Several users have experienced an issue with MobileMe email accounts where all mail is sent through the primary email address. This means that for accounts which are set up with email alias names, Mail.app will not send email with a "reply to" address as the alias, but instead use the main account name as the reply email address. As described by one Apple Discussion member:

As one Apple Discussions poster, 24Golfer, writes: "If you use Alias email names and receive emails as you normally would - and reply to an email from your Alias - it still sends it out from the proper account instead."

Mail.app fix: Add alias accounts to Mail's "Email Address" account settings field

1. Open Mail.app and go to the preferences
2. Select "Accounts" and click the "MobileMe" account.
3. Under "Account Information" add all the desired alias email accounts (including "@me.com") to the "Email Address" field, separated by commas.
4. Save the preferences and upon sending mail, select the desired alias account name in the "From" drop-down menu above the message content.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Some iTunes 7.7 users are experiencing an issue in which audio CDs refuse to eject as long as the iTunes application is open. Neither the eject key on the keyboard nor the appropriate buttons in iTunes work, and the system gives an error stating the disk is in use by another application.

Apple Discussions poster Harstad writes:

"The latest version of iTunes gives me a disk in use by another application error when I try to eject it, even if iTunes is the only program open. If I quit iTunes, the problem goes away. I get this error whether I try to click the eject icon internally to iTunes or I use the eject button on the keyboard."

It appears this problem is caused by iTunes insistence on keeping the status of the mounted optical media "in use."

Fix

For now the only solution for iTunes 7.7 is to quit the application in order to release and eject the CD.

Workarounds

Downgrade iTunes Download and install a previous version of iTunes from one of the links provided below. This will allow iTunes to properly eject the discs, but will break functionality with the iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 software. Old versions of iTunes are linked below:

• 7.6.0
• 7.6.1
• 7.6.2

After installing the previous version of iTunes, your current library file will not work, so you will need to downgrade that as well. When new versions of iTunes are installed which update the iTunes library, the previous libraries are saved to a "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder. Go to this folder and copy the previously used library (listed by date of backup appended to the name) to your iTunes folder and rename it to "iTunes Library".

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• iTunes 7.7 (#2): erased drive data, empty library, unexpected quits; more
• iTunes 7.7: causing major iPod/iPhone connectivity problems, other issues

Users who have Windows installed under Boot Camp may experience a problem where mysterious files appear in the trash and cannot be deleted. These files persists in the trash despite the application of known Macintosh-based fixes such as using command-line tools to purge all files in the hidden ".Trash(es)" folders, and securely emptying the trash. The mysterious file seems to always reappear.

As described by Apple Discussions poster mdenwood:

"There is an alias file that keeps appearing in my Trash. If I try to drag it out of the Trash it mystically disappears, and also if I hit command-i it also mystically disappears. Then when I re-open the Trash it magically re-appears again!"

While this file appears to be on the Macintosh HD volume, its presence is in fact due to problems on the Windows partition, and has nothing to do with the Mac OS X installation. The problem seems to be fixed by running Windows disk utilities on the windows partition.

Fix: Run Chkdsk from within Windows Boot into the Windows operating system and right-click on the boot drive (most likely the "C:" drive). From there get properties on the drive and go to the "Tools" section. There should be a section called "Error Checking", and a button labeled "Check now". Click this button and in the options that are displayed, ensure both the "Automatically fix file system errors" and the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" options are checked. Then click "Start" and the operating system will schedule a drive fix the next time the computer boots up. From here restart the computer and windows should fix the drive accordingly. When it is done, boot back into the Mac OS and the mysterious files should be gone from the trash.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Users of Intego VirusBarrier software may experience system freezes upon Time Machine activation. The system seems to lock up with no error messages and complete lack of responsiveness, and requires a manual reset to get functional again. This may occur when users perform a backup, or it may occur when users try to access their backups.

As described by Apple Discussions poster clintbradford:

"Finally upgraded to Leopard on my 17" MBP. All went well except for Time Machine freezing when I tried to access it. Initial backup went fine...and so have a few hourly incremental backups. But when I tried to access to see what it had performed - freeze-up. Had to force quit it."

Time Machine has problems with many antivirus software packages, and while disabling or uninstalling the software seems to be a quick fix, a change of settings may enable the virus protection to run in tandem with Time Machine. While the following fix is specific to VirusBarrier software, setting up other virus protection to avoid the Time Machine drive may also help if users are experiencing problems with Time Machine as well.

Fix: Set the Time Machine disk to the "Trusted Zone" in Intego VirusBarrier Open the VirusBarrier software and in the preferences go to the "Scanner" section and add the Time Machine drive to the "Trusted Zone" section. You may have to set the mode to "Interactive" under the "Mode" menu to make these settings available.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Users may experience problems in which moving files to different locations requires authentication, with Mac OS X constantly prompting for passwords. This may occur not only in a multi-user environment, where individual user accounts apply different permissions to files, but also if users have migrated accounts and other information from a previous computer or account on the same computer. It also may occur for users who have performed an upgrade of their OS.

MacFixIt forums member Capodastra writes:

"When I installed 10.5 (not a clean install) all worked well but I kept getting 'authentication' problems when moving stuff around. I had to input my password to move from certain folders to other. I thought I would be smart so I did a command-i n my hard disk and changed to access privileges...but now I cannot copy and paste any links into Safari or [elsewhere]"

While manually altering and propagating permissions may be a tempting solution to inaccessibility problems, you can severely hinder your computer's functionality if you're not an expert at doing so. It is advisable to only set permissions on individual files and folders that you created, and not touch any for system files or other files. However, sometimes these problems are unavoidable if they're caused by updates or application installations.

Fixes

Run a permissions fix Attempt a permissions fix on the drive by using Disk Utility, or boot from the Leopard installation DVD and run a permissions fix from there (using Disk Utility in the "Utilities" menu).

Reset the home folder permissions Boot from the Leopard installation DVD and in the menubar select "Reset Password" from the "Utilities" menu. In the resulting window select your hard drive and then select "Reset" at the bottom where it says "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs".

Workarounds

Create a new account If the problems still persist, create a new account and check for persistence of the issues. If the new account is fine, then either migrate to the new account or attempt to propagate permissions on the old account. For the user account folder, all files within it should have read and write permissions for the account username. To propagate user read/write permissions in the account folder only, right-click (ctrl-click) the home directory and at the bottom click the lock. Then in the "Sharing & Permissions" section ensure the username (should be the same name as the home folder) is set to "Read & Write"

Perform a clean install of the OS If the problems still persist despite resetting permissions and creating new accounts, performance of a clean OS install may be the easiest way to clear them up. This depends, however, on the extent of the permissions errors on the drive, and should only be used as a last resort. Be sure to have all files backed up before reinstalling. When the old files are copied back from the backup, their permissions will be reset (unless a copying utility is used that explicitly preserves permissions) and inherited from the parent folders on the drive. This is how permissions are initially set by default, and this behavior should function properly with a clean installation.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

The synchronization features for MobileMe and the calendar do not appear to function properly for some people. In many cases these problems stem from errors associated with Apple's servers, but for converted .Mac accounts there may be inconsistency problems reported by the service.

For server errors there is no effective fix on the user-end, and affected users must wait for Apple to iron out the bugs (see Apple's acknowledgement). However, users can attempt to reset their synchronization information to deal with consistency errors, and ensure synchronization is set up properly for automatic send and receive of updated information.

NOTE: Subscribed data (RSS feeds, calendars) will not be synced with the MobileMe service. For any subscriptions to be synchronized users must first convert them to local data.

Fixes

Reset the synchronization data On your Mac open the MobileMe iSync preferences (from the iSync menu or in the system preferences) and under the "Sync" tab select "Advanced". Then click the "Reset Sync Data" button and you will be presented with the option to replace all sync info or just one type of information (calendars, bookmarks, etc). Select the desired data type and click one of the arrows to ensure you reset in the proper direction. If the data on your Mac is current and up to date, then click the right arrow to replace the data on MobileMe. iSync will then re-sync itself, but it is also recommended to manually invoke sync again by clicking the "Sync Now" button.

Enable automatic synchronization This is required for the MobileMe "push" synchronization to work properly for some services. Many .Mac users have had their synchronization preferences set to either Manual or to sync at a specific interval, and changing it to automatic will allow the sync to occur when changes are made, resulting in the desired "push" behavior. Go to the iSync system preferences and in the "sync" tab ensure "Synchronize with MobileMe" is checked and set to "Automatically" in the drop-down menu.

Remove relevant preferences files After resetting the synchronization data and ensuring all contact and calendar data are available on the servers (albeit not syncing automatically), go to the ~/Library/Preferences folder and remove the synchronization preferences files. These are:

Workarounds

Manually synchronize If Automatic sync is not behaving properly after resetting all data on either the local machine or on MobileMe, use the iSync menu to manually synchronize the data. Go to the MobileMe "sync" system preferences and select "Manually" from the drop-down menu next to "Synchronize with MobileMe". Next, ensure "Show status in menubar" (at the bottom of the preferences window) is checked so the sync options will be available from the Mac OS X menubar, and use the menubar to manually sync all information.

We've recently received reports from a number of readers indicating printing problems under Mac OS X 10.5.4. MacFixIt reader Paul writes:

"I have a network of Macs running OS X and a laserjet 1320nw printer connected via ethernet. All was well until I upgraded to 10.5.4. When I did I couldn't print to that device. Tried reinstalling drivers and I can't even see the printer now. All still works fine on machines running 10.5.3."

If you are experiencing similar issues, try installing the HP Printer Driver 1.1 update released today by Apple. This update is available via Software Update and will only be visible if the printer is connected to your computer or a print queue has been created for an earlier version.

It is also available as a 405.1MB standalone download.

Failing that, try to restart CUPS manually: Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and type the following commands, pressing return after each:

• cupsdisable
• cupsenable

Failing that, you may need to reinstall CUPS, or revert to an earlier version of the system. Various versions are available from this Web site: http://www.cups.org/software.php,. First you should use the latest file with a .dmg extension, then move to prior iterations if necessary.

• Clear caches Use Leopard Cache Cleaner to perform a medium or deep cleaning of caches. One reader writes:
• Repair permissions Sure enough, some users have been able to resolve post Mac OS X 10.5.4-update printing issues by repairing disk permissions with Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities).

Previous coverage:

• Mac OS X 10.5.4 (#5): Adobe CS3 problems persist?; Random problem? Try re-applying the combo updater first; more
• Mac OS X 10.5.4 (#4): Spotlight problems; random shutdowns; poor performance; more
• "syslogd" process taking 100% CPU under Mac OS X 10.5.4
• Mac OS X 10.5.4 (#2): issues fixed by reinstalling with standalone updaters; iSync problems
• Mac OS X 10.5.4 released; fixes Adobe CS3 save issue; update recommendations

Several users have reported an issue in which Apple TV Update 2.1 fails to apply, with the Apple TV delivering the following message:

"The Apple TV update could not be downloaded at this time. Try again later."

As written by Apple Discussions poster "Bob":

"I have been trying to update since about 5 pm on 7/11. With maybe 40 attempts so far over the last 20 hours none have worked. They all seem to go through the download bar in 5 to 15 minutes. They get to the end without any obvious errors. Once the download completes the 'can not update' message comes up."

If you are experiencing these problems, you may want to try performing a factory restore on the Apple TV then re-attempting installation of the update. Note that this will erase all media on the drive.

Other users have reported that simply powering the unit off then back on prior to the update allowed a smooth process.

Similar issue? Please let us know.

From our sister site, iPhone Atlas.

Restore and update your iPhone 3G to squash bugs If you have an iPhone 3G and haven't restored it yet, do so. The first batch of iPhone 3G units shipped with iPhone OS 2.0 5A345, but the current build is 2.0 5A347. A handful of bugs were squashed with the new iteration, which brings enhanced stability and other enhancements. Read More.

Dozens of accessories don't work with the iPhone 3G huge swath of accessories that were compatible with the first-generation are not compatible with the iPhone 3G, either failing to charge the device or losing functionality completely. Read More.

Removing stubborn iPhone apps Some iPhone applications downloaded from the App Store have proven difficult to remove. Read More.

Cases may cause yellow-tinted iPhone 3G screens A number of iPhone 3G purchasers have reported yellow-tinted displays. Apple reportedly claims that the tint is a result of a warmer display that will generally produce more accurate colors and deeper blacks. Read More.

iPhone 3G battery draining too fast? Try this The iPhone 3G has been shown to exhibit poorer battery life than its predecessor when persistently utilizing 3G connectivity. However, some have reported inordinately short battery life, which could have a variety of causes. Read More.

Boosting iPhone 3G signal strength The iPhone 3G automatically switches between 3G and 2G networks for voice and data connections. In theory, the phone should hop off 3G when signal strength is too low or non-existent, and hop back on when the signal gets better. In our experience, however, the iPhone 3G isn't aggressive enough regarding the switch from 3G to 2G. Read More.

Users may experience an issue with iPhoto in which the library will not load, and the application shows an empty window. If this problem occurs, the result is not only an empty library, but also an inability access backups from Time Machine from within iPhoto. This is because for Time Machine loses track of the library's location.

For various reasons, users may have misplaced their iPhoto libraries on their drives. This might happen if users have intentionally placed their photos in other locations than the default "Pictures" folder, and then upgraded iPhoto or installed other updates which may have broken the link between iPhoto and the library. While it should be easy to search for the iphoto library, it appears that the system treats the library as a system file, and therefore does not include it in Spotlight and Finder searches by default. Therefore, a special search must be done to locate the library and point iPhoto to it.

Additionally, even if the library can be located, corruption may prevent Time Machine from working properly from within iPhoto, resulting in the same "empty library" behavior in iPhoto.

Fixes

Locate the iphoto library and restore it for "missing" libraries:

1. In the Finder press the "command-F" keys to open the search window.
2. Ensure "This Mac" is selected, and that you are searching for "File Name"
3. In the filters, click the "Kind" menu and select the "System files" option. If "System Files" is not available, then go to "Other" and search for that filter to add to the list.
4. With the filter selected, in the second menu select "include".
5. Finally search for "iPhoto Library" and note it's location.
6. Open iPhoto with the options key held, and select the iPhoto library from the location you found.

Use Time Machine or other backup in the Finder to replace "corrupt" libraries If your iPhoto library is in a known location and you have tried the first fix to restore it's functionality, it could be that the library itself is corrupted. This is a file called either "library6.iphoto" or "library.iphoto" that resides within the "iPhoto Library" package file, and is the catalog for all the photos in the library package. To restore this you will need to have a working backup. If you use Time Machine, follow the steps above to search for the iPhoto library on your drive, and then, in the Finder, use Time Machine to restore a backup of the library.

Instead of restoring the whole library package, you can try restoring just the "library6.iphoto" file within the package. Right-click the iPhoto library and view package contents. Then invoke Time Machine and restore the working backup. If you have another backup system, you will have to search it for the iPhoto library, but be sure to include system files in the search.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Stalls upon iPod/iPhone connection The iTunes update has caused numerous users to experience hangs upon attaching an iPod or iPhone to the computer. When the device is attached the spinning beach ball will pop up and iTunes will become unresponsive, prompting users to force-quit the application. As described by Apple Discussion member cutcoMike:

"iTunes 7.7 seems to work fine until I connect my iPhone and then it just freezes up the whole computer, but when I disconnect my iPhone it goes back to working just fine. It just doesn't seem to like it when I connect my iPhone."

Users have found the following fixes to be helpful in solving this problem.

• Ensure your iPod is disconnected before starting iTunes This allows iTunes to update the local library files before managing iPod synchronization. Test out iTunes and ensure it functions normally before plugging in your iPod and attempting to sync your data.
• Wait it out Even though the application may appear to be nonfunctional, users have found that this hang can be a temporary problem while iTunes first gets running. This can take a few minutes before iTunes begins functioning again, but when it does the problem for some users seems to cleared itself. Test the application and ensure you can copy a file or two to the iPod, and hopefully the problem will be gone; however, if it persists then try the next steps.
• Run drive checks on the iPod and permissions fixes on the hard disk Using Disk Utility, check the drives to ensure they are intact, as disk problems could definitely lead to software hangs.
• Restore the iPod and re-sync it Following Apple's instructions, reset the iPod to factory default settings and then plug it into the computer. You will need to re-sync your library, contacts, and calendars again, but iTunes should no longer hang after this.

Missing GUI For many iTunes 7.7 users, the interface hangs and becomes unresponsive or does not appear at all when the application is first launched. For some users this has occurred when they've attached iPods to their computers, but for others it has happened with the initial opening of the program.

It appears the iTunes update needs to take some time to catalog the files in your library. If it hangs on this process, it could corrupt the library and require a library restoration. Additionally, if the library is corrupt to begin with then it could lead to a hang when iTunes tries to access it. Regardless, the following fixes have worked for some users:

• Restore a backup iTunes library file and allow iTunes to update it Reinstall iTunes via the direct download, but do not immediately open it. Next, copy your "iTunes Music Library.xml" file (it may be called something different, but is the only xml file in the folder) out of the ~/Music/iTunes folder and restore a previous version from a Time Machine backup (or some other backup). Finally ensure your library is available to iTunes (i.e.: attached and mounted if on an external drive) and run iTunes and allow it to take its time to read the library. For some users this has taken 5-10 minutes, so be patient and the GUI should eventually load.
• Create a new library If you have your library organized by artist and album as iTunes does by default, then you should be able to remove the iTunes library files from your "~/Music/iTunes" directory and then open iTunes. From there you can drag the "iTunes Music" folder to the iTunes window to add all the files back and create a new library file. NOTE: this will erase the album ratings, play counts, and other meta data that iTunes applies to the library, so only do this if those items are unimportant.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• iTunes 7.7 (#2): erased drive data, empty library, unexpected quits; more
• iTunes 7.7: causing major iPod/iPhone connectivity problems, other issues