Troubleshooting [rant]

[Ratsima]

It seems like I'm spending more time than ever troubleshooting stuff. Part of that is because I have more stuff, but I also think that stuff doesn't "just work" the way it's supposed to.

I don't expect solutions to any of the following, I'm just presenting them as examples of stuff I've had to troubleshoot in the last couple of months:

• DetectX detects changes that didn't actually take place.
• iMazing suddenly stops backing up my iPhone and iPad even though they're connected to my iMac every night with the same cables.
• The latest version of Gstreamer doesn't work on a Mac.
• My certified HomeKit devices are frequently updating or not responding requiring manual intervention to turn stuff on or off.
• I have to reboot my AppleTV to watch CBSN streaming. This doesn't happen with any other streaming service.
• My wife's right AirPod suddenly stopped working when paired with her iPhone or AppleWatch. It works fine with my iPad.
• Now Playing suddenly stopped working on my Apple Watch. (Thanks for the solution, Ian!)
• Apple produces support page URLs that can't be reached by any browser. (These are the ones with en-th in the URL which you will get only if you or your IP address is in Thailand.)
• App Store complains insufficient disk space to update exactly two apps. Every other app updates just fine.
• iPad Battery app stops showing battery usage by app.
• Mysterious "[blank] wants to access key 'mgn' in your keychain" appears now and then on iMac.
• When I edit a Note shared with my wife I get a notice that she edited it.
• The junk mail filter in Mail doesn't work very well.
• PathFinder doesn't change directories when clicking on an icon in the sidebar.

I could go on, but surely that's enough.

 

[MacInWin]

Interesting rant. Just out of curiosity, how long have you been in Thailand? I'm just wondering if any/all of these are somehow related to that move. Changing regions can create "interesting" effects in coordinated software. On the other hand, if you have been there a while and obtained these devices in Thailand, they should work.

 

[Ratsima]

I've been in Thailand since April of 2005. The only Apple device I own that was not purchased in Thailand is a dome iMac G4 which still boots up.

BTW, our family of three has 7 Macs, three iPhones, three iPads, three Apple TVs, two AirPort Extreme routers, three Airport Express routers, two sets of AirPods and two Apple Watches.

 

[krs]

It seems like I'm spending more time than ever troubleshooting stuff. Part of that is because I have more stuff, but I also think that stuff doesn't "just work" the way it's supposed to.

I don't expect solutions to any of the following, I'm just presenting them as examples of stuff I've had to troubleshoot in the last couple of months:

Maybe this would be a good thread where others can just list their little "quirks" which are annoying but don't warrant spending much time on them trying to troubleshoot them - just in case someone had the same problem and found a proper solution solution.
My annoyance right now that just happened, but it happens sporadically for no rhyme or reason, is that sometimes, without warning or anything I can place my finger on, the left click on my mouse is suddenly interpreted as a right click by the Mac.
I used to reboot the Mac when that happened - that always "fixed" that problem. But that was a bit of a pain, saving things, shutting down apps and rebooting.
Then I discovered that I could "fix" the problem by just unplugging the USB cable and plugging it back in. So with that 'work-around' and considering it only happens very few weeks, there is no point trying to troubleshoot it.
I tried different mice - same problem, so I assume it's the macOS 10.11 running on a Mini.

 

[MacInWin]

OK, that theory is shot. I must say that your list is more than I would have expected. My wife and I have one iMac, three MBPs, one Mac mini, three iPhones (one is old and being used as a security camera only), 4 Apple TVs (I cut the cable a while back), two iPads, and one  Watch. And pretty much, it "just works" together. I do keep them updated to whatever is current, and I keep my software up to date, too. I only have one "issue" and that is that I have a specialized scanner app that uses a driver from the scanner company that needed to be updated to 64-bit. The driver is ready, but the app has not yet integrated it. So for now, no scanning. But I knew the problem before I upgraded to Catalina, so I didn't expect it to work. The other 32 bit apps I updated or got rid of before the upgrade. Just out of curiosity, what was the solution to the issue with the AirPods?

 

[Ratsima]

I've got an ancient Canon Lide 30 flatbed scanner that stopped working a while back when the developer of the Twain Sane modules gave up on the project as of MacOS 10.9. I installed scanimage (which supports the scanner) on an old Raspberry Pi and turned it into a scanner server. I have a AppleScript wrapper for a shell script that communicates with the Pi via ssh. So, I can still scan from my iMac even though the scanner is a sad orphan.

The solution to the AirPod issue was to reset the AirPods multiple times. It was so weird. At first only the left pod would play. Then the AirPods and the iPhone got divorced and the iPhone wouldn't even see it. Open the AirPod case and the iPhone wouldn't even display the battery status. Open the case next to my iPad and it displayed the battery status immediately. After multiple resets, the iPhone finally recognized the AirPods, but called them "Not Your AirPods". One more reset and it remembered whose AirPods they were and we were able to re-pair right away. Working fine now. But, that was a half hour out of my evening Happy Hour.

I have a seemingly excess amount of Apple junk because we have two residences and keep both well stocked.

 

[MacInWin]

My wife and I ended up so much Apple stuff because she runs her business on the Mini. We each have our own MBP as we use them differently. The iMac manages home automation. It sits in the kitchen where she can use it to stream movies while she cooks and to use it to look up recipes (yes, she really does that). The third MBP is in the wings for when that iMac is not longer usable. The iMac is a 2008 vintage. My iPad is a mini, I use it mostly as a reader. Hers is used as a kiosk for her business checkout process. The third iPhone I have set up as a security monitor camera, using something called Manything to see the video. It seemed to be a useful function for a retired iPhone. The Apple Watch was a gift from my wife for our 50th anniversary. She knows I'm a tech geek! Somehow the Apple stuff just accumulated. The hardware is so rugged it just keeps going.

 

[Ratsima]

Somehow the Apple stuff just accumulated. The hardware is so rugged it just keeps going.

The original Mac I bought in the summer of 1984 still boots up. My brother in law uses it as a novelty in the lobby of his animation business in LA.

- - - Updated - - -

BTW, the right bud of my wife's AirPods stopped working again….

 

[Ratsima]

BTW, the right bud of my wife's AirPods stopped working again….

This morning I tried them with my iPad. They connected right away and both sides worked. But, instead of showing up as "Patcharin's AirPods" they just showed up as "AirPods".

Tried on her iPhone. I put them in my ears, but they didn't connect as they normally would. Went to Blue Tooth setup and there they were, shown as "Patcharin's AirPods". Manually connected. Played some music. Both sides worked.

I don't know how many times this has happened. My wife reports that she can't print, or some other problem and when I try it, it works fine.

In this case I told her it's probably a problem with her right ear. Somehow I escaped unharmed.

 

[MacInWin]

Somehow I escaped unharmed.

Lucky man. Never good to play with fire like that.

I can't think of a reason for the AirPods to work that way. Mine are paired to my iPhone, connect flawlessly. Does she have other BT devices paired to the phone that may be causing confusion (not that it should, but just that it could)?

 

[Ratsima]

Does she have other BT devices paired to the phone that may be causing confusion (not that it should, but just that it could)?

No, she doesn't. On the other hand, my iPad, which connects to her AirPods, has many: GoPro, dashboard camera, several BlueTooth speakers, my AirPods,etc.

So, probably not that.

Anyway, she's now hard at work on her indoor cycle and listening away; both pods functioning.