Tools, Tips and Fixes for iPhone, iPad, iPod, iOS, Apps & Mac- Apple Toolbox

May 5, 2010

Flash Causes Freezing Keyboards/Trackpads; Fix

Dozens of users on Apple’s Discussion boards have reported an issue in which keyboard, trackpads and mice stall, pause or freeze under varying circumstances. One anecdote: Sandra Guzdek: “This started happening to me Monday night, the 22nd (well, I first noticed it Monday night) when the mouse and cursor disappeared while I was editing a [...]

May 5, 2010

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Mac OS X: Login/Startup Items Do Not Work; Fix

Several users have reported an issue in which login and/or startup items do not work under various versions of Mac OS X. This problem can occur after an upgrade to Mac OS X, such as Snow Leopard. When the issue occurs, a restart or logout then login results in a disappearance of the login and/or startup [...]

May 4, 2010

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iTunes Store Stuck on “Connecting”; Fix

Some users have reported an issue in which iTunes stalls on the “One Moment Please connecting to the iTunes store” screen and never proceeds past that point. It appears that, in most cases, this issue involves a problem with Parental Controls. Fix As discovered by Apple Discussions poster CommanderT, this problem can usually be solved via the [...]

May 4, 2010

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PO Box Billing Address = No AT&T iPad 3G Plan; Workaround

As noted by a number of users on AT&T’s discussion form, AT&T’s iPad 3G plan will not accept a PO Box address for activation. As described by one poster: “When I enter all the information on my iPad for the AT&T wireless plan such as my PO Box number it tells me to enter my [...]

May 4, 2010

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iPad Losing Track of Time

Several users have reported an issue in which the iPad fails to keep proper track of time while the unit is asleep. In other words, the iPad’s clock falls behind real time. Apple Discussions poster dabbawallah writes: “My 32GB WiFi iPad was keeping the time fine for the first ten days or so. Then suddenly, when [...]

May 4, 2010

3 Comments

Mac OS X 10.6.x: External Hard Drive POSIX Error

Users may receive the error message: “Partition failed with the error: POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory.” when attempting to erase and format or partition external hard drives under Mac OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard). Evidence suggests that this issue stems from a problem with Mac OS X 10.6.x’s framework, which has [...]

May 3, 2010

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Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1 Released

Apple has released Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1. Release notes read: “This update addresses an audio anomaly that some customers may hear coming from inside their Mac Pro computer when using FireWire audio devices. This update is for Mac Pro (Early 2009) computers running Mac OS X v10.6.3.” The new update can be applied through [...]

May 3, 2010

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MacBook Pro (Mid-2010) Graphics Switching: Which Apps Trigger, How to Monitor

MacBook Pro (Mid-2010), Core i5 or Corei7, 15″ and 17″ models automatically switch between integrated Intel (lower power) and NVIDIA (higher power) graphics. Unfortunately, although there is an option to keep the higher-power NVIDIA card on at all times, there is no option to keep it off at all times. This has resulted in significant reduction [...]

May 3, 2010

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Display Dim After Mac OS X 10.6.3 Update; Fixes

Several users have reported an issue in which displays, particularly external displays, are dim after the update to Mac OS X 10.6.3. Apple Discussions poster KAdamsInCo writes: “My Mac Mini was running just fine until I installed 10.6.3. After the reboot the display came up very dim. The icons and overall display are noticeably darker [...]

May 2, 2010

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iPad Freezes When Playing Video; Apple Replacing Units

Several users have reported an issue in which the iPad freezes completely during video playback, often requiring the device to be force-restarted by holding down the home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously for several seconds. The issue occurs most often when playing back H.264 video, either via YouTube, sites such as CNN and Vimeo, or video-enabled [...]