Tag Archives: mac os x

Wifi Apps for Mac OS X (Snow) Leopard

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I have a bunch of wifi applications and widgets installed on the mbp that I use mostly for work. While i only use 2-3 of them on a regular basis, I try to keep them all in my Apps folder since they also come in handy at times, depending on their capability. After upgrading to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), most of them have stopped working due to compatibility issues.

The purpose of this post is to list these apps that are known to be working on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), so I can check from time to time if a 10.6 version (Snow Leopard) have been released.

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MBP Battery Issues

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Since I got the MBP back roughly 3 weeks ago, I noticed that the battery life has diminished. And significantly that is. I can use the machine for a maximum of two hours now, whereas it can stay almost 3.5 to 4 hours before. I wonder if the logic board replacement has got anything to do with it (although I highly doubt). For all I know, this could have been going on for a while but I was just unaware of. It’s been more than a year anyway.

Anyhow, before I check with Apple Care, I decided to diagnose it myself first (not an expert, so let’s just check the stats). This way, I can avoid excuses technicians always make when dealing with customers (i.e. like try to reset PRAM first, etc).

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How-To: Install (Snow) Leopard from Firewire or USB Drive

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I learned this trick when I misplaced the Leopard DVD that comes with the Macbook Pro. This time, I tried (with assurance from other blog/forum posts that it actually works – there are probably tons of more detailed tutorials than this.) doing the same for Snow Leopard.

What you need:
- External Hard Drive (USB or Firewire) –
WARNING: should not contain important files, since we will format this.
- Snow Leopard installer DVD or DMG file

Application to Use:
Disk Utility

Steps:
0. Create DMG file
Select the DVD drive from the Left Pane of Disk Utility. Then click “New Image” icon from the Top Menu. Type the filename of your choice (or retain as Mac OS X Server Install Disc) and the select destination folder and SAVE.

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MBP: Distorted Video Problem

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[18 July 2009]

And so it happened to me… On a Saturday morning, I am the latest victim of the Macbook Pro Early 2008 bug. Apparently, according to Apple, it is a problem with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor. In my case, it is more than a distorted video. Upon bootup, it shows these distorted lines at first, tries to load the OS, then stops with Apple’s own version of  BSD (Black Screen of Death i call it) [see screenshots below]. Logic board fail.

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The Apple Support website has THIS explanation:

Symptoms
In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within three years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

Resolution
Apple is issuing refunds to customers who may have paid for repairs related to this issue. Please contact Apple for details on the refund process.

How-To: Manually Set IPv6 Address in Mac OS X

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Since i began using ipv6, I have never set a routable static ipv6 address yet. I have a Linksys (w/ dd-wrt firmware) router serving as DHCP server, so i reckon there’s no use for that.

UPDATE: On second thought, there must be that ONE time. I must have configured statically when testing the tunnelbroker via wired connection. I’m not too sure.

Anyway, today – as we are testing our network for native ipv6 – i had to configure my machine and assign manual ip address. It’s only now that I discovered the problem (a bug?) in the GUI. Luckily, I am not alone, and a few searches yield helpful infos.

Using the GUI, the basic step is typically same as v4 (we all know this):
SystemPreferences -> Network->Advanced
Under Configure IPv6, select Manually and input your static ipv6 address.

However, it is likely that although settings are saved in the gui, the network config does not update at the same time.

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