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Startup delay still persists...

We mentioned it before ( a and b), but we will say it again. Some Mac models have had another startup problem (beyond the blinking question mark problem that has been getting most of the attention): namely an approximate 30 second delay between when you turn the Mac on and the startup sequence begins (typically, the screen remains black during this time). This was first noted in Mac OS 7.6.1 and continues in Mac OS 8. Neither Drive Setup 1.3.1 nor the Firmware Utility 1.1 seem to have any effect on this glitch.

Darren Burgos has … Read more

Apple 1.2 GB Firmware Utility: Who should use it?

Several readers are reporting trying the new 1.2 GB Firmware Utility 1.1 ( see previous item) on their 1.2GB ATA drives and having the updater either report that it is not a drive that can be updated or simply failing to do an update. This leads to the question as to exactly what Mac models even have a chance of having a drive that the updater will update.

Previous statements from Apple suggested that the problem was limited to Power Macintosh 5260/120 or Performa 6360 models. However, the Read Me text for the updater is more vague, … Read more

And in other news...

Newton upgrade If you already own a Newton MessagePad 2000, you can upgrade it to a unit comparable to the new 2100. The upgrade will cost $99 (plus tax and shipping) and can be ordered starting on November 7, 1997. Check the Newton web site for additional details.

OS of the Year Some good news. Mac OS 8 wins an OS of the Year award.

BMUG woes BMUG, one of the best and oldest Mac users groups (it's based in Berkeley, CA) is reportedly having a bit of financial trouble, as reported in MacWEEK. I hope they work things … Read more

Odds & Ends

GoMac 1.4.2 is out. It fixes an assortment of minor bugs.

Screen capture updates arrive As previously promised here at MacFixIt, ScreenShot 2.5.5 and Exposure Pro 2.0.3 have been released.

MAXpowr PRO & PRO Installer v1.1 (from Newer) is out. It lets you turn off your existing L2 cache, which may improve overall performance.

Newer card and Mac OS 8 install problem: a follow-up Speaking of Newer, and regarding the problem previously reported, where my Newer 200 MHz 604e CPU card prevented me from installing Mac OS 8: several reports indicate that this … Read more

Assorted bugs and solutions

MacComCenter and QuarkXPress glitch Rick Camp writes that the new MacComCenter (Smith Micro) does not support faxing from QuarkXPress. "Graphics rasterize, but no text! Smith Micro tech support responded that, indeed, the 2.0 will not work with Quark, and they are working on a fix for a later release."

NT list view glitch solution Previously we described a quirk with Mac OS 8 Finder displays in List View when looking at them from an NT server. Robert Hammen now writes that AppleShare Client 3.7.2 (from the AppleShare IP 5.0.2 upgrade) eliminates this glitch. … Read more

Retrospect Driver 1.2 is out; Retrospect and Ethernet bug??

Retrospect Driver Update 1.2 is out Retrospect Driver Update 1.2 is a drop-in driver for Retrospect 4 that adds support for new devices including two CD-RW drives.

Retrospect and Ethernet backup bug? Perhaps not David Peltz says that when he used Retrospect to backup the drive on his 520c over an Ethernet network, it corrupted the drive. He needed Norton Utilities to repair it. He was running Mac OS 8. This problem was repeatable.

Pat Lee (of Retrospect) replies: "Retrospect will not corrupt the file system or hard drive on a computer, because we don't modify … Read more

Spam Blaster causes memory leak; 1.5 update coming

Adam Rice found that his System Software memory size started at about 11.5MB and slowly crept up to over 18MB for no apparent reason. He need to restart to get it back down again. It started happening shortly after he installed a demo version of Spam Blaster. He wrote to Goo Software about this and they replied:

"We have had several other reports of this same problem. We are working on version 1.5 which fixes this and a few other problems. Version 1.5 will also include full logging and log viewing from the Config app. The … Read more

Adaptec card issues

Adaptec and Newer MAXpowr PRO glitch fixed From Newer Technology comes the word that "all MAXpowr PRO and PRO cards are now fully compatible with Adaptec's fast and wide SCSI implementation and driver version 2.5. The Adaptec SCSI card operates in its best performance mode, which is full fast and wide." The original MAXpowr PRO cards may not work, as reported here previously. If you have one of the original cards, Newer will update it for free. Contact Newer at 800-678-3726 or email at techsupport@newertech.com for details.

Adaptec and TechTool Pro glitch Speaking of … Read more

DiskEssentials and Speedy CD: a bad mix?

Nick Brooker used DiskEssentials' DiskRX to fix reported errors on his disk. When he was done, the entire directory of his disk had been replaced by the directory for a CD-ROM disc he had called "AMUG CD 19.3." It turned out that he was using the utility Speedy CD. This apparently stores a copy of CD-ROM disc directories on your startup drive. Somehow, DiskRX found this directory and falsely assumed it was the directory for the hard drive itself! Other utilities that work like Speedy CD may have the same problem. Fortunately, DiskRX's Restore command got … Read more

Speed Doubler 8, copying files and folders, and Get Info comments

When copying files and folder to another disk, with Speed Doubler 2 installed, Get Info comments of files would transfer but comments for folders would not. According to Stephen Giles, with the new Speed Doubler 8, no comments (from files or folders) get transferred. Clayton Hibbert confirmed this.

Stephen adds: "Speed Doubler 8 also does not support fast copying using contextual menus, although Connectix promises to provide this capability in the future."

Update: Julian Yip-Khoon Koh, who has written a review of Speed Doubler 8, claims that file comments do survive a copy to another disk. Well, I … Read more