Continuing the Saga…

Posted on 2/21/2007 by Kyle

So, I’ve posted a couple times recently about my iBook. The hard drive died, I sent it in… had some issues when I got it back. Then no web browsers worked properly. Well, the hard drive is dead again (or something).

On boot, I see this screen:

What’s this mean? It’s searching for a device to boot from. So, I shove my install media in (my 10.4 install DVD and my System Restore DVD) and get this during the install:

Yeah… it can’t find the hard drive. I was having the same problem when I got it back earlier this week, but was able to get it working via the system restore disk. No such luck anymore. Apple will be getting a phone call from me when they open at 9am EST tomorrow morning. This will be the 6th time I’ve mailed my iBook back to them.

EDIT: And a new box is on the way to me.

Web Browser Problems on OS X

Posted on 2/21/2007 by Kyle

I’ve spent a good bit of my night attempting to solve a problem I ran across earlier after reinstalling OS X (10.4.latest) on my iBook. Most web pages aren’t rendering correctly in any browser that I install.

Safari’s behavior:

Notice the search box. Also, uploads to flickr aren’t working.

Firefox, Camino and Opera’s behavior:

Quite a bit of the content seems to be there, no text though…

I’m a bit clueless about what to do next. Deleting profiles and preference files seems to do absolutely nothing. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Note: Pages that are simply html seem to render fine.

Winter Carnival

Posted on 2/15/2007 by Kyle

So besides dealing with a broken laptop, what else have I been up to?

Well, last weekend was Winter Carnival, Michigan Tech’s annual celebration of snow and alcohol. Melissa came up to see me, my brother Scott was in town and I got to see a few other people that I rarely get to spend time with.

The snow statues this year weren’t as good as normal, but I do have a few pictures to share:

You can find the rest of them on flickr.

Saturday Melissa, Scott, his fiance Sarah and I went to Carrousel Winery a local winery that opened about 8 months ago to order wine for Scott and Sarah’s wedding. We did some wine testing and they ordered a batch of 6 gallons (about 30 bottles) for the wedding. Of course, I walked away with 5 bottles for myself (and I’m sure I’ll go back for more again). I think I’d like to get into wine making some day, it looks like a lot of fun (and fairly easy to do).

Saturday evening there were fireworks, and even though they started early, I managed to get a few photos that turned out pretty well.

And that was pretty much the last of my fun. School is kicking my butt this semester and I desperately need a break (which I wont’ get for another… 3 weeks or so). Ah well, life marches on.

Apple iBook G4 Woes

Posted on 2/13/2007 by Kyle

I’ve had an Apple iBook G4 for almost 3 years now and most of the time, I like it. At 1GHz, it’s slow, especially when I try to use Photoshop CS2 and Camera Raw. I don’t have many major complaints though.

Well… technically I only have 1 major complaint. The build quality is less than optimal. And by less than optimal I mean that over the past three years, it has gone back to Apple for:

a hard drive,

2 slot loading CD drives,

a bezel replacement as it was chipped while having a slot loader replaced,

and now, another new hard drive.

That’s not to mention the batteries I had to have replaced (Sony’s fault) and the 2 power adapters I had to replace. I honestly don’t understand it, I practically treat this thing with kid gloves. I’ve got a messenger bag it travels in and a padded neoprene sleeve for putting it in my backpack.

Honestly, I’m getting sick of it. Apple’s design choices don’t help the issue either. The construction isn’t modular or user serviceable at all. The hard drive dies, it gets shipped to Apple. The slot-loader dies with a CD that won’t eject, it gets shipped to Apple. How can this be economical when they pay overnight shipping each way?

Whatever, my next laptop probably won’t be a Mac. I want something I can use without having to mail it off twice a year to get something fixed.

Kyle Schneider

Monthly Archives: February 2007

Continuing the Saga…

Web Browser Problems on OS X

Winter Carnival

Apple iBook G4 Woes