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tehschulman posted:Explode? Bob Morales posted:A long time ago we used to play a game where we broke the electrolytic caps off a computer (off random places/cards) until it quit working. You could break quite a few off before it would start acting up.
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Aug 10, 2013 00:37
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tehschulman posted:I have solder experience and some brand new fine tip solder heads. Some advice I read mentioned using a heat gun to reapply the component but I don't have access to one of those. Good news. I showed the pictures to one of our technicians at work and he thinks the pads are not broken and that you should be able to resolder the component. Even if the pads are broken you should be able to scrape a little of the solder mask off the PCB to either side since the component is connected to planes, not traces. We think could be a diode, so keep orientation the same as original. Also, no guarantees, but since one side is connected to a screw mount and the other side looks like a ground plane, it is probably part of a chassis ground protection circuit of some sort and odds are good the computer would function fine without it. E: I wouldn't use a heat gun. Also, correct orientation is visible, note the residue on one edge which corresponds to residue on the PCB. IMO, match that, sit the component down in the grooves it left, hold it down with tweezers, reflow one side and then the other. You may not even need to add new solder. BobHoward fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Aug 10, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 01:41
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Bob Morales posted:A long time ago we used to play a game where we broke the electrolytic caps off a computer (off random places/cards) until it quit working. You could break quite a few off before it would start acting up. I doubt anything works like that now, back in the old times things had to be more robust because caps were known to be poo poo, now caps aren't poo poo so why send the 2c per unit doubling them up?
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Aug 10, 2013 01:43
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BobHoward posted:Good news. I showed the pictures to one of our technicians at work and he thinks the pads are not broken and that you should be able to resolder the component. Even if the pads are broken you should be able to scrape a little of the solder mask off the PCB to either side since the component is connected to planes, not traces. Yeah I noticed one side of the component just butts up against a screw hole so it must be for grounding. Do you happen to know if the orientation of the diode is the same as what I've taken a picture of? Both pictures were taken post-destruction, but I have a pretty good feeling that the component faces the way I depicted. Pads look like they're in OK shape, I'm concerned with heating the pad too much and making matters worse. Also I do have a liquid flux pen but have never needed to use it before.
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Aug 10, 2013 01:57
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SRQ posted:I doubt anything works like that now, back in the old times things had to be more robust because caps were known to be poo poo, now caps aren't poo poo so why send the 2c per unit doubling them up? Engineering margins. I guarantee you lots of devices out there have way more decoupling than needed just to be on the safe side. (More likely in low volume designs, of course, since it isn't as worthwhile to spend engineering time doing cost reduction.)
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Aug 10, 2013 01:59
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tehschulman posted:Yeah I noticed one side of the component just butts up against a screw hole so it must be for grounding. Do you happen to know if the orientation of the diode is the same as what I've taken a picture of? See my edit, I can see some leftover flux which didn't get washed off and you can match that to get orientation right. Prepping the pads with a dab from the flux pen is probably a good idea
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Aug 10, 2013 02:03
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BobHoward posted:See my edit, I can see some leftover flux which didn't get washed off and you can match that to get orientation right. Cool cool. One last thing (probably a long shot but...), what temperature do you think will be sufficient for the soldering iron? For some of my other projects I've used no-lead solder and generally keep the iron around 400+ degrees. That may be overkill for this simple task. Thanks! Dotcom Jillionaire fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Aug 10, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 02:12
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tehschulman posted:Cool cool. One last thing, what temperature do you think will be sufficient for the soldering iron? For some of my other projects I've used no-lead solder and generally keep the iron around 400+ degrees. That may be overkill for this simple task. Thanks! Honestly don't know, when I touch things like this up I'm doing it at a bench stocked with Metcal irons, which have no temperature adjust. These use quick swap tips preset for a given temperature. I just use whatever the techs left in instead of paying proper attention.  Since you are soldering to planes, one attached to a mechanical fitting, you may need a high setting to get the real temp high enough to get a good joint.
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Aug 10, 2013 02:29
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This is probably a stupid question, but I'm somewhat confused so I guess I'll ask it. I have a 2012 retina macbook pro. I have an official mini display port to VGA adapter. I have an older Dell VGA monitor. Can I get this monitor to act as a second monitor for this pro? I get the familiar "oh you just plugged a monitor in" screen change when I plug it in, but the display itself doesn't react and eventually the pro just reverts back to normal and says nothing is plugged in when I check the display settings. If I had a better VGA monitor would this work? If I had an official display port device would this work?
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Aug 10, 2013 20:47
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Does this happen with other monitors? I had this problem with my rMBP too. Did you do the Migration Assistant thing? I had a kernel extension that was loving things up which I had to uninstall which came through Migration Assistant. Can you download Pacifist and run the "Display Kernel Extensions Report"? It's shareware but it'll let you run it anyway after a wait. It'll show Kernel extensions that weren't provided by Apple. You can probably fit the data you need to show this thread in a screenshot since there should only be a dozen non-Apple-provided extensions at most. edit: Also, you can't use external monitors if you have gfxcardStatus locked to the Intel card on the 15" rMBP. Discrete/Nvidia only. crazysim fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Aug 10, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 20:57
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crazysim posted:Does this happen with other monitors? First off, thank you! I just pretty much used this fresh out of the box when I got it. I have another mac that I had been using that just died today that I was thinking of migrating some of its files to the new mac from a time machine backup, but I haven't done it yet. I have used other external monitors in the past, but that was HDMI, would that make a difference? Here is the report; I don't actually have any non-apple provided. I have some non-apple made ones, though. Linked since that's apparently huge: 
Rick fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Aug 10, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 21:13
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Try another MiniDP -> VGA adapter. Some of them don't work with certain monitors. I've ran into the problem over and over again where certain Macs, certain monitors, and certain adapters just won't play well together and I have to mix and match them to get something that works for all of them. It's slightly comical connecting a 17" CRT or even LCD over VGA to a rMPB 
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Aug 10, 2013 21:23
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Quick question: looking to upgrade my 2011 Macbook Pro's RAM to 16 gigs, up from the rather measly 4 it came with. What brands are safe bets?
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Aug 12, 2013 18:24
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Nuclear Tourist posted:Quick question: looking to upgrade my 2011 Macbook Pro's RAM to 16 gigs, up from the rather measly 4 it came with. What brands are safe bets? Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, G.skill... It doesn't matter too much. A solid warranty is the most important.
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Aug 12, 2013 18:28
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Alright, thanks.
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Aug 12, 2013 19:11
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My 2009 MBP 13" got had a glass of water dumped on it, which sucked. But gave me the opportunity to get a new Mac, which didn't suck. I settled on the rMBP 15" as I felt kind of cramped on the 13" fairly often and some of the stuff I do benefits from a dedicated video card (Blender OGL previews, games on the road, PS CC 3D), and I love the retina display. Anyway, one of the things I'm curious about is when the discrete nvidia card is being used versus the integrated chipset. It's not critical, I know that during obvious tasks - games for instance - which video chipset is driving but I'm wondering if there's an easy way, like a menu bar toggle or something to see which is doing what when if that makes sense.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:13
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Not quite Mac specific, but my AEBS power supply buzzes with data transfers; it's an older model well out of warranty, how generous can Apple be when it comes to this? Bought it used, and the noise isn't that bad, but if they'll give me a new PSU or something, that would be awesome.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:20
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Apple doesn't have service parts for any of the Airport devices. The whole thing has to be replaced.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:50
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1997 posted:Apple doesn't have service parts for any of the Airport devices. The whole thing has to be replaced.  They'll just probably laugh at me then, unless I play up the  power supply gonna burn angle, which I don't think I can do. It's really irritating though, I just realized I can hear it clear across the room when pushing some heavy traffic.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:56
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squirrelzipper posted:one of the things I'm curious about is when the discrete nvidia card is being used versus the integrated chipset. It's not critical, I know that during obvious tasks - games for instance - which video chipset is driving but I'm wondering if there's an easy way, like a menu bar toggle or something to see which is doing what when if that makes sense. GfxcardStatus is what you're looking for. Very handy, I didn't realise that RDP or VMware would be using the discrete graphics even when disconnected/not running a vm.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:56
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theperminator posted:GfxcardStatus is what you're looking for.
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Aug 13, 2013 09:12
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squirrelzipper posted:Anyway, one of the things I'm curious about is when the discrete nvidia card is being used versus the integrated chipset. It's not critical, I know that during obvious tasks - games for instance - which video chipset is driving but I'm wondering if there's an easy way, like a menu bar toggle or something to see which is doing what when if that makes sense.  movax posted:
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Aug 13, 2013 09:39
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japtor posted:If you could've waited for the new model you probably wouldn't have to worry about a discrete GPU at all Yeah this was in June though so that would have been 3-5 months without a machine and the 15" Haswell specs haven't been confirmed have they? Anyway thanks all that looks like what I need.
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Aug 13, 2013 15:22
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japtor posted:...I'm used to my Macs themselves having some noise during high speed network transfers (over ethernet at least), wonder if it's the same sound you're hearing. It's totally an effect of PSU load / transients, I'm just disappointed because I hold Apple to a higher standard of engineering and they messed up something simple. My Lenovos all screech when you load the 5V rail which is also extremely disappointing, but I don't hold them to the same expectations as Apple.
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Aug 13, 2013 16:45
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movax posted:It's totally an effect of PSU load / transients, I'm just disappointed because I hold Apple to a higher standard of engineering and they messed up something simple. Yeah I looked up the issue and it doesn't look like it was "only" a bad batch of PSUs - lots of people have noted the issue, but it doesn't appear to be something that geniuses acknowledge and replace - from what I saw.
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Aug 13, 2013 16:49
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I skimmed some of my the earlier posts but is a 11" Macbook Air right for me? What I want is something I can bring to work with me for personnel stuff or while I'm the couch watching tv. If I actually need to use it - I could always plug it into a second monitor. It does seem like I'm over spending in something that'll mostly be used for browsing SA but I'm thinking this would work - is anyone able to give me a good reason NOT to buy this? On the plus side, I'll get to use OS X for the first time ever
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Aug 13, 2013 23:49
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The 11" has a mediocre screen. If you're mostly just using it to browse the web I would get an iPad.
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Aug 14, 2013 00:04
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theperminator posted:GfxcardStatus is what you're looking for. Unfortunately that download seems to be down, I've tried a couple times on different networks and it doesn't seem to work. Google isn't showing any mirrors for the recent version. I'll keep looking.
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Aug 14, 2013 00:07
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Mu Zeta posted:The 11" has a mediocre screen. If you're mostly just using it to browse the web I would get an iPad. It's not 'mediocre' in a T430 sense, it's just small (1366x768, but any more pixels and the PPI would be too high). The biggest drawback to the 11" Air was the 5-hour battery, but now that it's rated at 9 hours you're not really giving that up compared to the 13" The Verge has an article up right now and they make some comparisons between the 11" Air and the iPad but I think it's kind of a dumb comparison. Just because they are similar in size doesn't mean anything, they are very different devices. I prefer my iPad for surfing the net on the couch or in bed, and I prefer my 11" Air for whenever I have to type or actually do anything. This is what my desk looks like right now 
Bob Morales fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 14, 2013 00:20
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The resolution is okay but I want IPS damnit. I figure around this time next year all the Airs will have it.
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Aug 14, 2013 00:28
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Mu Zeta posted:The resolution is okay but I want IPS damnit. I figure around this time next year all the Airs will have it. Yea the quality leaves a little to be desired these days. I'll take the battery life over a better screen until I can have both.
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Aug 14, 2013 00:30
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squirrelzipper posted:Unfortunately that download seems to be down, I've tried a couple times on different networks and it doesn't seem to work. Google isn't showing any mirrors for the recent version. I'll keep looking. Nah, just go here: http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownload/gfxCardStatus-Download-76498.html Select "Softpedia Secure Download (US)" and you'll get the current version of gfxcardstatus, v.2.3. Easy peasy. They've been doing this dual GPU poo poo since 2011, eh?
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Aug 14, 2013 04:10
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Tab8715 posted:... is anyone able to give me a good reason NOT to buy this? On the plus side, I'll get to use OS X for the first time ever Because I personally think that the 13" Air is more comfortable for extended use and the weight difference is marginal enough between the two where I'd argue that they're pretty much equally portable? Don't get me wrong, the 11" is great too, but I just can't handle the screen after a while, while the 13" is a sweet spot IMO between real estate and portability. OSX is fun .
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Aug 14, 2013 04:18
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Got my Genius Bar appointment for my 27" iMac tomorrow morning. I'm going to show up with a list of stuff to fix before the AppleCare expires in October: shooting for a new LCD panel, new GPU daughterboard, and a new hard drive (it's the recalled Seagate drive that I never got replaced).
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Aug 14, 2013 06:23
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movax posted:It's totally an effect of PSU load / transients, I'm just disappointed because I hold Apple to a higher standard of engineering and they messed up something simple. Also I actually brought it in to swap it twice. the first replacement was still buzzing and the wifi signal was really weak compare to the original one. When I brought it in for the second time, they just opened a brand new one on the spot and gave that to me due to their policy, it has as good of a signal as the first one but it still buzzed. I think it buzzed a bit less though. So i just chalked that up to component used and kept it.
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Aug 14, 2013 07:24
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Got my Genius Bar appointment for my 27" iMac tomorrow morning. I'm going to show up with a list of stuff to fix before the AppleCare expires in October: shooting for a new LCD panel, new GPU daughterboard, and a new hard drive (it's the recalled Seagate drive that I never got replaced). Reach for the stars, dude!
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Aug 14, 2013 07:24
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Got my Genius Bar appointment for my 27" iMac tomorrow morning. I'm going to show up with a list of stuff to fix before the AppleCare expires in October: shooting for a new LCD panel, new GPU daughterboard, and a new hard drive (it's the recalled Seagate drive that I never got replaced). "Well that's quite a few issues it seems to be having, so we'll just go ahead and replace it. The only model we have is a little newer, from 2011 or so."
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Aug 14, 2013 07:44
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carry on then posted:"Well that's quite a few issues it seems to be having, so we'll just go ahead and replace it. The only model we have is a little newer, from 2011 or so."
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Aug 14, 2013 07:47
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Aug 14, 2013 07:51
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Mercurius posted:Unfortunately I think that might make SWSP upset since he uses the mini-DisplayPort input mode on his and the newer ones are all Thunderbolt only. Does this mean you can connect a MBA via thunderbolt to a 2011 iMac and use it as an external display? because if so I totally am buying an MBA like tomorrow.
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Aug 14, 2013 08:19
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