Help! My Computer's
Broken or Something
by Robert Kurtz
The call came on Sunday. The day everybody watches football. The desperate voice
on the line had a problem. When he turned the computer on nothing came up on the
screen. Was the monitor broken? I tried listening to the hard drive while he rebooted.
I couldn't hear anything -- not over the phone. I told him to try an emergency startup
disk. "You do have one, don't you!" I exclaimed.
Yes, somewhere around here if I can find it," he answered. Found! Reboot. Nothing.
Must not be the monitor, must be the computer. "I'll check it out when I get
there," I said realizing that later we were going to his house to celebrate
his wife's birthday.
What did I find when I got there? A sick machine. The hard drive would run a little,
then nothing. Nothing on the screen. "Give me the hard drive. I'll test it on
my machine when I get home. We can eliminate that as the problem," I said shortly
before we left for home.
As soon as I got home I popped the lid on my machine (a Performa 476) which is nearly
identical to his (a Performa 475). Disconnect my hard disk. Place his there instead.
Switch on. Whir, purr, whine. Oh yes! There it is, the startup picture on my screen!
Hard drive works just fine. "Motherboard probably went. I'll see if I can find
a motherboard," said I to myself as I went off to bed.
Next morning I make an early call. Not for motherboards but to the one with the "broken"
computer. "Hey. Bring your machine with you when you bring the baby over. I
want to test the power supply. It might not be the motherboard."
Next morning here he comes with the computer -- and the baby. No time for me to check
it now. I'll do it when I get back from work. Have to come home early anyway to take
over the baby-sitting chores so my wife can go to her job.
Not much later that day I arrive home. Oh, good, the baby is taking a nap. I soon
had my voltmeter connected. Plus 12. Minus 12. Plus five. All the voltages looked
good. Must be the motherboard.
Motherboard. Motherboard. Where can I get a motherboard. I know. Call Mike, he'll
know. "Mike, I need a motherboard," I said excitedly. "Where can I
get one. Look in your "MacWeek" to see who sells them." So Mike looks.
He finds a place in Minneapolis. Not a toll-free number. Darn! Oh well, got to get
a motherboard.
I'm all out of motherboards for that model," said Dan in Minneapolis. Price
is $250 if I had one but -- wait a minute -- maybe a different model would work."
I listen to some prices for refurbished machines, motherboards, whatever. Ugh! Too
costly.
Then Dan has an idea. "Did you check the battery?" he says casually. "No,
but I thought about it," says I. The reason I didn't check it was because when
the battery went bad in my Performa 400 the machine still worked. Only thing was
every time I booted up I had to go to the control panel and change all the settings
which are stored in the P-Ram which is what the battery is there for in the first
place!
Dan then says, "Try checking the battery. It should be 3.6 volts. If it's not,
it could be the problem. And let me know what you find. I am interested in this technical
stuff.<
O.K. I'll let you know what I find," I say as I get off the phone quick as I
can.
Get out the voltmeter again. Red for positive. Black for negative. Contact. Uh oh,
2.6 volts! Darn! So I go to the next room. There's my computer. Same battery! Pop
the lid. Swipe the battery. Install it in the "broken" computer. Here is
this Mac with no monitor connected. Aw heck. So what. Turn it on. Whir, purr, whine.
It's fine. I can tell. The hard drive makes all the right noises and lasts the right
amount of time. Better be sure. Turn it off. Connect a monitor. Reboot. O.K.!
Oh nuts. My spare battery is at work, taped to another machine just in case its battery
goes bad. Guess I can do without my machine for one night. Have to baby-sit anyway.
The voice at his workplace tells me he's in a meeting. "Could you give him a
message? His computer was broken and he was pretty upset but now it's fixed. Just
tell him it's fixed!<
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