Back from Tekserve

[avram]

So I hauled my laptop to Tekserve (saving NYC Mac-owners' asses since 1987), and the helpful guy at the repairs counter was successful in getting my machine to boot off a network volume. He ran some diagnostic tools (fsck?) and concluded that my hard drive is horked. He was unable to figure out why I couldn't boot from an install DVD; that's apparently something that happens sometimes when a hard drive goes bad, or it may mean my DVD drive went bad too in a display of component solidarity. But it doesn't seem to be the logic board, which is what I'd been fearing.

This is actually good news! It just so happens that I've got this old replacement hard drive that I ordered last year when I started running low on drive space. When I saw how much of a pain in the ass it was to swap drives out in this model, I just deleted a bunch of unnecessary files instead, and wound up never installing it, but it's still sitting right here a few feet behind me.

It also just so happens that I've got a replacement DVD drive sitting in our study, as well. I ordered this three years back, after some books fell on my laptop and I thought my DVD drive was damaged. (Damn, there's some decent drawing on that page. I need to get back up to that skill level.)

Since I'm doing all my repairs myself, Tekserve didn't charge me anything for the twenty minutes or so of staff time I took up. (The Coke machine still isn't working, though.)

The next step is figuring out a way to print out the PDF I've got on my desktop (and therefore on my backup drive) that tells me how to open up my machine. Then, I need a large, clean, flat surface. There's a special tool -- something like a dental pick -- I'm supposed to use to disengage catches above the DVD slot, and nobody sells it, but I think I can improvise something out of a paper clip.

Comments

[thedarkages]

I know how hard these situations are. I am really glad that you were able to find someone competent to help, and that you do not have to pay anything more for replacement parts. Good luck with the computer surgery.

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

just go with some version of the ifixit.com guides: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/PowerBook-G4-Aluminum-15-Inch-1-5-1-67-GHz-Hard-Drive-Replacement/345/1 might be the right one. If not, they will have it.

[avram]

Thing is, it's tough to find out which guide is the right one when I can't turn the computer on to run "About This Macintosh".

The guide I downloaded to my desktop last year is the right one. I'll be gaming tomorrow at the home of a Mac-using friend, so I just have to plug my backup drive into his Mac and copy the PDF over to a thumb drive. Then I can print it out using Chris's Vista laptop.

Or, conceivably, I may be able to get my old TiBook up and running tonight. (No luck so far.)

[stormsweeper.livejournal.com]

They just run Disk Utility and I think some basic hardware scan at the desk. I took in a MBP and the diagnosis was bad HD, but then when they started work on it, they had to replace the logic board as the SATA controller was borked.

[avram]

That might explain why I was having trouble with both the hard drive and the DVD drive, but the machine would still boot from the net.

On the other hand, there was a period where the hard drive hadn't failed all the way yet, but the DVD drive was working fine.

Well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow.