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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / July 2006Macbook needs Alt-Apple-P-R (newbie switcher Q)
I have a white base-spec MacBook, upgraded to 2 Gig RAM. So far *very* pleased with it generally: switching from Linux and Windows, of course there are a few niggles to get used to (chiefly the single mouse button; the inability to resize windows except at the bottom right corner; the lack of a Delete forwards key; and the slightly wrong UK keyboard layout)... But the box is fine, very quiet, great display and keyboard, nice little details too. The girls in the office love the look of the thing; the blokes seem less convinced. (But, how do I generate a right-click in RDesktop without a USB mouse plugged in?) Anyhow, the one thing that still concerns me is that on the rare occasions when I shut the MacBook down completely, there's about a 1- in-3 chance that it won't start again. The fault symptom is that it goes "ching" as usual at switch on, then the display backlight comes on but no display. Powering off by holding down the power switch, then powering back on and holding down the 4-key combination ALT- APPLE-P-R until it has "chinged" twice always gets it going again. Questions then: - What is the ALT-APPLE-P-R key sequence doing? - Why do I need to enter this sequence to get the box to boot up? - Does it indicate a hardware fault that I should get sorted under warranty, or is there an OS configuration issue that I need to address? Until I know that there isn't a hardware fault, I'm reluctant to really move my work over to the MacBook... Thanks for your time. - Martin. In article <E122B42A-2309-4194-8A8A-30014BE3AD84%not-for-mail@example.com>, > I have a white base-spec MacBook, upgraded to 2 Gig RAM. So far > *very* pleased with it generally: switching from Linux and Windows, of [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > - What is the ALT-APPLE-P-R key sequence doing? It resets the non-volatile parameter RAM. > - Why do I need to enter this sequence to get the box to boot up? Not sure; either some value is not being set correctly or something is corrupting it during the session. > - Does it indicate a hardware fault that I should get sorted under > warranty, or is there an OS configuration issue that I need to > address? There could be a problem with the NVRAM chip or associated circuitry or it may be a transient problem. Try holding the key combination until you get the chime three times, that should reset additional locations in the NVRAM. > Until I know that there isn't a hardware fault, I'm reluctant to > really move my work over to the MacBook... > > Thanks for your time. > > - Martin.  SignatureTom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF > There could be a problem with the NVRAM chip or associated circuitry or > it may be a transient problem. Try holding the key combination until > you get the chime three times, that should reset additional locations in > the NVRAM. Tried that, no luck. Just been onto the Apple support web forum, where one post suggests that changing the display res and changing it back again may help (possibly some setting not quite right after the 10.4.7 update). Thanks again! >(But, how do I generate a right-click in RDesktop without a USB mouse >plugged in?) Ctrl-click should do it. I've never had a problem with doing that. >Questions then: > >- What is the ALT-APPLE-P-R key sequence doing? This is called 'zaping the PRAM' - basically, resetting the equivalent of the CMOS settings on a PC. See: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238 >- Why do I need to enter this sequence to get the box to boot up? You shouldn't need to do this regularly. This indicates some kind of problem with the Mac. >- Does it indicate a hardware fault that I should get sorted under >warranty, or is there an OS configuration issue that I need to >address? Call Apple while you are under warranty. You'll likely have to send it in for repairs. At least in the US, Apple's repair service is ace. >Until I know that there isn't a hardware fault, I'm reluctant to >really move my work over to the MacBook... Get it fixed first! -Stephen SignatureSpace Age Cybernomad Stephen Adams malchus842SP@AMgmail.com (remove SPAM to reply) >>(But, how do I generate a right-click in RDesktop without a USB mouse >>plugged in?) > > Ctrl-click should do it. I've never had a problem with doing that. Aha! Great. Ah, just noticed also that the 'fn' key lets you send F1..F12 to the application, at least in Parallels, which is handy for F5 (Refresh) in some apps. BTW, what keys are the keys referred to in the docs as 'Command' and 'Option'? Apple and Alt respectively, or maybe vice-versa? >>- What is the ALT-APPLE-P-R key sequence doing? > > This is called 'zaping the PRAM' - basically, resetting the equivalent > of the CMOS settings on a PC. . > Call Apple while you are under warranty. You'll likely have to send it > in for repairs. At least in the US, Apple's repair service is ace. I'll definitely try them here (UK) unless changing the resolution and changing it back turns out to have fixed it. So hard to tell with intermittent problems! Thanks again - Martin. > > > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > BTW, what keys are the keys referred to in the docs as 'Command' and 'Option'? > Apple and Alt respectively, or maybe vice-versa? The Command key is the one with the Apple and "clover leaf" symbols. Its primary function in MacOS is for menu key shortcuts. The Option key on a US English keyboard has the word "option" written on it (also has "alt" in smaller letters). ISO (including UK English) and non-English keyboards probably use the symbolic version instead, which looks like an electronic or railyway switch: --- -- \-- (Excuse the bad ASCII art.) This is also the symbol used in menu key shortcuts to represent the option key. Australia and New Zealand also have the US English keyboard, presumably because our currency is also known as the dollar. Back in the Apple II era, the Australia/NZ Apple IIe was the UK model (with a pound symbol and ISO keyboard layout) but Apple Australia seems to have reverted to the US layout since then. SignatureDavid Empson dempson@actrix.gen.nz >> BTW, what keys are the keys referred to in the docs as 'Command' and 'Option'? >> Apple and Alt respectively, or maybe vice-versa? [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > and ISO keyboard layout) but Apple Australia seems to have reverted to > the US layout since then. Thanks, that explains things... I'm old enough to have used an Apple II, a Nascom 1, various CP/M machines, and a DECsystem 10(*) via a 110-baud Teletype. Perhaps that's why I think the MacBook is a pretty luxurious machine for 750 quid! (*) funny how the 36-bit word never really caught on, but I understand it still has a small but loyal following. Apparently you can boot OpenBSD on an emulated DecSystem10. The real thing burns too much electricity to run in this day and age: it needs a huge 3-phase supply and a large airconditioned room, and all for a CPU speed of something like 0.1 MHz! - Martin. > when I shut the MacBook down completely, there's about a 1- > in-3 chance that it won't start again. The fault symptom is that it > goes "ching" as usual at switch on, then the display backlight comes > on but no display. Powering off by holding down the power switch, > then powering back on and holding down the 4-key combination ALT- > APPLE-P-R until it has "chinged" twice always gets it going again. For anyone else with this problem (i.e. intermittently, you need to keep "zapping the PRAM" to get the display to fire up at boot time)... It appears that this may have been due to a display driver parameter getting screwed up when the 10.4.7 update went in. The supposed fix is to go into System Preferences and change the display resolution and exit Preferences. Then go back into Preferences and change it back to your normal settting. Apparently, this will save the proper settings back, overwriting the incorrect settings from the 10.4.7. update. This fix sounded a bit unlikely, but so far it seems to have cured my machine. - Martin. >> when I shut the MacBook down completely, there's about a 1- >> in-3 chance that it won't start again. The fault symptom is that it [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >This fix sounded a bit unlikely, but so far it seems to have cured my >machine. It's not unlikely - the video monitor depth is stored in the NVRAM. -Stephen SignatureSpace Age Cybernomad Stephen Adams malchus842SP@AMgmail.com (remove SPAM to reply) >>This fix sounded a bit unlikely, but so far it seems to have cured my >>machine. > > It's not unlikely - the video monitor depth is stored in the NVRAM. That's reassuring - thanks! So it's quite likely that it was indeed the 10.4.7 update that caused this issue. If nothing else it's taught me how to get the box to start in the event of the NVRAM being corrupted, which is worth knowing just in case... Perhaps Apple should add a feature to Software Update to warn you about such unexpected issues in the days and weeks following the roll-out of an update. Then again, if I wasn't a new Mac user, I might have sussed out what was happening a bit sooner, as taking 10.4.7 would have been an isolated change rather than just one of many changes all made at once. - Martin. |
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