honeyspoon
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Q: hd icon on hardrive gone orange!

Hello mac friends

 

I am trying to troubleshoot before things go too wrong with my macbook, which is at least 7 years old now, cant stand the tought of going over to pc because its cheaper , so anything i can do to preseve and maintain feels vital!

 

So initially i have noticed that things have slowed down a little despite enough memory, new battery a year ago. Entourage freezes reguarly and firefox quits occassionally , as does the computer shutting down randomly. I have ignored all this until last night when my camera refused to work and then even switch off when i tried to use skype and photo booth. I follow up to step 3 on mac support and checked it was a hard drive problem rather than application... tried in another account and different apps, same problem, switched on and off several times. Then i noticed the camera light wouldnt switch off even when out of photobooth ( which to be honest creeped me out a bit like someone was watching me!) Ha...so i went off line thinking maybe its a virus. Checked the firewall which was off , turned it on and off again not knowing whether it should be left on or off, ran a first aid a few times on the hard drive and partition, backed up. Then downloaded clamXav and saw all the warning for this so decided that was beyond me!

The only things that i can think may have triggered  things is i made an adjustment to my account admin name in account preferences and deleted my tom tom app and another one i cant remember that didnt seem relevant to open at start up.

Camera still a black screen and didnt switch off , then all of a sudden the icon for my hard drive on the desktop (the label) went orange! when i highlight it is blue , so i ran first aid again and although each time it says  permissions repaired it also said

 

" Warning SUID file "system/library/coreservices/remotemanagement/ARDAgent.app/contents/macos/Ard Agent has been modified and will not be repaired"

 

It says this on both hd and partition that was collaborated for my back up hard drive years ago ( which i still dont really understand!)

 

So today on reboot the camera works again and is switch off when not in the applications of skype or photobooth, so seems to have resolved itself, yet the hd icon is still orange... any ideas please? I know that on the forum it says that the above warning is nothing to be concerned about but there does seem to be a link...?

 

Also another problem , my cd drive hasnt worked for months now, i cant eject or load with any icon recognising a cd/dvd and now in utility there seems to be a cd icon which was never there before (is this the optical drive?)which makes me wonder if i have a cd stuck in the drive . As for months it would intermittantly work so i am confused as to whether it is empty or not.

 

My macbook is working however i really want to solve these problems if i can incase it leads to the more problems. I am on version )OSX 10.6.8 and updated to snow leopard about a year ago.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

Thank you (:

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 13, 2013 3:26 AM

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honeyspoon

Q: hd icon on hardrive gone orange!

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  • by honeyspoon,

    honeyspoon honeyspoon May 13, 2013 3:33 AM in response to honeyspoon
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    May 13, 2013 3:33 AM in response to honeyspoon

    ps if i just update to moutain lion will this just resolve all problems and improve the life of my macbook?

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 13, 2013 11:14 AM in response to honeyspoon
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 13, 2013 11:14 AM in response to honeyspoon

    honeyspoon wrote:

     

    i ran first aid again and although each time it says  permissions repaired it also said

     

    " Warning SUID file "system/library/coreservices/remotemanagement/ARDAgent.app/contents/macos/Ard Agent has been modified and will not be repaired"

    Ignore that along with any of the other items listed here.

     

    Several of the items you mention point to a hardware problem, so I would advise running the Apple Hardware Test for your Mac as the next step. Run the long test. It's not perfect, but may give you some clues as to what's going on. Not sure what your model is, but this may help.

  • by MadMacs0,Helpful

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 13, 2013 11:16 AM in response to honeyspoon
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 13, 2013 11:16 AM in response to honeyspoon

    honeyspoon wrote:

     

    ps if i just update to moutain lion will this just resolve all problems and improve the life of my macbook?

    I doubt that your MacBook is capable of running Mountain Lion, but in any case you should resolve most of these issues before upgrading.

  • by honeyspoon,

    honeyspoon honeyspoon May 13, 2013 1:31 PM in response to honeyspoon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 13, 2013 1:31 PM in response to honeyspoon

    Thank you madmacs0

     

    I will try running the hardware test like you say. So I don't use the snow leopard update cd I use the original start up discs to do this then? Hope I can find them! Also is it fool proof or can I cause more trouble doing this?

  • by MadMacs0,Helpful

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 13, 2013 1:36 PM in response to honeyspoon
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 13, 2013 1:36 PM in response to honeyspoon

    honeyspoon wrote:

     

    I will try running the hardware test like you say. So I don't use the snow leopard update cd I use the original start up discs to do this then?

    Probably, although it depends to some extent on the specific model you have as they started making it available by other means a few years ago. Each test is specific to a particular mac model, so they were normally only available from the original set of disks.

    Also is it fool proof or can I cause more trouble doing this?

    It's a passive test and I've never heard of anybody suffering from additional issues. The only danger would be that if it comes up clean you totally dismiss hardware as the cause of your problems. Apple certified techs do have access to more complete testing software in their facilities.

  • by honeyspoon,

    honeyspoon honeyspoon May 15, 2013 2:46 AM in response to MadMacs0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2013 2:46 AM in response to MadMacs0

    ok, i havent done the hardrive test as i am a bit nervous about messing it up. But i did discover that if i get info on the hardrive icon on the desktop i can change the icon back to what it was , perhaps i changed this accidently in the first place. as far as the apps crashing and mac closing down and warning notice ( i know it says that this is one to ignore) i shall take this to the genius bar and see what they say. camera works fine again. perhaps there is a hard drive problem like you say. Is it possible just to replace the hardrive if so and is this worth it/ expensive?

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 15, 2013 11:03 AM in response to honeyspoon
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 15, 2013 11:03 AM in response to honeyspoon

    honeyspoon wrote:

     

    ok, i havent done the hardrive test as i am a bit nervous about messing it up.

    Hardrive or hardware? I recommended the latter and there is no way you can mess anything up. All it does is test your RAM, logic board and a few other items, such as fans, sensors, & airport card.

    honeyspoon wrote:

     

    Is it possible just to replace the hardrive if so and is this worth it/ expensive?

    Not sure why you think it's a hard drive problem but it is possible to replace, and there are even do-it-yourself instructions available, but if you have never been inside a computer before, I recommend you have it done by a certified Apple repair shop. Price depends on the size and speed of the hard drive you want, but they start around $35 at Other World Computing. Installation would obviously cost extra.

     

    Genius bar would be a great place to start.