The Apple Lemon

Sep 26 06:49 UTC 1996

I bought a PowerMac 7200/120 at the UM Kickoff a few weeks ago. Out of the
box, it did not work (no video). The Kickoff policy is "no returns" - one
must go through 1-800-SOS-APPL. They set me up with a pleasant
repairperson that would come to my house. He used to be a copier
repairperson, but he hurt his back so they transferred him to computers. 
He switched the motherboard, which made the video work, but now a strange
scraping sound came out of the CPU speaker on shutdown. It didn't happen
if the HD was unplugged (and one booted from the CD-ROM system disk), but
changing the HD did not make the sound go away. The pleasant repairperson
came back a week later with another new motherboard and a new SCSI cable,
but neither helped. He said, "Well, the only thing I haven't replaced
that's replaceable is the power supply", so he is coming back with that
next week. He did check later with Apple and it turns out that the problem
is *known* to them, and it is the power supply, and *they have no fix for
it* yet, although not all of that model power supply cause the noise. One
is supposed to call in the problem and when they find a fix, they will fix
it. I guess we'll see if we're lucky with just exchanging the power
supply. So, there is my new hybrid, the Apple Lemon, and sweet-and-sour
machine. 

response 2 of 38:

Nov 25 08:06 UTC 1996

I've gotten used to the scraping sound on shutdown. However life got
interesting (?!) at the beginning of November, while I was trying to
install what is called the Port Juggler (to get more serial ports). The PJ
is another story, but in the course of fiddling, it stopped working, and
then my ability to print to an AppleTalk Deskwriter failed (AppleTalk
error, it said) and *then*...the Trash icon stopped bulging when I dropped
files into it. At that point I called SOS-APPL, and the subsequent history
went: 

11/12: Joe. Suggested I try the printer from the modem report (which
didn't help to print), and to resert P-RAM and NV-RAM, which didn't help
Trash bulge.

11/12: Sam. On his suggestion, I reinstalled the System (and reset RAMs
and rebuilt Desktop). Still no Trash bulge, though it bulged OK when used
from the System disk (CD-ROM). On my own, I downloaded a Deskwriter GX
driver, which restored printer function. Now, it was just the non-bulge at
issue.

11/13: Charles. Suggested doing a Clean Install after running Disk
FirstAid. Clean Install renames the System Folder and builds a new one. 
Afterward, if this solves the problem, you have to copy extensions and
control panels back into the System Folder, and check to see if any
problems arise as you go. However, after the Clean Install, the Trash
still did not bulge. 

Charles also suggested running Norton Utilities on the HD. I didn't have
it, so went out to buy it, and decided that getting a "free" Norton
Utilities CD-ROM was a big enough inducement to buy MIcrosoft Office.
Tried to create Startup Disks from the NU CD-ROM, following instructions,
but nothing worked. Took it upon lyself to run NU from the CD-ROM, which
seemed to do its thing. Called the salesperson and asked about the problem
with the NU CD-ROM, and he said to call Microsoft since they bundled it,
but Microsoft never heard of it. I called NU, who said, "Oh, you can't
make startup disks - just copy Disk Doctor to a floppy, but start up from
System CD-ROM to use it." Worked OK, but did not solve Trash non-bulge.
Did another Clean Install after using Disk Doctor, but that didn't work
either. 

11/15: Dave. Suggested doing a *Manual* Clean Install, in which one
renames the System Folder manually, removes and trashes the System and
Finder files (so they aren't around at all to contaminate new System and
Finder files), and then do an ordinary System Easy Install. Nope - Trash
would still not bulge. 

11/18: Rick. Talked me through another Clean Install. After it didn't do
any good, he said it was "weird", and these computers are so complicated
they are "organic". He said to Initialize HD after backing everything up.
Learned how to use a new ZIP drive. Initialized, including low-level
re-formatting, and zeroing everything. Ran NU Diosk Doctor again, and did
Easy Install of System again. TRASH BULGED. 

It took most of a day to get everything I had had in the original System
Folder moved back in, or reinstalled.

Subsequently, a UM computer guru said - Oh yes, the Quantum Fireball
drives in those machines were corrupted when they were originally
formatted and the system installed...... 

[Strong urge to start smashing CD-ROMS.....]

End of saga - for now.

response 4 of 38:

Nov 25 15:31 UTC 1996

Wow indeed.  Seems to me there are fewer and fewer reasons to buy a Mac.
They have becoming more and more like DOS boxes :(  Guess that's why I
still like my old Mac Plus running system 6.07 :)
 
Rob, let me know if you do decide to get rid of your Mac.  I like to
tinker with dead Macs every now and than.
 

response 6 of 38:

Nov 26 02:52 UTC 1996

  It's a Quadra 660AV.  I'm not that fond of the AV portion (the bundled
video software produces terrible results), but I think a Quadra (or other
68040) is my minimum speed requirement for a replacement.  Mac LCs seem
to go for $100, but that's just too slow, if it would run my software at
all.  I haven't yet called a repair shop, but I'm guessing they'll charge
$50-$100 to tell me that it's broken and they can't fix it.  (The only
easily-replacable parts are the CPU and battery).  I think the power
supply is OK, because its fan works, and the Mac produces the nice Quadra
start-up chord when I power it on, but the disk doesn't make booting
sounds, and nothing shows up on the screen.

response 8 of 38:

Nov 27 22:02 UTC 1996

NOW my Apple Lemon is grinding to a molasses slow crawl when I connect
with FreePPP and disconnect - that's all it takes. Must be an INIT conflict,
but I haven't found it. Is there a utility that tracks down things like this?

response 10 of 38:

Nov 28 03:10 UTC 1996

It's Mac too, but it only does its thing on bootup (I read...). This problem
occurs as the result of starting and stopping an application. I ran NU Disk
Dcotor - boy, those bundle bits sure get mixed up. Now, back to
INIT-detective....

response 12 of 38:

Dec 1 07:22 UTC 1996

Who knows; I'd just be grateful!!  ;-)

response 14 of 38:

Dec 8 02:31 UTC 1996

Port Juggler reinstalled! It works! This gives me five (5) serial ports on
my Mac, though there are a few "catches". One is that the manual is
terrible; another is that the maker's e-mail address was no good. However
their FAX worked, and I got a couple of tips that solved problems. I think
I will enter a new item for the Port Juggler, though.

Now, my PowerMac is running pretty well, with an occasional slowdown that
is still unexplained (see an item in micros about that). I shall not hold
my breath, but....think it.

response 16 of 38:

Dec 17 06:44 UTC 1996

While my PowerMac 7200 was sleeping, I heard quiet murmuring from its HD.
It seemed to be reading, but only slowly. When I woke it up, the murmuring
ceased (after the usual wakeup loading). Is it REM that I am hearing?

response 18 of 38:

Dec 17 17:37 UTC 1996

It was only asleep, not dead. All sentient systems continue to process
information while asleep. 

response 20 of 38:

Dec 18 06:33 UTC 1996

The computer is plugged in too - but it is in SLEEP mode. However what
you describe would account for the REM sleep (rapid expansion movement,
in case I hadn't mentioned it... 8^>).

response 22 of 38:

Dec 22 20:20 UTC 1996

Presumably in the drive ROM.

response 24 of 38:

Sep 17 12:53 UTC 2002

Whoah there, don't be basing your purchase on a 6 year old thread!

I've got an iBook, and I love it.  I run OS X *and* Linux on it.