Troubleshooting

Having a problem with an Apple device, Mac system software, or iOS? Maybe your Mac is behaving weird, or your iPhone isn’t charging properly, or an iPad app is crashing, or something is just not working as expected? Browse through and search our troubleshooting articles and you might be able to resolve the problem!

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Stop Apple Support Communities Email Updates

Sep 6, 2011 - 4 Comments
Stop Apple Support Community Emails

Rant time! Waking up this morning to 49 new emails from “Apple Support Communities Updates” was less than pleasant, especially considering I had already unsubscribed from all email notifications the night before – or so I thought. It turns out that you have to unsubscribe to email notifications from each individual thread that you are … Read More

Get Apple Hardware Test Boot Mode Back on Some OS X Lion Macs

Aug 29, 2011 - 8 Comments
Mac OS X Lion

Mac OS X Lion has changed how several helpful troubleshooting tools function, one being the reset password tool, and another is how Apple Hardware Test (AHT) mode works. Gone is AHT’s independent boot mode in favor of an internet based version that is dependent on Lion’s Internet Recovery instead. If you always have access to … Read More

Reset a Mac OS X Mavericks or Mountain Lion Password

Aug 24, 2011 - 66 Comments
Reset a Mac password from System Preferences

One of several changes to newer versions of OS X is how resetting passwords is handled, previous versions of Mac OS X would have a password reset tool easily accessible from the Utilities menu but that isn’t available anymore, and for some added security you now must access a password reset tool through the command … Read More

Launch and Use Any Mac OS X App When Booted from OS X Lion Recovery HD Drive

Aug 22, 2011 - 7 Comments
Launch Terminal from the Recovery Disk in Mac OS X Lion

Whether you made a Lion recovery drive with Apple’s Lion Recovery Disk Assistant Tool and you’re booting from that or you’re just relying on the Recovery HD partition, this technique works.

Fix MacBook Pro 2010 Crashes, Kernel Panics, & Black Screens in OS X 10.7 Lion

Aug 9, 2011 - 104 Comments

A fair amount of MacBook Pro 2010 (and some 2011) users are reporting stability issues with their NVIDIA 330M equipped Macs and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, with problems including kernel panics, random system crashes, blank or black screens, inability to wake from sleep, external displays not working, and assorted other headaches. The Macs most … Read More

Mac Wi-Fi Dropping? Use a Simple Keepalive Bash Script to Maintain Wireless Connection

Aug 8, 2011 - 49 Comments
Get WiFi Router IP Address in Mac OS X

Many users who upgraded to Mac OS X Lion discovered that their Wi-Fi connections were dropping periodically for no apparent reason. We published a reasonably thorough walkthrough with tips on fixing OS X Lion’s wireless dropping issues and that’s a recommended starting point because most tips are easy and less complicated, but among those was … Read More

Fix a Slow Mac App Store

Aug 7, 2011 - 23 Comments
Oh no, not the beachball

It’s unclear why, but the Mac App Store is running a lot slower in OS X Lion for some users, including myself. By slow I mean you’ll encounter nearly constant beachballs as you click from app to app, with the absolute worst offender being the main category sections. I’m assuming there is an underlying bug … Read More

Stuck in Chrome Full Screen? Exit Chromes Full Screen Mode in Mac OS X Lion

Aug 6, 2011 - 11 Comments
Exit full screen mode in Chrome under OS X Lion

If you’ve found yourself stuck in Chromes full screen mode, you’re not alone. Chrome has it’s benefits, like syncing and the native omnibar, but unfortunately Chrome does not play well with Full Screen Mode under Mac OS X Lion – at all. You are free to click the full screen button to get in, but … Read More

Can’t Install XCode 4.1 Because of iTunes? The Fix is to Kill iTunesHelper

Aug 2, 2011 - 28 Comments

Xcode 4.1 was made available as a free download through the Mac App Store for OS X Lion owners, but many users are encountering a strange error when they go to install the development suite; an error message pops up saying that XCode can’t be installed while iTunes is running telling you that “In order … Read More

WiFi Dropping in OS X Lion? Here are Some Wireless Troubleshooting Solutions

Jul 22, 2011 - 165 Comments
Fixes for OS X Lion wifi dropping

Updating to Mac OS X Lion for the vast majority of users is a painless experience and everything works great. But for others there can be trouble, there are various user reports in our comments and around the web on Apple’s Support forums and elsewhere, that suggest that wireless networking in OS X Lion is … Read More

Automatically Restart Your Mac if it Freezes in OS X Lion

Jul 19, 2011 - 24 Comments
Automatically restart Mac if freezes

Your Mac will automatically restart itself if it freezes, thanks to a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion and Mac OS X Lion. Tucked away in “Energy Saver”, the auto-restart ability is an option that can be disabled if for whatever reason you don’t want your Mac to basically fix itself in the event … Read More

Get Exact Boot, Sleep, and Wake Times from the Command Line

Jul 14, 2011 - 7 Comments

Need to know exactly when your Mac was last booted, put to sleep, or woke from sleep? You can get precise information about boot and sleep times directly from the command line, which can be invaluable for anything from troubleshooting various Mac problems to scheduling scripts, or even for your own forensic purposes to determine … Read More

Test for Defective RAM Modules Easily with Rember for Mac OS X

Jul 13, 2011 - 6 Comments
Rember is GUI frontend to MemTest

If you just got a RAM upgrade and you want to test the memory, or if you just want a great free addition to a Mac troubleshooting toolbox, download Rember now.

Mac Running Hot, Slow, & Fans Blazing After Installing OS X Lion? Here’s Why

Jun 9, 2011 - 39 Comments
Mac running hot because of MDS & mdworker

We’ve received a fair share of comments and emails about Mac OS X Lion making some Macs seem sluggish, running hotter than usual, and causing the machines fans to run at full speed. This sounded concerning, but after I went about installing Lion DP4 myself and looked into this a bit further I’m here to … Read More

Fix the App Store “MZFreeProductCode .ClientCannotRedeemIosApp_explanation” Promo Code Redemption Error

Jun 6, 2011 - Leave a Comment
Mac App Store promo code redemption error

One of our readers sent in this screenshot with a funny looking error code they got when trying to redeem a promo code on the App Store. It’s a sloppy error, spilling over the allocated space and dumping some object name or something onto the user. The error seen is “MZFreeProductCode.ClientCannotRedeemIosApp_explanation” and the assumption is … Read More

Ad Blockers for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

May 10, 2011 - 19 Comments
Block Ads in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari

While some web ads are unobtrusive, others are really annoying. If you’re tired of seeing web ads, you can install adblock extensions in every major web browser and never see another ad again. Obligatory notice: blocking ads prevents web publishers from supporting themselves, ad revenue is what pays the bills for websites like this one … Read More

MemTest for Mac OS X Tests your RAM

May 3, 2011 - 55 Comments
MemTest for Mac

If you have recently upgraded your Mac RAM, or if you are experiencing strange system crashes, it’s a good idea to test your memory modules integrity using a free tool called memtest. Essentially, memtest is a utility designed to stress test RAM for errors. Without getting overly technical in the explanation, memtest works by writing … Read More

Change the Admin Password with Mac OS X Single User Mode

Apr 25, 2011 - 65 Comments
Change Unknown Admin Password in Mac OS X

If you’re in IT, or just fixing Grandmas Mac, it’s not too uncommon to get a machine where you don’t have the admin users password. If you find yourself in this situation, you can easily change the Admin password, or any other users, simply by booting into Mac OS X‘s command line Single User Mode. … Read More

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