Scary Computer Problem

[Rick Lewis]

Last night right after I completed working on my portfolio on this site, the strangest and scariest thing happened to me in the realm of computers.  I was on a Webpage, not Alamy, when my computer screen went black.  I could see the arrow (cursor) but that was it.  I could also hear from my 9 year old Mac Pro tower a lot of hard drive noises.  It sounded furious.

 

I must have stared at the screen for a good two minutes, thinking only that I just lost my old gal's hard drive for good.  I have kind of been expecting it anyway and I was almost ready to say a little prayer over her when, out of the blue, the log-on screen popped up and prompted me to sign in with my password.  The computer did not go through the rebooting process, which now takes forever, and I have never had to sign back into my machine since I first set it up in 2009.

 

I'm a huge fan of my Mac Pro, but I think this was a sign.  First thing this morning, I ordered a brand new iMac 27" 5k computer, maxed out.  I'll now have the pleasure of a 1TB SSD and all the goodies.  I have to say though, that I'll miss my old Mac Pro, but it's time.

 

I still have no idea what happened.  I hope it doesn't happen again, I can tell you that.  I am hopeful that it gets me through the weekend, although the weather has been so bad I haven't been able to get out and shoot.  I only need to tag and caption three images.

 

Rick

[ReeRay]

Exactly what I experienced 12 months back on my old iMac which had already been replaced but retained to accommodate my scanner. A few days later the hard drive died. This wasn't such a disaster as the replacement unit was already operational and a new hard drive in the old Mac was cheap enough. My advise to you now would quickly ensure all is backed up on an external hard drive ready for transfer to the new machine. 

 

Good luck

[Betty LaRue]

Good grief, 9 years? I think you wrung all the good out of that one, Rick.

[Alex Ramsay]

BACK UP NOW before you do anything else! (I speak from experience)

 

Alex

[Inchiquin]

7 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Good grief, 9 years? I think you wrung all the good out of that one, Rick.

 

I'm running a 15-year-old PC that still performs flawlessly and meets a lot of my day-to-day needs. Its only fault is that it's too underpowered to handle tasks such as video editing and music creation, so I have to have a second machine for that.

 

Alan

[MDM]

8 minutes ago, funkyworm said:

 

In fact, back up in twice.

 

A few years ago after a similar situation I decided to go and buy a new mac. Plugging in my external hard drive with my back up into the new mac it asked me whether I wanted to use timemachine with the hard drive. So I clicked yes... at which point the mac reformatted the hard drive and I had an attack of the swearies.

 

I'm having an attack of the deja vus. In that other world I did advise caution using a Time Machine backup as it might do funny things to the new Mac. Your post confirms this. I do think it is risky to install an old OS on a new machine although the worst that can happen really is that it becomes necessary to restore the new OS if it doesn't work.

 

The good news, however, is that Rick no doubt has a full and recent backup so no worries there. 

[Rick Lewis]

14 hours ago, MDM said:

 

I'm having an attack of the deja vus. In that other world I did advise caution using a Time Machine backup as it might do funny things to the new Mac. Your post confirms this. I do think it is risky to install an old OS on a new machine although the worst that can happen really is that it becomes necessary to restore the new OS if it doesn't work.

 

The good news, however, is that Rick no doubt has a full and recent backup so no worries there. 

 

I do have a back up, using Time Machine, and all my images are on separate, backed up external hard drives.  The way I understand Time Machine and the "Migration Assistant", from the Apple Website, is that when the new iMac arrives and I hook up my Time Machine back up drive, I can choose which files and settings to transfer and whether I want any applications to transfer.  It will not over-write the new IOS.  My Time Machine is set to auto so it is very up to the minute with back-ups.

 

I'm crossing my fingers that it will hold out until next Wednesday when the new machine arrives. 

Edited January 14, 2018 by Rick Lewis
spelling - doh...

[Rick Lewis]

UPDATE:   The new iMac arrived earlier than expected.  In fact it beat the 32GB of extra RAM I ordered but it should be arriving Wednesday.

 

The "Migration Assistant" worked perfectly utilizing "Time Machine".  I've only had to add a few passwords and that's it.  All the old programs I've had for years migrated without flaw.  It was supper easy.  I did have to log back into Adobe but that was easy too.  So far so good.  No issues.

 

Trying to calibrate the monitor is a bit tricky though.  Apple has gone a little too far in their "simple" design.  There is no way to adjust contrast, brightness, etc through external adjustments. I could only get close to the desired luminance value I wanted.  And, worse, there is no way to hook up my Bose speakers!!!!

 

Rick

[MDM]

6 hours ago, Rick Lewis said:

UPDATE:   The new iMac arrived earlier than expected.  In fact it beat the 32GB of extra RAM I ordered but it should be arriving Wednesday.

 

The "Migration Assistant" worked perfectly utilizing "Time Machine".  I've only had to add a few passwords and that's it.  All the old programs I've had for years migrated without flaw.  It was supper easy.  I did have to log back into Adobe but that was easy too.  So far so good.  No issues.

 

Trying to calibrate the monitor is a bit tricky though.  Apple has gone a little too far in their "simple" design.  There is no way to adjust contrast, brightness, etc through external adjustments. I could only get close to the desired luminance value I wanted.  And, worse, there is no way to hook up my Bose speakers!!!!

 

Rick

 

Glad to hear it's mostly working for you. Apple have not designed the iMac monitors with photography in mind. Adjusments are best done through hardware calibration. If you don't have a hardware device, then the X-Rite i1 Display PRO is excellent for about $250 or so but there are cheaper ones which give you less control. As I said in an earlier post, I would suggest you continue to use your 26" NEC monitor for photography with the iMac screen as a secondary monitor. 

[Rick Lewis]

@MDM, you are correct about the iMac, it was never intended to be the best for still photographers and certainly isn't.  Unfortunately my NEC has seen better days as well and is suffering from very significant flare.  Only about the center 30% is accurate, I would estimate.  The iMac was the cheapest solution.  There are far better displays out there, I just can't afford them.

 

But, after using an X-Rite Colormunki Display calibration tool / software, using the ADC function, I am satisfied with the resulting profile.  My biggest concern was with the brightness or luminance but it seems corrected by the Colormunki.  I learned how to edit using the Lightroom or Capture One Pro histogram several years ago and that has made a world of difference.

 

I finally got my external speakers to work with it, and with a little glass of Jack Daniels, I'm back in business again.

 

For anyone wondering if an internal SSD is worth the price of admission, all I can say is WOW!!  Lightroom now loads in about 10 seconds as opposed to around 2 minutes on my old Mac Pro.  Everything is just FASTER!

 

Rick

[MDM]

4 minutes ago, Rick Lewis said:

@MDM, you are correct about the iMac, it was never intended to be the best for still photographers and certainly isn't.  Unfortunately my NEC has seen better days as well and is suffering from very significant flare.  Only about the center 30% is accurate, I would estimate.  The iMac was the cheapest solution.  There are far better displays out there, I just can't afford them.

 

But, after using an X-Rite Colormunki Display calibration tool / software, using the ADC function, I am satisfied with the resulting profile.  My biggest concern was with the brightness or luminance but it seems corrected by the Colormunki.  I learned how to edit using the Lightroom or Capture One Pro histogram several years ago and that has made a world of difference.

 

I finally got my external speakers to work with it, and with a little glass of Jack Daniels, I'm back in business again.

 

For anyone wondering if an internal SSD is worth the price of admission, all I can say is WOW!!  Lightroom now loads in about 10 seconds as opposed to around 2 minutes on my old Mac Pro.  Everything is just FASTER!

 

Rick

 

If you do find the spare cash at some point for an extra monitor, these BenQ Wide Gamut 27" stills photograpy monitors are very good value at $595 considering what wide gamut monitors from the likes of Eizo tend to cost. I got one of these a while back and it is very good - holds in highlight detail which tends to get lost on the Retina screen on my MacBook Pro.  It has all sorts of other functions not available on the iMacs. And yes upgrading from an old MacPro to an internal SSD is very liberating. Wait till you try the USB3 after being stuck on USB2 for years.

 

[Allan Bell]

11 hours ago, MDM said:

 

If you do find the spare cash at some point for an extra monitor, these BenQ Wide Gamut 27" stills photograpy monitors are very good value at $595 considering what wide gamut monitors from the likes of Eizo tend to cost. I got one of these a while back and it is very good - holds in highlight detail which tends to get lost on the Retina screen on my MacBook Pro.  It has all sorts of other functions not available on the iMacs. And yes upgrading from an old MacPro to an internal SSD is very liberating. Wait till you try the USB3 after being stuck on USB2 for years.

 

 

£599 at WEX.

 

Allan

 

 

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

£599 at WEX.

 

Allan

 

 

 

Yes I noticed that and it is typical - prices this side of the Atlantic are invariably higher than in the US although the US prices are quoted without tax whereas the WEX price is VAT inclusive. The dollar price at present exchange rate would be around $800 including VAT. This has been happening for as long as I remember.

 

I also notice that WEX seem to have made recent price increases for many products. That monitor cost me £579 or so back in October. For example, XQD cards have seen really dramatic recent price rises and are significantly higher than other dealers (e.g Park Cameras). I don't know if this is a stock issue in this case where prices have risen from Sony and other dealers still have older stock. We will see. I have always liked WEX for the excellent customer service and they have usually been competitive in pricing but I am not a WEX devotee. If I can buy the same product cheaper elsewhere and the customer service is good, then I will go elsewhere (e.g Grays of Westminster or Park). It's definitely worth looking around before buying. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by MDM

[Allan Bell]

On 18/01/2018 at 12:02, MDM said:

 

Yes I noticed that and it is typical - prices this side of the Atlantic are invariably higher than in the US although the US prices are quoted without tax whereas the WEX price is VAT inclusive. The dollar price at present exchange rate would be around $800 including VAT. This has been happening for as long as I remember.

 

I also notice that WEX seem to have made recent price increases for many products. That monitor cost me £579 or so back in October. For example, XQD cards have seen really dramatic recent price rises and are significantly higher than other dealers (e.g Park Cameras). I don't know if this is a stock issue in this case where prices have risen from Sony and other dealers still have older stock. We will see. I have always liked WEX for the excellent customer service and they have usually been competitive in pricing but I am not a WEX devotee. If I can buy the same product cheaper elsewhere and the customer service is good, then I will go elsewhere (e.g Grays of Westminster or Park). It's definitely worth looking around before buying. 

 

Whole heartedly agree with your sentiments Mick. I have also found cheaper at Cameraworld. Because I have been such a good customer in the past my local dealer will usually price match for me. He stresses that deal is for me only.

 

Allan

 

 

[MDM]

10 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Because I have been such a good customer in the past my local dealer will usually price match for me. He stresses that deal is for me only.

 

 

 

I don't have a local dealer since Jessops went bust. London is closest to me now in terms of time. I do like Grays of Westminster now I have to say - best prices for a lot of Nikon stuff and excellent customer service - personal and very knowledgable. I finally parted with my FM2n 35mm SLRs there recently. No good to you Fuji cats though.

[Allan Bell]

11 hours ago, MDM said:

 

I don't have a local dealer since Jessops went bust. London is closest to me now in terms of time. I do like Grays of Westminster now I have to say - best prices for a lot of Nikon stuff and excellent customer service - personal and very knowledgable. I finally parted with my FM2n 35mm SLRs there recently. No good to you Fuji cats though.

 

FUJI! FUJI!  Yuk!

 

I'll have you know I am now out and out SONY user.

 

Allan

 

 

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

FUJI! FUJI!  Yuk!

 

I'll have you know I am now out and out SONY user.

 

Allan

 

 

 

Oops. 

[Kathy deWitt]

I was glad to come across this thread as I have been wrestling with the black screen problem over the past few days. I don't

want to speak too soon but I may have solved the problem today after reading this fellow's article:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3209746/imac-screen-blackout.html  My iMac is 2009 I believe and has been working

perfectly till this occurred. So with a small brush attachment to my vacuum cleaner I hoovered the mesh filters along the bottom

of the screen which seemed to have gathered a lot of dust as suggested in the article.  I will post here if this isn't the solution but

so far it has been working all day just fine.

Fingers crossed.

[MizBrown]

I had odd problems that involved slow boot times a few months ago.  Turns out my TimeMachine external drive was failing.  Ended up getting a new external drive for Time Machine, and the problems went away.   For a machine with some significant age on it, probably better to get a new machine at this point.  The alternative would be to make sure you have a back up, and replace the hard drive (I added an M.2 SSD card to a Dell Windows laptop which was a big improvement with that machine and the original hard drive is now the data storage drive.

 

 

[Kathy deWitt]

I have only just seen this reply, so thank you.  This is what I have ended up doing as the black screen returned in January.......new iMac and old iMac HD saved and working.  But my Seagate Backup Plus fails to show up on the new computer.  Hm.

 

 

[MDM]

5 minutes ago, Kathy deWitt said:

I have only just seen this reply, so thank you.  This is what I have ended up doing as the black screen returned in January.......new iMac and old iMac HD saved and working.  But my Seagate Backup Plus fails to show up on the new computer.  Hm.

 

 

 

Sounds like you need a new drive (or two). I have had a few Seagate drives fail some years back and stopped using them. I have had an occasional Western Digital fail as well. G-Technology are the most reliable and robust I find. I have not had one fail yet. Datastores have a very wide selection of G-Technology drives. I have used them a few times - competitive prices and great service.

[Ed Rooney]

Twas me that MDM advised not to count on a Time Machine backup. I followed his advice. Where would I be without advice from Forum Folk? 

 

Realistically, should we expect any computer to live more than 10 years? My iMac was 10 years old and still worked the last time I saw it. I now have two MacBooks, a 2-year old Pro and a 1-year old Air. Backing up our stuff is needed if the machine is ancient or new. 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Ed Rooney

[Kathy deWitt]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Sounds like you need a new drive (or two). I have had a few Seagate drives fail some years back and stopped using them. I have had an occasional Western Digital fail as well. G-Technology are the most reliable and robust I find. I have not had one fail yet. Datastores have a very wide selection of G-Technology drives. I have used them a few times - competitive prices and great service.

Astonishingly enough, the Seagate hasn't failed - it's contents show up and are accessible on my old Emac!

[Betty LaRue]

On 20/01/2018 at 04:51, Allan Bell said:

 

FUJI! FUJI!  Yuk!

 

I'll have you know I am now out and out SONY user.

 

Allan

 

 

We Fuji users are special. We know how to get the best out of the system. And we have some of the best lenses available. Sorry you couldn’t figure it out. 😁😉🤣

[MDM]

52 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

We Fuji users are special. We know how to get the best out of the system. And we have some of the best lenses available. Sorry you couldn’t figure it out. 😁😉🤣

 

Well he has had long enough. That post is from 2018 🤣.

 

2 hours ago, Kathy deWitt said:

Astonishingly enough, the Seagate hasn't failed - it's contents show up and are accessible on my old Emac!

 

No idea why that should be as Macs are backward compatiible in terms of ability to read external drives as fat as I know. Perhaps it is some  format that is no longer readable. I would definitely recommend a new backup drive in any case.

 

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Twas me that MDM advised not to count on a Time Machine backup. I followed his advice. Where would I be without advice from Forum Folk? 

 

Realistically, should we expect any computer to live more than 10 years? My iMac was 10 years old and still worked the last time I saw it. I now have two MacBooks, a 2-year old Pro and a 1-year old Air. Backing up our stuff is needed if the machine is ancient or new. 

 

 

 

Yes Edo. I remember that and I was talking about trying to transfer your old backup OS onto a new machine when you were having problems. I find it much easier to reinstall the apps and transfer the image and data files manually which I guess is what you did. In general I think Time Machine should be fine for normal backups.