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Please - I'm desperate - Leopard issues

4K views 45 replies 14 participants last post by  Wolfshead 
#1 ·
Since installing Leopard last week I've been tearing my hair out. Please help before I'm completely bald!

iPhoto and iMovie will not work. When I open iPhoto, the list of photos is upside down and back to front and then it crashes. When I open iMovie, I get the spinning beachball and then it crashes.

I recently bought an iSight on e-bay. It doesn't work. All I get is a black screen (with a faint bit of static on it). The microphone is working, iChat says the video is running, but it's not. A Google search reveals that this is quite a common problem but not what to do about it. (If only I'd known that BEFORE I bought it.)

I have lost two customers this morning because I was unable to fulfil my commitments after wrestling with these problems all weekend. My business depends on iPhoto and iMovie. I bought iSight because I'd heard how good it was and it looked ideal for my purposes.

I'm frustrated, angry and rapidly becoming likely to switch back. I'm planning to buy a laptop in the next couple of weeks. It was going to be an Apple, but now...:mad:

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
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#2 ·
Did you do a clean install or a simple upgrade? It makes a great deal of difference to the outcome. We have done completely clean installs, including zeroing the drives, on all machines at our homes and in the lab and have had no ( as in none, zero, zip, nada.....) issues on any of our machines.. iSight, iPhoto, iMovie included. Clients who have ignored my advice to do a clean install are now paying good money to recover. Step 1 should have been a total (SuperDuper!) bootable backup of your Tiger set up.
 
#3 ·
We used the clean install (as per advice from the Missing Manual). We were (initially) thrilled with Leopard - until we stopped playing and actually started working with it.

We went straight from Jaguar to Leopard - no Tiger in between. Don't know if that makes a difference.
 
#5 ·
In your duplicate thread on this same topic, you mentioned that you're using iPhoto 2.0.1.

Was that a typo?

If not, that's your problem.

PS. I can only speak for myself, but when people threaten that they'll switch away from Apple -- knowing as I do that this is almost certainly either a bad install or user error -- it really leaves me very disinclined to help. If you actually think the grass is greener in Vista (as evidenced by the flocks of people dumping it for either Macs or back to XP), your judgment is way too skewed for me to be of much assistance.
 
#6 ·
chas_m: I appreciate your response - and understand it. However, my frustrations with Mac are not new. I'm the first to admit that I'm no "expert" and that most of the time I love my Mac, but it seems that there is no support from Apple - whether the problem is due to user error or not and that there are too many inexplicable issues. By that I mean I get the response "oh yes, that just happens from time to time. No, we don't know why - it just does." Also my original post was made after spending the weekend trying to deal with the issues I'm having.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. If you feel disinclined to help - that's o.k.
 
#25 ·
Thank you for taking the time to respond. If you feel disinclined to help - that's o.k.
No, I'm happy to help. You sound like a good egg, and I figured it was the frustration talking. :)

At the risk of sounding snarky (which I'm not meaning to be) I find it hard to believe you've never updated iPhoto. Man have you missed out -- the later versions are quite simply AMAZING improvements on the original ideas. Once this whole thing is sorted, you should treat yourself to iLife 08 (or at least 06, since you need that to run iPhoto on Leopard).
 
#7 ·
rgray: Thank you. I can't say with certainty that the Software Update was done but I THINK it was - I'll certainly check that out. It looks like the problem with the iPhoto may be the version (no - that wasn't a typo). I'll check into that.

Thanks for the input - I'll let you know how it goes.
 
#8 ·
Look for old Divx plugins in the root/library/prefs folder under quicktime and internet plugins. They will stop iMovie from launching and may interfere with iPhoto. Then delete the plist files for both apps in the prefs folder in your user library. Download Perian for your Divx stuff.
 
#10 ·
Did you go into disk utility (in the menu of the installer disk) and repartition the HD before running the installer. There are major differences between Leopard and Jaguar, this extra step would certainly be essential with that big of a jump. Simply erasing the existing Volume would be inadequate.
 
#11 ·
1) Backup all your libraries and documents (if you have already done so prior to all this mess, ignore this step).

2) Install Leopard (clean install)

3) Go buy iLife '08 and install it (completely ignore your older versions of iLife)

4) Download iMovie '06 from Apple's website.

5) Import your iPhoto library into iPhoto 8. Copy all your documents back to your system.

Done.


This makes no sense. Doing a clean install from a Leopard disc would take care of any issues. Repartitioning would do nothing significant.

I have lost two customers this morning because I was unable to fulfil my commitments after wrestling with these problems all weekend. My business depends on iPhoto and iMovie.

I'm the first to admit that I'm no "expert"

I'm frustrated, angry and rapidly becoming likely to switch back. I'm planning to buy a laptop in the next couple of weeks. It was going to be an Apple, but now...:mad:
Groovy. You don't know what you're doing, so best to blame the equipment, Apple, anybody else.

It's like a delivery guy who knows nothing about car repair trying to change his own oil, then blaming Toyota when his car screws up.

If your business depends on your equipment working, don't pretend to know what you are doing. That's why there are experts. Hire one. You could have saved a weekend and two customers.
 
#13 ·
Sometime GT's attitude comes off a little harsh but his strategy here is correct.

It seems clear the nub of your issue is your iLife version - everyone agrees on that.

Heed the advice to do a squeaky clean install of the Leopard OS before you go installing iLife 8. If you try loading it over your current setup you will simply open another 'can o'worms'. Bite the bullet. Start again clean and you'll be smiling again in no time...
 
#15 ·
Hi Wolfshead,


I also live in Barrie and would offer to come over and help out if you're open to it. Drop me a PM if interested and we'll set up a time to have a look at the machine.

Cheers

Mike
 
#17 ·
rgray: Thank you so much for your help and support. It is much appreciated.

iMike: Your offer of help is also appreciated. I may take you up on that if things don't work out (although I'm optimistic that they will).

guytoronto, et al: I'm glad you're so knowledgeable and have never made a mistake. Thanks for the encouragement. You know nothing about the problems I've had with this particular Mac and the lengths I've gone to to try and rectify them. I have never "pretended to know what I'm doing". Also, I thought I WAS consulting experts when I posted my questions on this forum. In the past I've found everyone to be helpful and supportive and I've appreciated that. I've also learned a lot here.

Now those of you who jumped all over me can go back to feeling superior. I'm only glad I was able to give your sagging egos a boost. In future perhaps it should be made clear that only people who already know everything can ask a question.
 
#21 ·
guytoronto, et al: I'm glad you're so knowledgeable and have never made a mistake.
Who said I've never made a mistake?

You know nothing about the problems I've had with this particular Mac and the lengths I've gone to to try and rectify them.
I thought you spelled them out in your first post. Was there more?

I have never "pretended to know what I'm doing".
When you undertake a system upgrade on a computer system that is vital for your business, you are pretending to know what you are doing.

Also, I thought I WAS consulting experts when I posted my questions on this forum.
The point is you are consulting experts AFTER the fact. When attempting this kind of thing, it's always recommended you talk about it BEFORE.

Now those of you who jumped all over me can go back to feeling superior. I'm only glad I was able to give your sagging egos a boost. In future perhaps it should be made clear that only people who already know everything can ask a question.
Hey, I had no problem with you posting a question, but it's this right here that ruined it:
I'm frustrated, angry and rapidly becoming likely to switch back. I'm planning to buy a laptop in the next couple of weeks. It was going to be an Apple, but now...:mad:
You get pissed when people jump all over you, but you have no problem jumping all over Apple for a problem that isn't really their fault. Pot, meet kettle.

Since you know so much guytoronto - perhaps you can explain to poor ignorant me why my iSight isn't working?
Have you tested in on another system?
 
#19 ·
Hi Wolfshead,

You mentioned earlier in the thread that you were considering buying a new Mac - if you do that you'll get iLife '08 with it (so no need to spend an additional $80)

regarding your iSight - was it working in the earlier OS and then stopped when you went Leopard? or has it never worked?

There are some postings on Apple's website that might help - I got some interesting results searching Leopard and iSight here:

Apple - Support - Discussions - Search Discussions

Since you may not have run across this I'll include it too as it might be useful.

How to Troubleshoot iSight


Though if it wasn't working under Jaguar then these won't be relevant.

Good luck!
 
#23 ·
Thanks for the info - I'll check it out. iSight has never worked. It "says" it's working, it sounds like it's working. The sound works but I just get a black screen instead of an image (yes - the lens is open - lol!)

The new Mac I want to buy is a laptop so that I can work when I travel.
Thanks again for the input.
 
#22 ·
Yes, I've had many problems with this Mac.

PRETENDING to know what I'm doing because I want to upgrade?! Words fail me.

I was consulting the "experts" here after the fact because I didn't know there were going to be problems until then. I thought I was going to be able to use iPhoto and iMovie after I upgraded. Silly me. I was wrong. So shoot me now!

God forbid I should be critical of the mighty Apple. How do YOU know that the problems I've encountered weren't Apple's fault? BTW - have you read the reviews on the Apple site for iLife? I did, but I went ahead and bought it anyway, because I have no choice. That makes me angry with Apple. I'm sorry you feel it necessary to jump so vehemently to Apple's defence.

My question to you regarding iSight was purely rhetorical. I certainly don't expect you to help me.
 
#26 ·
Thank you chas-m. I guess the reason I haven't updated until now is simply that I haven't needed to. The version of iPhoto I had was quite good enough for my purposes. I have now ordered iLife 08 - although I must admit that the reviews on the Apple site weren't encouraging (particularly with regard to iMovie). I'm going to be making audio recordings (spoken word) so I'm hoping I can use either iMovie or Garageband for those. I'm going to use my iSight as a microphone since the audio seems to work, although the video doesn't.

I've never been called a good egg before - I think I like it...
 
#29 ·
Do yourself a favour and spend a few bucks on a microphone for the spoken word stuff. There are many available on the market. I have a Samson microphone that plugs directly into the USB port. Cost about $70 and will give you much better sound than the iSight. The only problem with investing in better audio capture equipment is that you start to pick up all the crap sounds around you that you never really noticed before. Then you start into sound proofing and isolation and on and on. But seriously, if this stuff is for professional work, get a microphone.
 
#33 ·
Apple-is-great-Apple=is-great-Apple-is-great...
Okay - I'm calm now. Just to go over this again - and anyone please feel free to correct/question me.

Last week we decided we should update our system and installed Leopard. Then we find that applications which worked fine before, were no longer available to us (namely iPhoto and iMovie).

We find out (eventually) that we must install iLife. We buy and install iLife. But, to digress, when I tried to install iLife, the dvd just lay there and did nothing. I restart, run software update, etc. I try the Apple support pages. No help. I telephone Apple. After getting through to a real person she informs me that I must phone back because she doesn't know how to transfer a call. I call back. The next real person I get transfers me to an extension which rings and rings (for 8 minutes before I hung up). One hour and fifteen minutes later I get through to another real person who has me restart the computer holding down "X".

I install iLife.

Now I find that I have to buy a G5 in order to use iMovie. I obviously missed that fine print as well. Perhaps I need to buy new glasses as well as a G5.

Apple-is-great-Apple-is-great...
 
#34 ·
You can buy iLife 06 quite cheaply nowadays, I don't use all the apps in iLife 08.
I mostly just use the iMovie from iLife 06 and the GarageBand from iLife 08.

You don't have to use all of apps in the same iLife versions, You can mix and match.

As for your Firewire ports, Are other Firewire devices working alright in the ports?

Dave :)
 
#38 ·
I did a bit more digging after I posted.

Apparently a lot of people are unhappy with iMovie 08, so Apple provided a free download of iMovie 06 that you can install after you have installed iMovie 06.
More in this thread on ehMac.
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/54521-apple-releases-imovie-hd-06-download.html

This will work for me being on a G4 where I want to use it.

The new Macs I bought recently already had iLife 08 included but they are Intel versions and I want to try iLife on a PPC Mac.
 
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