CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 7: History, Installing and Use of the MacOS       9  Troubleshooting - Because Even a Mac Can Have a Bad Day

Troubleshooting - Because Even a Mac Can Have a Bad Day 1 Recovering from a Lost Password

Now we come to my favorite - Network Utility. We have already discussed it a little, regarding verifying internet connectivity, but it is good for more than that. Network Utility is used to test or view the parameters of your current network. With Network Utility, you can check your connectivity; you can view tracert, ping, lookup, whois, finger, and even port scan.

There is one more handy little helper in your arsenal, a log for all your errors, and oopsies. Console is good for troubleshooting. This program displays the contents of the /private/var/tmp/console.log. This log file creates itself every time you login and it deleted every time you log out or restart, so if you are having trouble, it’sit is best to view or print the log ASAP.

There are also two different ways you can log in, much like Window’s “Safe Mode”. In many troubleshooting instances, you need to boot to this safer, less wonderful mode in order to diagnose and fix the problem. In this case, you will use one of the two modes:

• Verbose: To boot to verbose, you hold down Command+V while your Mac is booting. This will first make your Mac display a detailed text message about every step taken during bootup. It can be tedious, but useful, read it and look for trouble.
  
  
• Single-User Mode: You must hold down Command+S while booting in order to boot to single-user mode. This is effective if you need to boot part of the way, or gather information about the Mac while booting. It is important to note that booting to single-user mode will not have a GUI, or networking or multiple user capabilities. Meaning, you had better know your commands before you go there.

Troubleshooting - Because Even a Mac Can Have a Bad Day 1 Recovering from a Lost Password