Eternal Vigilance

MAC 17" G4 Laptop NO longer has one long beep BUT freezes & Disk First Aid Repair SNAFU

Bob 69 — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:58:52 GMT

Greetings Jedi Knights, Wizards, Faeries & Human Beings, The 3.5 year old MAC 17" G4 Laptop running on OS X 10.2 with symptoms of one long beep then one traditional chime in which the Startup screen freezes, had both RAM chips/modules/memory sticks successfully removed and then reseated. After surgery was completed, upon Startup the laptop NO LONGER sounds one long beep but the traditional chime instead, however The MAC OS X Startup screen still freezes/hangs, so then . . . Startup from the original MAC OS X Install Disk (in in the CD/DVD bay while holding down the 'C' key) was employed. Disk First Aid was initiated with the following diagnostic info displayed on monitor: Rebuilding Catalog B-Tree ALERT - Disk First Aid Utility stopped repairing MAC HD because the following error was reported: The underlying task reported Failure on Exit. Any thoughts/suggestions/URL leads would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration. Respectfully yours, Bob 69 P.S. Please do not consider that I am a slacker but an enthusiastic MAC neophyte instead. I will be surfing/Yahoo!-ing/Googling and sending smoke signals to the MAC Power Book, Tech Support and Apple Computer tribes here on Tribe.net in hope to find a solution. Peace

MAC Laptop Repair UPDATE

Bob 69 — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 19:52:28 GMT

Greetings Jedi Knights, Wizards & Faeries, Because time is of the essence, surgery on the laptop (in a remote location in the Mid West) has been scheduled after 6:30PM PDT today July 24. 2006 because the Moon in Cancer is presently void from 2:08AM PDT to 5:26PM PDT (when Leo Moon begins in the next hour). Others who are in need and I are both humbled and honored to know that you exist. Thank you for being you. Love, light, understanding and peace to all points on the compass of Mother Earth. Respectfully yours, Bob 69 SURGERY PROCEDURES FOR MAC LAPTOP REPAIR 1. Please be advised to have the impersonal demeanor of a surgeon for the next ten minutes and all will be fine. 2. Wear a bandanna around your forehead to avoid dispersion of sweat. 3. Wash and dry hands completely. 4. Refer to the diagrams in the PDF file located at: www.info.apple.com/usen/cip...n-mem.pdf 5. Make sure that the laptop is not in sleep mode and that it is completely turned off. 6. Do not attach any cables including the power source cable to the laptop. 7. Place laptop upside down on a level HARD surface i.e. table, desk, etc. covered by a clean cloth. 8. Lift the battery out of the battery bay. 9. Please refer to the diagrams in the PDF document from the URL attached to this e-mail above. 10. Open the little back door by removing the 3 screws with a size 00 Philips screwdriver 11. DISCHARGE any static electrical energy in yourself, by touching a metallic surface outside of the opened compartment. 12. Lift the memory door up slightly and slide it straight back to remove. 13. Check for lost screws that might be caught by magnets inside the front edge of the battery well. 14. Look inside the opened compartment to locate the two metal tabs that hold the RAM memory chips/sticks on the left side and right side, then push them back slowly and the memory should pop out. PLEASE be mindful of: 14A. ~ It's the RAM modules that end up at an approximate 30 degree angle to go in and out, NOT the 'black plastic clippie things' that hold them in. If you try to pull the 'black plastic clippie things' out to 30 degree angle, they'll break and you will be buying a new logic board. 14B. ~ When inserting the RAM modules, you have to make sure you get the contacts in all the way. it usually requires a bit of force. Pushing the chip back down to lock into the clips requires only a fingertip. 14C. ~ Check that the notches in the RAM modules/card clear the tabs as you press down on the sides of the card to lock it into place. 14D. ~ If re-seating the RAM modules doesn't work, the RAM itself might be bad. Try another stick, even if you have to buy one. Under $50 for 512MB, usually. See http;//coastmemory.com . 15. The contact points DO NOT need to be cleaned. 16. As previously mentioned in section 14B (above) the RAM memory chips will then be reinserted into the slot/holders. 17. As previously mentioned in section 14B (above) using just your fingertip depressed the RAM memory chips gently until flush with the laptop. 18. To reinstall the memory door, hold it at a low angle to the battery bay and slide it in under the back edge, then lay it flat. If the door springs up and does not lay flat without tension, remove it and reinstall at a lower angle. 19. The 3 screws will be inserted and then screwed back into place. 20. Replace the battery. 21. Power UP! 22. Use Apple System Profiler to verify that the memory is recognized. (Choose the menu bar Apple logo ( the first icon on the top left corner ) > About This Mac, click More Info..., select the System Profile tab, open the Memory Overview.) 23. Smile. Hopefully success will be achieved and if not, we'll either find the original RAM chips (that were taken out to put in the Gigabyte RAM chips which were) shipped with the laptop that are inside a Mylar/plastic pouch or we'll buy new RAM chips. "That's about it, aside from a dodgy logic board".

MAC advice requested 4 taking out & reinstalling memory chips because of 1 long beep during start-up

Bob 69 — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:49:52 GMT

Greetings, I have an urgent situation that involves helping others. Any advice/directions or URL in MAC DIAGNOSTICS & REPAIR to inform me in order to help others in a remote location, would be very much appreciated. If any of my findings are incorrect please tell me so. The mission critical situation is as follows: A 3.5 year old MAC Power Book G4 17" with 1 gigabyte memory instead of 2 - 256 mb (half gig) factory RAM using OS X 10.2 'Tiger' OS in the remote location has the following symptoms: 1. One long beep upon start-up and then the traditional chime sounds. 2, Only the 1st grey apple logo start-up screen appears while the whirling progress icon underneath is in continuous motion. 3. The Apple-Care warranty has expired. 4. There is no money for expert service repair at this moment. 5. The PRAM has been zapped until 2 traditional chimes sound several times. 6. All cords to external devices have been removed and reseated. 7. The battery has been removed and reseated. 8. The original factory 2 - 256 mb RAM chips stored in a Mylar/plastic pouch can not be found. According to research I've done on the Internet in the past 24 hours, I have found MAC DIAGNOSTIC ADVICE that 1 long beep upon start-up signifies: "One beep—Your computer doesn't detect any memory. First, make sure that the memory card is seated properly. If you replaced your computer's memory, shut down your Mac, swap out the current memory card with the original RAM card, and restart your computer. If your computer doesn't beep on start-up, replace your new memory card. If it does beep, call in the cavalry". The MAC REPAIR ADVICE I have found suggests the following: "The ram goes in the small door on the bottom side of the machine (4 screws). I believe once in the steps are the same. Fairly straight forward, underneath is a little 'trap door'. Undo the 4 screws with a size 00 philips screwdriver (DO NOT attempt to use anything else, buy the screwdriver or kit if you have to), touch the casing to discharge any static and insert the RAM. You can see the contacts and which way around it goes... you insert the chip at around a 20º angle and then clip it down into place. Make sure the contacts go all the way in". My MAC REPAIR INQUIRIES are: 1. Once the little trap door underneath the laptop is open, how does one unclick the holder of the 2 chips to move them into the 20º angle position? 2. Once the ram chips are in the 20º angle position will that easily come out of the holder? 3. Should cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol be used to clean the contact points of the ram chips and.or contact points of the laptop? 4. If the minor surgery of taking out & reinstalling the memory chips is successful will additional commands be needed in order that the laptop recognize the installed/reseated RAM? 5. Is there any other possible things such as internal start-up memory that might be the cause of the 1 long beep at start-up? Thank you for your time, consideration and have a great weekend at work and play during this heatwave. Sincerely yours, Bob 69 "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi" - Princess Leia holographic transmission through R2D2 to Luke Skywalker

QTT blog URL test

Bob 69 — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 11:21:15 GMT

Jingle, jingle, Please some buddy test the link below and notify me if it works. I’ve still got a couple of technical difficulties to resolve but not to worry, I’ve been up to ‘wicked good’ & Santa might get confused that I’ve been both ‘naughty & nice’, anyway... There’s a couple of ‘worthy’ folk who still need an invitation sent to them PRONTO and IMHO they’re worth it! As long as your Tribe.net preference settings in the ‘Mature Content’ section found by first double-clicking on the ‘account’ button (located on the top left menu on in your of your browser’s window) are set to YES for both the ‘Change whether you can see Mature content’ and ‘Does your profile contain Mature content? questions the following URL should work: http://tribes.tribe.net/queerthinktank?_click_path=Application%5Btribe%5D.Tribe%5B09ffbf11-1a37-48b7-a79d-cf1dd84f6266%5D 'Queer Think Tank' will engage in 'liberty maneuvers’ soon enough, so please be patient, thank you. Love, understanding & peace to you and yours, Bob 69