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OSX El Captain disaster letter from customer

Posted on by Posted in Apple Mac News, iMac, Mac, Mac Pro, MacBook, Service, Software, The Future

Hi UDS,

Yesterday, after several months hesitation, I went to Upgrade from OSX 10.9.5 to the El Capitan OSX 10.11.3

Basically, it’s been one disaster after another. I’ve had several Apple Support ‘Chat’ assistants, several on-phone Tech Assistants via Screen Sharing etc, and each time I deal with them, either in Chat or direct via phone, one or another issue keeps happening.

I’ve spent all of yesterday, from about 11am to 9pm, going through support / d’load updates etc, and again from 9am – 7:30pm today.

It appears that the OSX has been corrupted (they say) or some such.
Although it does say it’s installed in ‘About This Mac’ and I am able to setup my Dock and other settings, there is a problem with the settings not saving properly.

Although it’s not the only issue, one of the most basic of these is that I use a Trackpad, but when I go in and choose the functions I want in Trackpad settings, and then exit it, those settings are not applied. At least 3 or 4 Apple people have looked at this on Chat and phone, but it’s still not saving.

The problem is that I don’t even know whether or not this means that other functions aren’t working correctly.

I’ve just got off the phone for the 4th or 5th time today, and the guy was saying that I’ll need to do a complete ‘Clean Install’ and that I need to take it to an Apple shop. I said that if I was to do that, I’d expect it to be fixed at no charge, as the issues only happened due to the OSX upgrade. He said this wouldn’t happen. That I’d be charged for it.

Before this OSX upgrade, my entire system was working fine. I have it setup for music production, and have many pro software suites from Native Instruments, Akai, Logic Pro etc etc installed on it. I’d been monitoring other peoples issues with El Capitan on various music software User Forums, and didn’t upgrade until I saw that others were happy with the upgrade.

When I initiated the OSX upgrade / d’load, I was given no warning that I’d need to do a Time Machine backup, which apparently is needed for a ‘clean install’ or even for me to back grade to OSX 10.9.5. (I was perfectly happy with it btw)

I see no point in contacting Ape support again. Most of them have been as helpful as they can, but none have resolved the overall issues.
I am at a brick wall with this, and am talked dry with Apple support.

I need to get it back up and running asap, as I have work to do with it. I’d appreciate your advice.
Could we please get in touch as soon as possible, and discuss my options, with a view to me dropping in to your shop.

Cheers,

 

Dear Mac User,

 

This problem was solved by running a maintenance application that did a permissions fix, yes that simple but because Apple has seen it fit to remove permission fix from Disk utility even their Geniuses* couldn’t fix it. I call shenanigans on whoever decision to remove permission fix.

El Crapitan is the way it is being described by other users on the internet for many reasons, your not alone.

The press like most of the modern media are a bunch of gutless, spineless creeps the haven’t a clue as to what users need or want or the means to test the OS thoroughly and like most politicians have some sort of conflicting monetary issue with the truth. So all the reviews I have seen are glowing because all they use the machine for is Word Prosessing but if you look into the comments you find the real truth.

Here is the truth from a Professional Photographer Loyd Chambers http://macperformanceguide.com/AppleCoreRot-intro.html and everything he knows about photography here http://diglloyd.com/index-free.html an his serving of AppleCoreRot.

With increased security in 10.11 called SIP’s it is slower to boot (although this is now harder to confirm because you only get a progress bar on startup and not a winding clock like icon that you could count the cycles) and has been a headache for UDS from the start.
It has been one of the first OSX updates to actually either not install or complete make a machine freeze on boot up so I can say I am not surprised and I have been in touch with Apple dev support which don’t have a number to call and did very little to help. Lights ON but know one home just like other IT companies you may know.
El Capitain truths:
1. There is certain 3rd party software that will not work with 10.11 and can be located in folders as rare as System/Library/Extensions
2. There is no significant gain on older machines that I can see and if you don’t already own a Solid State Drive things are going to be very slow.
3. Users out there have refrained from updating more so than any other previous update see recent articles at MacDailyNews
4. You pay peanuts and you get as you say Ape support (not sure if that was a typo or a Freudian slip)
5. The download of OSX is so slow it took UDS over 12 hours and many resumes to download a recent system upgrade 10.10 for a client on 20mbit cable account and this slowness alone is causing corruptions in the installer just as bad or if not worse than the day of the CD-rom with disk scratches or drives not working
6. Apple also put in so many more bridges because people out there are trying to install OSX on Pc’s (hackintosh) that these become obstacles for genuine users. So software like Diskmaker X that allows you to create USB installers are now failing to work.
7. Apples choice of overly expensive Retina screens, PCI-E flash cards 3x the price of SSD and on top of that the Aussie dollar is making the Mac unaffordable, making you think your on the cutting edge of technology but many finding themselves on the bleeding edge of technology.
So the question I must ask, why did you upgrade?
Sounds familiar the system has updated some aspect of your system, trackpad, but not others, your stuck between 2 systems with a user home folder permissions not working.
For you the problem is you did not download Yosemite when it was available because 3 months after El Captain or the new OSX arrived Apple deletes the last OSX out of the Apple store which is just another measure to ensure Hackintosh users don’t download the software. This would have been a far better choice but Apple did not give you this choice.
One of the biggest and most idiotic things I have ever seen in an OSX release is to get rid of permission fix which is one of the problems your having right now.
Which car manufacturer would decide too: in the name of minimalism take out the spare tyre/jack (Permission Fix) rip out the brake light (Active S.M.A.R.T for hard drives or SSD’s), not have a dashboard (red/Write to HD, CPU %, Memory Usage, Rx Tx of internet) and change the configuration of the gears first gear not being Top Left for first gear for right hand drive (change the direction a mouse wheel scrolls) ??? Most of these things can be fixed but you need professional support not ToysRus.
I have the tools to correct this issue as I have seen and dealt with it before on 10.11.

Unique Design Systems Pty. Ltd.
Oakleigh, Victoria   3166
Melbourne, Australia
Technical Support Services
www.uds-online.com

Phone: +613 9569 6426

Hard drive failure rates – Be Warned

Posted on by Posted in Apple Mac News, Hardware, iMac, Mac, MacBook, Service

The results on Seagate 3tb hard drives are the same as what we have already experienced but have had no issues with 2Tb Seagate Barracuda drive. We stopped supplying the 3TB Seagate’s with issues back in early 2014 although it seemed to be centred around one particular Firmware version. It was no mistake that all of our customer failures were in Raid systems (redundant safe duplicates) because loosing 3Tb of data is just unthinkable, in most cases we replaced the drive with a Server Grade drive that where more than $100aus more and have not looked back.drive failure chart

Hard Drive Failure Rates for 2014

The table above shows the annual failure rate through the year 2014. Only models where that have 45 or more drives are shown. It is also usually enough drives to start getting a meaningful failure rate if they’ve been running for a while.

Why is my Mac running slow

Posted on by Posted in Apple Mac News, Hardware, iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, Service, Software

Has your Macintosh started to run slow!!

More and more now we find that off the street Apple Mac’s where the internal hard drive is running very slowly may be because a Fail-Safe guard called S.M.A.R.T has been triggered and your beloved Hard Drive is about to fail.

This problem can be very easily tested with this software FREE and will tell you if your drive is failing (only works with 10.5 onwards) and checks the onboard chip on your hard drive. We use this application to check the health of all the reconditioned and second hand older machines we sell.

Smart Utility

FREE https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24875/smart-utility

Why does it go slow?
When your drive has a number of errors, SMART kicks in then slows the hard drive. This gives you longer to backup and recover all your files before the drive stops dead.

Surprising but there is no support for “SMART” warnings or issue reporting in the current Mavericks Operating System 10.9. and if it did it would most likely only work with Apple original drives. A bit like not having a low-oil-light in your car, your not going to need it most of the time, but when you do, its is going to be critical.

What some users will do to fix the problem
There is a promise from a persistently advertised software product called “Mackeeper”. Many users BUY this software to fix a computer problem because of claims it will “Speed up their Mac”. There are 2 things that this application will also do that may just cause more problems:

1. high disk activity as is scans all files for viruses that don’t work on Macs. Not good if your drive is failing!!
2. Memory and processor intensive

The other things this application does like a “cache cleaning” can be searched and downloaded from here: http://www.macupdate.com. I use and recommend Onyx

Connecting your Mac to a faster Drive
One of the great advances in storage SSD or Flash drives is what makes the slickness of the Macbook Air work so much faster. You can add a SSD to any Macintosh but UDS is the only company that can make sure that you get the right software keep you drive optimised but also last longer. Larger cheaper drive are now on there way from companies like Samsung.

Backup, Restore and Recovery experts

more

Apple speedbumps MacBooks

Posted on by Posted in Apple Mac News, Hardware, MacBook

MacBook Pro line updated

The MacBook Pro with Retina display line now features faster processors, double the memory on entry-level configurations and a new lower price for the top-of-the-line 15-inch model. MacBook Pro with Retina display delivers incredible performance in an incredibly portable design.

All MacBook Pro models come with iLife and iWork and are eligible for a free upgrade to OS X Yosemite this spring.

 

At just 0.71 inch thin and 3.46 pounds, the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is 25 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the 13‑inch MacBook Pro without a Retina display.

At just 0.71 inch thin and 4.46 pounds, the 15‑inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is 25 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the 15‑inch MacBook Pro without a Retina display

MacBook Pro packs a lot of power into not a lot of space. Apple designers and engineers reconsidered each detail of every internal component to maximize performance and minimize size. As a result, these notebooks are the thinnest, lightest, and highest-performance MacBook Pro models we’ve ever made. Learn more