Please help. I keep getting corrupted files :(

[nalissis]

Hi guys,

I seem to have an incredibly frustrating problem with my Mac. I have a Mac OS X version 10.5.4. Build 9E27 with 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB Ram.

Lately I've been experiencing some problems regarding graphics. It may have started two weeks ago. It seems that whatever I create, I have problems uploading to web servers and emailing. They send through, however the graphics are always corrupted. Either with random lines on top of the graphics, or only show 1/4 of the graphics with the rest grayed out, or the image is demented or the whole thing is blacked out. However when I tried printing these very same graphics and they strangely come out ok.

I am a web designer and it is crucial for the uploading process to work, and for the graphics to arrive to their destinations correctly, without corruptions.

At first I thought perhaps I am experiencing a glitch on one of my Adobe programs; Photoshop. This is what I use the most. However I tried working in Illustrator and it produced the same problem. Then I tried doing a screenshot of a website and tried emailing that image across without editing it on any adobe programs, and it STILL has a the same problem, and it actually looks worse and is more corrupted.

I am quite convinced there is something wrong with my Mac, but I am not sure what it is or what to do about it It is incredibly frustrating and hope someone out there know what is wrong, or if it is fixable if I attend to something myself before taking it to a technician.

Thanks and regards,
Nancy

 

[Hellhammer]

First of all, could you please tell us what exact Mac you have? More precisely what GPU does it have?

I f you have warranty left, just contact Apple and get it fixed because it seems to be a hardware failure

 

[nalissis]

First of all, could you please tell us what exact Mac you have? More precisely what GPU does it have?

I f you have warranty left, just contact Apple and get it fixed because it seems to be a hardware failure

What is GPU?

Here are more information about my iMac

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version: 1.29f1

 

[Hellhammer]

What is GPU?

Here are more information about my iMac

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version: 1.29f1

Okay, then it has ATI 2600. So does the screen work OK but whenever you send something or create, it produces problems? When you are just browsing in the net, everything works OK?

Try repairing your permissions first with Disk Utility

 

[nalissis]

Okay, then it has ATI 2600. So does the screen work OK but whenever you send something or create, it produces problems? When you are just browsing in the net, everything works OK?

Try repairing your permissions first with Disk Utility

Yes when I browse the internet, there are no broken images. Also when I create images, they look fine on my computer. Like after saving, the preview thumbnails look fine and when I reopen them they look fine.

It is only when I email or upload them to the internet. Like when I try emailing to my friend or to myself, when I redownload what I sent, the files are corrupted.

How do I repair my permissions?

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes when I browse the internet, there are no broken images. Also when I create images, they look fine on my computer. Like after saving, the preview thumbnails look fine and when I reopen them they look fine.

It is only when I email or upload them to the internet. Like when I try emailing to my friend or to myself, when I redownload what I sent, the files are corrupted.

How do I repair my permissions?

Hmmm.. Strange. Open Disk Utility and select your hard drive and click Check disk's permissions

Try creating another account as well and see if the problem repeats

 

[nalissis]

Hmmm.. Strange. Open Disk Utility and select your hard drive and click Check disk's permissions

Try creating another account as well and see if the problem repeats

Where is the Check disk's permission button. I can only see upon selecting my hardrive:

First Aid | Erase | RAID | Restore (at the top)
Verify Disk Permissions | Repair Disk Permissions | Verify Disk (bottom)

Also do you reckon the problem will go away if I update my Mac? I was told that I am four versions down and that is because I havn't been updating.

I will definitely try creating another account. Will do so now.

 

[Hellhammer]

Where is the Check disk's permission button. I can only see upon selecting my hardrive:

First Aid | Erase | RAID | Restore (at the top)
Verify Disk Permissions | Repair Disk Permissions | Verify Disk (bottom)

Also do you reckon the problem will go away if I update my Mac? I was told that I am four versions down and that is because I havn't been updating.

I will definitely try creating another account. Will do so now.

Oh, sorry it's Repair Disk Permissions. I have my OS X in Finnish so my translations aren't always correct

 

[nalissis]

Oh, sorry it's Repair Disk Permissions. I have my OS X in Finnish so my translations aren't always correct

Ok I will try that too.

I tried creating a new account by the way, and created a screenshot, made graphics in photoshop and corel paint, and when they are all emailed through the internet they are still corrupted.

It wouldn't have anything to do with not updating my mac right? I am still currently four versions down.

 

[Hellhammer]

It wouldn't have anything to do with not updating my mac right? I am still currently four versions down.

You should update right away, that's why Apple makes those updates. Any reason why you haven't updated?

 

[nalissis]

You should update right away, that's why Apple makes those updates. Any reason why you haven't updated?

They were silly reasons, one I kept ignoring updates telling myself I will update later but never did, and another is that I don't want the updates to take up memory on my hardrive.

But will do that after I attempt disk repair. Doing it at the moment, just waiting for it to read.

 

[nalissis]

How long does it usually take for Repair Disk Permissions to finish reading. Seems like I'm waiting for quite a long time, is that normal?

 

[nalissis]

Ok the Repair Disk Permissions just finished and I got a long long list of texts like this (270 lines to be exact) :


Permissions differ on "....../...."
Group differs on "....."
User differs on "...."


Now that it is complete what does it mean?

 

[Hellhammer]

Ok the Repair Disk Permissions just finished and I got a long long list of texts like this (270 lines to be exact) :


Permissions differ on "....../...."
Group differs on "....."
User differs on "...."


Now that it is complete what does it mean?

If you haven't repaired them for long time, it takes time to repair them. Those means nothing really but try if the problem still exists.

Updating your Mac is the most important thing now and I think updates don't take a lot space as they replace files, not create them (when there's a file that has to be updated, it deletes the old and adds the new, updated file)

 

[btbrossard]

Your on the right track by doing a little maintenance work on your mac.

However, it could be a problem coming from outside your mac itself. Did anything change with your ISP or your network configuration?

It's possible problems with either of these two items could cause corruption to data being sent from your connection.

Do you have access to a different connection to the internet? You could connect your mac there and e-mail some graphics out and see if you have a problem.

Also, what are you using for your e-mail program? Try a different program (if your using mail, try using a web based e-mail) to see if you can narrow down the problem that way.

For the time being, whenever you e-mail a graphic, why don't you create a .zip archive of the items being sent and e-mail that.

We have far fewer problems with clients who .zip there files and e-mail them than with clients who e-mail the raw graphics.

 

[nalissis]

Your on the right track by doing a little maintenance work on your mac.

However, it could be a problem coming from outside your mac itself. Did anything change with your ISP or your network configuration?

It's possible problems with either of these two items could cause corruption to data being sent from your connection.

Do you have access to a different connection to the internet? You could connect your mac there and e-mail some graphics out and see if you have a problem.

Also, what are you using for your e-mail program? Try a different program (if your using mail, try using a web based e-mail) to see if you can narrow down the problem that way.

For the time being, whenever you e-mail a graphic, why don't you create a .zip archive of the items being sent and e-mail that.

We have far fewer problems with clients who .zip there files and e-mail them than with clients who e-mail the raw graphics.

Is there any way for me to confirm these changes with my ISP or my network configuration. What are the main causes for these changes exactly? I don't think I've intentionally changed any myself.

And also yes, I have already tried zipping up my files, but they also end up being corrupted and cannot open upon download.


Okay I left my updates to do its thing overnight. So now after Repair Disk Permissions, updating my Mac to version 10.5.8 from 10.5.4, the screenshots I take using my Mac are still corrupted when emailed or uploaded on the internet The original screenshot in PNG turns black when sent to an email and downloaded from online, and when I used Preview to turn the original PNG to Jpeg, it turns half of the image lime green with violent red lines dementing the original image when emailed and downloaded.

Again, on my Mac, the preview thumbnails and when I open these unsent (not downloaded, but original) files on art programs they look fine. It is just when it touches the internet when I attempt to upload or send an email to people when it does this and shows on my Mac. Very confused.

 

[nalissis]

Your on the right track by doing a little maintenance work on your mac.

However, it could be a problem coming from outside your mac itself. Did anything change with your ISP or your network configuration?

It's possible problems with either of these two items could cause corruption to data being sent from your connection.

Do you have access to a different connection to the internet? You could connect your mac there and e-mail some graphics out and see if you have a problem.

Also, what are you using for your e-mail program? Try a different program (if your using mail, try using a web based e-mail) to see if you can narrow down the problem that way.

For the time being, whenever you e-mail a graphic, why don't you create a .zip archive of the items being sent and e-mail that.

We have far fewer problems with clients who .zip there files and e-mail them than with clients who e-mail the raw graphics.

Ok I am beginning to think perhaps I have a connection problem, which is very odd because when I surf the internet on my Mac, it runs normally with no broken links or images what so ever.

I went and used another person's computer and internet, and uploaded the images I created on my Mac, and went to email and upload to the internet and they are no longer corrupted!

I tried doing this on another computer at home, but because it shared the same internet connection, my files were still heavily corrupted.

 

[btbrossard]

It definitely could be a connection problem, or more specifically an upload problem. Especially if you used another computer on the same connection and got the same problems.

How do you connect to the internet? Cable, DSL, Sat?

I would try resetting whatever equipment you use to connect to the internet (IE: cable modem, DSL gateway, router, ect...).

 

[iVoid]

What programs do you use to email and to ftp files?

If you have a webmail interface for your mail, might want to try that instead of Mail or other meail program.

Also, try a differnet upload method to your webserver (many have web file managers too).