Computer Trouble - The Solution

Let me start out by first saying I love Apple and will continue to buy Apple computers!

Bear with me this might get kinda long!

For the first time in the 4 1/2 years or so that I have been using Apples I had a computer fail on me. I have been using my PowerBook G4 for nearly 4 years with no major issues. A couple nights ago after getting home from work I noticed the computer sounded a little louder then it usually does, I ignored it and figured it was just the fan. The next morning it was even louder and I started getting a little worried. I quickly backed everything up to my external hard drive just in case. Good thing I did, by the time I got home that night my computer would not do anything! I am not a trained computer expert by any means but I was pretty sure that my hard drive had failed. The noises that I had heard were likely the "last breaths" of a dying hard drive, lots if clicking and scratching noises.

My initial reaction was anger towards myself for not taking the noises more seriously and getting software installed on my backup drive sooner. I had all of my information backed up but did not have a bootable hard drive to start the computer from. My anger quickly turned to the thought of "oh crap what next". You see, I had been wanting a new MacBook Pro but I had deiced to wait until the new operating system (Leopard) is out this Fall. I had not really been planning finances for a new computer quite yet either. What else can I do though, buy a new computer or use an old computer for a few months until I bought a new one.

A trip to the Apple Store was needed! I decided that if I was able to go and see the new model of MacBook Pro I could convince myself that buying one now was a good idea (even though it would mean upgrade cost in the fall). I made a trip to the dreaded Mall of America to see the new models (just released on June 5, 2007) of course I fell in love! The MBP's have brighter screens, bigger hard drives, more memory and are a LOT faster then my dead computer. I wanted one right then and there. Thankfully they do not install hard drives in the store or else I would have bought one on the spot. I left the Apple Store empty handed but full walleted for the day at least.

After getting home and getting my Dell laptop out of the basement, reviving it for the first time in months. I started reading reviews of the MBP's and trying to decide on which hard drive to order with the computer (without boring you to death, the choices are bigger/slower vs smaller/faster). While reading about what are people had order I stumble across a story about replacing hard drives in PowerBook G4s. Hmmm that was not 1 of the 2 options I had come up with before. Could I possibly do that and does it make sense financially to do to a computer I plan on only using for another few months? More reading was needed. Turns out people claim replacing a laptop hard drive is not that hard. OK, but how much does the new drive cost? The answer actually shocked me, about $150. Well, $150 vs $2500ish for a new computer the choice seemed obvious.

The replacement hard drives are easily found online but I did not want to wait for shipping. After all I was without my computer and for a self proclaimed geek that is not fun! I had a new mission, find a replacement hard drive locally. Easy right, just run to Best Buy and get one? Nope. Best Buy carries new hard drives for desktop computers but not for laptops (2.5" vs 3.5") It was now Saturday night at about 9:00pm, where else could I look? Nowhere everything is closed (except the internet, but I had no plans to wait for shipping). I had plans to go to the Twins game on Sunday with my dad for Fathers day, the game was a 1:10. Micro Center in St. Louis Park is open until 6:00 on Sundays surely I could get there after the game and they would certainly stock the right size. I had a plan I could live with. Everything was going great, Twins won with a walk off home run at about 4:00pm. Walked out of the dome to get on the LRT back to my car . . . for only the third time since LRT went live the train was dead. That is a story for another time but I will simplify it by saying I did not get to my car by 6:00 so Micro Center was out of the question! Argh! Now what?!?! Circuit City? Best Buy did not have them but maybe Circuit City. Worth a look right? To my complete shock not only did they stock them but they had choices, well only 2 but still! I opted for a Seagate 120GB drive for $109.99 (even less then online, this might not be so bad after all). I still need the right type of screw driver though to open the bottom of my computer. It requires a T8 Torx Screwdriver, Circuit City does not carry them. It is now almost 8:00pm on Sunday, the guy at Circuit City suggests I try Best Buy or Home Depot for the screwdriver, alright but they both close at 8:00. I make a mad dash from France/494 to Home Depot at Lyndale/494 and pull into the Home Depot lot at 7:58! Thankfully - being a guy - I know exactly where the screwdrivers are in the store and I am out of Home Depot by 8:02. At that point I think I took my first breath in about an hour! I now had everything I needed to fix my computer.

I got home, had dinner then it was time to see if I could take my computer apart, take out the old hard drive, put the new one in, put the computer back together and then get it working. Turns out all those people online were right, it is not that hard. In fact that hardest part was getting a little rubber washer back into place next to the new drive. I meant to take pictures of this process but forgot until I was putting the last screw back into the computer, sorry. I was almost done, just need to hook up the computer to the external hard drive transfer info over and I am done. Turns out that was the hardest part of this entire ordeal. It turns out that when I installed all of the software on the backup drive some of it did not get installed before the hard drive completely died. I fought with installing software until about 7:00am on Monday before I got it working. After getting up Monday afternoon I finished transferring all off my files back, and set everything up again (e-mail, web, MS Office, Adobe software).

It is now time to defend Apple Computer. It is not just hard drives in Apples that fail, in fact this hard drive was made by Toshiba, the same kind of drive that is in Dell's and other Windows computers. In the end I was without my computer for only 2 days. The big down side though, now I have seen the new MBP and now I REALLY want one. I guess waiting until this Fall will not be that bad, will it?

Computer Trouble

As all of my loyal readers are aware I am an Apple Computer fan. I swear they are just easier to use! Well . . . I have been having some MAJOR issues with my Powerbook (McMac) in the last couple days. I think they are almost fixed and the blogging can resume stay tuned!

Contest #7

Imagine that, Dave and Bill were both right again. The last photo was of the canoe racks available for rent at West Bush Lake Park.

This one might be kind of easy but we'll see. Good Luck!

Contest #6

Dave and Bill were both correct again (I get the feeling I need to go outside of Bloomington with these pictures). The previous photo was of the I-494/Hwy 77/Lindau Ln interchange on the North side of the Mall of America. The photo was taken from the 6th level of West parking ramp.

For todays photo I will give no clues (Bill obviously does not need them!).

Contest #5

Congratulations to Bill, again. The correct answer to Contest #4 was the Hennepin Ave Bridge.

Do you know where this picture was taken from or what interchange this is.

Separation Sucks

Do you ever have one of those days were you have plans but get nothing done? I had one today. I was hoping to do a little Mothers Day shopping, grocery shopping and I had an idea for a photo contest picture that I wanted to go take.

I have had my Jeep for about a year now, I love it and have only had 2 minor issues with it. About a month after getting it I started noticing a "thumping" sound every time a certain spot on the front passenger tire would hit the pavement. I took it to the dealer to have them take a look. They took the tire off and there was a small piece of rubber that was inside the tire from the manufacturing process that fell out when they took it off the rim, they assumed that was making the noise. I did not hear the noise after that. Then this past winter I was driving home from work when I realized that nothing on my dashboard was registering (no speed, no compass direction, no fuel indicator, NOTHING). I again took it to the dealer and they replaced a connection in the ABS module and everything was fine.

Well, about a month ago I started noticing another noise from the tires. This time it was on the driver's side, but I could not determine if it the was front or rear. I just assumed it was a similar issue as before and let it go. That my friends was probably not the best of ideas. The noise got worse and today I took a look at the tire again and noticed 2 spots that were flat and 1 spot that had a hole in the outer layer. Here are a couple photos of the 2 spots.

This I decided was not good (I know I am quite the car expert!) so off I went to the dealer again. They said it looked like a tread separation but that I should take it to Goodyear since the tire would likely be fixed under warranty. My local Goodyear confirmed that it did appear to be a tread separation and that it should be a warranty replacement. Of course the local Goodyear locations do not stock the tire that my Jeep has and it needed to be ordered. Thankfully they are stocked at a local Goodyear warehouse and they can get a new tire within a day. Goodyear suggested not driving anymore than absolutely necessary before getting it fixed, due to the "very serious" risk of a blow out. The good news is they were able to get the tire ordered tonight and it will be at the shop by 10:30am tomorrow, in time for my 12:30pm appointment.

The bad news of course will all of this is I did not get my Mom a Mothers Day gift (Mom if you are reading this, it will be late sorry) and I was not able to get over to take the great photo that I had planned as well as running the needed errands. Oh well, the Twins are hosting the Chicago White Sox tonight so now I have an excuse to watch the game.

Contest #4

Alright, so Contest #3 might have been a little to obscure. The photo was of the "vent holes" on the side of a BBQ grill at Fort Snelling State Park. Here is a photo of the entire grill, hopefully it makes sense now.Now for Contest #4. This photo was taken in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Can you tell me what it is.
I will give a hint to help you start, a photo of this has been on my blog before.

And looking slightly into the future, I have a post partially done about a completely different type of contest.