About Jeffrey J. Wrobel Expertise I can answer OS compatibility questions, from OS 7 to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Living in Rhode Island with family near Cape Cod, Mass has proven to be a bit lacking in Mac popularity (Yankees are slow to change), but momentum is building for Apple.
Experience I studied electrical engineering, video technology, and computers in the early 80s, coming into contact with the very first Apple machines. Unlike many Mac technicians, I also have an excellent working knowledge of the Windoze platform. This has allowed me to work in many different computer environments and has made my company, Lazarus Communications, much more desirable for many small businesses and mixed Mac/PC homes. I do point-of-sale installations, design systems and networks for unique business and creative settings. I have 25 years experience in software installation, use, and troubleshooting as well as all aspects of high level hardware repair. Any questions about peripherals and their Mac-compatibility are also welcome. I am very current in all aspects of the Max OS, while having an excellent breadth of knowledge of older machines. My work keeps me in constant contact with Mac suppliers, products, and problems, enabling me to not only draw on my past experience, but also to add to that experience every day.
Publications I have authored specialized repair manuals for technicians that I distributed through my server to anyone who asked for them. Numerous Mac forums, essays and editorials featured in the Media Awareness Project, and I've contributed too many newspapers and blogs to count. LazCom,com and JeffWrobel.com, which are my websites for my company and professional photography, respectively.
Education/Credentials Studied in the early 80s with students from Worcester Polytech Institute and learned Basic, Pascal, and other programming languages. Found myself to be more creative than a number cruncher, so I went to UMASS to study Philosophy, English, and Psychology (Major, minor, minor). Loved learning the theory of knowledge, language, and ethics. Found the philosophy education to be superior in the amount I learned (and how much was required of me) and went into psychology after college, working with the criminally insane, mentally ill, and head-injured. Eventually, found that I could make a better living and enjoy the work more, if I was working with people to help them find and use computers that fit THEM individually, instead of the prevailing wisdom of one-size-fits-all strategy of the Microsoft crew. Also, was very disturbed at the predatory nature of Microsoft, as they swallowed up small creative and innovative companies and sucked up their original ideas. Was amazed that what Microsoft brought to computing and computers was greed and no substance. They gave up security for monopoly, innovation for homogenization, and they profited on the backs of so many businesses and individuals that they destroyed. The ethics were clearly lacking and because of their size and tax outlay, the US government overlooked information theft that was engineered into their programs.
Past/Present Clients My life experience has taken me from the US Army to working with the criminally insane. Pursued a philosophy degree while working in psychology, then ended up doing graphic design, marketing modular construction products, and ultimately starting the computer business that I now own. At 41 years old, I plan to make my triumphant return to college and get a master's degree in philosophy.
Clients include a multi-million dollar international manufacturing firm, a nationwide jewelry/gemstone distributor, numerous town libraries, 2 school districts, a few celebrities, a famous author, a prominent film maker, Brown University & RISD faculty and students, and numerous small businesses and individuals in Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and Boston. I also have a nationwide Powerbook/iBook/Macbook repair program and I sell refurbished Mac parts. The growth of my company, which was a record-breaker in 2008, has been a direct result of my customer service and the experience gained through helping the folks that use All Experts.
I am a graphic designer and I have a brand new G5 (Mac details
at the end of the message)
I use Adobe apps, Adobe Fonts (and Font Reserve) and the
dreaded MS Office 2004 suit. The Mac has 2 FireWire external
HDs and 2 USB devices attached (Wacom tablet and HP Scanner).
The only "funky" thing I have done to this Mac is to transplant
OS9.2.2 from my old G3 (that was running OSX 10.2) because it
was not part of the original OS setup and I need to run some
Classic apps from time to time.
I have almost the same system at work (2GB of RAM instead of
1.5GB) and, compared to that, my G5 crashes often, more often
that I'd like, for sure. in two weeks, Photoshop has crashed three
times on this machine and perhaps once in several months at
work. Same with Illustrator and Entourage.
I always rebuild the permissions (the "brightest" idea Apple
could have come up with, for sure) after a crash and they seem
to be ok (no permissions are fixed, most times)
My question is: Although it has never been running during a
crash, do you think that the transplanted OS9 could be the
culprit? If not what else should I look into?
I have noticed that when a crash occurs, threat "0" crashed first
(according to the on-screen log that I always send to Apple). Ex.:
Etc., etc...
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Mac Details:
Machine Model: Power Mac G5 (from the 2 wave of G5s)
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f2
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Thank you for your time and expertise.
Sincerely,
Andrés Cathalifaud, Santa Clara, CA
Answer Dear Andrés,
Congrats on owning an extremely powerful machine and having the taste to stay with Apple. This G5 is still in its infancy, not even having a true native 64 bit system to run in yet, while the hardware operates at 64, the software tries to keep up at 32 bit. Tiger should solve SOME of those difficulties. However, I don't think that your problem has anything to do with THAT. In fact, you very likely are exactly right when you asked about the OS 9 install. Mac put a ROM block on the OS 9 system, making it incompatible with the new machine's hardware. Of course, you can clone or copy the OS from one disk to the G5, but whenever it attempts to run, a kernel panic (crash) will ensue.
Now, the OS 9 Classic does NOT have to be running to cause problems because it is at odds with the hardware. Therefore, even in the background, it can cause a crash because OS X sometimes updates classic files during normal operation. Now, when it tries to update classic and encounters the System instead of just the Classic emulation components, it does not know how to respond, hence the "invalid address" and "bad access" messages.
Here's what should fix it. Remove the OS 9 files by doing a search for anything resembling OS 9, classic, etc. Then, insert your OS X 10.3 install disk and go through the initial installation windows until you get to the window where you choose the disk you want to install OS X on. Select the one that it is installed on now and click on the OPTIONS button. Select ARCHIVE and INSTALL and continue. In the next window you will see a button that says CUSTOM. Click on it and DESELECT the speech voices, the FONTS, and all the print drivers except the GIMP print drivers and the ones that you have printers for. Then, click on INSTALL and go through the install, then click on software update when you're done to update your components, quick time, security, etc. You should then, after the update and restart, be at 10.3.5 This should solve your problem.
As for AppleCare folks, look in September's Mac Addict magazine under the LETTERS section. They published my letter on just that subject!
Please, write back if you need more help or any clarification, okay?
Thanks,
Jeffrey Wrobel
