I've been out of the abbey two days, I've beaten a lawman senseless, I've fallen in with criminals. I watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect. And I'm not even sure if I think he was wrong.

Book ,'Serenity'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


Jon B. - Dec 22, 2008 2:56:08 am PST #8444 of 25501
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

But I think the flash drive was the final nail in the floppy coffin.

Oddly, I needed to use a floppy disk just the other day when building my new 'puter. I needed to use third party drivers during the Windows XP install (the "F6" option), and the floppy drive seemed to be the only way to transfer them.


beekaytee - Dec 22, 2008 5:12:36 am PST #8445 of 25501
Compassionately intolerant

Daniel, I have been switching from one side of the keyboard to the other AND into the usb cord extention I was using for the keyboard itself.

This morning, however, an entirely different problem presented itself and I am well and truly screwed. The fact that I'm not crying right now is something of a miracle.

The power button on the G4 has stopped working. i've been leaving it on, in sleep, most days so as to avoid having to power up.

Last night I thought I should power down, thinking that might have something to do with everything being a bit skittish.

At first, the button worked, but the mouse froze on startup so I couldn't maneuver to log in. I unplugged and tried to restart but the button won't light.

Seriously. I'm so incredibly screwed.

Is there any way to hotwire a G4 tower?

To say that I have no money for a new computer...in fact, this one was a hand me down...is putting it mildly.

God. What am I going to do?

eta: I should say that I'm coming to you from my 10 year old iMac that has been languishing in the closet for the last 10 months. I can do my email, thank God. And come here...but that's about it.


Rob - Dec 22, 2008 5:16:22 am PST #8446 of 25501

Sometimes the small battery on the motherboard gets low on power and makes the computer behave oddly. Can you open up the G4 and remove it? It won't remember the date anymore between boots, but it might power up.

The other thing to do while it's open is give it a vacuuming. An appalling amount of dust can collect inside a computer and that can sometimes be an issue. Just be careful not to dislodge any components while doing it.


beekaytee - Dec 22, 2008 5:35:45 am PST #8447 of 25501
Compassionately intolerant

Thanks Rob. I'll give that a try.


le nubian - Dec 22, 2008 6:02:15 am PST #8448 of 25501
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."

bonny,

have you tried rebooting the computer? that might be all it needs.


beekaytee - Dec 22, 2008 6:12:51 am PST #8449 of 25501
Compassionately intolerant

Yep. That was the whole point of turning it off last night. I've rebooted several times but cannot do so now because the power button is not working.

I took the battery out and cleaned up the inside but the button just won't engage.

What else can I do?


le nubian - Dec 22, 2008 6:48:11 am PST #8450 of 25501
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."

do you have a genius bar near you?


tommyrot - Dec 22, 2008 7:47:16 am PST #8451 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

From National Geographic: Behold the Computer Revolution (Nov, 1970)

I haven't read the article yet, but the pictures are awesome.


§ ita § - Dec 22, 2008 8:43:28 am PST #8452 of 25501
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Goodbye VHS.


Sean K - Dec 22, 2008 8:50:12 am PST #8453 of 25501
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Goodbye VHS.

As a consumer product. It's still in wide enough use in film and television that it will see some use there for a few more years.