Messages

1

Tech / iMac bad logic board?

« on: July 21, 2011, 06:44:00 PM »

I'm with you on the non-Apple repairs, I won't even get into my last Apple store repair debacle. I like the store, but let's just say there's only room for so many blue shirts in an Apple store, then throw in a throng of customers and pandemonium ensues!

Yes the superdrive shows up in System Profiler...I'll definitely shoot some canned air in the slot. And yes I have yet to try anything with Target disk mode because I keep forgetting my pesky FW400 to FW800 cable at work. My thought was that maybe while the CPU is choking unbearably under snow leopard, that a fresh install of the original 10.4 disk might help it run smooth enough to troubleshoot. Doubtful but maybe?!

I'm pretty sure JWBoyd has Techtool installed on his Macbook Pro. If he's willing I'll see if his version isn't too new to sniff out hardware problems on my old iMac. Even if he's not, I bet I could twist his arm the next time we bring the grandkids to see him. I had no idea you could run tests over a network with it. Thanks for the insight!

2

Tech / iMac bad logic board?

« on: July 20, 2011, 09:31:12 PM »

I recently replaced a couple of point of sale iMacs at our shop with some new Mac Minis. They were both late 2006 17" 2GHz Core 2 Duo models bought as refurbs. I went to erase and restore the two retirees to see if they could still be used at all. One went perfectly and works well for my in-laws, but the other had already shown signs of problems, (i.e. inconsistent random lines/artifacts in screen, kernel panics) and won't hardly boot up now. Other symptoms include the Superdrive not mounting discs at all, and therefore won't run Apple Hardware Test. I have a feeling just cracking the case and blowing out the dust won't help much.

From this can anybody confirm my hunch that the logic board+graphics is likely toast? If I can get one for $50-75 on ebay it might be worth digging in, but even at that I don't know if the part I'm getting will be reliable. Any ideas or opinions, worth it to mess with or staggering on its last leg?

3

2008 / Ethernet and "Hard to reach places"

« on: November 20, 2008, 10:46:41 PM »

Good links Paddy!  Now if only I could find some of this stuff on my own. You must have an easy button next to your keyboard...

RHP, muchas gracias to you also for the offer.   I couldn't say for sure, but I think that 54Mbps over powerlines would be a long shot given the scenario. Actually, right now I have a Time Capsule wireless network extended by an Airport Express, which works great for casual internet, but pretty lousy for saving/transferring even small CAD files. I imagine metal buildings take their toll on 802.11 signals. I'd love to get as much as possible of the 100Mbps that wired ethernet affords, and possibly switch my other routers/hubs to Gigabit ones someday. Obviously I'm learning as I go...Isn't that the only way to go?!?  

For now I'll probably look into mounting a low-cost switch to bridge a couple lengths of CAT5e cable. Sounds like a great snowy day project!

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2008 / Samsung starts to mass produce 256GB SSD

« on: November 20, 2008, 03:53:15 PM »

My iMac could use one of those. Wonder if you can adapt from a 3.5" socket to a 2.5" drive.

I'd also like to know where to sign up to be pre release tester for cool new toys...err important technology like this... PM me if anyone knows!

5

2008 / Ethernet and "Hard to reach places"

« on: November 20, 2008, 03:38:29 PM »

Anybody know what I need to do to run ethernet over about 450 ft?

Scouring the web tells me that ethernet's range is about 100m, or 328 ft. My network might fall within that range if I didn't have tall ceilings to snake across.

What I'm wondering is if your average ethernet hub/router/switch would act as a repeater to kind of bridge the gap at the halfway point and amplify the signal. This isn't ideal, since it means I need a 120V outlet up on the shop ceiling, but if it beats performance over an extended wireless network in a shop with all kinds of welding and power interference, I'd do it no questions asked.

Any help and/or other ideas are appreciated!

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2008 / Airport Extreme Flashing Amber Light (Arrrgghghgh!!!!)

« on: November 06, 2008, 07:40:20 PM »

Sounds like you have the exact same setup that we have at our shop. In which case, Paddy's got it right. You'll need to run an ethernet cable from your 2wire modem/router to the Airport. Run your Airport Utility if necessary, and, Voila! All should be well.

Then you can turn off your wireless by accessing the 2wire's settings in a browser. Open up Safari and type in "homeportal" in the address bar. (or "gateway.2wire.net" I believe should also work) Once you get in there you should be able to find a setting to disable your wireless network. I could tell you more about that from my work computer, but hopefully this much is some help.

Now I better run and unlock my wife's car in the Walmart parking lot. The keys happen to be inside...  

7

2008 / MBP Loooooong Startup

« on: October 26, 2008, 03:24:07 PM »

Well I visited the Apple Store today with my ailing MBP. The genius that I talked to said he had only been working with Macs 4 months! But he seemed to know what he was doing... He was able to confirm that it takes a long time to start it up.   And that FW was a goner. And voila...I'm getting a new logic board. We shall see how it works in a few days! Thanks for the help and advice!

Oh, and as a side note, the new MacBook they had on display boots in under 25 seconds!  

8

2008 / MBP Loooooong Startup

« on: October 25, 2008, 05:30:54 AM »

Update! Memory checks out according to a boot into hardware test. Booting from the Leopard disk earlier seemed reasonable considering it was reading from a DVD...didn't time it though. Safe boot didn't seem to make much of a difference in start up time. However, I got a whim to use target disk mode and boot the MBP's HD through my iMac. No beans! Didn't even see the drive. Tried it the other way around and the MBP didn't see the iMac's drive. I don't have any other FW devices at my disposal, but I'm wondering if this isn't a case of a bad FW controller.

If that were the case, my guess is that the FW controller is built in to the motherboard. Here's hoping it's not really a hardware problem! At least it's still under warranty. (It was a refurb unit.) So whaddayathink? Am I misreading things? Should I schedule an appt. with a genius?

9

2008 / MBP Loooooong Startup

« on: October 24, 2008, 09:39:51 PM »

More info at:
Apple Discussions Thread

10

2008 / MBP Loooooong Startup

« on: October 24, 2008, 08:18:04 PM »

Hoping for any clues that might solve this without having to reinstall! I posted on Apple Discussions...no replies yet. Here's the problem:


Have a 15" MacBook Pro. 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM OS 10.5.5. Over 40GB of HD space available. Last week it was working fine. Left it powered on all weekend at work and now it takes almost 6 minutes from power button to login screen.   More specifically, at about 25 sec. the grey apple appears and around 1:30 or so the blue screen shows up. From there it hangs for the rest of the time. No HD noises, nothing!


I have booted from a Leopard upgrade disk...disk verified fine and repaired permissions. Reset PRAM. Still no beans. I upgraded RAM a few weeks ago, but like I said, it was working fine up until this week.


What else should I look for? Settings? Caches? Never had this problem on another mac before? 6 minutes is a long time to wait on a current computer. Thanks in advance!

11

2008 / New MacBook Pro With A Funky Keyboard

« on: October 22, 2008, 09:53:26 PM »

Did you boot up the MBP at all before installing the new RAM? Just a thought...bad RAM isn't unheard of.

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2008 / Internet Sharing forgets to restart

« on: October 22, 2008, 06:50:56 AM »

Thank you! I've even searched the Apple discussion boards before and couldn't find anything. Guess I should've tried again more recently.

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2008 / Internet Sharing forgets to restart

« on: October 21, 2008, 07:03:09 PM »

Here's one for the leopard-minded of the forum... My iMac C2D (OS 10.5.5) shares its DSL connection over Airport through Leopard's Internet Sharing feature, mostly because I've been too cheap to buy a wireless router.


When I have my iMac running and I turn on wireless sharing, it works great...no problems whatsoever. When I go to restart or turn the iMac on the next morning, sharing may or may not turn itself back on. The checkbox in the Sharing pref. pane will always be checked, but my appleTV and iPod touch won't see my network at all. Also, when sharing doesn't turn on correctly, the airport menu bar icon will show me connected to the neighbors' open network, instead of the sharing icon.


It's more of an annoyance than anything, as I can just uncheck the Internet Sharing box, recheck it and I'm good to go. But annoyances are annoying!  


So anybody have any ideas? Am I due to buy an Airport Express? Should I take iMac's remote away for lying to me?