this drive until I went to reformat it and noticed APFS wasn't an option, and just happened to look up at the toolbar and noticed the Partition option greyed out.
What could cause a drive to not be eligible for APFS or partitioning? I didn't know this was a thing.
For the record I also have a 4TB drive that will be demoted to backup serving that will be partitioned and partitioning does seem to be an option for that one. So I don't know why the 6TB drive is blocked off like that.
The drives are all various types. All either Western Digital or Seagate. I know they're not the best but whatever. I just buy whatever the biggest capacity I can when the time comes. So I have some older MyBooks from WD, some Expansions and Backups from Seagate, and the new ones from WD are EasyStore drives which look to just be rebranded new-style MyBooks. The 6B drives are the WD MyBooks. The new 8TB drives are the EasyShare drives. (Which look exactly like the MyBooks)
Disappointed because I wanted to make it APFS so I could use the new volumes adding stuff for easier partitioning but I cant even use regular partitioning. Very confused.
StopMakingSense
Member
APFS doesn't work with MBR partitioned drives, I believe.
The trackpad worked after restarting again.
Well, that's it. The HDD is toast. I had already had some issues about a year ago, but now it's finally dead. Not sure whether I'll bother with replacing the HDD. I'm too clumsy for computer repairs.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I don't know what that means, also the 6TB drive isn't partitioned. I formatted it fresh just like I did with the 8TB. Both are WD drives. But the 6TB won't let me have the option to partition or format as APFS at all. Does the 6TB drive use some kind of fancy drive I didn't know it had that cant be partitioned? It doesn't makes sense to me.
StopMakingSense
Member
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I'm on High Sierra and Disk Utility doesn't even show that at all. (For any of my drives. Even the internal HDD. Also, the Info button doesn't have that anywhere either.)
Note that both Media (8TB) and Extra (4TB, soon to become backup partitions) both are HFS Extended (Journaled) and the Type is the same as the 6TB drive, except that both have an option to partition and will allow me to reformat as APFS if I chose to. It's just this one drive that won't let me. But I fear that now that I'm already elbow deep in transferring the files to the 6TB that even if I did find a solution to allow me to partition, it'd be too late since I've already spent hours copying files over.6TB drive:
8TB drive for comparison:
(The one at the bottom is there because the computer is patiently waiting to be upgraded to the final release of High Sierra which I cant do until I finish moving files from the 4TB to the 6TB so I can reformat the 4TB and partition into backup drives before I install it in case something goes wrong obviously. My previous computer backup drive died recently, hence why I bought the new 8TB.)
StopMakingSense
Member
That actually doesn't answer my question. Partition map is not the file system, it's the method of mapping the partitions on the physical drive.
There is MBR, APT, and GPT
There is MBR, APT, and GPT
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
High Sierra doesn't seem to expose that anymore. Here's the Info window. I don't see anything useful there either.
Is there a Terminal command I can run that might give that info? I'd run it on both drives to compare.
StopMakingSense
Member
That's still just the volume, you want the physical disk.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
If I could give you more information I would. I don't know how to get up to the physical disk. There's no triangle to expand or anything. And no useful information in the Info window.
Fake edit: Well I did find an option under the menus to "Show all devices" which does show the physical drive as well as the single partition on it. And to answer your question, it's "Master Boot Record". Dangit. I knew it. The other drives are GUID.
The problem is when I formatted it, I wasn't given an option to choose GUID. Aw man. Should I stop my file copy and start over with this drive? I guess I can't convert it later without losing any files. I just don't know how to set it to GUID. And I don't know WHY it was set to Master Boot Record in the first place when the other three drives are set as GUID.
Edit: Nevermind, I found the option. Of course. So should I cancel my transfer and start over? I guess it makes sense. I should. But it's a lot of lost time.
It seems High Sierra hides this info from end users now.
StopMakingSense
Member
You get the option to redo the portion map when you erase the physical disk.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Yeah I found it.
I guess I should stop the transfer and start over. I still don't know how the disk was formatted as Master Boot Record in the first place. Ugh, so much wasted time. And wear on the drive. But I guess I should...
Edit: And done. No going back now. Thanks for the help. I didn't even know Apple was hiding this stuff from us now.
This is what I see now:
I don't know what that greyed out empty container is though. Edit: It's gone after unplugging and plugging back in.
eyeball_kid
Member
eyeball_kid
Member
High Sierra sort of refuses to convert Fusion drives to APFS; there must be something buggy about that config. It also doesn't convert spinning drives to APFS by default; you have to do that manually. But if you can't do that at all, I'm not sure what the problem would be.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
This problem was solved already. Also I'm not on a Fusion Drive.
hey, thanks for responding. the mac was working great - I closed the lid and and it sat like that for a day. then I plugged it in and went out for a few hours, came back, tried to turn it on and...black screen.
took it to the Genius Bar. they said they'd try a MagSafe port replacement, but that it might be the logic board. they'd call me if the MagSafe replacement didn't work. it didn't.
so tommorow I'm gonna go pick up my silver brick. I might just get it fixed in a month or two when I have the scratch but yea the repair it's a LOT of cash for me and it'd prob be smarter to invest in something new...sigh.
if I can get it fixed and get two more years of use out of it, that'd be OK.
StopMakingSense
Member
Externals mostly come with MBR partition mapping.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
That's what I thought, but somehow, out of the 8 drives I currently have hooked up (The two 8TB, 6TB and 4TB plus identical backups of all four) only that one single drive escaped my reformatting back when I got it a couple years ago. I must have just forgotten to change it to GUID. Funnily enough, the other 6TB drive (The backup of the first one) was set to GUID as were all the rest.
Very Berry Sunday
Member
I see a MacBook Pro 13 2016 Touch Bar on Craiglist for $800.
It has i7 CPU
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
2 Battery Cycles
Brand New, still in factory wrappings
What should I look for before buying this? Is this worth it?
It has i7 CPU
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
2 Battery Cycles
Brand New, still in factory wrappings
What should I look for before buying this? Is this worth it?
Crazymoogle
Member
Absurd deal if real, suspicion meter on high
If you got to see it in person:
- Run preferences to make sure CPU, GPU, RAM all line up
- Check battery condition
- Make sure no obvious frame/screen damage
- Given the model it should have the super-large trackpad, OLED function key line and 4x USBC ports.
I mean you'd never know unless you try, just meet in a public or safe place. You could probably check all of the bulletpoints in 5 minutes. But what does it mean by factory wrappings if it's been opened before...? Just the protective sleeve I guess?
Zeyphersan
Banned
That price is nutso, so its probably a scam. Factory wrappings means that you wont be able to test the components as theyll probably object to you opening it before buying it, as then they couldnt sell it as sealed to someone else if you pass
Just to note, that model retails for $2,500
So, I've got a brand new MBP 13" here. 16GB RAM, i5, 1TB SSD, touch bar.
Everything works perfect. I ran benchmarks in windows like furmark for 30 minutes without any problems and all the other benchmarks like Geekbench worked flawlessly.
I ran the apple hardware test and it found nothing....
yet in windows, when I play FFXIV (it runs with 30fps at 1980x1200 in medium settings) and I change the resolution, sometimes I get artefacts, black squares. Tried it with overwatch and the same thing did NOT happen. the squares also vanish as soon as I teleport into another area or wait a few minutes. If I resize the window of the game they also resize with it. Mind you, if I don't change the resolution the game works perfectly. I played for two hours and nothing happened.
Now, I know, usually this can be a "omg the GPU is dying"-thing. but, like I said I ran every stresstest, benchmark, hardware test imaginable and NOTHING. I even encoded one of my blu rays in handbrake, let a CIV5 game and tomb raider run at the same time for 3 hours and nothing happened.
could it be the GPU driver?
Everything works perfect. I ran benchmarks in windows like furmark for 30 minutes without any problems and all the other benchmarks like Geekbench worked flawlessly.
I ran the apple hardware test and it found nothing....
yet in windows, when I play FFXIV (it runs with 30fps at 1980x1200 in medium settings) and I change the resolution, sometimes I get artefacts, black squares. Tried it with overwatch and the same thing did NOT happen. the squares also vanish as soon as I teleport into another area or wait a few minutes. If I resize the window of the game they also resize with it. Mind you, if I don't change the resolution the game works perfectly. I played for two hours and nothing happened.
Now, I know, usually this can be a "omg the GPU is dying"-thing. but, like I said I ran every stresstest, benchmark, hardware test imaginable and NOTHING. I even encoded one of my blu rays in handbrake, let a CIV5 game and tomb raider run at the same time for 3 hours and nothing happened.
could it be the GPU driver?
it is probably the GPU driver, but eh. you know how it is with your shiny new thing.
I had a look at iFixit's guide for replacing Mac mini HDDs. Oh boy. This won't go well.
I chickened out and had OWC put in a 128GB HDD on my 2011 model. Now I'd probably attempt it, but that's partially because at this point if I fail I've lost myself much less money.
Duane Cunningham
Member
Damn. GTalk/GChat/Hangouts has been kicked out of Messages in High Sierra? This sucks. Am I missing something?
CrudeDiatribe
Member
Which model? The 2010-2012 ones are straight forward.
Napoleonthechimp
Member
Does anyone know the origins of a particular problem I'm facing?
All was going well over the past month until I plugged in thunderbolt cable connected to a monitor. There were severe glitches and the image wouldn't render properly so I reset and noticed a few green dots indicating a problem with the graphics chip. After that I would occasionally get white or grey screen with vertical lines, which is different from past graphic chip meltdowns I've experienced before.
I think it might be a RAM problem as it seems to be relatively random indicating it may be loading something and hitting a problematic sector of the RAM. But keep in mind I reseated the RAM chips as the laptop experienced a lot of jostling and movement over the past month, which fixed the problem for a few hours but it just came back again.
I'm planning on getting a new MBP on a business lease but I'd prefer to keep this one if possible.
I assume bad video RAM can't be fixed but if it was the intel graphics using bad shared system RAM then that's easily fixable. Does anyone know how I could approach this?
All was going well over the past month until I plugged in thunderbolt cable connected to a monitor. There were severe glitches and the image wouldn't render properly so I reset and noticed a few green dots indicating a problem with the graphics chip. After that I would occasionally get white or grey screen with vertical lines, which is different from past graphic chip meltdowns I've experienced before.
I think it might be a RAM problem as it seems to be relatively random indicating it may be loading something and hitting a problematic sector of the RAM. But keep in mind I reseated the RAM chips as the laptop experienced a lot of jostling and movement over the past month, which fixed the problem for a few hours but it just came back again.
I'm planning on getting a new MBP on a business lease but I'd prefer to keep this one if possible.
I assume bad video RAM can't be fixed but if it was the intel graphics using bad shared system RAM then that's easily fixable. Does anyone know how I could approach this?
Late 2012, yes. It sure doesn't look like rocket science, but I've never been a hardware person. I'm clumsy. I fear I'd break something.
esmith08734
Member
What do you guys think is the best method of getting a new laptop? School discount? Employee discount? I just need to upgrade.
Very Berry Sunday
Member
Craigslist. I got my $800 MBP TB and it works well.
Crazymoogle
Member
I saw Apple put CTO refurbs on my regional store and damn, I am impressed.
- From purchase to door, arrived in less than 1.5 days
- Moved up from the legend, 2011 Air to 2017 MBPR 13"
- 512GB SSD / 16GB RAM / Touchbar CTO
- Saved almost $400
Box opening was almost identical to retail, only difference is the box top is all white with an apple certified refurbished logo. Parts still come factory wrapped/protected, machine was pristine.
Was tempted to go i7 (there was refurbs for those too!) but for whatever reason Apple doesn't discount that, the refurb price + the upgrade price on the website for each CPU tier is exactly what they charge. Another weird thing - the price difference between identically stocked 2016 and 2017 models? $10 (!!!!)
- Ridiculously almost looks like an 11" compared to my 13" Air, great formfactor
- Keyboard surprisingly good, I guess the travel works for me well. Not an MBA though
- Trackpad A++++++++
- Screen is nice. Night Shift is *really* nice.
- I'm sure bootcamp is uncomfortable somehow but will burn that bridge soon
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the box-to-use experience on these things is still so damn good, 6 years later. We have outright clones like the Xiaomi, competitors like the XPS 13 and HP Spectre...and they still make find a way to make compromises that I wasn't ready to live with. Say what you will about Apple but they do aim for a zero-excuses, no compromise day one appeal.
Even if I now live in USB-C dongle prefecture.
Seconded. Only one difficult step I can remember in the 2011 kit (I added an SSD and upgraded the HDD in mine) with some fragile cable, but OWC provided the tools and glossy color instructions needed for someone who doesn't repair small electronics.
If you don't rush and follow the instructions in order you'll be fine.
- From purchase to door, arrived in less than 1.5 days
- Moved up from the legend, 2011 Air to 2017 MBPR 13"
- 512GB SSD / 16GB RAM / Touchbar CTO
- Saved almost $400
Box opening was almost identical to retail, only difference is the box top is all white with an apple certified refurbished logo. Parts still come factory wrapped/protected, machine was pristine.
Was tempted to go i7 (there was refurbs for those too!) but for whatever reason Apple doesn't discount that, the refurb price + the upgrade price on the website for each CPU tier is exactly what they charge. Another weird thing - the price difference between identically stocked 2016 and 2017 models? $10 (!!!!)
- Ridiculously almost looks like an 11" compared to my 13" Air, great formfactor
- Keyboard surprisingly good, I guess the travel works for me well. Not an MBA though
- Trackpad A++++++++
- Screen is nice. Night Shift is *really* nice.
- I'm sure bootcamp is uncomfortable somehow but will burn that bridge soon
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the box-to-use experience on these things is still so damn good, 6 years later. We have outright clones like the Xiaomi, competitors like the XPS 13 and HP Spectre...and they still make find a way to make compromises that I wasn't ready to live with. Say what you will about Apple but they do aim for a zero-excuses, no compromise day one appeal.
Even if I now live in USB-C dongle prefecture.
Seconded. Only one difficult step I can remember in the 2011 kit (I added an SSD and upgraded the HDD in mine) with some fragile cable, but OWC provided the tools and glossy color instructions needed for someone who doesn't repair small electronics.
If you don't rush and follow the instructions in order you'll be fine.