Any Apple Techs?

Empath

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Our good friend Ted the Led is having some rather severe difficulties with his Mac. Not being well versed, I thought there may be some Mac people here.

He's too valuable to lose to a technical blurp.
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
Empy, you are too kind!
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I emailed you this morning about how the problem seems to disappear above 55 degrees F...at or below 55, I often get the (rather startling) glass-bashing sound from the Mac speakers, immediately at start-up, or a freeze during start up..but if I keep restarting, and the temperature goes up a couple of degrees, everything seems to return to completely normal..strange huh? I ran Norton disc doc and everything checked out OK too.
Thanks for 'enlisting the troops' for help, though...
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Empath

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Above 55 it's okay? Well the solution is obvious. Keep a Streamlight Ultra Stinger shining on it through the cool nights.
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The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
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I'm still looking for an Apple guru too. I've got a sick Powerbook 140, only it never displays the "sad Mac" symbol, so it doesn't even know it's malfunctioning. Seems to work perfectly well actually, except for these strange moiore type patterns moving across the top half of the screen, pretty much rendering the top half useless and unreadable. Definitely hardware-generated, so a chip probably pooped out somewhere inside, or maybe a cap popped. The moire patterns actually change speed and direction as the machine warms up, and also change speed and direction if I move or flex the LCD monitor itself.
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I posted pictures in another thread "question about Mac Powerbook 140" or something similar.
 

Artie Choke

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Aug 5, 2001
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Big Island of Hawaii
sounds like an interface card or chip isn't seated properly and when it warms up, it makes better contact. try reseating all the boards and any chips in sockets. if all else fails, maybe we can whip you up a pc!
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btw, i would think so cal would be warmer than 55 F by now!
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The_LED_Museum

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i just popped the cover off my Powerbook's LCD, and found another clue. If the CCFL backlight is unplugged, the moire pattern STOPS MOVING. It's still there messing up the screen, but it doesn't move, and flexing the screen doesn't make it change speed or direction anymore. When the backlight is plugged back in, the pattern starts moving again, and flexing the PCB (apparently changes the frequency of the inverter ever so slightly) changes the speed and/or direction of movement. Adjusting the screen brightness using the slider pots also changes the speed/direction of this moire pattern. Hmmm....

Very odd...
 

kubolaw

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May 15, 2002
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SF Bay Area
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ted the Led:
...at or below 55, I often get the (rather startling) glass-bashing sound from the Mac speakers, immediately at start-up, or a freeze during start up..but if I keep restarting, and the temperature goes up a couple of degrees, everything seems to return to completely normal..<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Does your Mac have a HSF (heatsink + processor fan)? I'm thinking that if a thermal pad is being used between the HSF and the processor, maybe it needs to be warmed up enough to become pliable enough to "flow" and properly fill the gap between the heatsink base and the processor top. I've used HSF's with thermal pads and they've generally been fine, but I have read about others having this problem and replacing the pad with Arctic Silver to provide a more consistent thermal path.

Just a thought. Not having played around with a Mac for many years, I don't know if the PowerPC chips even require active cooling.

John
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
this is the second try. actually since I "reset the EPRAM" - the only instructions i could follow in the help menu - things worked very well for a couple of hours till i shut down last night..then this morning I cringed as I started it up at 51 degrees F.- yup Artie, it does still get that cold here at night, and remember the mac is in an unheated shed overnight, not inside the warm trailer..any way I want to post this "thanks" to all for the kind suggestions and generous offers, before this thing freezes again..so far so good...
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