Jericho: Oh! That button!
The Mac saga continues. If you aren't familiar with this story, have a look at the previous episodes:
Mac Zap!
iMac
Okay, so, since January we have had a dead G4 sitting in our basement. All of our files tucked away on the hard drive. This has been a pain in the ass for both Steph and I.
I keep thinking maybe I'll take it and have it looked at and then again, maybe that will cost a couple hundred bucks and just not be worth it - a new Mac mini is $599 retail. Paying half that to get a 5 year old machine fixed seems silly.
The essential thing was to retrieve all the files. I have all kinds of stuff loaded up on that hard drive that I really wanted back. If the drive was fried - at least I would know there was no hope. I needed an external hard drive enclosure. This is a cool little box that allows you to take an old hard drive and turn it into a mobile storage unit. The G4 had a 20 gig drive - that would make a heck of a back up device.
I went out to MacMall yesterday looking for a drive enclosure. They had several models to choose from, depending on what size and type of drive you own. The first one I spotted was $35 - much cheaper than a full repair. I dug a little deeper and found a $21 for a 5.25 ATA drive. I thought that's the type of drive I had, but I wasn't sure.
I went out to Apple, got into their support area and went spelunking for manuals on the G4. I found the section I was looking for - right there was a list of frequent system problems and their solutions. Second from the top of the list was "Screen is Black, No Startup Tone, Drive Does Not Operate " - ummmm ..... that was SO my issue!
I started clicking links. I quickly absorbed that there were several reasons for these symptoms and several fixes. The top of the list was to reset the Cuda chip (?) the next was to reset the logic board, followed by reseating all the components and finally replace the logic board and replace the power supply - these last two being the problems I thought I might have.
Okay, I had no idea what a Cuda chip could be. They mentioned in the fix document something about PRAM. I remember years ago a key command that "zapped the P-RAM" but I couldn't tell you what that meant or what the key command was now. Either way, I began printing documents and took them home with me.
When we got home, I went to the basement and set up the G4. I hooked up mouse and keyboard but didn't hook up the power. I cracked open the case and looked at the document:
"Press the Cuda reset button on the logic board to reset the Cuda chip. The Cuda reset button is located to the right of the battery."
Okay, the battery was easy to find. The lithium clock battery on a Mac looks like someone chopped a AA battery in half and glued it to the mother board. Now, which way was "to the right" of the battery I will never know. I figured it had to be in proximity of the battery. I found something that looked about right. I touched it and it felt like a button. I swear to you, this was a guess. This thing looked nothing like a button that would bring my computer back to life. I just found a picture out on the web, with a nice arrow and everything - you be the judge!
Could you have picked that out if you didn't know it was there? I know I couldn't!
I closed the case back up, plugged in the power and hit the button to turn on the Mac. The fan came up, the hard drive spun and it gave the start up tone! Success! A few seconds later it was bitching that the time was incorrect - duh! I zapped the PRAM - that info was gone! :)
I moved the 4 gigs of info off the old G3, shut it down and set it on a shelf. The G3, Titus, has been a good computer for nearly a decade. I set up the G4 where the G3 had been and loaded all the updates. In just an hour I had restored the G4 after sitting around for nine months.
I walked upstairs and found Steph in the bedroom - the rest of the house is too hot to breathe in, much less live in. Steph was enjoying the air conditioned sweetness of our bedroom. "What's that look for?" she asked.
"I fixed the G4 by pressing one button," I answered.
"It's fixed?!"
"Yup. Pretty, too."
"Let me get this right. We spent $1700 dollars to replace a computer you could have fixed by pressing one button?"
I smiled "Yup."
Mac Zap!
iMac
Okay, so, since January we have had a dead G4 sitting in our basement. All of our files tucked away on the hard drive. This has been a pain in the ass for both Steph and I.
I keep thinking maybe I'll take it and have it looked at and then again, maybe that will cost a couple hundred bucks and just not be worth it - a new Mac mini is $599 retail. Paying half that to get a 5 year old machine fixed seems silly.
The essential thing was to retrieve all the files. I have all kinds of stuff loaded up on that hard drive that I really wanted back. If the drive was fried - at least I would know there was no hope. I needed an external hard drive enclosure. This is a cool little box that allows you to take an old hard drive and turn it into a mobile storage unit. The G4 had a 20 gig drive - that would make a heck of a back up device.
I went out to MacMall yesterday looking for a drive enclosure. They had several models to choose from, depending on what size and type of drive you own. The first one I spotted was $35 - much cheaper than a full repair. I dug a little deeper and found a $21 for a 5.25 ATA drive. I thought that's the type of drive I had, but I wasn't sure.
I went out to Apple, got into their support area and went spelunking for manuals on the G4. I found the section I was looking for - right there was a list of frequent system problems and their solutions. Second from the top of the list was "Screen is Black, No Startup Tone, Drive Does Not Operate " - ummmm ..... that was SO my issue!
I started clicking links. I quickly absorbed that there were several reasons for these symptoms and several fixes. The top of the list was to reset the Cuda chip (?) the next was to reset the logic board, followed by reseating all the components and finally replace the logic board and replace the power supply - these last two being the problems I thought I might have.
Okay, I had no idea what a Cuda chip could be. They mentioned in the fix document something about PRAM. I remember years ago a key command that "zapped the P-RAM" but I couldn't tell you what that meant or what the key command was now. Either way, I began printing documents and took them home with me.
When we got home, I went to the basement and set up the G4. I hooked up mouse and keyboard but didn't hook up the power. I cracked open the case and looked at the document:
"Press the Cuda reset button on the logic board to reset the Cuda chip. The Cuda reset button is located to the right of the battery."
Okay, the battery was easy to find. The lithium clock battery on a Mac looks like someone chopped a AA battery in half and glued it to the mother board. Now, which way was "to the right" of the battery I will never know. I figured it had to be in proximity of the battery. I found something that looked about right. I touched it and it felt like a button. I swear to you, this was a guess. This thing looked nothing like a button that would bring my computer back to life. I just found a picture out on the web, with a nice arrow and everything - you be the judge!
Could you have picked that out if you didn't know it was there? I know I couldn't!
I closed the case back up, plugged in the power and hit the button to turn on the Mac. The fan came up, the hard drive spun and it gave the start up tone! Success! A few seconds later it was bitching that the time was incorrect - duh! I zapped the PRAM - that info was gone! :)
I moved the 4 gigs of info off the old G3, shut it down and set it on a shelf. The G3, Titus, has been a good computer for nearly a decade. I set up the G4 where the G3 had been and loaded all the updates. In just an hour I had restored the G4 after sitting around for nine months.
I walked upstairs and found Steph in the bedroom - the rest of the house is too hot to breathe in, much less live in. Steph was enjoying the air conditioned sweetness of our bedroom. "What's that look for?" she asked.
"I fixed the G4 by pressing one button," I answered.
"It's fixed?!"
"Yup. Pretty, too."
"Let me get this right. We spent $1700 dollars to replace a computer you could have fixed by pressing one button?"
I smiled "Yup."
posted by Jericho Brown at 6/27/2006 12:33:00 PM
10 Comments:
So now you have two mac's, so no more argueing over who gets to use the computer or when. :)
Ummm, my bass broke - the b string is missing - and I cantt find any buttons. I need to spend about $1700 to replace it.
Always the funny guy. Always with the joking. Welll, let me tell you something, Egghead, I know where the Cuda chip is at on your bass and I'm not gonna tell you!
Go three finger salute that!
If you know of a button on my bass that will turn it into this, I will fucking hunt you down and torture you to get the information.
Too bad there isn't a Cuda chip on my life.
Maybe I just haven't found it yet!
Wy can't life be more like an Etch-A-Sketch? If you fuck something up, you just have to flip it upside down and shake the shit out of it, then you get to start over.
Maybe it is - you just don't remember what happened before the flip. That pattern has been removed ...
Well I'll be dipped in buttermilk and rolled in flour and deep fried to a crispy, golden brown if I can figure out how to shake that bitch clear.
If you shake yourself violently enough and for long enough, you will cause enough brain trauma that you won't remember anything!
Keep going until you can't feel anything at all!
I manage to make things go all swirly for a while, but every time I regain consciousness I still remember crap.
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