Yet Another Howard iMac Enquiry.

BigH47 posted:

Well this just gets better. Shiny "new" refurb 21.5 iMac arrived via DPD, in one piece.

Setup went well, until I find that no it can't see any backup data on the Time Machine. Some stuff I have backed up else where pictures and Music data. No sign of Music Collector back ups though, still only 2000 albums to enter if I can't find some data somewhere.

Does a late 2015 model have an optical out? As it doesn't see DAC Magic on optical but does on USB.

 

Where were you keeping the Time Machine backup Howard? Was all your music on the iMac's drive or on a separate HD? You can't actually "see" the music on the Time Machine backup, but  when you started up your new machine it must have given you the option to restore from previous Time Machine backup. 

Adam Zielinski posted:

The 3.5 mm audio socket is a combined analogue / digital (optical) out. At least it should

My 2010 MBP had a combo 3.5mm jack but it seems that Apple swapped and changed quite a lot.

Phil

BigH47 posted:

 

Does a late 2015 model have an optical out? As it doesn't see DAC Magic on optical but does on USB.

Well an optical output will never "see" a DAC, but I assume you mean the DAC doesn't lock onto a optical signal when connected?

As I recall the mini-optical connector won't fit in a standard 3.5mm jack (but I may be wrong). When you connect the optical cable, if you go into Audio Midi app (found in Aplications / Utilities) does it recognise an optical connector is attached and allow you to select it?  If you plug the optical cable in the iMac, does the other end "glow" red when not connected to the DAC?  Finally if you can see the optical output in Audio Midi, make sure it's set to output at 24/96 or lower.

Eloise: the mini-Toslink does fit in the 3.5mm jack, at least in the one of my MacBookPro

Howard: Very good advice from Eloise

My late 2013 iMac doesn't have the dual-function 3.5 socket, headphone output only.

tonym posted:

My late 2013 iMac doesn't have the dual-function 3.5 socket, headphone output only.

Tony, the Apple link I posted above was the specs for all iMacs from late 2012 onwards, it states they are dual headphone / optical out. Maybe go through Eloise's steps ?

Glad you found a solution/replacement Howard.

For anyone else looking in with similar problems - my late 2008 iMac was becoming increasingly flaky about three months ago. I'm fortunate to have 'The Norwich Mac Doctor' living in the next village. He took away my Mac for 24 hours and changed the original mechanical hard-drive for a Toshiba SSD variant and charged me £190. Problem solved. It's working just fine again.

The screen of 2008 era Macs are held in magnetically; and thus relatively easy to remove. Newer ones are apparently glued in, but can still be removed if one knows how.

Just search your local area for independent Apple specialists.

John.

Optical cable does have a "red light" at the DAC end. So one assumes a digital signal. Information on what is fitted is pretty sketchy.

Still no joy with Time Capsule l only backups from yesterday. Man in iStore was stumped too.

I can't see how it has been "wiped" so may be data is still there if there is a way of accessing it.

My bad re. optical out on the iMac; I was. thinking of my Macbook Pro.

Howard, if the worse comes to the worse, someone might be able to retrieve the files from your old HD. What did you use for the Time Machine backups?

It's a pukka Apple 1 Tb TM. There must be some way to read the discs even if it wiped it's self the majority of the data must still be there.

I've turned TM off for a while. Same must apply to the old iMac hard drive too.

There is a local Mac users group I might see if they know of a local Mac Doctor, or even Which Doctor? 

Unless JN's pet MAC fixer is up to some e-mail chats?

Worth checking whether the TM (I am guessing that it's an Apple Time Capsule) can be seen from the Mini.   

Mac Mini sees the TC but clicking it in finder just produces a spinning bal. Try to do a back up with TC shows only the B/Us from new iMac.

I am really querying why I didn't start from scratch with a nice Windows machine, every bloody turn something f**** up. Today I tried to access the server and NAS only to find I now need a password. I didn't set one up (as far as I know) during setup but there you are. Access is still available on MM as it has always been a simple click to access.

If you didn't set up a password there'll be a default one. Look at the NAS manual. It'll be something like admin..

Try looking in the Keychain utility on the MM for the password for the  NAS and other passwords 

Looks like a problem with hard drive on the capsule.  If you have an iOS device, worth a final check by trying to configure the Time Capsule with the Airport Utility app (see what happens).

FWIW, my previous TC drive malfunctioned after 2.5 years. The current one is 4 years and still working.

OK NAS problem was senior moment. I was to quick to call a problem, the way this week is going it's my default fall back.