I swear, my Powerbook is the feistiest computer ever. I just
installed the 2005-001 security update, rebooted, and Finder refuses to
run. It just loads and crashes at about 2 second intervals,
indefinitely. Most of my other apps work (FireFox, Dreamweaver,
etc.), but some don't (iTerm, Adium), so I don't know what's up.
Last time it got massively pissy like this, it was bad memory.
But the clever guys down at Apple opted to use the TINIEST screws
imaginable, and I don't have a screwdriver that will even come CLOSE to
fitting in them, so pulling the sticks out to check isn't an
option. So now I gotta either live without Finder and a decent
terminal (because Terminal just sucks), or go fork $30 for some schmuck
to unscrew three little screws for me so I can pull out my memory
sticks and see if that fixes it. Needless to say, after
yesterday's experience, I'm loth to let any "presumed expert" come
close to my machine.
As nice as it is to have that big ol' screen, have *nix under the hood,
I've gotten to the point where I'd rather be running Windows, because
at least it's stable when it's taken care of. And how friggin'
pissed does it make me to actually say that.
Instead of paying $30 to have someone unscrew your case, you could also just buy a eye glass screwdriver or something, they are probably only a few bucks.
You don't even need to go to a place that sells glasses. You should be able to find a glasses repair kit at your local drug store (I just bought one at the counter of the local Walgreens).
Last time I saw an eyeglass screwdriver, it was slotted, not Philips. I'm not even sure it'd be small enough. Those screws are friggin TINY. But I will go look on my way home from the office today.
This might sound evil, or stupid but I'm kind of glad to hear someone having a trouble with a Apple Machine, since I hear only good things about it and always stands out when compared to Windows.
It just makes me feel a little better knowing that, by using Windows I'm not missing out on the great Apple platform.
I sincerely hope that you get it resolved without going through a lot of trouble, though.
Sorry to hear of your laptop woes, Barney.
I must admit that I represent the opposite end of the spectrum. My QuickSliver G4 tower has gone through three OS upgrades, third party RAM, and an additional hard drive, and it's still running like a trooper – snappy, too. I've crammed more files and apps on to it than I even know what to do with, and the only maintenance task I've ever performed on it was to click the checkbox to enable the journaled file system once I got Panther installed (if that even qualifies).
On the other hand, the company Wintel laptop I've had for less time than my G4 runs frustratingly slow, locks up all the time, and doesn't seem to realize that just because one application is throwing a wobbly doesn't mean the whole system should go unresponsive. It's running XP Professional, which I vanilla installed myself and took great care to keep clean and tidy. The only thing it does reliably is blue screen when I wake it from sleep with my wireless card plugged in.
I guess I can summarize my position on things by stating that I've got about three months left before I'll have enough cash for a new PowerBook. :)
- max