So guess what I did before I decided to bitch in a MacNN thread. I actually attempted to get technical help from the support team for my program! Unfortunately they haven't helped yet so I am going to bitch. Here's the transcript of what's been going down:
Original E-mail to .Mac Support:
I cannot use the local iDisk on any of my computers. When I try to
sync the local iDisk, I get the error "Last Sync Failed" and I
have three alias folders show up. I have tried this one three different
networks: SBC T1 in my office, Adelphia Cable Internet at Home,
and Verizon Online at my Parent's house. Therefore eliminating that it
could be a network problem. I have also looked through the
Discussion Boards and have found that some people can alleviate
the problem by making sure their date format is American English. Mine
is already set to that, and changing it around has had no
effect. I have copied all of my essential documents from my iDisk and I
would ask that you completely format my iDisk please as I have no way to
do that from my own computer. Perhaps that will help? FYI - I have
also tried all the normal steps of restarting, logging in/out,
repairing permissions, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Apple.
When troubleshooting a local copy of the iDisk, one of the first
things to do is to disable the local copy of the iDisk and
actually interact directly with your remote iDisk. We believe that
disabling the local copy of the iDisk would be the best course of action in
this case.
To turn off the local iDisk synchronization in Mac OS X v10.4,
please follow these steps:
blah blah blah
To turn off local iDisk synchronization in Mac OS X v10.3, please
follow these steps:
blah blah blah
After disabling local iDisk, a disk image will appear on your
Desktop titled "Previous local iDisk for username.dmg". This disk
image will contain the entire contents on your previously enabled
local iDisk. We recommend using this disk image to verify what
items have actually been uploaded to your remote iDisk before
deleting. It also serves as an automatic back up. You may
delete or keep the file. It will not affect your remote iDisk or the files
stored on it.
Mount your iDisk from the Finder's Go menu. If it appears as it
should, you can enable local iDisk.
To enable local iDisk synchronization in Mac OS X v10.4:
blah blah blah
To enable local iDisk synchronization in Mac OS X v10.3:
blah blah blah
After completing these steps, local iDisk will be re-enabled, and
you should experience no further issues.
To further troubleshoot this issue please create a new Mac OS X
user account and test to see if the error you reported occurs in a
new user. Creating a new user in Mac OS X is actually quite an
easy process; it will greatly assist in isolating the cause of the
issue you reported.
Please completely review the following knowledge base articles for
more information about setting up multiple users in Mac OS X:
*bunch of kb articles*
Once you have created a new user, log out of your current user and
then log in to your new test user account. Enter your .Mac user
information in the . Mac System Preferences of the new user and
then attempt to sync your iDisk.
After testing in the new user, feel free to log back into your
normal user.
Note: the .Mac Support team will not be able to provide additional
assistance or troubleshooting with the configuration of multiple
user accounts with Mac OS X. The .Mac Support team answers
questions about the .Mac collection of software and services.
If you are still unable to sync your iDisk, please go to <http://
www.mac.com/> and sign up for a new .Mac trial account. After you
have created the .Mac trial account, enter that account
information into your .Mac System Preferences.
After entering the trial account information into the .Mac System
Preferences, attempt to reproduce your issue.
If this does not resolve your issue, please reply to this message.
In your response, please provide the following so that we may
further investigate your issue:
1. Confirmation that you completed the troubleshooting steps
outlined above
2. A step-by-step list describing your actions prior to
experiencing this issue
3. The exact text of any error messages you encountered
4. The results of using the new user account.
5. The results of using the trial account with the new user
account.
6. The results of using the trial account with your normal user.
We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to assisting
you in resolving this issue.
Sincerely,
Shelia
The .Mac Support Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. I confirm that I troubleshot the steps you outlined
2. This problem first manifested itself about two weeks ago after
copying a FileMaker Pro document to my iDisk
3. Never an actual dialogue box error but in the Finder window at
the bottom, it says "Last Sync Failed"
4. The new user account, after turning on the local sync also
said in the finder window "Last Sync Failed"
5. The trial .mac account, in the new user account, after
turning on the local sync worked perfectly.
6. The trial .mac account, in my normal user account, after turning
on the local sync worked perfectly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*So at this point, I think anyone can logically deduce that the problem is not my internet provider since that is not a comman denominator and since other .mac accounts work on my user name it's not my user name and since my .mac account won't work on a NEW user name, it's probably.....da dun dum....my iDisk, which needs to be formatted!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Apple.
The issues you have reported with iDisk may be isolated to your
computer and the local copy of your iDisk that the operating system
has created on that specific system. We suggest further
troubleshooting for your operating system and Internet connection.
To reset your local copy of iDisk, remove all support files that
may be unusuable by following these steps:
1. Disable iDisk Syncing in the .Mac System Preferences.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Choose Go > Go to Folder, from the Finder menu bar.
4. Type: ~/Library
5. When the Library folder opens in a Finder window, locate the
Mirrors folder at /Users/<your username>/Library/Mirrors
6. Drag the Mirrors folder to the Trash.
7. Restart your computer. Feel free to empty the Trash at your
leisure.
If you wish to re-enable the Mac OS X local copy of iDisk, you
should be able to do so without issue after following the
previously-mentioned steps.
If you are receiving errors regularly then it is highly advisable
that you test and repair your hard disk's directory integrity as
well as the permissions of your Mac OS X installation. To do this,
first start up from the Mac OS X Install CD and repair your hard
disk, then restart to Mac OS X installed on your Macintosh HD and
use Repair Permissions from Disk Utility.
First, repair your startup disk to make sure it is not the cause of
the issue:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Tiger Install Disc into the computer and
restart. When you hear the startup chime, immediately hold down the
"C" key and continue until you see the Mac OS X language window.
2. Click the blue arrow button and continue to the Install Mac OS X
window.
3. From the Installer menu bar, choose Utilities > Disk Utility.
4. Select the hard drive and click the First Aid tab, then Repair
Disk.
5. Click Repair Disk to test and repair the disk. If errors are
found, click Repair again (no more than three times). If errors
continue to be found after repairing three times, please see the
AppleCare support website <http://www.apple.com/support/>, or the
Apple Discussions <http://discussions.info.apple.com/>.
6. When all tasks are done, quit Disk Utility and then quit
Installer, allowing the computer to restart to Mac OS X on the hard
disk.
For more information about troubleshooting file system issues in
Mac OS X, please see the following AppleCare Support article:
*article here*
1. While started up to the operating system on the hard disk (not
the optical disc), open Disk Utility. It is located in /
Applications/Utilities.
2. Select the hard disk in the left column.
3. Click First Aid.
4. Click Repair Disk Permissions.
If the suggestions above do not resolve the issues you have
reported, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Fred,
The .Mac Support Team
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Fred,
I erased the "Mirrors" folder inside my user folder/Library/ and
shut down my computer and booted up from the Tiger OS Install Disc. I
repaired the permissions from Disc Utility and then booted into the
OS normally. I went into the .mac pane in System Preferences and
clicked on the iDisk tab. I clicked the Start button and went to the
finder. Within under a minute, it had created the three alias
folders and at the bottom of the Finder window it said "Last Sync Failed".
The same error I was getting before. Is it possible for someone in
the back office to completely format my iDisk? I have saved all
of my essential documents locally on my hard drive. I think this may solve
the problem.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Apple.
.Mac Support Engineering would like to further investigate the
issue you have reported.
To assist the .Mac Support Engineering team with evaluating this
issue, we would like to gather some additional information from you
in regard to the issues you have reported.
We realize this is a long explanation, but in order for us to be
able to bring the issue you have reported to a quick and complete
resolution, it is important that you review this email in its
entirety, take the following steps, and provide us with the
information requested in this email.
The additional data we are requesting is as follows:
I. A submission of your System Profiler report to Apple's Technical
Support Database.
II. A copy of your MirrorAgent.log file attached to your reply to
this email.
III. A Disk Image containing the Console folder attached to your
reply to this email.
You may wish to create a ZIP archive of the later two items, to
ease their transmission via email, we will provide more detail on
archiving files later in this email.
*VERY lengthy description on how to perform the above three tasks*
To learn more about how Apple protects and uses your information,
you can review Apple's privacy policy at <
http://www.apple.com/
legal/privacy/>
Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
Sincerely,
Sam
The .Mac Support Team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Sam,
Here is all the information you requested. Thank you for your help.
Serial Number for System Profiler Report:*******************
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Apple.
We have escalated your report to .Mac support engineering. Your
message is flagged for follow-up and we will email you once we have
a resolution. You can expect an update within 48-72 hours. Thank
you for your patience as we work to make your experience with .Mac
enjoyable.
Sincerely,
Chris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chris,
It's been over 72 hours since your last communication, can I please
get a status update on my work order?
Chris
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
The .Mac Engineering Support Team is still investigating the issue
you reported. Your request is flagged for follow up and will
contact you immediately once we have more information for you.
Sincerely,
Chris
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chris,
Over the weekend, I zero'd out the entire hard drive, installed Mac
OS X 10.4 from scratch, and then without reinstalling any programs,
attempted to sync my iDisk. So, I repeat, the only thing on my system
was 10.4 updated through software update and the iDisk still synced
with an error in the finder window of "Last Sync Failed". I think
there is something corrupt on the actual iDisk that is preventing it
from syncing.
Chris
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Chris,
Thank you for the update regarding your iDisk and your patience as we continue our investigation.
The .Mac Engineering Support Team is still investigating the issue you reported. Your request is flagged for follow up and will contact you immediately once we have more information for you.
Sincerely,
Chris
The .Mac Support Team
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Apple.
We are still investigating the issue you are experiencing. As we continue our investigation, we would like you to do the following steps, which will provide us with some additional data.
1. From the Finder, select Go > Utilities
2. Open Terminal
3. Cut and past the following line into the Terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.MirrorAgent debugOutput 2
Press Return, and quit Terminal
4. Try to turn on iDisk Syncing
5. Attach a fresh copy of the MirrorAgent.log file (from /Users/<username>/Library/Logs) in a reply to this message. This log may be larger than it was the last time you sent it to us.
6. In Terminal, paste the following:
defaults write com.apple.MirrorAgent debugOutput 0
Press return, and quit Terminal. This will return the MirrorAgent.log activity to normal.
We thank you in advance for working with us as we work to resolve this issue, and if you have any questions about the steps provided, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Artie
The .Mac Support Team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then I sent them an e-mail with my longer Console.log and here is where I wait. It's been about two weeks and still no answer on how to fix my problem with the .mac people. I think it's very obvious from the fact that I completely wiped my hard drive (for reasons unrelated to this problem) that it is an actual problem with my iDisk. There was no third party software even installed on my computer. Anyone else having a problem like this?
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