Not sure if it’s all one shot, but it’s a pretty entertaining use of physics.
I took my mac apart. I removed 29 capacitors from the main circuit board, replaced them and put it all back together. I decided to plug it in and see what happened. Not much happened… the fan started whirring quietly and a soft jet of air blew out the back. You could also hear a perodic throbbing which sounded like it was coming from the harddrive. That’s it.
There are also 4 diagnostic lights on the logicboard that you can watch while it’s running to see what’s going on. The first two relate to power supply, and those were on and blinking. The third and fourth relate to display and CPU temp, and they were both out. The good news, my CPU wasn’t overheating. The bad news, the problem with the display is much worse than pre-operation.
With that little bit of feedback, I was able to discern that I wasn’t successful. I have gone back in my head thinking of all the potential “small things” that I might have done… maybe if I retrace my steps I can undo/ redo something… reassembly? connectors? shoddy soldering?
Nah. It just wasn’t going to be fixed that way.
I’m glad I tried, because I learned a ton about the insides of these things. I never knew that the CPU sat against a cold copper plate (heat sink) and that you smear some thermal transfer paste between them to keep them cooling together. I must have done that part right, because it’s not overheating… well, it’s probably not even being used…
I may entertain the idea of selling the parts individually on ebay, but I don’t know if it’s worth the trouble. At least I know how to remove all of them and know what they are. At best, I could recoup about $150. I’m thinking about getting an enclosure for my harddrive and eventually getting the next iMac.
(imagine a header image with some ciruitry, that’s what I would have done with my comprehensive computer setup)
Nerdy/ thrifty/ crazy? Our 2005 iMac went out recently, and after about 3 days spent trying to get it to act normally or fall into a diagnosis… I figured out that 4 capacitors on the logic board had blown. This repair costs about $700, to replace the whole board. I’ve decided (with all my recent interest, but no real experience, in electronics) that I’m going to take it apart and replace all 29 capacitors. If it doesn’t work out for me, I can take my hard drive to the next machine, so it’s really not that risky. It’s going to cost me about $60 and a Saturday when all is said and done. Until I do the deed, you’ll find me watching videos about how to solder components onto boards. I have to admit, I love these kind of challenges.
Why did this happen? Shortly after the ‘05 iMacs were released it was found that one of the major manufacturers of capacitors had made a foolish change to their recipe and sent out millions of faulty capacitors. Many brands were effected by it. For a couple years Apple was replacing logic boards on computers with these issues for free. That ended in Dec. 2008. Ours made it 14 months past that warranty/ repair window.
In praise of the iMac… we bought it refurbished for less than $1K, have had it for 4.5 years and have never really turned it off. It ran as a server (not even going to sleep) for about 2 of those years. We have had no problems with it, ever. These are good machines. I’m going to see if I can keep it going past it’s normal life.
When the dust settles I hope to do a blog de-brief… using the sleek, white slab, again.
Reading fiction? Well, not exactly reading. I have been listening to the Harry Potter series on CD in the car. Ellie complained that she didn’t have anyone to talk to about her favorite books. I decided to listen to the first book to see if we could have a book chat. The reader got me. Jim Dale is an amazing reader, with a huge inventory of voices that he employs to illuminate the magical narrative. I am on the final book now and have enjoyed all the books. As I have watched the movies with the kids I’ve measured the movies by the voices of Jim Dale. If they don’t match his expression, they aren’t good enough. It’s been fun to do all the mundane driving around with the kids listening to books. Nobody minds piling into the car if there’s a good story on… especially, me. It seems to be a cure for bickering in the car.
Now that I’m nearing the end of the series, I’m a little sad about it being over. Can anyone recommend another audio adventure that I could listen to in the car with the kids? Preferably with a fantastic reader? Suggestions?
New stuff. In my teaching life I have been humbled and inspired, again, by simultaneously learning and teaching something new. I am teaching three levels of Digital Media, which is done mostly in PhotoShop. I just learned how to use it this past summer. I love it. Everyday I find myself saying, ” I don’t know how to do that, but that I’m confident it IS possible”, and then figuring it out while the student watches. Kind of an adrenaline rush/ sheepish situation. Regardless, it’s great to be in a place where you can learn everyday, and see others learn as well. I look forward to getting into a stride with this new area, so that the teaching part becomes more predictable and informed.
Nerdy stuff. I’m also enrolled in a course called Intermedia Art at NIU (link to my instructors website, where you can see resources and information under “teaching”). I have chosen to pursue music visualization. I’ll be using both software and circuitry as a means to make graphics that respond visually to sound input. The first project (which would probably have been better as the grand finale), is a circuit board project which emulates the graphics of the Atari 2600. It’s pixallated, chunky, and abstract. I plan to project the imagery on the stage at Trunk Full of Funk performances and have it wired to the audio board so that it responds to the live music in the performance. I’ve collected components from various online sources and now I have to do some circuit testing and soldering to get the party started. A lot of it is over my head… It may take me a month to get there.
Here is a video of the device that I’m currently hoping to emulate and use on a large scale. The schematics and instructions can be found in MAKE magazine’s Volume 14. Thanks to bro Daniel for helping me get ahold of the info.The ways that I will bring my own spin on it is to: figure out how to project it from an LCD projector and make the audio input live sound instead of iPod, etc.
Hello Pixelmusic 3000! from uncommon projects on Vimeo.
Altered habits. My routine for the past 10 years has been to wake up at 4:30am, check email, read blogs, and sip coffee, etc., for about an hour everyday. What wasn’t so regular, was my personal exercise routine. Lately, I’ve been thinking about my health, the future, and my use of time. I realized that I wanted to be more disciplined and trade-in that early morning time for something a bit more lasting. For two months now, I have been exercising in the mornings instead of interwebbing and it has been a positive change. I have been alternating between cardio, yoga, and weight training. I use the wii fit for almost all of it. Mostly, I have been happy to know that I can, indeed, choose to change my habits and succeed. Now I just need to work on reversing my gift for creating clutter.
As far as discipline goes, I was inspired by this blog in which Jakob Lodwick recorded his habits and focused on asserting some control over his own productivity and balance. Jakob is one of the creators of vimeo.com. As he said, “We’re programmed by physics, by law, and by the requirements of our job. I believe we should include ourselves in that list.” He used a system called “Standards” to document and observe his progress. I have not created standards charts myself, but may do it when I decide on other habits I want to cultivate. My job and family creates a healthy amount of structure, and I don’t have much time to work with when it comes to modifications.
Well, I’ve gotten away from blog updates because I had a lot going on with promoting our art program and my habits have been altered a bit. I thought it is time to check-in and give an update. I think I’ll post a few times to cover the angles.
Good news. Our efforts in getting the word out about our art courses have paid off and we gained 265 students from last year. That means 6 more classes than we currently have teachers for. Of course, it must be mentioned that last year we went down by 8, and lost a teacher, so we are headed back to where we were. I am going to be teaching an Art History course for the first time in 11 years. We have 31 eager students signed up. It is fortunate to evolve and thrive in a time when there are severe cut-backs happening in education. I’ll post the video that we used to inform/ attract students. It’s 6.5 minutes long, and yes, that’s my voice.
Art Department Video 2010-2011 from stc art videos on Vimeo.
We also used our website to inform parents and students about what we have to offer.
These cute little egg molds were a Christmas gift to Penny (coming all the way from Asia). Looking at the Japanese directions, I still wasn’t clear on how to accomplish the hardboiling of an egg in the mold. I looked online and found that you hard boil it, peel it, and then put it in the mold for the cooling period in cold water. They ARE cute, and the kids ate more eggs, for a while… If you do a bad job peeling the egg they look a bit scary, which is fun in a different way… so basically, you can’t go wrong. I like throwing a pinch of salt into the mold so that the egg absorbs some while it’s taking it’s shape.
For Christmas dinner I made mole poblano from scratch. Most people think of it as a savory chocolate sauce… but, to me the most interesting ingredients are the smokey, sweet variety of dried peppers, raisins, nuts and mix of savory and sweet spices. The amount and impact of the chocolate is trivial when compared to all the other flavors, but everything counts. I ended up with plenty left over and wanted to keep enjoying it through winter. One of the winning options was fry-poaching eggs in mole. They have peppery warmth with some of the sweet, aromatic spice that you associate with mexican chorizo. All the flavor without the pork lips and lymph nodes (I don’t mind object, but some people aren’t fans). When I run out of the home-made stuff, I’ll try the stuff from the local grocery store and see how it compares.
This is an excerpt from some interviews I have done with the kids. I have wanted to do this for a few years, because I don’t do as much random video of the family as I used to. In this clip Penny talks about what she learned about Thanksgiving while in Kindergarten.