Startup problems
- Programs pop open the minute I log in: go to System Preferences > Accounts > and click the lock in the bottom left to unlock, then enter your password. Select your account on the left of the Accounts window and then click ‘Login Items’ on the right side. Delete everything listed there by selecting each item and clicking on the minus button at the bottom of the list. Restart your computer.
- Stuck on Gray Screen. Unplug anything that isn’t the power cord (for desktops, you can also leave the keyboard/mouse plugged in). Shut down the gray screen by holding the power button until the light goes out and the screen is black. Turn back on, then immediately after you hear the startup chime, hold the shift key down. This is called a Safe Boot, and it takes a much longer time to start up the OS, so be patient. When it gets to the blue screen with the Mac OS X window, or to the login screen, you will see red letters that say Safe Boot (you can let go of Shift). Log in and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click the Repair Disk Permissions button. If it found problems, run it again. Keep running until no problems are found. Restart your computer normally. If you weren’t able to boot into Safe Mode, try it again, making sure you hold shift right after, not before the chime, and continue to hold. If still nothing, call the tech who services your school (see the ‘About’ page for numbers).
- Stuck on Blue Screen. Remove anything connected to the computer other than power, keyboard/mouse. Shut down fully. On startup hold down the Command and S keys until you see white scrolling text. When it stops scrolling and gives you a # symbol, type mount -uw/ and press return, they type mv /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist preferences.old and press return; type reboot and press return. That moves user preferences to another name and now there will be a fresh set of prefs when you start up. If that fixed it you don’t have to do anything else. Otherwise, follow the steps for the Gray Screen problem above.
- File Folder question mark. Bad hard drive. Hope you were backing up regularly! It will need to be replaced, so call the tech assigned to your school (see the ‘About’ page for numbers). If it’s a laptop, you can drop it off at our office between 7:30 am and 4:00 pm.
- Won’t power on: Replace power cord or plug into different outlet. If it’s a laptop make sure the light is green on the end of the power cord, if not, wait until red turns to green, then try again. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1149#trouble1
Printer Problems
- You come back to work on Monday and the printer doesn’t work anymore. Many of our computers and printers get their IP Address through a protocol called DHCP. You can read more about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol. But for now, just know that computers & printers using DHCP will not keep their IP Addresses forever. The addresses are leased for a certain number of hours; if the device has been off longer than its IP’s lease time, it may lose that IP address. Printers give up their IP address regularly because they are powered off over the weekend, so they have to be re-added in your computer each time that happens. This can be resolved by making your printer keep its IP address – simply call x4052 and request that your printer be given a manual IP address so that you do not have to continue to add it every Monday. If you don’t mind having to add it each week but currently you’ve forgotten how to do that, follow the steps at this link: edtechhelpdesk.wordpress.com/printers-2/set-up-your-computer-to-print
- For more printer problems, view the links on this site’s Printers drop-down menu.
Help Desk 