Go2Mac reader Surf Yogi sends along this extreme PowerBook story that made your editor cringe. Read on to find out why:
OK, so this is one of those good news, bad news things.
First, a little background. We’ve been having some trouble with our PowerBooks lately, the computers lock up on the 3rd or 4th attempt to seize the phone line. It has been VERY frustrating, as this usually happens when an eMail has been created (not yet saved), and an attempt to send it causes the modem to try and dial up — when this happens, the eMail is irretrievably lost and has to be recreated from scratch.
Go2Mac reader Surf Yogi sends along this extreme PowerBook story that made your editor cringe. Read on to find out why:
OK, so this is one of those good news, bad news things.
First, a little background. We’ve been having some trouble with our PowerBooks lately, the computers lock up on the 3rd or 4th attempt to seize the phone line. It has been VERY frustrating, as this usually happens when an eMail has been created (not yet saved), and an attempt to send it causes the modem to try and dial up — when this happens, the eMail is irretrievably lost and has to be recreated from scratch.
So, while I work on a recently purchased Lombard (with more RAM and bigger hard drive), my business partner works on my PERSONAL machine, an older Wallstreet II. Now my partner, well, he’s a little temperamental, and he’s hot in the middle of a BIG financial deal, and he goes to send a critical eMail that he’s just very carefully composed over the past half hour, and when the computer/modem tries to grab the phone line, it seizes up and freezes — the email is lost, no possible recovery, restart required. So you know where this is going, right?
A string of expletives that any sailor would be proud of is followed by the direct impact of a closed fist (knuckles-forward) squarely in the center of the LCD screen — an impact so abrupt as to instantly eject the L-shaped SCSI adapter for the attached ZIP drive and SLAP the screen display portion of the computer on the desk behind the machine.
OK, a couple of deep breaths now.
I’m figuring he’s just bought me a new TiBook. He calms down. We reboot. The machine starts up flawlessly. The SCSI port and ZIP drive work perfectly. NOT ONE DEAD PIXEL! Is this possible? Is there a ”delayed reaction screen death” kind of thing in my future, or is this the kind of torture test survival story never imagined by Apple engineers? My heartbeat has now almost returned to normal (grin).
I later noticed an opening (about 1/8 inch at its widest point) along the right edge of the top of the case (the part that holds the display screen). The case had apparently been so distorted by the impact that its edges separated. With a little squeeze, it popped back into place nicely.
