Troubleshooting a MAC with no experience
Hey forum.
]In our building of over 200+ PC's we have a MAC. The MAC was configured a while ago by a techie who’s not in for a few weeks. It took me 30 minutes to even find the preference settings for the mac so it’s a pain trying to solve this issue for a very nice doctor who would appreciate me fixing it ASAP before the other techie gets back
First issue was Firefox wouldn’t work at all, Safari did work but would freeze on some websites, such as ServeyMonkey, and also when she tried booking flights. It would let her get so far before completely stalling (bar at the top would go up to a fixed point and then nothing).
The Proxy settings were a bit unique to what I’ve seen for everywhere else. I changed them with the actual IP, which required her to login. Safari worked (but same problems, not loading on important pages) and Firefox was asking for Kerberos authentication (we don’t use Kerberos). Trying to log into Firefox completely locked her out of her AD account.
I changed the Firefox proxy settings, disabled firewall, and now she can use safari and outlook, but the websites she needs still do not work, and Firefox doesn’t work at all, so I’m back at square one.
I am enjoying working in the mac. It would definitely save me embarrassment next time I’m working on one, but I feel it might be a simple solution that I can’t see in from of me due to the lack of MAC experience. Key chains, Credentials, etc…are they settings the last techie put in or are they apart of how a MAC works? That kind of thing is what I’m fighting with.
The post is a bit incoherent since I’m doing loads of things at once, if anyone can shed any light on this I would be eternally grateful. Suggestions to burn the MAC will not go unheard.
]In our building of over 200+ PC's we have a MAC. The MAC was configured a while ago by a techie who’s not in for a few weeks. It took me 30 minutes to even find the preference settings for the mac so it’s a pain trying to solve this issue for a very nice doctor who would appreciate me fixing it ASAP before the other techie gets back
First issue was Firefox wouldn’t work at all, Safari did work but would freeze on some websites, such as ServeyMonkey, and also when she tried booking flights. It would let her get so far before completely stalling (bar at the top would go up to a fixed point and then nothing).
The Proxy settings were a bit unique to what I’ve seen for everywhere else. I changed them with the actual IP, which required her to login. Safari worked (but same problems, not loading on important pages) and Firefox was asking for Kerberos authentication (we don’t use Kerberos). Trying to log into Firefox completely locked her out of her AD account.
I changed the Firefox proxy settings, disabled firewall, and now she can use safari and outlook, but the websites she needs still do not work, and Firefox doesn’t work at all, so I’m back at square one.
I am enjoying working in the mac. It would definitely save me embarrassment next time I’m working on one, but I feel it might be a simple solution that I can’t see in from of me due to the lack of MAC experience. Key chains, Credentials, etc…are they settings the last techie put in or are they apart of how a MAC works? That kind of thing is what I’m fighting with.
The post is a bit incoherent since I’m doing loads of things at once, if anyone can shed any light on this I would be eternally grateful. Suggestions to burn the MAC will not go unheard.
Comments
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Kai123
Member Posts: 364 ■■■□□□□□□□
Another Doc who has a Mac had a go on it and fixed it in 10 minutes. Had me and other guy (14 years system admin) stumped.
Trying to track down the wizard so I can at least study the procedure. It was a Mac issue, not a server issue, something do to with keychains. -
lsud00d
Member Posts: 1,571
Almost anything you'll need to find is in System Preferences. Also, Finder is your friend! It's the magnifying glass symbol at the top (right?) of the screen.
I'm not sure what version of OSX you have running there but here's a quick article on OSX 10.8 Maverick System Preferences:
Get to know OS X Mavericks: System Preferences | Macworld -
StupidMe
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Kai123,
You didn't say what OS the Mac was running. However usually you can solve issues with trashing the preferences and/or repairing the HD. Keychains are a pain in the a**, but not too changeling.
However this is a very good book to get; Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Support Essentials 10.9: Supporting and Troubleshooting OS X Mavericks By Kevin M. White, Gordon Davisson. This book will also help you to get your Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) certification.
Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Support Essentials 10.9: Supporting and Troubleshooting OS X Mavericks | Peachpit -
Kai123
Member Posts: 364 ■■■□□□□□□□
Thanks, I think I might get the book and study it, not even for the exam (got too many on the go!). I don't want to be humiliated by a Mac again.
=@lsud00d;
Its Identical to the screenies in that. The girl who fixed it never got back to me but will have to chase her up on it. I think she deleted old keychains and "reset" Safari. -
CodeBlox
Member Posts: 1,363 ■■■■□□□□□□
We have a similar situation. 800 PCs, 3 Macs and they have been a pain in the ass for me in the past to troubleshoot. It was even embarassing when I had to ask the user how to do certain things :PCurrently reading: Network Warrior, Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens -
Bokeh
Member Posts: 1,636 ■■■■■■■□□□
Apple has two basic certs you can get, link below. The study guides are online in PDF form. So if you really want to get an idea without spending money on a book, these might help. One is on Mac integration (Windows environment) the other is on multiple Mac management.
Apple - OS X Mavericks Certifications -
W Stewart
Member Posts: 794 ■■■■□□□□□□
I'm curious. When you troubleshooting issues on a mac, do you ever use the cli? -
lsud00d
Member Posts: 1,571
If you know linux/unix it makes working with OSX easier for certain things, but honestly the GUI let's you do/troubleshoot almost anything.
