Mac Pro (#9): Problems caused by third-party, old Apple keyboards; Sound output issues; moreï¿½

Mac Pro (#9): Problems caused by third-party, old Apple keyboards; Sound output issues; more

CNET staff

Sept. 1, 2009 11:55 p.m. PT

4 min read

Problems caused by third-party, old Apple keyboards It appears that the use of older Apple keyboards, or third-party keyboards can cause issues with Mac Pros -- particularly with regard to startup routines invoked by key combinations.

For instance, some users with older Apple keyboards are reporting issues with booting from their Mac OS X Install discs in Apple Hardware Test mode (usually accomplished by holding down the "D" key while the system is starting up.

MacFixIt reader Graham Jones writes:

"In order to use the HardwareTest, you must not use an older black-keyed apple keyboard. Pressing C or D while booting does not have the desired effect when using an older keyboard. When I switched back to the white keyboard, Hardware Test worked fine. This may affect repair shops that do not use a newer keyboard in the back room."

If you have a third-party or older Apple keyboard that exhibits similar issues, please let us know.

Sound output issues Some users are reporting an issue where the Mac Pro forgets to which device it should send audio output -- in other words, if the user specifies external speaker output, the system will still use the internal speaker after restarting.

MacFixIt reader Desmond Foulger writes:

"Has anyone noticed that the Mac Pro, doesn't remember where the sound should come from? I have my power speakers connected to the line-out socket on the back but when starting up, the tinny startup tone comes from the internal speakers. It looks at line out after startup but surely it should remember this before starting up? I could take the sound from the loudspeaker socket from the front - but that's so untidy."

Meanwhile, another MacFixIt reader reports that applications running under Rosetta cannot use external speakers on his Mac Pro. He writes:

"I've found that PPC apps only send their sound to the internal speaker where intel (UB) apps will work with the external speaker port."

Similar issue? Please let us know.

Freezes during heavy disk activity We've received some unconfirmed reports of Mac Pros freezing while there is heavy disk activity -- primarily with internal drivers.

I have a Mac Pro (3Ghz, 5 GB RAM from OWC) which came with a stock 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE hard drive. The system will freeze for 10-15 seconds at a time (everything stops, no input is accepted) when large amounts of data are being written to that drive, but not any other drives I've installed.

MacFixIt reader Helmut writes:

"The freezes occur during writes from a DVD, and other hard drives, to main hard drive. I first noticed the problem when I was installing Final Cut Studio onto the drive - as each DVD was installing, I was surfing the web, and downloading some apps, and kept noticing a spinning beach ball for 10-15 seconds at a time. The installation would go on for a minute or so, then the beachball for 10-15 secs, then the installation would continue for a minute or so, and so on. I had not remembered a simple installation being so taxing on my old Quad G5, and so this behavior seemed odd.

"Later, I installed 3 additional, brand new Maxtor hard drives in the system. 2 300 GBs, which I striped together into a RAID 0, and a 500 GB as well. And whenever I try to copy any appreciable number of files from the main drive to any of these new drives, or from the new drives to the main drive, the system will completely freeze for 10-15 seconds at a time, every 45-60 seconds, during the copy. During this freeze, the copying itself will stop, all apps will stop, no keyboard or mouse input is accepted, iTunes will stop playing, Expose doesn't work, etc. etc. etc., and then, 10-15 secs later, the machine will come back to life, and the copy resumes and all other functions resume....until the next freeze 45-60 secs later.

"But no freezes occur when other hard drives write to each other. This problem does not occur when I try to copy an appreciable amount of data between any of the Maxtor drives. The copies go fast and smooth, and I can do plenty of work in the background."

"Clearly, the problems all occur when the main Western Digital Caviar SE drive is having large amounts of data written to it, either from the DVD drive (Final Cut Studio install), OR other internal hard drives. I don't know if it's the Western Digital hard drive itself that's the problem, or some weird incompatibility between different drives in Apple's SATA system, or what."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

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