Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) #7: FireWire; Solving printer/scanner problems; Sawtooth G4 graphics cards; more

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 10:28 p.m. PT

8 min read

[Part 1,Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6]

FireWire: 128 GB limit; recovery discounts Apparently under the same umbrella of FireWire problems we've been covering since Panther's release, some users are reporting that 160 GB and 200 GB drives are being limited to 128 GB. MacFixIt reader Jochen writes:

"Just recently I installed a 160 GB hard drive. Under Mac OS 9.2.2 I received only 128 GB. Under Mac OS X 10.1.5 it was 149 GB (normal). Under Mac OS X 10.3 it was again 128 GB."

The only FireWire expansion cards that can properly recognize drives with more than 128 GB are those based on the ATA-6 specification. ATA-5 based FireWire cards will not be able to recognize more than 128 GB of one volume. Since the ATA-6 functionality requires new drivers, it stands to reason that with installation of Panther, some part of the specific FireWire driver - or some link to the firmware - was affected.

Some readers have reported that they are once again able to address more than 128 GB of disk size by installing the recently released firmware updates from LaCie and WiebeTech.

As we previously mentioned, the only solutions for some users who have lost critical data is to use a professional drive recovery service or data recovery software. Prosoft Engineering is offering a $10 discount to people needing Data Rescue X to recover FireWire drives corrupted by Panther, with an offer code: PAN911.

UPDATE: Speed boost from LaCie firmware update The firmware update from LaCie may do more than prevent problems with drive corruption and data loss. We are beginning to receive reports that the update improves performance even on systems that weren't affected by any problems during the Panther update. MacFixIt reader Dominic Dunlop writes:

"Even though I was not having any problems, I updated the firmware on my LaCie FireWire 400 'Big Disk' using the Mac OS 9 updater . I didn't need to do this as the FireWire 400 models do not have issues with Mac OS 10.3, but the upgrade promised 'performance improvements,' and I'm a sucker for a sales line like that. Anyway, after some mucking about resolving an extensions conflict with the LaCie-supplied version of SilverLining (I never did work out what the culprit was -- ah, the joys of Mac OS Classic), the upgrade went through exactly as described in the Readme document, and everything is (still) fine. What's more, there is indeed an improvement in read speed -- from about 25MB/sec to about 30 (that's reading the UNIX raw disk device in large chunks -- file reads are inevitably slower)."

UPDATE: Statement from Maxtor Drive manufacturer Maxtor, whose drives have generated a number of problem reports after the Mac OS X 10.3 update, is denying that its FireWire devices cause issues with Panther:

"Maxtor External Storage drives are not affected by this problem. The reason for this is the fact that Maxtor External Storage Drives use the Oxford 911 Chipset (see Maxtor Knowledge Base Answer ID: 991 for details). Apple said the problems only affect FireWire 800 drives."

The fact that a significant portion of our FireWire vs. Panther problem reports are concerning Maxtor drives seems to echo our assesment last week that at least some of these issues are not limited to Oxford 922 chipsets.

Solving printer problems Several users (especially HP LaserJet owners) have reported a complete loss of printing functionality, or loss of specific funtions/settings after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3.

Paolo Caturegli writes "We are having problem with Panther in printing with HP LaserJet printers (specifically LJ4000n and LJ4550n) since even if when installing both of them the Printer Setup Utility. It says the duplex option are installed on both printers (it automatically detects two side printing accessory), but when you print there is the 'Two Side printing' pop-up menu does not appear as it does in Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2)." NOTE: The duplex (Two Sided Printing) option now appears under the Layout menu. There are three radio buttons - "Off", "Long-Edge Binding", and "Short-Edge Binding".

Solutions that users have identified as successful so far for a variety of printers:

Deleting the drivers supplied with Mac OS X 10.3 and re-installing the drivers supplied with their printer on CD or available from the respective manufacturers' Web sites.
Delete all of the com.apple.Print.(...).plist files from the ~/Library/Preferences folder.
AllOSX describes a printing problem that can occur when repairing permissions after installing Mac OS X 10.3, and offers a downloadable AppleScript workaround.

For some printing problems, a driver update may be required.

Solving scanner problems MacFixIt reader Lewis Rosen describes a problem with his Epson scanner echoed by owners of scanners from other manufacturers:

"After installing Mac OS X 10.3 my Epson Perfection 3200 Photo is not recognized. I installed the latest drivers from Epson (epson10996 and 10820). I get the following message when attempting to use the Photoshop plug-in: "Could not complete the Import command because of a problem with the acquisition module interface. Scanning applications say: 'no scanner found.'"

Some users have been able to fix this problem by deleting the "Epson Scan" plug-in from their ~/Library/Image Capture/Devices folder, or deleting the entire "Devices" folder.

Some scanners non-functional with their own drivers under Mac OS X 10.3 will work with Hamrick Software' VueScan.

A note on HP's Web site describes a current problem with all-in-one devices and Mac OS X 10.3:

"The current all-in-one software drivers for Mac OS X v 10.2 will no longer function correctly on Macintosh systems upgraded to Mac OS v 10.2.2. Upgrade to Apple Mac OS X v 10.2.3-10.2.5 or higher. (not Mac OS X v 10.3)."

UPDATE: Fix for Canon "i" printers Glenn Carey offers a workaround that restored functionality for his Canon "i" printer, and has also worked for other readers:

Delete all instances of ?Canon? off your computer (Go to the Finder, press APPLE and F together and do a search).
Download the driver from the ?Support? section of Canon?s website, install it and restart.
Rename: [hard drive name/Library/printers/Canon/BJPrinter/PMs/Canon190PM.plugin to [hard drive name/Library/printers/Canon/BJPrinter/PMs/190PM.plugin
Now go to Printer Setup in Applications/Utilities and click ?Add?

Corel PhotoPaint Some users have reported problems starting up Corel PhotoPaint and some other Corel applications after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3. In some cases, this issue can be resolved by holding down the "Shift" key during application launch. You will then be presented with a dialog box that asks:

"Overwrite the current workspace with the factory default?"

Clicking yes will result in loss of any custom workspaces, but has resolved the issue for some readers.

Sawtooth G4 graphics cards problems; solutions We previously reported problems with Power Mac G4 "Sawtooth" systems and graphics cards from NVidia and other manufacturers.

Now Michael Scarce notes new information showing that in some cases the problem only occurs on systems with more than 256 MB RAM, and a workaround from Other World Computing.

"For some reason, graphics are only rendered properly in a G4 ?Sawtooth? model with my video card (an Apple-supplied NVidia GeForce2MX 32MB AGP video card) if the machine has only 256 MB or less RAM due to a conflict between video memory and system-managed memory. I had 512 MB, so I pulled half out, and sure enough ? things look great, but a system with less RAM.

"A workaround has been posted at: http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Framework.cfm?page=/hardwareandnews/nvidia103/nvidia103.html

"The workaround enables higher RAM usage but Quartz Extreme is still disabled. They note several video cards by different manufacturers are problematic in Panther.

Griffin g4portThis device replaces the 56k modem component in a G4 tower with an Apple serial port. It no longer functions in Panther, and updated drivers are not available at the Griffin web site. System Profiler sees the serial port but is unable to identify it or the installed drivers. I am now using a Keyspan USB-to-serial adapter, for which Panther drivers are available."

SoundSticks lose right channel audio The Harmon Kardon-designed SoundSticks sold by Apple are losing right-channel audio with Mac OS X 10.3 in some cases.

Users who are experiencing this problem have, in many cases, noted that the "Sound" pane of System Preferences displays the message "'The selected device has no output controls."

Some have had success un-plugging the SoundSticks from their USB hub or display's USB port and plugging them, instead, directly into their Mac.

Keychain First Aid Eric Hildum notes that Apple rolled Keychain First Aid into Keychain Access, and that the version of Keychain First Aid 1.0 currently available from Apple's Web site may have some problems with Panther:

"I have been trying to resolve some keychain issues, and discovered that the Keychain First Aid 1.0 that is available for download from Apple is not completely compatible with Panther. In particular, the repair option of 1.0 will report a successful repair, but in fact the keychain may not be completely repaired. The latest version of Keychain First Aid has been combined with Keychain Access, and is available under the Windows menu of Keychain Access. That version seems to be able to fully resolve Keychain issues under Panther."

Music and Audio issues compilation Peter Kirn, Editor-in-Chief of MacMusic, has compiled a repository of music and audio application troubleshooting issues with Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). Kirn says the report includes "links to all the software updates we've posted in the last two weeks adding Panther compatibility to everything from little utilities to major audio software, plus reports on incompatibility and improvements for audio users in the new OS we've found so far. The good: better audio, lots of updated software from MOTU, Tascam, Edirol, BIAS, and others, including new features and new functionality from MOTU enabled by the OS the day of the release! The bad: FireWire 800 drive problems, roadblocks with compatibility. The ugly: Digidesign users are advised to stick with Jaguar for the near future."

Where are Internet Preferences? Several users have noticed that the Internet Preferences pane in System Preferences no longer exists in Mac OS X 10.3. In order to set a different browser application, you will have to open Safari and go to the "General" pane in the application preferences. In order to set a different mail application, you will have to open Apple's Mail.app and go to the same "General" pane in menu Mail > Preferences.

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