Dead iMAC

Thursday report, I am writing this on my iMAC. Eventually they have managed to repair, but for how long?

If I can figure out the hardware test thingy on the B/U discs I'll give it some stick.

First I'll have to get it to see the the Time Capsule.
It would seem there are no B/Us in the Time Capsule, it's backing up 187GB. This may take some time.

quote:

Did you get the 7 updates that came through yesterday or today in your case.
Itunes 8 and the others?

Yep did that.


Anyone know if there is another way to view the contents of the Time Capsule other than clicking the Time machine icon and seeing if there are previous B/Us?
I can't believe all the previous B/Us have just disappeared in the 10 days the TC was not in "contact"with the MAC

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:

quote:

Did you get the 7 updates that came through yesterday or today in your case.
Itunes 8 and the others?

Yep did that.


Anyone know if there is another way to view the contents of the Time Capsule other than clicking the Time machine icon and seeing if there are previous B/Us?
I can't believe all the previous B/Us have just disappeared in the 10 days the TC was not in "contact"with the MAC

Howard - they haven't gone. It's a security feature to stop some crazed lunatic like me swiping your time machine and seeing all your files.

The Time Machine depends on the MAC address (a sort of serial number) of a computer to tell one system from another. This means that if you have your Mac repaired with a new logic board or replace your system with a new one, you can't resume backups where you left off. If you know of the problem, though, it's not very hard to fix. You need to re-pair the backup to the new logic board's MAC address. Further complicating matters is the access control list which prevents you from changing the system ID information.

So turn off Time Machine. Next, determine your new MAC address. Open System Profiler and select Network followed by Ethernet. You should see a MAC Address field with a number of the format 00:1a:2b:3c:4f:56. Copy it or write it down somewhere.

Lets assume your backup disk is named Time Machine and your computer is named BigHMac. In addition, your "old" MAC address is 00:f9:e8:d7:c6:b5 and the new one is 00:1a:2b:3c:4f:56. Change occurrences of those values in the instructions below to match your system.

The last bit of information needed is the old MAC address. Open Terminal and change directory to the root of the Time Machine backup database, then get the old MAC address:

cd /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
xattr -p com.apple.backupd.BackupMachineAddress BigHMac

Write this number down.
Change directory to the root of the Time Machine disk to verify that the MAC is correct:

$ cd ..
$ ls -al

Near the top of the listing, you should see a file that begins with a period that matches the old MAC address, without the colons between digit pairs -- .00f9e8d7c6b56 using the example MAC address.

Insert your system's data for the following commands to disable ACLs temporarily so changes can be made, rename the hidden system ID file, reset the extended attribute on the backup store and re-enable ACLs

$ sudo fsaclctl -p /Volumes/Time Machine -d
$ sudo mv .00f9e8d7c6b56 .001a2b3c4f56
$ sudo xattr -w com.apple.backupd.BackupMachineAddress 00:1a:2b:3c:4f:56 Backups.backupdb/BigHMac
$ sudo fsaclctl -p /Volumes/Time Machine -e

sudo - means super user do and it gives you command over things you normally can't and don't want to touch, so it will ask you for your password and warn you of the error of your ways.

The bold bit is where you are updating the Time Machine so it knows about you Mac's change of serial number (I mean MAC address)

Finally, unmount and re-mount the Time Machine disk and turn Time Machine on. It should allow you to start a new backup and resume where you left off without any issues.

One of the reasons I like Mac's is they are so easy to use; you really don't need that silly mouse and graphical user interface when you can just type a few simple commands.

Good luck, Rotf

ROTF thanks for the information,(I think).

A piece of piss!!!

What damage can I inflict with this knowledge?

I think you think I'm some one who knows stuff, this seems a little out of my league.
Glad you think this is simple!


Still is this board change the reason my MACs serial number is now a # ?

I'll revist this tomorrow.

Regards

Howard

quote:

One of the reasons I like Mac's is they are so easy to use

I thought so too until I made the mistake of reading Rotf's post!!!

Peter

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
ROTF thanks for the information,(I think).

.... is this board change the reason my MACs serial number is now a # ?


Howard

Yes - exactly, if you have to give the serial number you can just use 12345678, which usually works instead of the real serial number. I can't believe the shop didn't sort this for you - I'd get lynched if I left a customer's system not working properly. The system serial number is set on the logic board by a special software disk that the guys who fitted the new board should have. It writes the serial number to the logic board firmware. Apple provides a Serializer CD to authorised service centres - sorry I'm not trusted with this. However, in fairness to the shop, I read the Serializer CD doesn't always work because some logic boards have zeroes in the firmware for the serial number instead of leaving blank; the Apple program doesn't work if the serial number exists, even if it is all zeroes. I don't know how to write the serial number to the logic board without Apple's special software. It is not a code I've ever had occasion to try to break.

This is pretty annoying IMHO because if you have software like that on the AppleCare support disks that needs the serial number then this will not work, but that's the only example I know of; so hopefully all of your software will work without a serial number.

This shouldn't affect your back-ups though, which can be changed as indicated in my last post. I'm sorry, but I don't know an easier way to do it. I'm used to the Unix command line, it was my job for 20 odd years, but I can understand it looks difficult. Believe me Windoze is 100s times harder, but 100 times easier to break into.

You should be able to get the shop to fix this or else Apple should sort this for you.

Good luck and ATB Rotf.

munch, Howard

May be better if you get your dealer/shop involved as they have the Apple service tools (which I don't - as Apple only gives them to acknowledged service centres, not hackers: no matter how ethical they are ). Moreover, it is much easier if you have the computer in front of you. By all means take a copy of my post, as it should make sense to them, but please see my final paragraph. As always if trying something like my advice above then I'd strongly recommend doing a carbon copy clone - that way if it goes wrong then your only 10 minutes away from restoring it.

I'm not good at remote support - if I'm sitting with the computer then I can usually do something useful with it; I'm not adept at talking somebody else through. The italics in my earlier post could be cut and paste into a Terminal, but you would need to change the computer name and MAC (Media Access Control - a sort of serial number) to the ones appropriate for your machine.

My overriding concern would be that you bought an iMac and it should work straight out of the box without these problems. I do realise that Apple now has newer machines made in China and, IMHO, build quality and quality control has suffered, but you should not accept this as an excuse: they certainly haven't reduced the price. I would demand a new machine from the retailer.

AT Rotf