First Mac, and having some hardware issues.

Z

ziomatrixacs

Registered
Hey guys, this is my first mac, I've had it for a week now. Im a PC convert so I have several peripherals that need drivers or something to get it to work.. I also have a few other problems

I am running Mac OS X version 10.4.11 with a 1.2ghz power pc G4 ibook. No warranty. My buddy upgraded to a black book and I bought this off her since I did not want to buy a laptop running vista. Since it is used, it has a few problems you guys might be able to help me with.

First off, my sony handy cam came with software for Windows only. When I plug the camera, iDVD opens up and plays the movies I recorded. I have to click the dvd icon the comes up on the desktop, click a folder mysteriously labeled something like DSIX, click something else, then all of my pictures come up. No programs on this thing can get the jpegs out of the camera. I can not find a way to get the movies off at all. When I put the movies onto my PC, they are Mpeg format. When I put them on a flash driver and put them into the iBook, all of the movie software says it is not a movie file. I tried quick time, flip for mac, divx, real player and iMovie. They all say the same thing. Yet when I put the same file from the iBook hard drive into the flash driver then to the PC, it plays in Windows media player and real player. I tried switching the extension to .avi .mpeg .wmv and a few others. Is there a special driver I need?

Next thing... I have an HP 5400c scanjet that wants me to create an OS 9 environment to use it. It says I have to back up my files and a lot of other scary things like holding keys while it boots up. Is there any solution? I checked HP site and they want me to pay $10 for a CD, and I don't want to pay them cause I'm a mac user. I read somewhere here that running it in OS X causes major lag and I only have 256mb of ram, which will cause even more problems.

iChat...I have a Micro Innovation's webcam.. not sure of the model number, but it will not work either. Where could I find a driver for it? Is it possible to have the person you are talking to, show you their webcam with out you having one?

Yahoo beta.. does any one know how stable this is on a mac?
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/email_chat/yahoomessengerformac.html

I know I could go out and buy a new webcam, scanner, or driver programs but I honestly don't have the money to. (other reason why I bought the iBook).. so if there are free driver updates for that stuff, that would be great.


Now for the computer it self! I havve been doing a good job at suppressing it, but...the key board has a slight pproblem. Not sure how to fix this one.. When evver I ppush the "P" and "V" keys, I get two of them so I havve to go back and delete one. This is how it looks when I don't do it.
Check this out...
pp v
pp vv
p vv
pp v
p vvv
pp vv
p v
ppp vv

Not sure why it does that..

Last thing... this bad boy has been dropped more than once! It only charges when you have it sit straight up and put something under the charging plug so it goes in at an angle. Is there any known info on how to fix or remedy this?

Thanks for the helpp guys!
 
ziomatrixacs said:
First off, my sony handy cam came with software for Windows only. When I plug the camera, iDVD opens up and plays the movies I recorded. I have to click the dvd icon the comes up on the desktop, click a folder mysteriously labeled something like DSIX, click something else, then all of my pictures come up. No programs on this thing can get the jpegs out of the camera. I can not find a way to get the movies off at all. When I put the movies onto my PC, they are Mpeg format. When I put them on a flash driver and put them into the iBook, all of the movie software says it is not a movie file. I tried quick time, flip for mac, divx, real player and iMovie. They all say the same thing. Yet when I put the same file from the iBook hard drive into the flash driver then to the PC, it plays in Windows media player and real player. I tried switching the extension to .avi .mpeg .wmv and a few others. Is there a special driver I need?
Click to expand...
What is the model of your Handycam? It sounds like a hard drive model. Try playing the movie files with VLC. iMovie '08 has better support for those kind of camcorders, but it won't run on a G4. You can convert mpegs to .dv's with MPEG streamclip, which is free. iMovie likes .dv's.

As for the photos, try opening iPhoto to see if it sees the camcorder.If iPhoto can't you should still be able to drag the photos off.

Next thing... I have an HP 5400c scanjet that wants me to create an OS 9 environment to use it. It says I have to back up my files and a lot of other scary things like holding keys while it boots up. Is there any solution? I checked HP site and they want me to pay $10 for a CD, and I don't want to pay them cause I'm a mac user. I read somewhere here that running it in OS X causes major lag and I only have 256mb of ram, which will cause even more problems.
Click to expand...
I would highly recommend getting VueScan. It supports over 700 scanners, yours included. Classic mode is more trouble than it is worth in this instance.

iChat...I have a Micro Innovation's webcam.. not sure of the model number, but it will not work either. Where could I find a driver for it? Is it possible to have the person you are talking to, show you their webcam with out you having one?
Click to expand...
Try using one of these usb webcam enablers:
http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20203

Yahoo beta.. does any one know how stable this is on a mac?
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/email_chat/yahoomessengerformac.html
Click to expand...
doesn't look good
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/3845
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22025

Now for the computer it self! I havve been doing a good job at suppressing it, but...the key board has a slight pproblem. Not sure how to fix this one.. When evver I ppush the "P" and "V" keys, I get two of them so I havve to go back and delete one. This is how it looks when I don't do it.
Check this out...
pp v
pp vv
p vv
pp v
p vvv
pp vv
p v
ppp vv

Not sure why it does that..
Click to expand...
Try turning on "sticky keys" in the universal assistance or System Preferences. It's normally for people that have trouble typing, but it might do the trick. Otherwise, sounds like a dying keyboard.

Last thing... this bad boy has been dropped more than once! It only charges when you have it sit straight up and put something under the charging plug so it goes in at an angle. Is there any known info on how to fix or remedy this?
Click to expand...
This could be the cord or the socket. You can get a new cord from Apple, you can replace the jack with parts from http://www.ifixit.com/
 
Im not at home right now so I can't check my cameras number. It is the Touch screen 8cm DVD version, not the hard drive version.

I heard vuescan doesn't support the 5400c, you sure?

Yikes.. I really liked Yahoo! on windows, its a shame its not as good on a mac. I might try it anyways though.. still debating that one

The original power cord broke a long time ago, then the previous owner got another one, then the little pin inside the plug snapped off after she dropped it. So she got a cheap charger that works but isn't apple brand.
 
All the photos and movies are recognised by an application called Image Capture. Open this from the Applications folder. Check the Preferences and you should be able to set iPhoto to open when a camera is connected.

Once iPhoto opens you get offered the chance to import the photos from the camera.

If you haven't got iPhoto it's part of the iLife set of programs.
 
i have iphoto and tried image capture but it detects my camera as a dvd drive. even when i eject the camera, the camera actually opens the eject bay door. Ill try and work on it tonight when I get home. Ill also get the model number of my camera.
Its weird, a CD icon appears when I pplug the camera in, and I am able to look in it. The ppictures show upp as icons and I am able to transfer them to my compputer with no problem at all. They work like the average Jpeg. But the Mpeg movie videos are a different story. They will not work in any program, and quick time says "this is not a movie file." When I movve that same file to a PPC, it works just fine and oppens with anything even real pplayer. Not sure whats upp with that. It might be a convversion error or the camera takes movvies in a DVD format and the PC's drivver convverts it to copywrited Mppegs or something. It came with a pc only driver and says to go to some website, cant recall its name. I checked it out and its some weird 3rd party site that doesn't look trustable.

I downloaded vuescan, but it takes 5 minutes to load, and doesn't like to be ran with safari. Ill test it out in a few minutes!


I think I'll try to find an old ibook keyboard and swamp it out...it's a real pain getting 2 p's and v's when I hit the button. I tried using the universal access thing, I have to hold a key down for a second for it to activate. It works for sure but I couldn't find the sweet spot. A college near by has an all mac based campus..should be able to find one easy and cheap. My school has a lot of iBooks, but they are stubborn and use dells everywhere else. I might be able to talk the school board into letting me havve a broken ibook's keyboard. (I live in a small town)
 
At home now.. using a dial up connection so I'm surfing the net at hyperspeed!

OK...sony cam says it takes the "SPVD-014 USB DRIVER" and the soft ware is called picture package. The thing says go to Imagemixer.com

I tries vuescan.. first it made my computer lag horribly, so I set the processor to highest and quited every thing. It then froze the computer and the screen went to no back light, and would not wake up. Restarted the compputer, then it worked after I shut airport off. The program did not recognize the scanner at first, so I tried it again. This time it worked and said "vuescan detected the HP 5400c Scanjet but did not find a driver for it." Not sure if I should just make the OS 9 folder or what. Ill try and get an external hard drivve to back up my files first though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top