MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer questions related Mac e-mail to our readers.This week readers wrote with questions about a system will not load past the gray screen with Apple, an external DVD drive does not work, how to pass internal speakers with headphones attached, and trouble for the Display Case X-Ray in the Finder. I look forward to readers, so if you have suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!
Question: The system is not loading past the gray screen with Apple
MacFixIt reader Greg asks:
Can I start my system, and hear the carillon - after that, it will either hang with a black bar (like a "loading" bar sort of) at the bottom of the screen with the gray Apple logo, or shut it down - go black and stop being on.
Answer:
This usually indicates a system very corrupt OS. Are you able to boot from the OS X install disc when this happens (the installation DVD or the OS X partition recovery HD)? If you can not load the recovery partition HD then try to load Internet recovery (hold Option-Command-R at startup) for new systems from 2011 or more, or use an older OS X installation DVD provided with your computer.
With these options, you can try one of reinstalling OS X and restore from a backup (I hope you have a Time Machine backup being available). It is possible the system hard drive may be corrupted or endangered, so you may need to format and partition the disk before restoring or reinstalling.
Question: external DVD drive does not work
MacFixIt reader Nathan asks:
I have an iMac that has a broken disk super drive (DVD / CD). I bought an external, but it only works on machines that do not have their own built one. Just do not recognize the new drive when I plug it in! Is there a way to disable my existing disk broken or crushed?
Answer:
Ultimately, in addition to participating in the iMac and unplug the player, there is no way to override the connection. However, the external hard drive should be usable with any system, regardless of whether it has an internal hard drive. External drives are not designed to not function if a computer has an internal hard drive. I'm not sure of your phrasing, you have tried to connect to other computers? If it does not work with other Mac, try it with a Windows PC - the player could have a controller that is only compatible with Windows (unlikely, but possible). If necessary, you can contact the manufacturer for more details.
Are you able to see the device in the USB section of the System Information utility when it is connected, then under disc burning to see if the drive has identified any burning or playback properties recognized? Try loading the System Information tool both with and without the drive connected to see if a difference in the USB configuration can be noted.
Question: Switching to internal speakers with headphones attached
MacFixIt reader John asks:
What I really want is to be able to switch between speakers and headphones while leaving the headphones plugged in. Is it possible to do this?
Answer:
Unfortunately this is not possible with Apple's built-in speakers and headphone jack. If you want to do, one option is to use an external audio controller (such as a USB one) that has a headphone jack, and switch to it in System Preferences or via the audio menu. M-Audio is a company that manufactures them.
There may be a third party utility that can replace the Apple driver settings for this behavior, but so far I have not seen one. With a USB audio interface, you can option-click the volume control in the menu bar and select the OS X or the onboard audio controller to use, allowing you to perform this task.
Question: Enable folder view X-Ray in the Finder
MacFixIt reader Bryan asks:
I used [to allow X-ray view of Finder in Snow Leopard]. However, after entering "defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1" I think it does not work for Lion Mountain. Is this correct?
Answer:
It seems that Apple has removed this option in the Finder. There may be another way to activate it, but I'm not aware of how.
