How to be a Geek
Just a quick entry here. So what's that answer
to the question? Break something and then figure out how to fix it. That's
what happened this morning with my laptop. The fact that I posted a blog means
everything is fine, but it was a bit hairy. What happened? Well, lemme tell
ya!
I decided the other day to play
around with Linux on my computer when I had some free time, and today was the
perfect day to do it. I downloaded a Linux package called Ubuntu, which is
pretty popular right now. No problem. I got some CDs at the store since I
really don't burn CDs anymore and I burned a copy. I put it in my laptop's
drive and reboot. I walk away and come back to something I may have seen once
before. A grey screen with an image of a folder with alternating images of a
question mark and the Mac OS
faces.
Hmmmm, reboot several times and
that's all I get. It didn't matter if I had this Ubuntu disc in or not. So I
begin to worry a bit, but hey, I'm a smart guy. I can figure this out, right?
But how? I so rely on the 'net for troubleshooting, and here is my laptop
unable to boot. Therefore, no internet. Grrrrr.
Enter my old, old Power Mac 7200. A
hand-me-down from a friend who got it from a friend. I power this puppy up with
virtual crossed fingers. I get a somewhat disturbing message about the computer
not shutting down properly and having to check the disk. No biggie, it's never
a problem. Except today. I have icons for programs that the computer says
don't exist. Hmmm...I haven't used this thing in at least a year and I'm pretty
sure I cleared out everything I had on it. But why would I delete the web
browser?
Frantic search for the install
discs. After about 10 minutes of looking through every single shiny disc I
have, I realize that the discs I was looking for were ones I had tried in the
laptop. So what? Well, those discs are the OLD OS for Mac. This old Power Mac
uses OS 9.1, not OS X. BIG difference. So I chuckle and put in the Restore
disc and reboot. Well, wouldn't you know it, the computer boots with no issues
and everything is there as it should...big sigh of relief. And that wasn't
because of the disc...if I had just done a reboot in the first place I would
have been fine.
On to the 'net. I
spend about another 30 minutes trying to find even a mention of my issue. I
finally find it and there is an easy solution! All I need to do is boot my
laptop in a certain way so that I have to enter a special password that I set
up. Here we go.....boot....special screen....password entry.....nothing.
Rinse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat......Arrrghhhhh! So I can't remember
this password. WTF? I can't believe I can't remember this password. I've
tried dozens of variations to no
avail.
More internet searching. How do
I bypass what is supposed to not be bypassed. Viola! I find a
site.....read....read....understand....take apart laptop...try...fail.
Grrr..Next site.....read...read..understand....take apart
laptop...try...fail.....Grrr...next site....same....next site...same......OK, So
all these sites pretty much say to do the same thing with very slight
variations. I try one more site. Again it pretty much tells me to do the same
procedure, but with one major difference. I try it. Nothing.
Again..Nothing...Charging...Clear! Nothing....Charging...Clear! Nothing....I
refuse to say, "He's dead, Jim" and try one more
time.....Bong.......wait....wait....Bong! Success! Next keyboard command and I
get what I'm looking for. Type in the commands to reset everything,
reboot............YES! So I shutdown the computer and put everything back
together.
What do I do after all of
this? Try to install Ubuntu again. Why not tempt fate? If the same thing
happens again, I know how to fix it. Well, the problem didn't happen precisely
because I didn't have this special password set up. Unfortunately to really
install this possibly cool OS, I really need to do some major reworking of my
computer's hard drive. There is no simple way of installing it without
potentially erasing everything and I really don't feel like taking that chance
of losing some application even though I can completely copy my internal drive
to an external. I feel like I dodged a .22cal and don't want to try to dodge a
.50cal. I can boot off the CD just fine. The OS works and everything, but I
want to wait to take the next step when I make sure that all of my data is
safe.
So, kids, that is how you become
a geek. Remember, this could have easily been a car and not a
computer.
I've decided to put the web
site that saved me on this blog so I have a copy of it somewhere where I might
remember to look if it happens
again!
http://skaran.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_skaran_archive.html
l8r,
Marz
Posted: Wednesday - August 30, 2006 at 03:06 PM