Save Me From Hating Os X

Ninjab3ar · Feb 20, 2007

Im really going to need your help for this.

I am a month-old Mac switcher (MacBook Pro, YAY!!!), and i was recently playing around with the speech recognition, I set it up to recieve commands without hitting esc, or having to say a keyword, I also set it up to do the expose features through voice recognition, along with voice comands for different tools in Photoshop and controlling Firefox.

Everything was running smooth, until one day, the little speech icon decided to dissapear without my input.

NOW HERE'S THE PROBLEM:

After realizing what hapened, I went directly into the speech section of my system preferences, but nothing was changed, speakable items was still turned ON, and my commands were set to work without the need of a keyword. I tried to turn "Speakable Items" off, then on again in order to see if the speech icon came up again, but it didnt. I addition to that, i went into the terminal and typed "killall Dock" to see if that did anything. I also tried restarting my computer several times with no avail.

BUT THAT'S NOT IT:

Now my computer crashes when I press the "Calibrate..." button.

I URGE ANYONE TO PLEASE HELP ME! THE LACK OF SPEECH CONTROL IS SIGNIFICANTLY RUINING MY EXPERIENCE WITH OS X. I DIDNT PAY $2000 TO SUFFER THE DIFFICULTIES A I TRIED TO AVOID WHEN I BOUGHT A MAC.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Mathiau · Feb 21, 2007

have you tried to reinstall the speech recognition? or i assume it is built into the OS - never used it myself and wasnt aware it had it

all computers have issues, OSX has many other good points to let you keep it, unless this was a KEY reason for buying it.....

Amen-Moses · Feb 21, 2007

Ninjab3ar said:
Im really going to need your help for this.

I am a month-old Mac switcher (MacBook Pro, YAY!!!), and i was recently playing around with the speech recognition, I set it up to recieve commands without hitting esc, or having to say a keyword, I also set it up to do the expose features through voice recognition, along with voice comands for different tools in Photoshop and controlling Firefox.

Everything was running smooth, until one day, the little speech icon decided to dissapear without my input.

NOW HERE'S THE PROBLEM:

After realizing what hapened, I went directly into the speech section of my system preferences, but nothing was changed, speakable items was still turned ON, and my commands were set to work without the need of a keyword. I tried to turn "Speakable Items" off, then on again in order to see if the speech icon came up again, but it didnt. I addition to that, i went into the terminal and typed "killall Dock" to see if that did anything. I also tried restarting my computer several times with no avail.

BUT THAT'S NOT IT:

Now my computer crashes when I press the "Calibrate..." button.

I URGE ANYONE TO PLEASE HELP ME! THE LACK OF SPEECH CONTROL IS SIGNIFICANTLY RUINING MY EXPERIENCE WITH OS X. I DIDNT PAY $2000 TO SUFFER THE DIFFICULTIES A I TRIED TO AVOID WHEN I BOUGHT A MAC.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Firstly, stop shouting, it won't help.

Secondly use spotlight to find the following files:

com.apple.speech.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.recognition.AppleSpeechRecognition.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.recognition.feedback.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.recognition.recognizer.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.synthesis.general.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.voice.prefs.plist

(i.e type 'speech plist' into the spotlight search window)

Now delete them, restart preferences and try the setup again.

If that doesn't work then get back to me.

Amen_Moses

cazabam · Feb 21, 2007

Mathiau said:
all computers have issues, OSX has many other good points to let you keep it, unless this was a KEY reason for buying it.....

Saying that the problem doesn't matter because there are other good features instead probably won't help ...

Anyway, I've been playing around and I think I have a potential solution. You say that the system is still listening even though you can't see the speech icon thing. Well, just say:

"open speech feedback window"

and up it should pop!

dtravis7 · Feb 21, 2007

cazabam said:
Anyway, I've been playing around and I think I have a potential solution. You say that the system is still listening even though you can't see the speech icon thing. Well, just say:

"open speech feedback window"

and up it should pop!

Agreed, try that and see what happens. I for the first time last night messed with the speech recognization thing in Tiger and was quite impressed. Something has gone wrong for sure. Try what Cazabam suggested. If that does not work, please let us know and we will try to help you.

ImNoJester · Apr 5, 2009

Bumper Bump

Glad i found this thread... exactly the same thing has happened to me, restarting the comp doesnt work.

I have a black macbook... if that helps. May be the same model as yours?

Yeh so any help on the matter would greatly help

Cheers guys!

jpics · Apr 6, 2009

dude I didnt even know I had this feature! I am going to go have a conversation with my macbook now

Oneironaut · Apr 6, 2009

If you just got it a month ago, and none of the tricks listed here work, you can call the Apple Care center and they should be able to walk you through it. If not, I would try the Genius Bar if there's one near you. Otherwise, you might need to send it out for a replacement.