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Help Us Help You
If you are having problems then it may be hard to
believe, but thousands of users are using RAM Charger
without difficulty. If you contact us with "it doesn't
work", we will both be in for a long haul. As much as we
might sympathize, and want to help you, we need some real
details to grab onto. So, please try and keep in mind that
most problems are the result of some unique combination of
software or operations. Keeping this in mind will help us,
and you, diagnose the cause and find a solution. We promise,
we work very hard. We are not distributing software to
intentionally cause you problems!
The preliminary diagnostic is to examine
our
list of known conflicts. RAM Charger searches for known
extension conflicts during installation, and automatically
disables Charging of known problem applications. However, it
is possible that an extension was installed after RAM
Charger, or that problems are the result of enabling RAM
Charger for a particular application in our list.
If the list of known conflicts does not cover your
problem, then more details will have to be discovered to
find out what is unique in your configuration. We recommend
the following steps to help us both get to the solution as
quickly and painlessly as possible:
1) Adopt The Proper Frame Of
Mind
Unfortunately, problems can result from damaged files
and/or interaction with any other software. Basically there
are infinite possible causes, especially since most Macs are
extensively configured with enhancements. When you have a
problem, "usually" and "most likely" are words that are out
of place, since the very fact that you are having a problem
makes you a high candidate for being "unique". As a result,
all of the infinite possibilities are reasonable candidates.
What this means is that it is not always easy to
conclusively diagnose problems, and I offer my two cents
that hasty conclusions should not be drawn. Many
users are quick to assign blame to a particular product,
only to find that multiple products were involved or file
damage was responsible. On the other hand, some users
casually recommend "reformatting your disk" and reinstalling
everything, which can be tempting when confronted with
problems, but your original problems may return when
you get your system back together in the same configuration
under the same usage - and that is a lot of work just
to come to that end.
Avoiding the "symptom", by disabling software or
rebuilding the system may get you back work, but the cause
of the problem may come up and bite you again in some other
situation. If you have time and ability, it is desirable to
find the very source of the problem, not just hide the
problem, though this is not always possible. The final steps
of such an adventure can only be taken in concert with
software vendor(s) when they verify your speculation by
examining the code. Thus, you should remember your findings
are really only speculation, and you should keep your mind
open and temper your accusations or you may miss the real
cause.
For example...one Dominant Software Vendor quickly told
us that they had concluded that their products and RAM
Charger had basic fundamental conflicts which could
not be resolved, and thus they would not help us
investigate. Nevertheless, working on our own we found two
specific issues and resolve them. These were the "experts",
and still hasty and erroneous speculation on their part
delayed the solution.
The point to remember is that problems are often complex
enough that it is even difficult for experts to conclusively
cite a cause. Hundreds of thousands of operations happen per
second on your computer, and many software products
interact. So go in hoping to find the best suspect, do your
best to simplify your configuration and test your
conclusions, and work with vendors to verify the suspected
causes.
2) Check For File System
Damage
A disk check is a good start. Disk First aid provided by
Apple, or a third party utility like Norton or MacTools,
verifies your hard disk like examining a library's card
catalog system.
All your software, including the system, is stored in
files on your hard disk. If some of these files are damaged,
then your software may not be working as intended. In such a
case, since MacOS is "unprotected", it is possible
for anything to wrong from the time you startup your
computer.
Unfortunately, no utility can verify the contents
of any your Mac files (data or software). This is because,
in the lack of any "checksum" or similar technique, to
verify the contents would require already having a listing
of the file's contents (catch-22). Since it is impossible
for any checker to conclusively verify that your files are
not internally damaged, the best one can hope for is a
proper file catalog (file structure consistency). As a
result, your disk can check out OK, and things still not
work as intended by the software vendors. However, file
system structure will usually be damaged along with contents
if something goes wrong, and thus running a disk check is
valuable.
3) Find A Recreateable
Symptom
If we don't already know about the problem, and you can't
recreate it, it is very unlikely we will be able to find a
resolution. So you need to find a specific set of steps,
that can be performed from a fresh startup which will always
produce the problem. Then, we might have some chance of
being able to recreate the problems and diagnose it.
Though it may not be immediately apparent, almost all
problems can be recreated if you perform the same set of
operations after starting you computer (though you may need
to "shutdown" rather than "restart" in extreme cases). Of
course, the set of operations may be long and complex, which
you will wish to simplify as much as possible. To help, be
aware that the symptom may not appear immediately when the
conflict occurs. So, every operation that happens from the
time you start the Mac may be important. As an analogy,
consider that when a car slams into phone pole, the original
cause of this symptom may be the extra drink the driver
consumed ten minutes before the accident.
It is also important to find the fewest steps, using the
most common application and document (where required). Not
only will this reduce the conflict resolution time (next
step), but problems requiring an obscure or large
application, a complex set of steps, or a complex document,
are more difficult for the software vendors to reproduce
your problems. When an application is required, we recommend
seeing is SimpleText with an empty document can be used.
4) Simplify Your Configuration
(Conflict Resolution)
Once you can reproduce the problem reliably, you need to
try and determine the fewest system enhancements required to
reproduce the problem. This is known as a "Conflict
Resolution", and third party Extension Managers like
"Conflict Catcher" and "Now Startup" automate the process.
The basis of a conflict resolution is to understand that
your Mac will start with no Control Panels folder, no
Extensions folder, and no Fonts folder. So you can move
these folders to the desktop and restart (though you will be
missing some fonts and enhancements, your Mac will start).
If you have an Extension Manager, you can create a new
"startup set" and disable all the items which is like moving
them to the desktop.
The first step is to startup with just RAM Charger, and
see if the problem occurs. If so, then the conflict is with
the System (note RAM Charger and/or the System may be
damaged). Otherwise, you need to add (enable) items, perhaps
in groups, to find out what else is required. Obviously,
first suspicion is best placed on older software, perhaps no
longer in development for current MacOS releases.
5) Verify Your
Simplification!
Once you have found the fewest items required, verify the
problem still exists with just those items and goes away
when any item is removed. Because conflict resolution can be
a difficult and lengthy process, mistakes can be made.
Moreover, problems are not always 100% reproducible, which
can taint your results.
Startup with just the few items required, and verify that
the problem happens. Then startup with each one of the items
disabled and the others active, and verify that the problem
goes away.
6) Fresh Install The Latest
Versions
When you have the fewest products required to cause the
problem, verify that you have the latest version of the
products and reinstall them. It is quite possible that one
of the products has been damaged internally, undetectable by
a disk checker, and thus is not operating on your machine as
intended by the software vendor. It is also possible that
the problem has been fixed in a recent release. If either of
these is the case, it will do no good to report the problem,
since their is nothing the vendor can do.
Note that where possible you should download a fresh
installer from the Internet since your old installer may
also be damaged. Many vendors provide their installers
online. RAM Charger is available
here.
7) Evaluate Work-Arounds
If a disk check and reinstalling the few components
required failed to solve the problem, then please try the
following work-around to both verify the diagnosis and to
keep you running while the issue is further examined by
software vendors:
- System Extension Conflict - If the problem
only happens with certain system extensions involved,
then try changing the order in which they load. Some
third party extension managers let you drag items in the
startup list to change the order. However, if this option
is not available, items load alphabetically within
folders, so you can change the names to change the load
order. Also, some extensions, such as RAM Charger, may be
placed in
either the
Control Panels or the Extensions Folder to change
load order (check with the software vendor). Items in the
System Folder load before items in the Extension Folder
which load before items in the Control Panels folder.
- Application Specific Conflict - If only one
particular application is required to cause the problems,
you should examine its RAM Charger settings. RAM Charger
is not all or nothing, you may
configure
RAM Charger for each application. First, try
disabling RAM Charger for the application to see if it
works. If so, you may wish to try
starting
it in a larger size, or examining some of the other
settings.
7) Report The Problem
Finally, contact all of the vendors of the products to
let them know there is a potential conflict. Despite any
symptoms, it is possible that any one of the software
products, including Apple products, are responsible to the
original infraction resulting in your symptom. Moreover, it
is also possible that no one vendor is responsible, the
problem may be the result of two products operating properly
independently, but performing legitimate operations that
can't work together.
When reporting the problem, be sure to provide your
Macintosh model, MacOS version, and the names and versions
of any applications or extensions required. Where possible
it is helpful if you provide an Internet address (web page
and/or email) for the vendors of nay other products
involved. If a complex document is required, see if you can
send that as well.
For problems where RAM Charger is involved, you can
contact us here.
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