<div id="popup_box_thanks" style="display:none" onClick="close_popup_thanks('popup_box_thanks', 'ts')"><br>Thanks for submitting your tip! All submissions are moderated by an editor before appearing online. We've reset the form so you can enter another tip. Or you can close the tip submission box. <div class="x_close" id="thanks_upper_right"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="close_popup_thanks('popup_box_thanks', 'ts'); return true;">Close</a></div></div>
<div class="tbf_row"><div class="tbf_wide_extra_top not_bold">Please submit only technical tips that will help other TidBITS readers better use their Macs, iPhones, and related software and hardware. All product announcements should be sent to <a href="mailto:releases@tidbits.com">releases@tidbits.com</a>.</div></div>
<div class="tbf_left">URL</div><div class="tbf_right"><input type="text" value="" name="tip_link_url" tabindex="3"><span class="tip_description"><br>Enter the URL to a Web page that supports your tip.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="spacer"></div>
<div class="tbf_row">
<div class="tbf_left">Linked text</div><div class="tbf_right"><input type="text" value="" name="tip_link_label" tabindex="4"><span class="tip_description"><br>Enter the name of the page linked above.</span></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><input type="submit" value="Preview Your Tip" name="preview_tip" onClick="fill_preview('tipbits_enclosure_preview', 'ts', this.form); return false;" tabindex="7"> <input type="submit" value="Send Us Your Tip!" name="submit_this_tip" onClick="handle_tip_submission('ts', '', this.form, 'tip'); return false;" tabindex="8"></div>
</div>
<div class="spacer"></div>
<div class="tbf_row">
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">When you submit a tip, you give us permission to use it. Read <a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="generic_show_hide('tip_terms')">our terms</a> for more details. All submissions are reviewed before publication.</span></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">Our terms: By submitting a tip, you agree to assign TidBITS Publishing Inc., a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license to reproduce, publish, and distribute your tip in connection with the TidBITS Web site and associated products in any media. You agree that you created the content you submitted, and that you have the right to assign us this license. You give us permission to use your name, but your email address won't be publicly displayed or shared. We review all submissions before publication, and reserve the right to select which submissions we feel are appropriate for our readers and to edit those we publish.</span></div>
<div id="comment_thanks" style="display:none" onClick="close_popup_thanks('comment_thanks', 'comm')"><br>Thanks for submitting a comment! Please check your email for a link that, when clicked, will verify that you're a real person and cause your comment to appear immediately. <div class="x_close" id="comment_upper_right"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="close_popup_thanks('comment_thanks', 'comm'); return true;">Close</a></div></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">Our terms: We reserve the right to edit or delete any comment, so please post thoughtfully. We use your email address <i>only</i> to send you a one-time verification message confirming that you posted this comment. We also store your address to allow you to verify using other Web browsers in the future. For more info, see our <a href="http://db.tidbits.com/privacy.html">privacy policy</a>.</span></div>
<li><a href="/feeds/tidbits.rss" title="Subscribe via RSS" class="gettb">RSS <img src="/images/feed-icon-12x12.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Subscribe via RSS"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=276986548" title="Subscribe to the podcast" class="gettb">Podcast <img src="/images/feed-icon-12x12_podcast.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Subscribe to the postcast"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.twitter.com/TidBITS" title="Get Article Updates via Twitter" class="gettb">Twitter <img src="/images/feed_icon_12x12_twitter.png" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Get Article Updates via Twitter"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/TidBITS/195314925519" title="Go to the TidBITS Page at Facebook" class="gettb">Facebook <img src="/images/feed_icon_12x12_facebook.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Go to the TidBITS Page at Facebook"></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" title="Sections" class="tabhead" onClick="return showhide('articleslist')">Sections <span id="articleslist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_open.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="articleslist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide('stafflist')" title="Staff" class="tabhead">Staff <span id="stafflist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="stafflist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" title="Issues" class="tabhead" onClick="return showhide('issuelist')">Weekly Issues <span id="issuelist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="issuelist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide('abouttidbits')" title="About TidBITS" class="tabhead">About TidBITS <span id="abouttidbits_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="abouttidbits_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<div class="center_top">Thoughtful, detailed coverage of the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, plus the best-selling <a href="http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/?pt=TB-TAGLINE" style="color:yellow">Take Control</a> ebooks.</div>
<!-- begin centercolumn -->
<div id="centercolumn">
<!-- begin rightcolumn_container -->
<div id="rightcolumn_container">
<!-- begin rightcolumn -->
<!-- rightcolumn is embedded within centercolumn so featured text wraps around it -->
</div><!-- end tearoffbox_wide_container for watchlist items -->
<!-- begin tearoff box wide -->
<div class="tearoffbox_wide_container">
<div class="tearoffbox_wide_tips">
<div class="tip_display">
<div class="tips_sponsor_logo">
</div>
<h6>Syslogd Overwhelming Your Computer?</h6>
<p><p>If your Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) system is unexpectedly sluggish, logging might be the culprit. Run Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities/ folder), and click the CPU column twice to get it to show most to least activity. If syslogd is at the top of the list, there's a fix. Syslogd tracks informational messages produced by software and writes them to the asl.db, a file in your Unix /var/log/ directory. It's a known problem that syslogd can run amok. There's a fix: deleting the asl.db file.</p>
<p>Launch Terminal (from the same Utilities folder), and enter these commands exactly as written, entering your administrative password when prompted:</p>
<p>sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd</p>
<p>sudo rm /var/log/asl.db</p>
<p>sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd</p>
<p>Your system should settle down to normal. For more information, follow the link.</p></p>
<p>Visit <a href="http://smartic.us/2007/11/8/leopard-100-cpu-usage-caused-by-syslogd-and-possibly-time-machine">Discussion of syslogd problem at Smarticus</a></p>
</div>
<div class="tearoffbox_wide_bottom_tips">
<div style="padding-bottom:35px"><div class="tip_display" style="float:left"><p><br><a href="/tipbits/71">Link to this tip</a></p></div><div class="tip_display" style="float:right; width:150px">
<div class="tbf_wide_80" id="hc_rc_5587">To help us avoid automated posts and misuse of our site, please enter the words below.</div><div class="x_close_row" id="hc_upper_right2_5587"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="HidePopupContent('hc_5587', 'hc', '5587'); return true;">Close</a></div>
<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">28 Oct 2002 | <a href="/article/6973?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<H2>Update Firmware Before Installing Jaguar!</H2>
<div id="article_box_5587"><P>Last week, I began to see credible reports that installing Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar on some iMacs was "frying" the motherboards. Users would run the Jaguar installer, everything would proceed correctly, and when users tried to restart the screens would remain black, rendering the machines unusable. Furthermore, the screens stayed black: restarting the machine from a Mac OS 9 CD or other bootable volume made no difference. Some users who contacted their Apple dealers were reportedly told the only solution was to replace their iMac's motherboard, potentially at a cost of $700 or more.</P><P>So, after some investigation, here's the deal:</P><OL><LI><P> Installing Jaguar on some slot-loading iMacs <EM>can</EM> render the machine unusable by blacking out the internal display, even when trying to start up in Mac OS 9. The bug is apparently in Jaguar, not the installer.</P></LI><LI><P>You can avoid the problem altogether by updating your iMac's firmware <EM>before</EM> installing Jaguar. The current firmware version is 4.1.9; it's a 1.2 MB download.</P><P><<A HREF="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130">http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html? artnum=75130</A>></P></LI><LI><P>If you've already been hit by this problem, no, the iMac's motherboard is not fried, and replacement is not necessary. See below for the fix.</P></LI><LI><P>A reasonable person would think the Jaguar installer would check for a supported firmware revision before attempting to install. It does not, though the ReadMe and slim installation brochure that comes with Jaguar both hint at the possible need for a firmware update.</P></LI></OL><P><STRONG>Firmware Versions</STRONG> -- At this time, it's not entirely clear which iMacs are vulnerable. The original "slot-loading" iMacs and iMac DVs introduced in September of 1999 are affected; the problem may extend to later iMac models with built-in CRTs, which Apple designates "Summer 2000," "Early 2001," and "Summer 2001." Neither flat-screen iMacs nor eMacs are affected.</P><P>Be sure you read the instructions before attempting to update the firmware: you'll need to locate and use the programmer's button on the side of your iMac. Firmware updates can be run only when launched from a writable disk under Mac OS 9.x (or Mac OS 8.x, if your computer is old enough). You cannot run a firmware update from the Classic environment in Mac OS X, nor can you run one when the computer is started up from a CD-ROM or network disk. Your PRAM will be reset after installing a firmware update, so you may need to check some of your system settings. In particular, make sure the setting in your startup disk control panel is correct if you have multiple bootable drives or partitions.</P><P>If you don't know what firmware version you're currently running (and who does?), you can find out by using Apple System Profiler; an entry for "Boot ROM version," "ROM revision," or "Boot ROM info" appears under the System Profile tab. If you're using Mac OS 9, the version will appear in an ugly decimal format like $0004.17f1 - that corresponds to firmware version 4.1.7.</P><P>The following Knowledge Base article lists the current firmware revisions for Macs which support Mac OS X.</P><P><<A HREF="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117">http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html? artnum=86117</A>></P><P><STRONG>Seeing Black?</STRONG> If you've already attempted to install Jaguar and are looking at a black screen, you can recover, but it's not simple. Essentially, you must find a way to update your iMac's firmware from a writable drive without having use of the iMac's screen.</P><P>Perhaps the best approach is to open the iMac, remove its hard drive, and connect the hard drive to a second computer (like a Power Mac G3 or G4 with an available drive bay). Then copy the firmware updater to the iMac's drive, install a remote control program like Timbuktu onto the hard drive and configure it to allow incoming access, and set the drive to boot in Mac OS 9. Next, move the hard drive back to your iMac and boot the machine in Mac OS 9 (the screen will still be black). Then, connect to the iMac over a network from another Macintosh using the remote control program and run the firmware updater. Once you've done that, the iMac's video should be restored. If your iMac is under warranty, note that opening your iMac to remove the hard drive may void that warranty.</P><P>[Updated 29-Oct-02: Another option for owners of iMacs which have a VGA video output port is to connect an external VGA monitor to your iMac; in many cases, it appears the iMac's display will be correctly mirrored to the external monitor, enabling users to update the system's firmware without going through the arduous process above. -Geoff]</P><P>Obviously, not every iMac owner has a second computer and a remote control program at their disposal, or the technical acumen to transplant hard drives between machines. An Apple dealer may be able to perform these or similar steps for you to recover your iMac, but they're unlikely to do so for free even if your iMac is still under warranty: expect to pay at least an hourly rate for the dealer's time, but that's certainly cheaper than a new motherboard. A well-versed Mac consultant might be faster and less expensive. Under <EM>no</EM> circumstances should you let a dealer convince you that your iMac's motherboard must be replaced. Motherboard replacement was initially Apple's official solution to this problem; however, now that the issue has been more thoroughly identified, Apple dealers now have access to information about it how to recover iMacs without replacing the motherboard. If your dealer isn't yet aware of it, ask them to look.</P><P><STRONG>Seeing Red?</STRONG> This situation is troubling. It's incredible that Apple would release operating system software dependent on particular firmware revisions and not check that appropriate firmware was available before installing. C'mon: that's just common sense! We're also disturbed Apple would recommend dealers and service centers replace motherboards on affected machines - a costly solution, especially for machines out of warranty - when there's nothing wrong with the motherboards, and Apple's own software caused the problem. We realize working out solutions for these problems takes time and dealers need to provide solutions as quickly as possible, but we certainly hope Apple plans to provide refunds to affected users who have already paid for motherboard replacements.</P><P class="paybits">PayBITS: If this article saved your iMac's bacon, please<BR> consider supporting TidBITS by becoming a contributor.<BR> <<A HREF="http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html">http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/ contributors.html</A>><BR> Read more about PayBITS: <<A HREF="http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/">http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/</A>></P><!-- Update Firmware Before Installing Jaguar! Geoff Duncan --></div>
<!-- end article text -->
<!-- PayBITS -->
<p> </p><div class="sponsorbox">
<div class="sponsortext"><A HREF="http://nuance.com/dragon/mac"><IMG SRC="http://db.tidbits.com/images/badges/dragondictatelockup_vertical_onlight.png" ALT="" HEIGHT="50" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0" ALIGN="left"></A>Dragon speech recognition software for Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad!<br />Get the all-new Dragon Dictate for Mac from Nuance Communications<br />and experience Simply Smarter Speech Recognition.<br />Learn more about Dragon Dictate: <<a href="http://nuance.com/dragon/mac">http://nuance.com/dragon/mac</a>></div>
