new Macbook user, having some trouble

[joyous19]

So, I bought my first Mac on Friday, a Macbook for college. I'm having some problems, most are just little things, but frustrating nonetheless.

I can't get it to connect to internet. There's no wireless at my house, so I am using a cable modem. I tried the Network Assistant, but I have no idea how to find out the DHCP client ID. Do I just have to call my ISP? Or is there another way I can figure it out? I tried doing it as LAN, because that's actually how my PC defines the connection, and put in all the subnet, router, DNS hosts, but that didn't work either.

Also, once I am able to connect to wireless up at school, will I have to set anything up? Or, since Airport is already in the Macbook, does it just find it?

iTunes is acting a bit funny...when I put in CDs, it doesn't automatically put in the names of the songs, artist, & album. On Windows, it did come up...I thought this information was imbedded into the CDs...does Mac just not read it? Also, on 2 CDs so far, when trying to Import, iTunes just gets stuck on one song and cannot finish importing the CD. I am very much into my music, so this is getting on my nerves.

This morning, when I turned my Macbook on, the iSight Camera would not turn on. I tried to open iPhoto, but it kept saying that there was no camera connected or something. ??? It was working fine before.

And one more thing, which is probably going to seem really silly, how do you adjust the size of an open application, besides clicking the + button? Is there a way?

Thanks in advance!

[eric2006]

iTunes will need internet to "match" the music to the name. Track names are not on the CD.
You may need information from you ISP to connect to the internet, so you might want to give them a call, or look for setup instructions on their website. (If you tell us who your ISP is, we might be able to help there)
As for the iSight, try these suggestions from the iSight manual:

If Your iSight Won’t Turn On or Respond
•
Make sure the FireWire cable is plugged firmly into iSight and into your computer. Be
sure the connector on the cable is oriented correctly. It can only be inserted one way.
•
Make sure the lens is open. Rotate the lens ring to open it. When iSight is capturing
video, a green light appears on top of the unit.
If You Don’t See Your Image in iChat AV
•
Make sure the FireWire cable is plugged firmly into iSight and into your computer. Be
sure the connector on the cable is oriented correctly. It can only be inserted one way.
•
Make sure the lens is open. Rotate the lens ring to open it. When iSight is capturing
video, a green light appears on top of the unit.
•
Quit and restart iChat AV.
•
Make sure you’re using the latest version of iChat AV. Go to www.apple.com/ichat
to get the latest version.

Wireless should automatically work, unless there is a key to the network. If your computer is not set to auto-join, you may have to select the school network from the Airport menu.

As for re-sizing, look for the triangle in the bottom right hand corner.

Good luck!

[Paraffin]

The MacBook's iSight is built-into the top of the screen if im not mistaken. So that help would be for the external version correct?

[plasmacutter]

Originally Posted by joyous19

So, I bought my first Mac on Friday, a Macbook for college. I'm having some problems, most are just little things, but frustrating nonetheless.

I can't get it to connect to internet. There's no wireless at my house, so I am using a cable modem. I tried the Network Assistant, but I have no idea how to find out the DHCP client ID. Do I just have to call my ISP? Or is there another way I can figure it out? I tried doing it as LAN, because that's actually how my PC defines the connection, and put in all the subnet, router, DNS hosts, but that didn't work either.

Also, once I am able to connect to wireless up at school, will I have to set anything up? Or, since Airport is already in the Macbook, does it just find it?

iTunes is acting a bit funny...when I put in CDs, it doesn't automatically put in the names of the songs, artist, & album. On Windows, it did come up...I thought this information was imbedded into the CDs...does Mac just not read it? Also, on 2 CDs so far, when trying to Import, iTunes just gets stuck on one song and cannot finish importing the CD. I am very much into my music, so this is getting on my nerves.

This morning, when I turned my Macbook on, the iSight Camera would not turn on. I tried to open iPhoto, but it kept saying that there was no camera connected or something. ??? It was working fine before.

And one more thing, which is probably going to seem really silly, how do you adjust the size of an open application, besides clicking the + button? Is there a way?

Thanks in advance!

ok.. cable modem first. Did you try rebooting the modem with the mac connected to it? in the old days modems just adapted to whatever computer was there, nowadays they seem to need rebooting any time you connect something different to it. This started happening with comcast's service about a year ago.

As for itunes getting stuck.. go into preferences, advanced, importing, and check the box to use error correction (feel free to change your import settings there too.. like apple lossless! yum!).. This usually gets around those corrupt un-cds which clog ripping programs, this is probably what's happening to itunes as that setting is not on by default.

The isight camera might have been disabled in preferences somehow.. go into ichat or system preferences and monkey around..

finally, resizing program windows... the bottom right corner has slanted lines on it.. grab with mouse and pull ; )

for future reference regarding system maintainance and troubleshooting, but unrelated to your post:

if apps like ichat or photoshop have trouble launching, its probably an irregularity in the internet connection, theyre sensitive to it.

if any other apps have trouble launching or crash on launch, go into your home folder/library/preferences and delete any ".plist" files which pertain to that app. You'll have to reconfigure it but it will fix the problem 90% of the time.

for compatibility purposes, I would suggest getting mplayer or VLC for osX. in the case of H.264 you will want to turn post processing off because the filters were not made for that codec, otherwise it should run like a dream.

Other suggested cool apps:
fruitmenu (shareware 10 bucks).. adds a highly customizable start menu style selection list to the "apple menu" at the top left of the screen as well as other flexibly programmable contextual menus (options which pop up when you control click) to the finder (like an option to "gather all selected items into one folder")

synergy classic (5 euro shareware).. adds some cushy features to itunes including key shortcuts, controls on the menubar, and automatic update of album art.

azureus, the best bit torrent client for mac, supports firewall traversal and the most protocols, though its a bit resource hungry

isquint, converts flv files you leech from places like youtube into ipod/quicktime compatible video files.

tinkertool, allows you to view hidden files like on windows, this includes ipods music directory, as well as fine tune the position of the dock, make hidden programs (apple h) translucent in the dock, and some other cool stuff.

transparentdock, shareware (but doesnt need to be registered) which allows you to adjust the color of the dock, the "running app" arrows, the border, etc.

Hopefully these answers and tips make your mac a cooler and better experience.