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Thread: Any Mac geniuses here? Advice needed.

  1. #1
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    Any Mac geniuses here? Advice needed.

    I'm currently without home broadband access; I limp along with dial-up, on either a 2002 G4 iMac with an internal modem or more recently with an Apple external modem on a 2006 G5 iMac that doesn't have an internal modem. For my modest uses, limited to some web browsing and email, it's been ok, and we've got fast connections at work for when that's necessary.

    A friend who upgrades his tech about as often as I change my socks just gave me a late 2009 27" iMac, with 16 GB memory, 2.8 GHz Intel quad Core i7 processor, and 1TB hard drive. It was running OS X 10.6 something, so I brought it to an Apple store for a check up and upgrade and they did a clean install and loaded OS X 10.9.2.

    Problem is, I subsequently learned, any Mac OS X later than 10.6 (or perhaps early 10.7) doesn't support external modems and Apple dropped internal modems a number of years ago. Can I bring it back to the Genius Bar and have them load an earlier OS, one that will allow me to use the external modem for internet access, and ideally leaving 10.9.2 intact (I have plenty of memory and disc space) for a hoped-for switch to broad band, when and if? I called their (offshore?) help line and the fellow told me that Apple doesn't support (install?) older operating systems, but this machine obviously can run one since that's what was on it when I got it.

    Any solid advice would be appreciated; the guy at the Genius bar was helpful but I don't want to hump this beast back down there (in the bowels of a shopping mall 40 miles away) unless I'm pretty sure in advance that they can hook me up, that this is doable.

    Barring that, and assuming for the sake of argument that I'm stuck with dial-up for the foreseeable future, any other ideas on connecting my new machine to the internet?

    Thanks in advance...
    Last edited by Frank Drew; 07-28-2014 at 10:11 AM.

  2. #2
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    Have you checked Apple's support site? A quick search found this: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13844

  3. #3
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    Doug

    Thanks for responding; I've tried that set of instructions, but, contrary to what's indicated, the pop up interface menu doesn't include a choice for a modem, just Bluetooth PAN/DUN, Wi-Fi, FireWire, Ethernet, VPN, PPoE and 6 to 4. I'll continue noodling around but might end up back at the Apple store for advice. Or move to somewhere with broadband!

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    In my limited research, I see that the USRobotics USR5637 USB modem and the Zoom 3095 USB Mini Modem will support OS X through 10.9 (Mavericks). This would seem to me to be the easiest option. Although there are several more ways to accomplish what you want, I can't think of one that is cheaper or easier to implement.

    Dave

  5. #5
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    Yes, I think the simplest solution is too go back to an older OS (presumably OS 10.6). Assuming you don't have the original disc you need to download the OS 10.6 from Apple.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  6. #6
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    Apple no longer supports 10.6. Expect 10.7 support to be dropped this fall. That means no security updates for the OS.

    John

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    Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

    Dave, my reading, from US Robotics site, is that the 5637 supports OS Snow Leopard (10.6) and Mountain Lion (10.8); I didn't see any mention of Maverick (10.9), but I'll keep looking and maybe contact USR directly. Zoom's website says their 3095 supports up to Mountain Lion, but I think they're here in the States so I can give them a call directly. Thanks for the research, in any case.

    Shawn, that was my thought (re-install an older OS) if I can get it done; John's point about Apple not supporting those older operating systems might be the fly in the ointment, but no security updates might be a price I'm willing to pay if I can get access; otherwise, this is just a big screen with great graphics, but that goes nowhere.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Drew View Post
    Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

    Dave, my reading, from US Robotics site, is that the 5637 supports OS Snow Leopard (10.6) and Mountain Lion (10.8); I didn't see any mention of Maverick (10.9)....
    I couldn't find a link to the post directly, but here is something I found on an Apple support fora. Here is link to the entire thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5543262

    Thank you for choosing USRobotics.

    Your case number for this issue is: 301667052

    Your initial email was replied to on November 13, 2013. Below the reply we provided you to configure the modem:

    After reading your e-mail I understand that you would like to know if the modem is in fact compatible to Mac OSX 10.9 Maverick. Yes the USR5637 is compatible with Mac OSX 10.9.

    If you will use the modem for a dial up connection to the Internet follow these steps:

    1- In the System Preferences, open the Network.
    2- Once in the Network section, click on the USB Modem and click on Advanced.
    3- Make sure that under Vendor and Model the USR5637 is correctly selected.
    4- In the PPP tab make sure the Use Verbose login check box is checked.
    5- Fill the Username, Password and Phone number with your ISP information and click on Connect.

    If you will use the modem for faxing follow the steps below:

    1- In the System Preferences, open the Printer & Scanner or Printer & Faxes depending of your Mas OSX version.
    2- Once in the Printer & Scanner or Printer & Faxes, if the devices shows up as an external modem you need to remove it. If the device is not listed skip to step
    3- Click on the add button and on the window that comes up, click on the fax tab at the top of the window, you should see a USB modem listed.
    4- Complete the on screen steps to Add a USB modem.

    I hope this helps.

    Again, thank you for choosing USRobotics.
    Last edited by David Masters; 07-28-2014 at 4:09 PM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Drew View Post
    ...my thought (re-install an older OS) if I can get it done...
    For security and support of applications going forward, I would want to stay with Mavericks or Mountain Lion, rather than install a back-level release. If you encounter any application issue, the support staff is going to request you upgrade the OS to something current and supported by Apple.

    Dave

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    Dave,

    I'd prefer to stick with Maverick if I can; going backwards would only be a last ditch effort to make the external modem work. I've tried using my less-than-a-year-old Apple external modem, but the network preferences don't recognize it; I might take a flier on the USR 5637 because the $40-50 would be well worth it if it did what I want. Thanks for your additional suggestions.

  11. #11
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    Kind of a kludge here, but I think it might work, at least for the interim, until a better solution works out. I haven't messed with older versions of OS X for a while, so this might be a little off, but it should be similar . . .

    Sounds like you have other Macs that currently connect via the modem - once that's online, go to the system preferences, (under the "Apple Menu" on the Mac that is connected) and select "Sharing" from there. One of the options, along with things like "File Sharing" and "Printer Sharing", should be "internet sharing"; it's pretty self explanatory from there, but you should be able to pick from a drop-down menu what connection you want to share (I would assume this would be from "USB", because I'm guessing that's what your Apple modem connects to, but it might coming into your computer from somewhere else, like the ethernet, or be labelled more appropriately in the pulldown menu, like "Apple Modem" or something) Then in the series of checkboxes under the "To computers using" list, click how you want to do it; if both computers have Airport cards, you can select "Wi-Fi", or you could select "ethernet" and connect the cables with a simple ethernet cable. You may also be able to make Firewire, or Bluetooth work.

    Info from Apple on this is here: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6589 (for Snow Leopard, since the older Mac is the one you'd want to use the instructions on, but my experience is that this has been pretty similar on most versions of OS X)
    " Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice

  12. #12
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    A little poking around revealed that the Apple modem (which was discontinued in '09 - you'd think they'd stop selling something they weren't going to continue to support), or at least its drivers, uses 32 bit addressing, so won't work on Mavericks, which is strictly 64 bit. Apparently, you can still force Lion to start in a 32-bit mode, if that's an option you want to continue. I don't know if it's an easy down-grade to Lion, but at least it's available online (for free, I believe) so you don't have to track down actual physical discs like Snow Leopard. (although, that might actually be better for you, since you're on dial-up.) If I still had my SL discs, I'd send them to you, sorry, though, I loaned them out and they were never returned.

    Apple has officially retired support for Snow Leopard; I'd probably go with buying new modem over back-grading, although it's probably not the end of the world if you don't. I would make sure Java, and probably Flash, were disabled on my browser of choice, though. Java in particular, has been the source of a lot of security updates and proof-of-concept hacks, and unlike Javascript, probably doesn't add anything to 99 percent of browsing these days.
    " Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice

  13. #13
    An old Netgear RM356 is like a modern day broadband router but instead of a broadband connection, it has a built-in 56k modem.

    They worked okay.

    You can find them cheap on eBay.

    Handles requests for anything on the network.

  14. #14
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    Joshua, Phil,

    Thanks for the follow up and advice. I've got a few avenues to pursue now.

  15. #15
    Get a PC...

    I had to do it.......

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