Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category

My Home Server – For Now

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

I’m really wondering how much longer my current home server will last.  I’ve had it since June 2004, since the day after they announced that the G4 towers were being discontinued.  As I’ve mentioned previously, the reason I bought this machine was because it was Apple’s only computer that could handle dual optical drives and 4 hard disks without goofy hardware modifications.  I’ve upgraded the machine several times since I got it, and here’s where the hardware currently stands:

  • Dual 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4
  • 2GB DDR2 PC2700 RAM
  • ATI Radeon 9000 AGP video card
  • (2) Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7170A DVD drives (one dead, will be pulled soon)
  • (1) 320GB Western Digital boot drive
  • (2) 500GB Western Digital RAID1 backup set
  • (1) 500GB Western Digital scratch/media drive
  • Generic USB 2.0 PCI card
  • Generic 1394b PCI card

Without adding a SATA PCI card to the mix, the machine is pretty much maxed out.  Recently, about once a week, the unit has been locking up where it doesn’t ACTUALLY kernel panic, but after a reboot, the machine logs kernel panics going to the ATA controller.  I’m hoping the boot drive just needs a repartition and a clean OS, but if anyone has a spare 4-port Seritek PCI card they don’t need anymore, I’ll be glad to take it off your hands.

Assuming this thing works properly, it will be back up and ready to go as a VPN server, file server, and occasional torrent machine again.  If anyone has any tips about getting the most out of these old things, please don’t hesitate to post a comment or shoot an email.

Posted in Apple, Hardware, Mac Stuff, Ramblings, Technology | No Comments »

Apple’s Crappy Tech Support Didn’t Live Up To Its Reputation

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

I have had a really weird issue with a MacBook Pro battery of mine (one of two I always carry with me.)  It will occasionally drop it’s full charge capacity to the point where the computer says “Service Battery” or “Check Battery.”  I really didn’t want to go to my local Apple Store because, frankly, I don’t like listening to most of the fools who are in there wondering why their iPhone that got soaked in dog urine isn’t covered under warranty or their Bondi iMac can’t be repaired anymore.  It bugs the hell out of me.

Anyways, I decided that I’d have to call AppleCare: that dreaded multi-hour pastime that everyone on the internets has a horror story about.  Apple hates its customers and doesn’t actually want to fix things, right?  Good thing I have my attorney on speed dial, and he’s in the office, or else I would have to call back another free afternoon.

I remembered, though, that at some point, Apple had a feature where they would call YOU back after submitting a support request on the website.  Here’s the first thing I saw after logging into the Apple support site:

First window on Apple's support request site

Holy shit! Those evil bastards are tracking everything I own!  Oh, wait, I needed help, so I just clicked on my MacBook Pro and it took me to this next screen:

Second window on Apple's support request site

Why would they want to know what is going wrong with my computer?  They are just looking for ways to void my warranty.  Oh, wait, that might not be the best thing to say to the people who are helping me.  I put the relevant battery information from the system profiler into the area to describe the problem and hit continue.  I was then presented with this screen:

Third window on Apple's support request site

Those sons of bitches are trying to pawn the problem off until later or until I feel like calling them.  How dare they do anything but give me oral pleasure to ease my stress about this horrible problem.  Because I wanted my stuff fixed now, I clicked “Call me now” and waited.

It took them 20 FUCKING SECONDS to call me.  You know what else?  It took me 10 MINUTES on the phone talking to people to get my new battery shipped to me.  DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH BUSINESS I LOST BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM?  I want Apple to reimburse me for all of my lost work and downtime.  I want a fucking unicorn that poops little Steve Jobs action figures.  And I want a new computer because this one is a lemon.

Way to go Apple. Way to go…

In all seriousness, this took less time to complete than it would have taken me trying to FIND an appointment at whatever local Genius Bar had an opening.  And I’m sure it got taken care of WAY faster, too.

UPDATE 1 (2009-10-01 @ 17:22): HOW DARE APPLE SEND ME MY BATTERY FEDEX PRIORITY OVERNIGHT FOR DELIVERY BY 10:30AM TOMORROW.  THE SHIPMENT WAS PROCESSED WITHIN 30 MINUTES OF MY PHONE CALL!  I SAID I DIDN’T NEED IT IMMEDIATELY AND THAT I WAS ON VACATION! DON’T YOU LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS, APPLE?!

Posted in Apple, Congratulations, Customer Service, Hardware, Mac Stuff, Technology | No Comments »

Upgrade my RAID (I’m looking for free shit)

Friday, July 17th, 2009

So, there comes a time in every man’s life when he realizes that the hard disks he has are no longer sufficient to store what he needs them to store.  I just sold a bunch of AAPL stock to pay down my credit cards and hopefully get some new gear for my good old G4 tower.  Here’s what I’m looking at getting:

(4) Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA drives from Amazon
(1) Rosewill RC-217 Silicon Image 3124-based PCI SATA RAID card from NewEgg
(2) NB-X-Swing 2 x 3.5″ into 1 x 5.25″ optical drive bay brackets from Performance PCs

I know that it’s a lot of hardware to install in a Power Mac G4, but if it’s primarily a storage machine, why get a Drobo when I can get a whole lot more out of this monster of a tower?  If anyone has review units they would like to send out, I’ll whore for you with full disclosure.  I don’t need Obama’s FTC getting all up on me.  :)

Posted in Apple, Hardware, Mac Stuff, Ramblings, Technology | No Comments »