Father Jack Hackett

I am running OS X 10.3.3 on a G4 Powerbook. Broadband connection with wi-fi (Netgear) router. When using Safari or Firefox for web browsing the browser often will not find the site (whether typed in, clicked or bookmarked), and I get an error message that Safari (or Firefox) can't find the site. I hit return again and it finds it.

I have a Dell laptop running on the same network and never have this problem.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

RichB

Woudl you have been there before and it failed, it is (slightly) possible it cached the error before ad simply brought up the same error page....
Try emptying the cache.
Try patching up to 10.3.8.

I have run a G4 lappy with a netgear router and whilst the router is not the most reliable thing I have not really seen this problem. I lose WiFi on a regular basis and BT BB is, well, crap!

Are you saying that IE works OK?

Can you change DNS servers to see if that helps?

Father Jack Hackett

Rich B


I haven't tried it with IE. Will try emptying the cache.

How do I change DNS servers?

THanks.

RichB

Do it System Prefs->Network->Ethernet Then choose which ever config is used to connect to the net. You may only have one in the list...
Theres a box in there with DNS servers.
Thing is, it might be blank so your machine might be getting that from the router/broadband modem.
I wouldn't like to suggest any DNS servers to use so maybe you cold ask your ISP what theres are.

Emptying cache in Safari is apple(command) + alt + E
Firefox is from the Firefox menu->preferences->privacy->cache

Is it generally the same site or few sites you get this issue with or all of them?

angrynorth

Rich B sounds about right, Some users were experiencing problems where OSX needs the DNS in itself most of the time as its none too great at picking it up from a router. It was allegedly fixed in 10.3.7 but not too sure. I had the same problem where it was restricting access to certain .co.uk's works now though.

messiah

Apologies for thread hi-jack but just a quick mac question.

Is the Mac version of microsoft office (word & excel in particular) as bloated as the windows version? how do the 2 compare?

class_A

Office 2004 for Mac is pretty identical to the Windows versions feature wise. I find them quite responsive (Dual 867 G4, 512MB). My Office folder is around 520MB.

messiah

dunno if 520mb is a lot - what version of office is that? pro, SBE?

class_A

We only have one version Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage (part OE, part Outlook).

Markus

Hmm, safari did have a well known DNS server issue, but I am sure that was fixed in 10.3.7 or 10.3.8. Would not explain why firefox had a problem. I moved to Firefox because of this problem, it was terribly annoying to say the least.

Unless you have some requirement not to do so, I'd strongly suggest you update to 10.3.8 and the latest security updates and see if that helps.


As for office, my Office 2004 folder is 526MB, and that's a full install of it, so I'd say that's the average size of it. As said by others, it's the only version we have, there isn't a "pro" version.

Father Jack Hackett

Thanks for the replies. I upgraded to 10.3.8, which seems to have fixed it.

Now another question: recently when I try to do a search in the iTunes music store I get an error message (-206) that an unknown error occurred. Anyone know what this might be? I got this before I upgraded to 10.3.8 and after.

Cheers!

class_A

Quit iTunes, unmount your iPod and delete your iPod and iTunes preferences files. This won't get rid of any music or playlists, but it will reset your program settings (encoder quality, iPod sync mode etc). The files you want are inside your Library->Preferences folder of your Home directory and are called com.apple.itunes.plist and com.apple.ipod.plist

Give that a try,
Alex

angrynorth

He he, 10.3.9 is out today, looks like you updated a day early. Its a great update too with Safari going to version 1.3 and waaay faster!

Father Jack Hackett

Just updated to 10.3.9.

So class_A, if I delete those files, will iTunes just recreate them again when I run it? I'm always nervous of just deleting files like that ...

Thanks!

class_A

Yes they will be recreated all fresh and new
Alex

Father Jack Hackett

Thanks Alex. I tried it and it didn't fix the error. However, I tried searching for the artist under "names" rather than "all" and that worked.

One thing though, I haven't purchased from iTunes for a while, and it now requires me to upgrade to 3.7 before I can purchase anything. I don't want to upgrade to 3.7 so can't purchase anything.

Their loss.

Markus

The reason for the force to 4.7 is that "DVD" Jon came out with a way to bypass the Apple "FairPlay" DRM on linux. The protection is put onto the file after it's been downloaded, thus all they did was create their own interface to the iTMS and thus the files could be downloaded, and paid for, but the DRM was not applied to the downloaded song.

Now you need to have iTunes 4.7 (or whatever the latest version is) to purchase any music, third party iTMS apps will not work.

Out of curiosity, why don't you want to upgrade to the latest version of iTunes?

class_A

If it's for the reason I think then Father Jack needs to move to jHymn rather than the old Mac only hymn. Apologies Father if this is not the reason, I will no doubt pay for my sins Either that or he (like me) doesn't like the stupid 10 connection per day limit they've put on the Library Sharing feature.

Markus

Hmm, wonder if that limit applies if you use Music Publisher?

Father Jack Hackett

class_A, you are right. I think Apple are great but I don't like their policies on DRM.

Markus

Why not? Am just curious as to why.