After upgrading OS X from Lion to Mountain Lion on my Macbook Pro, I started having serious wifi problems. At first, I would loose my wifi connection once a day, and I could recover it only with a reboot. After trying many different solutions I found in blogs and forums about how to fix wifi problems […]
iSync disappeared in OS X Lion
I was really pissed when I realized that iSync had disappeared after upgrading to OS X Lion. Suddenly, I had no mean to synchronize my cellular phone with my computer. I find this type of attitude very rude from Apple. Well, by chance I did not really upgrade. In fact, I installed OS X Lion […]
Unable to turn on or off AirPort solved
Recently, I was unable anymore to turn off AirPort on my Macbook Pro. Other people reported having the same problem, and it seems related to Snow Leopard. Some people had the reverse problem: They were not able to turn on AirPort. Here is the solution that worked for me: Open the following folder: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration Delete these […]
What process is causing DISK I/O
Sometimes, there is a lot of activity on my Macbook Pro drive, and I would like to find out what is causing all these Disk I/O’s. I found this thread that can help: http://superuser.com/questions/89266/whats-causing-all-the-disk-activity-on-os-x There are two suggestions on that thread. Either using ‘iotop -C 5 12′ or using ‘fs_usage’. What I would like to […]
My PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard is finally working with Snow Leopard
After I had read a post about someone who managed to boot his Macbook Pro from an external drive using a PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard, I ordered such a card too. However, it did not work fro me. My external drive would not mount. I never found out why, but after I upgraded to Snow […]
What process is using my disk
Sometimes when I hear my hard drive grinding, and I am not doing anything special on my Macbook Pro, I’m wondering what process is suddenly using the disk so heavily. I had been looking for a tool that would tell me what processes are causing the disk I/O’s for a while when I discovered that […]
Showing hidden files in Finder
Sometimes, it is usefull to see hidden files in Finder. It can be achieved by issuing the following command in a shell: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE Finder has to be restarted in order for the new setting to take effect. To hide the hidden files again, relace the word TRUE by FALSE in the […]
Front Row on secondary display
Henrik M. posted a neat solution on Apple’s discussion board to to have Front Row display video on an external monitor or TV. First, you have to get the ID of the external display using this utility: http://rapidshare.com/files/54473723/displaysInfo.zip, and then enter the following command in a shell: defaults write com.apple.frontrow FrontRowUsePreferredDisplayID 12345678 where 12345678 should […]
I got my PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard
After the misadventure with my nGear eSata EpressCard, I returned it, and I ordered a PPA Int’l eSata ExpressCard. This card uses the JMicron chipset and thus was recognized automatically by my MacBook Pro (OS X v10.5.5). It was not easy to find an ExpressCard with that chipset in Canada. Of course, it would have […]
The nGear eSata ExpressCard freezes my MBP
The nGear eSata ExpressCard froze my Macbook Pro twice. And because my laptop froze, a partition even got corrupted on my external drive. Not very safe for my backups!