the thing is this
FIRST: Shut down my Mac (G4 powerbook) and left for the day. It had not been actually Shut Down for a long, long time.
LATER: Came home that night, and powered it back up. The apple chime sounded and a grey apple logo on a grey background came on. And stayed on. And on and on. Nick suggested some things (restarting and holding down shift, then P&R and other buttons) and taking out the battery did nothing to fix it. Went to bed.
NEXT DAY: It did not magically heal itself overnight. Or again after I came back home last night. No internet, no scanner, no music. . . so…. quiet. (Looked at photography books and sorted prints)
TODAY: No internet at home again- watched TV & listened to Nihongo. Attractive people ate delicious looking food and said it was in fact, delicious.
TOMORROW: Take the damn powerbook to the apple store in Ginza?
Who knowz? Returning that close to the AOZO complex in Marunouchi will no doubt result in me spending 5000 yen on that beautiful Stephen Shore book by Phaidon.
UNTIL THEN: Updates are rare and email checked at work. (where this was written shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
My precious MacBook once had the same symptom. It was due to the fact that the OS somehow failed to install its update. If you think that might be the case, this link should be helpful.
http://blog.igorminar.com/2007/03/macos-x-1049-update-killed-my-mac.html
My friend and I (well, he did most of the part) could fix my computer on our own, so it’s doable.
Comment by ayako — 3/18/2008 @ 1:09 pm
i went for about 6 weeks without internet last year.
it was great.
Comment by tim — 3/18/2008 @ 2:05 pm
you know, it was odd sitting there in my apartment. I could not believe how deafeningly quiet it was.
It’s kind of nice, actually.
Comment by John — 3/18/2008 @ 2:52 pm
Ayako-
Thanks for the link. But it looks difficult. And involves (?) A second healthy mac, it seems. Or an USB key. I have neither..
Comment by John — 3/18/2008 @ 2:56 pm
I just got my computer fixed after having it be broken and inoperative for nearly a year. It’s a fantastic machine, and I don’t know how I got along without it for so long. Best of luck.
Comment by Joe — 3/19/2008 @ 3:30 am
oh no! that happened to me when i was at senshu once. i had to take it to that store and all they could do was reinstall my os, which is not good. i lost everything on my computer. good luck.
Comment by mike — 3/19/2008 @ 7:05 am
everything, you say?
now I am starting to wish that I had made even one back up of even one of my 10,000 digital pictures stored on my hard drive.
crap.
Comment by John — 3/19/2008 @ 8:54 am
John,
Try Starting up your Mac but when you hear the “Bong” press your Alt/Option Key and hold it down. See if you get new window asking which OS to open. It should give you a choice. What you did in your blog is you zapped your P-RAM which could help.
But Whatever you do DO NOT have any apple tech Re-load the OS it will erase your HD. Spend at $100 bucks and get a external HD and make a copy of your HD. Tell the apple techs you want to do that. If you need help send me an e-mail and I will help you through this. But DO NOT let them re-install OS. Buy the external and start making backups.
Another suggestion is to buy a new computer and have them transfer your HD to that new computer. Your computer can still be saved. don’t let anyone tell you different.
Comment by Jason — 3/19/2008 @ 11:15 pm
hey dude, i think you should call up apple. when i had a problem with my ipod, those guys came to my apartment and picked it up, the next day. the 2-3 days later, they came by with a new one for me. so you might not even have to go all the way the way down to ginza. that could spare you from seeing all those fancy imported cars, the handsome well-dressed middle aged men in them with their 20 years old their junior girlfriends. also, how can i forget all those classy ladies eating a frosty at wendys. oh and i ll be with you in a week. get ready.
Comment by kevin — 3/20/2008 @ 11:08 am
It seems that an external hard drive would make a nice b-day present for you this year.
Comment by ayako — 3/21/2008 @ 2:06 am