why is this brand new powerbook useless?

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:52 pm

Adam,
using OS9 we had a dozen macs running via a hub and communicating and file sharing large audio and video files over ethernet.

I no longer work in a situation where i have to ethernet using tcp/ip so i,m not sure if this would apply or affect OSX they way it did on OS9 at the time.
But > > > >
It was quite apparent that when tcp/ip switching was "switched on " there would be flucuations in the activity monitor in the various programs that i was using for audio - causing audio dropouts and including surges in the the activity monitor's of various audio software packages inc live.
This occured both in my desktop and PBG4 both of which i was using for scoring. The other macs weere running video or graphics apps and had no apparent instances.
We did a lot of file xchanging not all of it over the ethernet i may add
( because of it's GB ceiling ) but this was a distinct noted problem wether the machine was connected to a intranet or not via ethernet. So in other words wether a physical connection was attached made no difference.

I,m using wireless networking at the moment on so havent any experience of the above on OSX . Too busy to explore for you at the moment as we have just had a baby daughter.

The above could be part of if not the cause of your issues.

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 9:01 pm

I think you are possibly right Adam regarding your comments on Xp seeming to have a good deal less issues.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 4:55 am

Just another quick idea Adam, you might try posting this over at OSXAudio as well? There are a few hard core OSX types there who might be able to help.

RAM, well both your AMD and your old powerbook had more RAM than the new one, so I'm just wondering? that's all. No laptops I know of ship with enough RAM out of the box, and 512 though fine for most people, is not enough for a good audio machine. Too bad you can't check the RAM?

In a lot of ways it does seem like bad RAM, has all the earmarks of it.

I forgot about sales tax, good point!

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 6:26 am

yea, the ram did pass the hardware test however.

bah humbug.

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 8:30 am

AdamJay wrote:yea, the ram did pass the hardware test however.

bah humbug.

This ram thing has me curious. My Powerbook (AluBook 1.5) came with 512 (2x256) but I swapped it for 1x1GB and 1x512. The ram I used was from Omni Technologies, which is certified to work with Apple only a heck of a lot cheaper. Maybe there is truth to this ram thing, although all this esoteric BS is what made me switch. Personally I think a little Centrino Tablet PC with the PCMCIA card is a perfect solution as it's very small, uses little battery, comes with 5400 RPM, and is much faster than a Powerbook. Maybe this is an option for you?

ultrasource · Post by **ultrasource** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 5:53 pm

i've had 3 separate 512mb sticks of ram (from memorytogo.com) for my powerbook that passed the hardware test, yet, screwed shit up. got them replaced, and all was fine.
4th one worked like a charm.....

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:25 am

okay guys after spending the weekend thinking it over, now that i'm a little more clear headed, i'm gonna tough it out and see if i can get this PB fixed.

i loaded my live set onto my gf's 800mhz G4 ibook. at 50% it ran fine, in fact it ran just as it should with no dropouts, cpu spikes or anything else.
So, it seems the problem is 1 of 2 things. bad ram, or a bad hd.
going to call applecare tomorrow (i thought they were 24/7 but apparently they are only 6am-6pm PST) and see what my options are.

Hopefully its not a general issue with the new Hitachi HD's they are using. We'll see, and i'll keep you all posted.

meanwhile - who wants to buy an HP laptop??

specs are in my sig.

Boulderdash · Post by **Boulderdash** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:05 am

meanwhile - who wants to buy an HP laptop?? icon_wink.gif specs are in my sig.

Just curious: Why do you sell your HP and switch to Apple? If you have explained it somewhere in the forum you can just point me there.

Christian

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:07 am

Boulderdash wrote:Just curious: Why do you sell your HP and switch to Apple? If you have explained it somewhere in the forum you can just point me there.

Christian

It's a multi-platform identity crisis thing. Very hard to explain.

Boulderdash · Post by **Boulderdash** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:23 am

It's a multi-platform identity crisis thing.

Ah, I see. The usual "everyone is cooler than me with their powerbooks". AdamJay, I found the perfect solution:

Christian

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:06 pm

exscuse me for beeing so stupid, but what is an optimalisation prosess? And how do I perform one? With which tools?
just bougt a 1,5 pbook 512 ram, and gonna use it on national TV with LIVE.. , -dont want things to screw up..

anyone bother to help me please? adam?

muthafunka · Post by **muthafunka** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:01 pm

Guess it's probably irrelevant given that you sill got no love after a reinstall but you tried zapping the PRAM? Hold opt/cmd/p/r all at the same time while you restart and wait for it to go 'bong' 3 times. Another option to see whether it's the hd or not would be to use something like carboncopycloner from http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html to clone your OS onto another drive then try booting from that.
Hope it works out, btw you're not serious about your HP are you?

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:46 pm

hey guys, the main reason i needed a mac was for development purposes. thought i mentioned it earlier in this thread. i can't say much other than i'm helping with a unix based 3rd party vj plugin that uses Core Video for apps like Ableton and Digital Performer. its something that will need to be tested on the road later this year so i needed a portable. unfortunately, due to my monetary situation in order for me to afford the powerbook i've got to sell the HP. no big deal, i've still got the desktop PC for studio work.

hehe its not a platform identity thing. i've said long on this forum that i prefer OSX, but that i also prefer AMD hardware. and once again i have both so its no big deal.

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:49 pm

muthafunka...
the PRAM zapp helped a little.
the drop outs are less frequent, yet still very present.
really curious as to whats going on here...

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:16 pm

good news folks

ITS FIXED. it turns out the audio files in my 5+ GB liveset were getting corrupted. To get them from my HP to the Mac i was using a Firewire NTFS HD (OSX can read but not write from NTFS). Somewhere on the NTFS Firewire HD they were getting corrupted just enough so that Ableton could play them back, but not without hiccuping.

So, i've transfered them over ethernet DIRECT from the HP and all works great now.

I'm so relieved.

big humongous thanks to Dom Wilms and Christian Klein from Ableton Support for locating the root of the problem. (in a very timely fashion i might add).

so with that in mind, be careful transfering files between pc and mac if using a 3rd HD to do it.

why is this brand new powerbook useless?

optimalisation:.