Ok, so last Saturday I got the “Digital Out Only” and the Red light of Silence out of my MacBook. I wrote about it a couple of posts back. Anyway, I finally found the magic wand for this problem, and you’re not going to believe it.
The problem mysteriously went away after I posted, and everything was hunky dorry till this evening. I wanted to install my eVGA USB tuner on Vista on the MacBook, and the damned light came on with no sound. I’d been going over everything I’d read on the interwebz in regards to this issue, and one thing kept sticking in my mind. And that was the idea of a switch somewhere in the out jack that triggered the sound chip to go into digital mode. Everyone on the net kept saying that it was a tiny micro switch that detected something, thus switching modes. Then it hit me as I sat in silence. It’s a Mac, made by Apple. The same Apple that is plum ate up with shiny, glass, aluminum, accelerometers, and magnetic reed switches. Basically what most PC’s are not. Knowing that the antenna for the tuner had a magnet in it’s base, I had the idea that maybe the reed switch for the digital switch could be persuaded to act right if I gently probed with the antenna base’s magnetic field.
Maybe it was forethought, maybe just blind luck, but Apple put the hard drive on the other side of the laptop from where the out jack is located. I gently waved the base back and forth inching closer to the jack. Then the light started to flicker, so I got a tad closer and a wave or two later (still ~2-3″ from the jack) the red light went and stayed off. Sound then came forth from the internal speakers.
WooT! I’ll keep yall posted if the light comes back on and if this trick works reliably.
It looked alot better a few seconds before I snapped this.
Unfortunately.
Here’s my Axial Scorpion just after I finished it. Yes, the body is off of an HPI RS4 MT.
I’ve since upgraded it with the bent links, 4 wheel steering, MIP metal drive shafts, and lights. I’ll try to get some pix of the rock garden I’m working on in my back yard.
There was a time, not too long ago, when my trustly pal of a laptop was exactly that, a dependable, always there, mobile. But working now in a pure Windows domain at work, I needed a mobile that ran Windows in addition to OS X. I was elated when the Intel based Macs came out. I wasn’t an “early abopter”, but I did manage to get the mid range MacBook when I could (and I had to sell my 12″ Powerbook G4 to boot). Anyway, this new MacBook got Vista loaded on it (for testing in a Windows domain envirnment) as well as Tiger, and all was good. Well, for about 11 months that is.
The first issue that cropped up was a dead battery. When I say “dead”, I mean exactly that. I might as well have pulled it out completely for it to be deader. Nothing. No lights on the battery itself. No battery in the system info (or device manager). I tried all the tricks to reset it, but all failed, so off to the local shop that services Macs I went. I used to work there, and I used to be an Apple certified tech. The battery was still under warranty, and the guys got it replaced within the week. Mad props to you guys and Apple warranties.
The second issue happened just yesterday, and this one is testing the limits of patients and faith. I booted up my MacBook to do some cleanup on the drive. I had migrated my profile and apps of the 12″ PB, which had been migrated from a Mirror Door PowerMac G4 from a long ways back. It had apps that were not Intel compatible and just needed a general douching. I booted it up, heard the power-on chime, but nothing when it came up. I didn’t realize it at first, but I did when I started cleaning out my videos folder. None of the vids were making any sound. Then I noticed a red light in the headphone jack (digital out led). Checking the system info and sound settings showed no internal speakers, only digital out. Putting a set of headphones would change the sound out to headphones, but it would return to digital when the phones were removed. It was getting close to closing time at the shop, so I put it under arm and headed out. Rick said he’d seen this on one other Mac lapto, and thought he’d had to send it in for a logic board replacemen to fix it. I still had to clean it up, so he told me to bring it back in when I could be without it. So back home I went, kind of pissed and confused as to why this would happen, especially since I never use headphones or speakers plugged into the outjack (which is usually the culprit). If you want to research this issue, google “stuck digital out macbook”, or something along those lines. I tried all the suggestions I found, but none worked. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact I’d have to send it in and set it aside at home last night.
Now most folks honestly believe that computers break and stay broke, like most machines. I hate to break it to these folks, but they don’t. I’ve seen some weird shit in my time, so not much suprises me any more (barring the organic component). Anyway, just before I started writing this, I booted up the MB, half wanting to do some more cleanup, half just to see if it was still broke. Well, it wasn’t. WTF… Ok, so should I send it in unbroke, or wait till it fails again (probably when I need it). I’m gonna get the AppleCare for it, real soon.
So where’s this all going? I don’t like to depend on hardware that is problematic, and this MacBook is starting to get problematic. I carry it with me every day, even when I don’t necessarily “need” it, just in case, and I’m starting to fear what this thing is gonna pull next.
Here’s a couple of links to the story:
and HERE
I’m sure there’s more on the interwebs. All I can say is good riddance to a fucktard and the wench that helped him. yeah, his wife helped bust him out of Club Fed, then he killed her. I do however feel sad for the baby girl and the teen that were killed and hurt (respectively) in those final moments, they didn’t have shit to do with it. And the baby boy that was unhurt, I hope life treats him better than he’s gotten so far.
RIH Fucktard
Edward Davidson
Spam King
Finally got to try my Lazy Bee with the floats. This was the first time since I converted it to brushless electric, and I must say that the power to weight is better than when it had the OS .10, and it flies better with the floats than it does with wheels. I still need to tune the radio a bit, cause I think it needs some throttle to elevator mix. Still, it’s a damned hoot to fly off water. Click on the pix for the bigassed versions.
Ok, I used to like Mythbusters, but not after I saw an episode this evening.
I like RC stuff. Doesn’t really matter what it is, and I especially like high end hardware. Well, Tori, Grant and the chick were working on some myth about a postage stamp on a rotor blade making a heli crash. First off, that’s complete bullshit. Anyway, on their scale test they got some 50 or 60 size heli with a 5 blade aluminum head. It looked brand new. They bolted it down to a table to test blade deflection with a scale stamp. Logic flaw #1: adding weight to a blade will affect lateral balance (every heli pilot knows that), and not up and down deflection (that’s relavent to blade pitch, or tracking). But I digress.
The test showed that there was no affect on tracking (duh). So what do they do to this nice piece of equipment? They bolt on some stupid amount of weight and test till failure. WTF? Did they do it to feed the idiot masses that like destruction and senseless carnage? Or are they so callous and rolling in sponsor cash that they don’t give a shit? Fucktards, the whole lot of them.
It just pisses me off to see something nice get destroyed like that. Senseless and stupid.
At least I racked up some achievements on the XboX after I turned off this waste of time show.