I find this happens when the plug isn't properly secured sometimes. But I am sure you have already tried that by now.... Try another monitor if you can and see if you get the same thing. If you see this happening on other monitors, then you want to figure out if it's the adapter or the actual mini-display port on your computer. If you have access to another VGA > mini DP adapter, then absolutely check to see if you can cancel out the adapter as the problem. Component isolation is your first step. good luck!
You guessed it. By now an iPod 5th gen second hand would be around 3 hours of battery life in my experience. You can go for the battery replacement. I've already replaced the battery in my ipod 3rd gen twice. You can also even go to the Apple store and at the genius bar ask if you can pay for an out of warranty battery replacement ipod. These can cost around 50 bucks. I would say thats a great deal if the only problem is the battery. You can get a new unit (same generation) just for exchanging the old one + paying 50.
From what you described my first guess would be the logic board. When you are in open firmware and the keyboard does not respond that could be a sign that the ports have stopped responding due to the failure. My second guess would be the processors. What I would try to do is try and start the computer using only 1 RAM slot. If you can try and boot to your system disc or your AHT (Apple Hardware Test) CD do that and see what happens. If none of the above work, I think you'll have to take it to an Apple store to get it looked at. good luck!
Yup, your optical drive is defective. If you are feeling adventurous I would say it's an easy DIY replacement. From the ifixit website I have found the part you need: MacBook 8x SuperDrive And the ifixit take apart guide (assuming you have a Macbook Core 2 Duo): Installing MacBook Core 2 Duo Optical Drive Cable If DIY isn't your thing then I would (in my opinion) not take it to an Apple store because they do charge a premium for labor and repair. But they are usually the most reliable. So if money is not really a problem, go for the Apple store. But I would search around for an Apple Authorized Service Provider to see if they can do it for less. Good luck!
I can't take the credit for this fix. I did find this solution on the Apple discussion board. It looks like a promising solution though: To stop the pop-up, Go to System Preferences: Security. Check the box next to "Require password to unlock each secure system preference." Then lock Security. Try this cure for Security update... http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa... The locations are actually... /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.nat.plist
I just want to point out that actually yes, PowerPC formatted external Firewire discs will boot on Intel machines. It will not work the other way around though. (This only applies to computers running 10.4 & 10.5 This will not work with 10.6) When a disc is formatted as what's called the Apple Partition Scheme. This is how PowerPC machines read information. Intel machines can also read Apple Partition Scheme drives. The other format that can only be read by Intel machines is the GUID Partition scheme. When you format a disc in this way it can only be read by Intel machines ONLY. This only applies to making a bootable volume btw. If you plug in a GUID partitioned drive into a PowerPC machine it can still recognize it. For example, I have 2 external HDDs. 1 used to diagnose PowerPC and Intel machines running OS X 10.4 & 10.5. This disc's partitions are Apple Partition Schemed. The other external HDD I use is for newer Macs running 10.5 and 10.6. Since Snow Leopard came out stripped of any PowerPC support,...
The best way to do this is to boot up from your OS X installation disc. When you go about doing the installation just choose the external HD as your installation path. You want to make sure of a few things first. If you don't know how to boot to your system disc, when powering up your machine hold down the 'C' key and quickly insert the disc. Also, you want to make sure your external drive is formatted correctly; When booted to the system disc look in your menu bar for Utilities > Disk Utility....