Why Macs Die
Steven Hunter writes in response to Why Does a Mac Die?:
There's also the issue of old electrolytic capacitors rupturing
(we've seen this on a lot of PC motherboards over the last
3-4 years) from either age or poor manufacturing. I've not seen
this on any Apple systems yet, but we don't really have any Macs
older than a Blue and White G3
anymore.
There's also the possibility that so-called "Tin Whiskers" have
formed. These are growths of tin (and other metals) which can
bridge between conductors and short them out. This is especially
true with CPUs and other chips that have very little space between
conductor elements.
For more info see <http://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/>.
Steven Hunter
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the
precipitate."
Steven,
Thanks for your feedback. Early Macs often
developed capacitor problems in the high voltage section, but Apple
seems to have solved that during the Mac Plus run (1986-90).
This is the first I've heard of Tin Whiskers.
Thanks for the link.
Dan
No problem! I'd never heard of them before either until I saw a
segment about them on an episode of the History Channel's "Modern
Marvels". Apparently engineers have known about them since the
1940s and have yet to figure out exactly how or why they form.
Steve,
Thanks for the further info. Modern Marvels is one
of the best real world technology programs on TV - along with
MythBusters.
Dan
More About 'Why Macs Die?'
Alex Wegman writes:
Hi there,
I enjoy reading your articles, and your recent comments about
Macs that die are relevant to the troubles I had several months ago
with my Pismo 500. One day I put it
to sleep, and it had turned completely off when I returned to it.
No sleep light, no battery level lights, and no noises or other
signs of life when rebooting was attempted. I unsuccessfully tried
all the usual PRAM resetting, etc. After trying a different power
supply, I replaced the sound/power card, to no avail. After
completely stripping the machine and checking the seating of all
the components, I found a burnt-out chip on the PSU board under the
trackpad. I replaced the board with an eBay acquisition, and now
all is well.
The failure of a board at component level does make for
difficult troubleshooting, and in this case it was a visual check
that found the fault (albeit once I'd completely stripped the
machine to look at the PSU board) in terms of a physically
blackened component.
So if anyone wants a replacement sound/DC board for a
Pismo...
Thanks,
Alex Wegman
Alex,
Thanks for writing. It's a different world we live
in when it's cheaper to replace a whole board than replace a single
failed component on it. Glad you managed to track down the problem
and have your Pismo up and running again.
Dan
iPhone Greed
Dimitrios Saranteas writes in response to No iPhones Going to Cingular Stores or
Independent AT&T Wireless Dealers:
Dan,
How quickly all of our respective technological memories fade.
Don't forget that in late 2004, Moto launched the RAZR (original)
with exclusivity to Cingular (non-franchise, mind you) and for a
non-measly $500 (with far, far, far fewer features than the
iPhone).
I don't understand where the "greed" comments come from either.
Apple will and should hold the price and availability on the
iPhone. Motorola quickly made the RAZR into a commodotized product
that soon lost value and was available within 18-months for free
with a 2-year contract. Moto has and is struggling to come up with
a successor to the RAZR that is just as profitable, successful, and
innovative (and that doesn't necessitate the use of four letters)
. . . good luck with them doing that.
Good article, but short sighted in light of the past.
Dimitrios
Dimitrios,
Thanks for the history lesson. Motorola is still
playing the "exclusive" game with various colors of the RAZR, but
it's not nearly as expensive as it once was. Why not? Success. It's
the best selling model in the North American market, which means
bigger production runs and lower prices. And Moto recouped their
development costs the first year to market.
As for my "greed" comment, it was aimed at both
Apple and AT&T. At Apple, because they negotiated an exclusive
contract with Cingular (as it was then known) that not only limits
consumer choice but also lines Apple's pockets. According to
Verizon, which declined the iPhone (sending Apple over to
Cingular), Apple not only wants to sell the US$499-599 super-phone
without any discounts, it also wants a percentage of monthly fees
collected by the carrier.
Apple wanted to further control Verizon's
distribution of the iPhone, limiting it to company stores and
excluding Verizon retailers such as
Walmart and Best Buy - exactly
the same thing we're seeing with AT&T.
I understand that Apple needs to make a profit,
and I don't doubt that the iPhone will be a roaring success, but
I'm a firm believer in choice and value. The Apple/AT&T deal
has taken away my choice of carriers and retailers - and fixed the
price of the iPhone. Further, Apple seeking a "kickback" on monthly
user fees will keep service prices higher than they might otherwise
be.
As for AT&T's greed, they're the ones who
signed the exclusivity deal with Apple. Where the pattern for years
has been that the carrier rebates the end user by slashing perhaps
$200 from the price of the phone, this time that $200 (estimated)
goes into Apple's pocket.
AT&T will gain a lot of customers because of
the iPhone, making the largest carrier in the US even bigger.
Let's look at some numbers. AT&T may make $150
from each iPhone sold in one of its stores, and Apple probably has
a $100 markup from cost. 6 million iPhones, Apple's minimum
projection for the first year, puts up to $900 million into
AT&T's pocket, not to mention profits from service plans.
Figure $1.8 billion going into Apple's pocket between profits from
selling the phone to AT&T and the kickback from AT&T over
the first two years of use. And they'll make even more from iPhones
sold through retail Apple Stores and the online Apple Store.
Without the exclusivity agreement, Apple would
sell 2-3x as many iPhones the first year, as a lot of people are
not going to change carriers either because of service contracts,
bad experiences with AT&T/Cingular, or poor AT&T wireless
coverage in their area. Figure 15 million iPhones netting Apple
$100 in profits - that's $1.5 billion.
With the exclusivity agreement and the kickback
from AT&T, Apple makes more money selling less iPhones because
without exclusivity there would be no kickbacks.
From the consumer's perspective, since nobody will
be allowed to discount the iPhone, it might initially cost us $50
more than it would on the open market. And without an exclusivity
agreement, the $200 discounts from a new two-year service contract
would go into our pockets. That makes the net additional cost to
the end user $250 or so.
Tell me, would you rather be able to buy an iPhone
at a discount, have your choice of carriers, and receive a $200
purchase credit on the phone - or would you rather buy at full
price from a single source and have that $200 go into Apple's
pocket?
Dan
FireWire Flash Drives
After reading A FireWire Flash
Drive Option, Robert Baldwin says:
That was an interesting read. It made me remember the "ahead of
it's time" product by WiebeTech. It was a keychain Compact Flash
drive. Slightly larger than the Compact Flash card that it held,
the unit came in various configurations including a 0-config in
which you could use your own CF. Starting price was $99, and most
people thought that was an outrageous price. Heck, that's extremely
low compared to how much Kanguru is charging for
it's FireWire flash drives. Unfortunately the product was
discontinued before its potential could be realized.
Just thought I'd add that.
Robert Baldwin
Robert,
Thanks for writing. Those Kanguru FireWire flash
drives aren't cheap - US$100 for 1 GB, $130 for 2 GB,
$160 for 4 GB, and $220 for 8 GB, which is currently on
back order.
For those seeking a more affordable and expandable
solution, Lexar offers the
Professional UDMA FireWire 800 CF Reader for US$80 (available
from Amazon.com).
It's not as small as a flash drive, and with the right cable it
will work with a FireWire 400 port.
Dan
802.11n Enabler Pricing
Richard Brauer says:
Hi Dan,
In reply to:
The $2 802.11n enabler had to be one of the most
ridiculous moments in Apple history. These Macs had hardware that
supported 802.11n but drivers that only supported 802.11g. Yet
rather than give owners the driver to unleash the hardware, they
annoyed them with a $2 downloadable driver.
As far as I know, even after Apple released the
new driver, it still wasn't included with these Macs. Apple didn't
do that until the next hardware revision. It's not the kind of
niggling cheap stunt we expect from Apple, which seems to be the
most consistently profitable computer maker out there even without
the 'n tax'.
Dan
I wanted to direct your attention to: - Tip Jar
et al.
Even with the variety of responses, I'm assuming you can
determine that there might have been a shred of legitimacy in
Apple's move to charge a nominal fee for the "n" upgrade.
My read to the whole thing would be: Already facing the
potential massive wrath of the SEC due to the options backdating
scandal, the lawyers and accountants said, "Let's cross every t and
dot every i. We don't want to give them additional ammunition." So
they decided to comply with the most stringent readings of the
Sarbanes-Oxley
law and charge for the upgrade.
Did they have to charge $2? Probably not. It probably covers the
cost of the paperwork they wanted to do, registering everyone who
downloads it, etc. So they're not down a cent.
Was it necessary? From the responses, obviously that's
questionable. Under the circumstances I mentioned, I can understand
the move. I'm sitting here with an Intel iMac bought at the end of
December. This affects me. But I don't have an 802.11n router - or
the need for one any time soon. By the time I get around to
purchasing Leopard (around 10.5.2 or .3 maybe, after most of the
bugs are gone), I'm hopeful that the driver will be included for
free, because you're purchasing the software as part of the overall
package.
YMMV. Just 2 cents - or 57,000 now defunct lire.
Rich
Rich,
Thanks for writing. I don't think Apple was living
in the real world when they determined that they were legally
obligated to charges something for the 802.11n driver. In the past,
Apple has offered free firmware updates that were required so some
Macs could install newer versions of the Mac OS. We could just as
readily argue that since these iMacs or blue & white G3s were
incapable of running that later revision of the Mac OS, Apple was
adding new capabilities to existing hardware at no cost.
The whole thing was ridiculous regardless of any
reading of Sarbanes-Oxley. The nature of a computer is to be
programmable, and whether we're looking at a firmware upgrade or a
new driver, it's the equivalent of installing an OS update that
adds some new capability to your computer.
My 2¢.
Dan
iBook G3 Won't Boot Past Mac OS X 10.2.1
Kevin DeMers writes:
Hi Dan:
Thanks for all the helpful info you provide.
My boys have a G3 iBook - 700
MHz. The machine previously had OS X 10.3.9 on it with OS
9 also. When my wife gave the computer to the boys, she erased the
hard drive and tried to do a clean OS X reinstall. Now the
machine will only allow 10.2.1 to be loaded. Any other OS X
install attempt ends up with a very fuzzy screen and numerous
vertical colored bars all over the screen....
We took it to our local Mac (related) store (we are very rural -
not near an Apple Store) and they said it was a bad logic board. If
it was a bad board, wouldn't it be giving me trouble no matter what
OS I was running? Not sure why I can't update the OS X - yes,
I have legal software.
Could it be some other problem? Or would a firmware update be
the answer - if so, how do I accomplish this update?
Thank you!
Kevin DeMers
Hi Kevin,
As far as I can determine, the last iBook G3
firmware update was released two years before the iBook you have,
so it's already incorporated in the hardware. I don't see firmware
being a problem.
As you surmise, a bad logic board should be
equally bad under any version of the Mac OS, and you know it was
running "Panther" before you wiped it and reverted to "Jaguar". No,
I can't see it being a hardware problem.
The problem could be your OS X instal disc.
If it's an installer that came with another Mac, it may not install
a proper system on your iBook. You need to use a universal
installer to make sure the proper software is installed for your
hardware.
If that's not the problem, I'm stumped.
Dan
Question Marks on Home Page
Cheryl Hanna
Why are the curly apostrophes on LEM's home page coming through
as question marks? On Tiger in Safari and Firefox? Latest versions?
Seems to happen only on LEM, so far, anyway. See attached screen
shot.
Cheryl Hanna
Cheryl,
Thanks for writing. As anyone who cuts and pastes
text or imports word processing files from other programs soon
discovers, all curly quotes (a.k.a. smart quotes) are not created
equal. For instance, I can type a smart leading quote - “ -
and it may become “ or “ or “
depending on the software I'm using. (Worse yet, it becomes
“ in Claris Home Page, which is the program I use to write
and edit articles for Low End Mac. That code is specific to Macs.
Fortunately if I open my HTML document in Nvu or SeaMonkey, these
programs will turn it into “ when I save the file.)
Our solution to this typographic nightmare is to
never use smart quotes on Low End Mac unless we are discussing
them.
When I cut and paste the title of an article or an
excerpt from an article, it may contain curly quotes - and that may
not always be obvious because of the typeface used. I'll generally
run such text through TextSoap, where I have a filter that fixes
these and other things - but sometimes I don't notice the smart
quotes, and then they get rendered as white question marks inside
of black diamonds, as in the screen shot you sent.
I've gone back and fixed the two article links in
the image you sent.
Dan
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
