Modding with Fire.

Posted on February 13th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Service Rants, main.

Every now and then, someone asks me “why should I buy a Mac?” My response is of course, why shouldn’t you? I’ve been a mac person for my entire computer using life and have no problem with that. Its a good thing. But of course, once in a while, something comes along that serves as a reminder of how well built the Macintosh computer is. I offer it as a good example of why you should buy a mac.

Yes, the picture above is an iMac. Your standard 20″ iMac G5. They’re good machines all told. Granted there was an REP on the power supply and logic board, but one can hardly hold Apple responsible for Foxconn getting a batch of bad capacitors. But I’m digressing. Notice that this mac isn’t pristine white. Its yellow. Its black. Its gray and sooty. The plastic has bubbled and started to melt. Yes, thats right. This mac was caught in a fire! I came into work this morning, and this machine had somehow made it into our possession, post customer. The shop folks were getting a good look at it, since Mac techs always enjoy a look at the extreme destruction that can befall one of MotherShip’s fine machines. Of course, with this unit’s life cycle ended, the guys just opted to leave it for the recycling pile.

I couldn’t let it go though. We can only imagine what this machine saw. How the room around it went up in flames. How, sitting on its desk, it was engulfed in an inferno and managed to still be upright. This machine had obviously made it through a baptism of fire, literally. But how well had it survived? I had to know. It was almost a moral obligation to try that which most people had already written off.

Would this horribly thrashed and discarded machine, who sacrificed all to protect it’s hard drive, power on? And if it did power on, would it boot up? Yes. I had to know.

I went ahead and set the unit up on its own surge protector, just in case. I hooked up a keyboard, mouse, power and ethernet. The usual basics. Then, while compressing the warped back plate assembly, I pressed in the power button. I caught the sound of a fan spinning, a scent of burnt plastic, smoke and ash. Then, the unit elicited the famous mac startup chime. What!?!? It passed POST! (Power On Self Test) To coin an internet acronym, OMFG! The thing not only powered on, but POSTed. Jesus Tap Dancing Christ.

At this point. I had to step back and marvel for a minute. I’ve seen a lot of machines take some seriously impressive beatings. But I’ve never seen one take this kind of damage, and still function. This machine was subjected to temperatures hot enough to completely color cook, bubble, and melt its plastics. Its entirely possible that the machine itself may have for a time, been on fire. And it powers on and passes the self test. I don’t think I could possibly be more impressed. Well, maybe if it asked me for a stiff drink and pooped out the keys to a ferrari, maybe. But this is reality. All my Liquor is at home. I couldn’t offer it a drink, even if I wanted to. But I’m digressing again.

So, as I’ve said, the unit powered on and passed POST. As I sat there marveling at it, I was even more surprised when the thing found my NetBoot server, and began to boot up. It loaded up the desktop and sure enough, this machine that was given up for dead, sat here on my workbench, patiently waiting to be used. In my mind, all I could imagine was the “Little Computer That Could” sitting on my desk, and despite its battle damage, hollering out,

“Dude! Wait, I still function! I can still make an iMovie, or check your email! We can hit the iTunes Music Store, or like, maybe check out Slashdot! I’m not done yet! I can still be useful!”

This machine impresses me thoroughly. It embodies the idea that you’d be surprised at what you can live through. Likewise, its a testament to how well constructed Mac’s are. This one survived a fire, and it still works. Sure, the plastics are toast, literally, and the screen is a loss, but it powers on, and wants to do its job. I don’t know if I can say that about any other piece of technology that I own or service.

This little Mac had been cast to the recycling bin, given up as a loss. Its precious data was retrieved, so the machine could head for the trash. However, I don’t think I can let that happen. I have too much respect for this inanimate object. I’m going to find a good corner of my work area for it, maybe clean it up a little bit, and keep it around. Why? Maybe as a reminder of how good Mac’s really are. Maybe because you don’t really know what tough means until you see it first hand. Or, maybe because its just so damned cool that it got roasted and can still check my email.

You rock hard little iMac. You totally do.

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Mbox and Garage Band

Posted on January 14th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Service Rants, main.

Periodically I get email from people who’ve been linked to MYM from a google search, that are looking for information on getting Digidesign’s Mbox to work with Apple’s GarageBand.

Originally, I did this more than 4 years ago, when the Mbox was new on the market. Back then, GarageBand was pretty new too. I want to say that I probably did this around 2001. So, its been a few years. I hosted the info for a good long time, but as the computer industry rolls over on a pretty regular cycle, it eventually became outdated.

Since then, Digidesign has released an entirely new line of Mbox products as the Mbox 2 Family. Likewise, we’ve gone from the original iLife to iLife 08. In that time, apple has also bought Logic and proceeded to base Garage Band and Logic express and Logic Pro on their software property acquisition. In short, what I did back so many years ago is pretty well outdated.

Also figure that there are currently audio input ports on all of Apple’s currently shipping and recently shipping machines. With this in mind, it isn’t hard to find a 1/4th inch to stereo-mini adapter, and plug your guitar or other standard 1/4th inch instrument cable into your Mac. Likewise, there are enough USB/Midi devices out there that dont require an Mbox style setup. To that end, you really don’t need an Mbox, if all you’re looking to do is plug in a guitar. Of course, I wont even get into the fact that back then, I was doing everything with a 500MHz G3 iBook, and the latency was horrid.

However, if you really want to attempt this, what you need to do is hunt around online for the latest DigiDesign Core Audio drivers and install them. Once they’re active, you should be able to configure OSX to see the Mbox as an audio input device. Then you can load GarageBand and configure it to accept input from the Mbox as its real instrument input.

Given this, you ought to be able to make it work. I cant promise that it will still work or how well it will work. It may not. You may get lots of static, or no amplification. I don’t know. I haven’t had an Mbox in several years. I now mic my amp and line straight into my MacBook Pro when I want to record.

If you’re looking for the old pages I put up regarding this, please search google, and see if they’ve cached it, or if Archive.org has cached it. I no longer have those pages, nor did I save that data. If this disappoints you, I’m sorry. I’m sure someone else out there in Internet Land duplicated what I did, and posted it somewhere. Someplace like maybe the forums on Digidesign’s website. Keep digging and good luck!

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Starting out right.

Posted on October 21st, 2006 by phiber811, under John, Service Rants, main.

Of course, it would make sense that my first post from the west coast, a new home, job, etc, would be me ranting. I havent ranted enough in the last year, so I’m gonna make a point to vent at people more often. With that said, lets get to getting.

MacBook Random Shutdown Syndrome, or Why your MacBook isnt a blender. Alternate title, Quit whining, You Bastards.

Lets Get the facts out of the way right now, so there’s no confusing them later.

1) All macbooks should still be covered by their initial Limited Warranty.
2) There are both Apple Retail service providers and Apple Authorized service providers all over america.
3) There is an issue with the MacBook. Its the Heat Sink Assembly on the processors.
4) it takes about 15 minutes to fix.
5) If you can be bothered to complain about it, but cant be bothered to get it fixed, shut up.
6) If you didnt buy your AppleCare extended warranty, you’re an idiot.

With that out of the way, we can proceed on. Now, given that there is a documented problem with the MacBook series machines, I remind people that they’ve purchased a first rev machine, of a completely new architecture. Its small, its fast, and its inexpensive. In order to hit those marks, you may have to endure some of the realities of life with high end technology. One of those realities is that sometimes things dont work perfectly. Of course, I’m not saying that you should shut up and deal with it. You should do that for many other things. For this problem though, you should be proactive, and spend a total of a half hour to make the problem go away. Here is what you should do.

First, contact your local Apple Authorized Service Provider. I would choose an independent dealer, or an Apple Specialist (Here in Portland, its MacForce). I would call them, and talk to their service department. Tell them you have a MacBook, and its doing the whole shutdown thing. They’ll tell you that its a problem with the Heat Sink Assembly and that its covered by AppleCare. You should then be able to give them your info, and have them order the part for you. When the part comes in, they should be able to turn the unit around quick for you. Once that heat sink is replaced, the problem goes away.

Now, if you need a short term fix, in order to get work done, shut the damned thing down. Then, press and hold the power button till you hear a really long tone. Let go of the power button, and the unit will boot up. You’ve just reset your logic board, and you should be free of the shutdown problem for at least a day.

Now, to deal with the sabre rattling nitwits. Put your Class Action Lawsuits, and your pain and your suffering, as well as your emotional distress, in a bag, and choke on it. Your lives are not ruined, your purchase is not in vain, you have not suffered horrible emotional, professional, physical, existential, religious, or epicurean horrors or distress due to your unit shutting down randomly. If you’ve been saving your work or games, then you shouldnt be missing much of anything. As for the the smoking gun types that demand a new computer in this kind of instance, grow up, shut up and behave like the adult you’re supposed to be. If your car has a faulty battery, they do NOT give you a new car. They replace the battery. If your macbook has a bad heat sink, they do not replace the computer, they give you a new heat sink. This is the way the world works. You can accept it, or behave badly and have those of us who fix this stuff for a living, hate your soul. And dont think that you’re anonymous. All techs can recall the names of their worst customers, and can recite the story of having to deal with you, from memory.

So, with all of this in mind, if your MacBook is shutting down, call a service provider. Spend 30 minutes, get fixed, and move on. I’m sick of the damned Nerd Press making a mountain out of a molehill. Its damned pathetic.

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For the love of Butter.

Posted on July 28th, 2006 by phiber811, under Service Rants, main.

Dear Apple,

Please tell me, Why must I remove the logic board, fan assemblies, processor, speaker assembly, and several dozen screws, in order to replace the lower SATA cable on a G5 tower? Why couldnt you have moved those two screws forward, say, an inch and a half?

I hope your dog dies,
Me.

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What The Deuce?

Posted on July 25th, 2006 by phiber811, under Service Rants, main.

My part time service kid just unpacked a white macbook for a customer. His task, swap out the factory ram with 1GB modules. Several minutes later he comes into my office and says “Is this normal?” and hands me the factory ram. the connectors are all covered with white oxidation. As in evidence of a liquid spill. Here’s the kicker though. all the packaging is pristine, which means that this happened in manufacturing. How the hell does that get through quality inspection?

Now, we have to try and send the unit back to the Supplier as defective, and get another one. Did I mention they’re highly constrained? Did I mention that the customer is coming in today to pick it up?

Yeah, thanks for that, Apple.

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