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ajp

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 28, 2002
38
0
UK
My speaker balance (System Preferences/Sound/Output) seems to have a mind of it's own. Even if I centre the balance, it drifts out to the left over a period of time. If I shut the machine (I-Mac 17") down with a centred balance, it always restarts with left speaker louder. Any ideas?

Also (while I'm on), is there any reason for my machine to be slow (ie delayed action of a few seconds using volume control) following a few hours of screensavers? I've tried a number of different savers (from a magazine disc) all with same effect. Only solution is a restart.

Thanks!
 
back up all your data, erase your HD and reinstall everything, that should solve the problems.

For the sound balance, could it be you don't have permissions to the preference file? That is why it could be resetting all the time.
 
Originally posted by awulf
back up all your data, erase your HD and reinstall everything, that should solve the problems.

For the sound balance, could it be you don't have permissions to the preference file? That is why it could be resetting all the time.

Before reformatting your computer upgraade to the latest version of X that being 10.2.3. Then repair your permissions by starting up off of the Jaguar install disk and going to disk utility.

I assume you are running jaguar because both of the problems that you stated are known problems within it. Are you running HP Print Center? It is known to cause a system slowdown over time if you leave your computer on a lot.

Also there is no need for screen savers. Newer color monitors are very unlikely to burn in even with thousands of hours with a static screen. I recommend you just put the computer to sleep when not in use.
 
the sound balance seems to be a pretty common problem, i think there have been a few threads here about it. it happens on my iMac as well as my cousin's, i'm not sure if there's anything you can do about it; if there is, let me know.
 
Guys

Thanks for the answers. It's good to hear it's not just me with the problems.

I was only running the screensavers because they looked good! MacBandit, yes I am running HP Print Centre and my machine has been playing up (slowing down a lot - spinning coloured wheel for ages). Is there any way around this? I have an HP Deskjet 970 Cxi printer. Do I have to use HP Print Centre?

Thanks again.
 
Originally posted by ajp
Guys

Thanks for the answers. It's good to hear it's not just me with the problems.

I was only running the screensavers because they looked good! MacBandit, yes I am running HP Print Centre and my machine has been playing up (slowing down a lot - spinning coloured wheel for ages). Is there any way around this? I have an HP Deskjet 970 Cxi printer. Do I have to use HP Print Centre?

Thanks again.

No, you don't need HP print center with the HP970. I use a HP970CXi myself. You just need whatever the system installs for printing. Also HP has a specific install/driver for the HP900 series.

Get rid of the HP print center. Then install this then this .
 
MacBandit

Thanks again for taking the time to help out. Is HP Print Centre different to the driver patches you told me to download? I can't seem to run them separately. Can you tell me how to delete print centre and then load these specific 970 drivers? Will I still have the intended full range of 970 features?

I appreciate the advice so far as my 4 month old i-mac is finally running smoothly. I installed 10.2.3 and don't leave print centre running! It's great to be getting somewhere with this.
 
Originally posted by ajp
MacBandit

Thanks again for taking the time to help out. Is HP Print Centre different to the driver patches you told me to download? I can't seem to run them separately. Can you tell me how to delete print centre and then load these specific 970 drivers? Will I still have the intended full range of 970 features?

I appreciate the advice so far as my 4 month old i-mac is finally running smoothly. I installed 10.2.3 and don't leave print centre running! It's great to be getting somewhere with this.

I would hope that if there is an installer for HP print center that it would have the option to uninstall.

Just to clarify HP print center is something you would have had to install on your own. OSX comes with HP drivers that will run the HP 970CXI without any further software. I believe I am correct in saying that Print Center was intended to be used mainly with network printers and laser printers.

Did you install HP print center or are you referring to the HP drivers that were installed automatically with OSX?
 
I think I got it sussed! I deleted HP Print Centre (had trouble finding it) and now have only the 970 driver and patch from the HP support website. This gives me v2.2 which runs through the Apple OSX (default) Print Centre. Still seems a bit slow to run and doesn't always print straight away, requiring a "start print" selection within print centre.

I saw some comments from other HP users and it would appear that there are still a few known problems with the software, so I guess that would explain it. Anyway, I'm a lot better off so thanks again!
 
Originally posted by ajp
I think I got it sussed! I deleted HP Print Centre (had trouble finding it) and now have only the 970 driver and patch from the HP support website. This gives me v2.2 which runs through the Apple OSX (default) Print Centre. Still seems a bit slow to run and doesn't always print straight away, requiring a "start print" selection within print centre.

I saw some comments from other HP users and it would appear that there are still a few known problems with the software, so I guess that would explain it. Anyway, I'm a lot better off so thanks again!

Sounds like you have it working now. You shouldn't need to tell it to print within the print center. Now that you have all that installed I recommend running a repair of your disk permissions.
 
OK, I'll give it a go. There's a first time for everything!
 
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