A year ago today, I installed WordPress on my server and made my first post to Ordered Pixels (although at the time it was simply “Brian’s Photos.”)

Time flies…

Since the beginning of October, I’ve been dealing with nasty hardware problems in my PowerBook, which I have called HAL 9000 since I got it (I tend to name all of my computers.) This evening, it drew current for the last time.

After the machine suddenly shut itself off and produced the smell of fried components one evening while I was reading a forum post in early October, it continued working, but behaved strangely. The brightness adjustment no longer functioned, and the fans would not turn off when the computer was asleep, making it very impractical to use as a portable computer. The evidence pointed to logic board failure, and I wasn’t about to grab a new $900 logic board for a three-year-old computer. However, I found a place in California called DT&T Macintosh Service that repaired boards for a price that was far more reasonable. I sent off my board and received a replacement back a few weeks later. At first, I was happy, because the fan issue had disappeared. However, before I was even able to copy my files back, the screen started doing strange things. The replacement board had bad video RAM that failed to address properly when the computer heated up, resulting in a lot of noise on the screen and severely distorted 3D geometry.

I sent the machine back to DT&T, only to have it returned with the same faulty logic board, twice. Finally, I spoke with a technician about their testing/diagnostic procedure, which apparently involves letting the machine run a battery of diagnostic tests (probably the hardware test utilities Apple distributes to service techs) for twenty-four hours. If these tests are anything like most hardware tests I’ve seen, the processor and video card are utilized for a few seconds, with the RAM and hard drive tests taking tens of minutes in between. Since most of the heat produced in a laptop comes from the CPU and GPU (and only when they are heavily utilized) my PowerBook never really got hot enough to start having problems.

DT&T agreed that their tools were incapable of detecting my problem (as demonstrated twice by the return of my computer untouched) and that a different logic board would be the best way to approach the problem. I boxed up my computer for the fourth time, and sent it off again.

I received my computer back almost immediately after arriving home for winter vacation. I started it up and ran the most graphically-intensive application I had around (by now this had become a familiar routine.) After running for about an hour, I was convinced that my problems were gone. Indeed, for a few days, it appeared that way.

Figure 1. Fried components.

On the evening of the twenty-second, I was once again sitting in bed, reading forum posts with my PowerBook, when it suddenly shut itself off. And, just like the previous time, it smelled like smoke. I grabbed for the power cable and pulled the battery. Clearly, my original assumption that the logic board itself in my original PowerBook had simply gone bad was incorrect. Something else in my PowerBook had caused it to fry.

Unwilling to sink any more cash into a computer that I would be replacing within a year anyway, I decided that my PowerBook would run one last time, in order for me to copy my files off. I started it up, launched Carbon Copy Cloner and began making a full backup of my drive. About five minutes into the process, my PowerBook developed a feature that it never had: an illuminated keyboard.

Once again, my reflexes kicked in and I yanked the power cable. (Anyone who knows which end of a soldering iron to hold has probably developed a reflex to do this when parts start glowing.) I lifted the keyboard to survey the damage, and was greeted by a cloud of acrid smoke. There was no question what had fried. One of the small SOIC chips near the processor had chernobyled (see fig. 1.)

It was clear that my PowerBook would no longer be serving me. I copied my files off the next day, by means of an external FireWire enclosure.

HAL 9000
20 November 2002 – 22 December 2005

In hindsight, perhaps it’s not a good idea to name one’s computer after a machine that meets an early end.

Google Transit

Now if they’d just expand it to cover Seattle…

The official King County Metro site isn’t bad, but you have to know a fair amount about where you’re going. I frequently find myself copying and pasting locations into Google Maps, so I can see where the stops are and where I’ll have to walk. I’ve wanted to see the two merge for a while now.