Lucy’s computer died today.
A bad time for it, but when is a good time during Vet school, anyway? With no warranty, she’s pretty anxious about it.
I am not -the- macbook expert, but we’ll borrow the OSX install CDs from the ever-kind Dave V, and at least run it through the diagnostics.
Meanwhile, I’m pretty glad Athena’s running – I’ll bring it over to her tomorrow so she can access her online class videos in the meantime.
If any of my lansing people feel they’ve got the chops to help, I’m sure we’d both be grateful. Apple wants 50 bucks just to talk to her.
Poor the Lucy.
I don’t know how much of an expert I am, but I do have the Leopard install discs so we can find the diagnostics. Since I have a Mac, there’s also the option of booting her computer as a drive and copying off whatever she needs and burn that to a DVD.
That’d be pretty sweet. She’s too busy with classes to deal with it today, but I plan to drive up to lansing tomorrow.
That’d be pretty sweet. She’s too busy with classes to deal with it today, but I plan to drive up to lansing tomorrow.
The OS on my computer isn’t Leopard though, so I’m not sure if that will work (if it doesn’t matter, then that’s cool!)
Also, I don’t actually really need anything – luckily I moved my 30gigs of music to an external hard drive a few months ago and all of my pictures are hosted on picasa. It’s more just needing it for the internet to study for school.
I mean, without my computer… I have to … go to lectures………..
And that, my friends, is why I cry
The OS on my computer isn’t Leopard though, so I’m not sure if that will work (if it doesn’t matter, then that’s cool!)
Also, I don’t actually really need anything – luckily I moved my 30gigs of music to an external hard drive a few months ago and all of my pictures are hosted on picasa. It’s more just needing it for the internet to study for school.
I mean, without my computer… I have to … go to lectures………..
And that, my friends, is why I cry
I don’t know how much of an expert I am, but I do have the Leopard install discs so we can find the diagnostics. Since I have a Mac, there’s also the option of booting her computer as a drive and copying off whatever she needs and burn that to a DVD.
The plain OS X install discs don’t have the diags on them. Those are on the grey disc which came with the machine.
Yeah, that grey disk is what I used when I was trying to get to the diagnostics earlier today.
It said to hold down d and boot while the disk was in. I did that, and it didn’t change anything at all – just went to the white screen with the flashy folder with a question mark in it.
I mean, if this is a hard drive frying problem, then none of that is going to work, right?
No, you should still be able to boot the diagnostics disc. When are you holding down D? You should press it right when the startup chime sounds, and hold it down until the diags are booting.
Alternately, you can hold down Option and then click on the CD in the menu that comes up.
Also, if the machine is old enough (what kind is it, anyway?) you need to hold C, not D. Or just hold Option and pick.
It’s not that old – June 2006 MacBook. I tried D, I tried C, and I tried Option. All three of those were suggested in the manual. I admit I did not hit it right when the chime sounded – I hit it before. So maybe that would work better. No menu came up when I held down option though.
You don’t hit it, you have to press and hold it. It’s really odd that it wouldn’t work for you…
Oh, I did definitely hold it down. I didn’t just tap it.
… that almost sounds dirty
Oh, I did definitely hold it down. I didn’t just tap it.
… that almost sounds dirty
You don’t hit it, you have to press and hold it. It’s really odd that it wouldn’t work for you…
It’s not that old – June 2006 MacBook. I tried D, I tried C, and I tried Option. All three of those were suggested in the manual. I admit I did not hit it right when the chime sounded – I hit it before. So maybe that would work better. No menu came up when I held down option though.
Also, not that I know whether it’s important or not, it’s making a lot of noises that I’ve never heard before in the whole turn-on boot-up sequence. The most noticeable one is a clicking that sounds just like I have a watch up to my ear. It will just continue making that sound, and it’s about one click a second. I don’t know if that means it’s trying to access something or what.
That sounds like a failed hard drive. That shouldn’t keep you from being able to boot from a disc, though.
That sounds like a failed hard drive. That shouldn’t keep you from being able to boot from a disc, though.
Also, not that I know whether it’s important or not, it’s making a lot of noises that I’ve never heard before in the whole turn-on boot-up sequence. The most noticeable one is a clicking that sounds just like I have a watch up to my ear. It will just continue making that sound, and it’s about one click a second. I don’t know if that means it’s trying to access something or what.
No, you should still be able to boot the diagnostics disc. When are you holding down D? You should press it right when the startup chime sounds, and hold it down until the diags are booting.
Alternately, you can hold down Option and then click on the CD in the menu that comes up.
Also, if the machine is old enough (what kind is it, anyway?) you need to hold C, not D. Or just hold Option and pick.
The whole point of booting off of a CD is that it does not require even having a hard drive installed.
However, it if is a motherboard problem, it will not help.
The whole point of booting off of a CD is that it does not require even having a hard drive installed.
However, it if is a motherboard problem, it will not help.
Yeah, that grey disk is what I used when I was trying to get to the diagnostics earlier today.
It said to hold down d and boot while the disk was in. I did that, and it didn’t change anything at all – just went to the white screen with the flashy folder with a question mark in it.
I mean, if this is a hard drive frying problem, then none of that is going to work, right?
The plain OS X install discs don’t have the diags on them. Those are on the grey disc which came with the machine.
If she needs a temporary computer, she can borrow Bryan’s. He has either a mac laptop or a desktop pc. He’s not using either this week and they are both at my house.
If she needs a temporary computer, she can borrow Bryan’s. He has either a mac laptop or a desktop pc. He’s not using either this week and they are both at my house.
I can offer only good wishes, not technical expertise, but Lucy has my good wishes. :)
I can offer only good wishes, not technical expertise, but Lucy has my good wishes. :)