Low End Mac Reader Specials
TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how
to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full
Tilt Poker Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
Tiger 10.4.4 Update Cripples Pismo's Internal Modem
Charles Moore - 2006.02.13 - Tip Jar
I love my old Pismo PowerBook, and it's been about as trouble free and dependable as one could hope for since I got it used - one year old - in October, 2001.
That is, up until the past month or so.
I had noted that modem performance had been a bit flaky ever since installing OS X 10.4 Tiger last spring. Not throughput, but things like authentication failures and increasing reluctance of the modem to interact with the system software.
Unlike the recent PowerBooks and iBooks, which have software modems (not counting the new MacBook Pro, which has no internal modem at all), the Pismo has the old solid Global Village designed hardware modem that was used in many Macs of the mid to late 90s. We've had several in various PowerBooks, and they've all been very reliable - at least with the Classic Mac OS and with OS X up to version 10.3.9.
However, things seem to have taken a detour with Tiger, and my troubles began in earnest when I upgraded to version 10.4.4 - ironically in hopes that the update might result in better modem performance.
Quite the opposite.
With OS X 10.4.4, the Pismo's modem went from being annoyingly erratic to virtually nonfunctional. I could get it to connect by switching modem scripts in the Network preference pane, say from the Apple V90 script to V34 or vice-versa. I also tried the Mac Modem Magic suite of third-party modem scripts, but with no more success than I had with the standard Apple ones.
It didn't seem to matter which Pismo compatible script I used, as long as it was freshly selected. But after one successful dialup, the authentication failures would resume.
Initially I suspected the modem itself, but one of the great things about a Mac that supports dual-booting is that it enables easy differential diagnosis troubleshooting. To wit, when I booted into OS 9.2.2, the Pismo's modem worked flawlessly. It seemed like the problem was OS X 10.4.x compatibility with the old hardware modem.
I should note that OS X 10.4.4 works perfectly fine with the software modem in my 700 MHz iBook.
For another test, I booted into OS X 10.3.9, a copy of which I have installed on my external FireWire drive. After noting that it wasn't my imagination that that Panther is a smoother, faster cat on the Pismo (presumably due to the latter's puny video support) than Tiger is, I also discovered that the Pismo modem seemed to work perfectly with OS 10.3.
Perhaps the modem drivers in my OS X 10.4 system had become corrupted. That sounded unlikely, but my computer was crippled bybeing unable to connect to the Internet, so I decided reinstall OS X 10.4 from scratch. I used the archive and install option in the 10.4 installer with retention of existing user settings selected.
With my initial reinstall of OS X 10.4.0 and the 10.4.1 upgdate, the modem was functional again - still not as reliable as with Classic or OS X 10.3, but usable. Maybe it had been a corrupted modem driver.
I then optimistically ran the 10.4.3 combo updater, followed by the OS 10.4.4 Delta updater. Same result as originally - only worse. Now the modem wouldn't work at all.
Back to the installer DVD to reinstall Tiger once again. This time I stopped at 10.4.0, with which the modem was restored to functionality. What appeared to be manifesting was some sort of incompatibility between the later updated versions of Tiger.
Perhaps time is finally catching up with the old Pismo. This issue would not be terribly problematic for users who have a broadband or wireless Internet hookup, but dialup is all that's available where I live. It would be interesting to see how Apple's new external USB modem might work, but I wasn't about to spend C$60 to check that out.
I ran with OS X 10.4.0 for production work for several days, during which the modem worked almost flawlessly, never failing to connect, albeit with one hanging disconnect when the connection got dropped (my ISP's fault) requiring an unwanted restart. I think I recall that hanging disconnects were one of the issues addressed by the OS 10.4.1 update, and in any case, I don't like being stuck with a version .0 system.
I decided to roll the dice and run the 10.4.1 update, which had proved pretty reliable for me on this machine over the summer, but when I went to mount the update installer, the .pkg file wouldn't open. Nor would several other .pkg installer files I tried.
The plot had thickened. Wearily, I dug out the OS 10.4 installer DVD yet again.
At this writing I have successfully updated my OS X 10.4.0 install, which seems to have fixed the .pkg file mounting problem (whatever that was) and run the 10.4.1 updater. The modem is working properly, and I will stick with this system version for at least a couple of weeks to see how things unfold.
I wish I could say that I've learned something useful from all this, but I'm not much more enlightened that I was at the beginning. My tech-savvy daughter tells me she thinks there's a way to reset the modem with Unix commands in the Terminal, but she wasn't quite sure what they would be.
If anyone out there has light to shed of this issue, I would be
delighted to hear from you.
Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Do We Really Need Another Mac Email Client?, 02.08. Mac users have a host of free and low-cost email clients to choose from. Does Brent Simmons' 'Letters' project make any sense at all?
- iPad Should Support a Stylus, CoolBook Quiets MacBooks, Puppy Linux for PowerPC Macs, and More, 02.03. Also the iPad as a genie in a bottle, Eudora Classic 6.2, notebook battery life, and more uses for 'obsolete' technology.
- Waiting for WindowShade X before Going Snow Leopard, 02.01. For anyone used to windowshading, nothing else will do. Unsanity is working on WindowShade X for Mac OS X 10.6.
- Search for a Quieter MacBook, AC Adapter for Lombard PowerBook, Apple Magic Tablet, and More, 01.27. Also Logitech Unifying Receiver and diNovo keyboard, and is everything ultimately political?
- More in the Miscellaneous Ramblings index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 'WallStreet' PowerBook G3, May 1998 - WallStreet offered 3 screen sizes and CPU speeds from 233 to 292 MHz.
- Group of the Day: Mac UK is for Mac users in the United Kingdom.
- February 9 in LEM history: 00: Think choices - Promoting the Macintosh - 01: Apple vs. Mac clones - 05: Apple and the $100 laptop - Yojimbo - Core Duo vs. G5 - 07: The story behind After Dark - Microsoft Office 2007
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- MacBook Pro a Revelation, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 02.08. After using G4 Macs for over a decade, spending a weekend prepping a first generation MacBook Pro was a real eye opener.
- 42 Reasons a Netbooks Is Better than an iPad, Hard Drive Upgrade Value, Faster Netbooks, and More, The 'Book Review, 02.05. Also why the iPad can't compete with netbooks, 802.11n WiFi card for older Intel MacBooks and Mac minis, and a DJ keyboard cover for MacBooks.
- iPad Perfect for Handheld Computing, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 02.05. You can hold the iPad in one hand and operate it with the other, giving it real advantages over a laptop computer.
- iPad Targets Netbook Users, iPad 'Flaws' Don't Matter, In-page Search for iPhone Safari, and More, iNews Review, 02.05. Also FSF considers iPad 'iBad' for freedom, Touch Mouse app turns iPhone into wireless keyboard and trackpad, privacy screen for iPhone, and more.
- Touch Shifts the Apple Empire, Tim Nash, Taking Back the Market, 02.05. Apple dominates mobile computing, and it will be difficult for competitors to match the value of the iPad.
- 90% of Premium PCs Are Macs, OS and Browser Market Share, Chrome Browser to Dominate, and More, Mac News Review, 02.05. Also 27" iMac too popular for supply, eco-friendly 2 TB hard drive, Puppy Linux for PowerPC Macs, 6-core Mac Pro rumored, and more.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 02.02. Used 2 GHz, $700; 2.4, $999; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.8, $1,699; 3.06, $2,199; new 2.53, $1,610; 2.66, $1,839; 2.8, $2,109; 3.06, $2,550; more.
- Best G3 iMac Deals, 02.02. 500 MHz CD-ROM, $40; 450 MHz DVD-ROM, $60; 600 MHz CD-ROM, $230 shipped; 700 MHz CD-RW, $300 shipped.
- Best eMac Deals, 02.02. 1 GHz SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 Combo, $100; SD, $360; 1.42 GHz Combo, $299; SD, $439.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 02.01. Used 1.25 GHz G4 Combo, $369; 1.5, $399; Core Solo, $399; 1.83 GHz Core Duo SD, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $759; Server, $985.
- Best iBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $200; 1.33 GHz, $259; 14" 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $399.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 800 MHz Combo, $285; 867 MHz SuperDrive, $400; 1 GHz Combo, $549.
- Best 13" MacBook & MacBook Pro Deals, 01.29. Used 1.83 GHz, $570; 2.0, $599; 2.4 GHz, $800; 2.26 MB, $849; new, $925 after rebate; Pro, $1,108, 2.53, $1,399 a/r.
- Best Power Mac G5 Deals, 01.29. 1.8 GHz single, $399; dual, $479; 2.0, $549; 2.5, $609; 2.7, $799; 2.3 GHz dual-core, $709; 2.5 GHz Quad, $939.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 01.29. Mac OS X 10.0, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $50; 10.3, $50; 10.3 Server, unlimited users, $130.
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System
6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Affiliates
The Apple
Store
Mac
Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com
