Installing an Airport Card in G5 (Ouch that hurt)

[agdickinson]

I was installing an Airport card in my G5 last night and managed to slice my finger open quite nicely. Fortunately I did manage not to Christen my G5 with red-claret (blood). Words like OUCH!!!! come to mind...

Anyway is there anything razer sharp in the G5 which I should keep my hands away from. I think next time I'm in the case I should get some chain-mail gauntlets....

:(

Andrew

[blue&whiteman]

wow, that is odd that you hurt yourself that way. maybe from now on your should wear thick rubber gloves when you do hardware installs ;)

[sonofslim]

Originally posted by agdickinson
I think next time I'm in the case I should get some chain-mail gauntlets....


make sure you wear a grounding strap, then. you don't want your motherboard to be on the receiving end of that electrostatic buildup.

[blue&whiteman]

just touching the emty pci slot covers or any metal before handling hardware is enough to ground yourself. whats next? wearing helmets for hardware upgrades?

[Powerbook G5]

I thought the APX card slid right into that airport slot near the front left spot under the Superdrive. How'd you manage to slice your hand? I'd say as long as you are careful, any hardware install should be relatively "safe".

[MoparShaha]

I could see this happening. There are a lot of sharp edges inside computers. I always excercise caution inside my G4. If you're applying force to something, like the Airport card, and your hand slips, you're going to get hurt. Anyways, sorry to hear you got injured, and have a fast recovery.

[x86isslow]

is the g5 case really as dangerous as ppl are making it out to be?

in all the reviews of the g5 i've read, the reviewer mentions that their hands have been cut into by the sharp handles.

it just seems odd that a brand new case design would have this kind of problem (g3 blue and white to g4mdd were of the same case design, with minor tweaks right?)

[Frohickey]

Ya wimp. :p

Didn'tcha know that cheesegraters are supposed to be sharp? ;)

AFAIK, the edges of the G5 case is supposed to be beveled a little bit. Any more bevelled, and some people would have complained that the look and feel is departing from their idea of what the look and feel is supposed to be.

As to the inside, the sheetmetal for the PCI fence is not bevelled. Like anything, when you are working inside of machinery, you have to be careful. I've gotten some burns or rapped knuckles when changing spark plugs and oil filters.

[blue&whiteman]

I think he gets the point after cutting himself that he should be careful...

[cubist]

I'm surprised to hear this. One thing I always pointed to as a superiority of Macs is the smooth edges inside.

Almost everytime I have to work on a PC, the razor-sharp edges inside catch me. Last time inside one of my PCs I cut three fingers installing a Firewire card. I accidently bumped the floppy cable loose (there are cables hanging all over the inside, like all PCs) but I don't feel like opening it to fix it. It's just these cheap, stamped-out cabinets they all use.

[Frohickey]

G5 case is stamped out as well. Just not so cheap. :D

As to where you got cut, even a dull knife can cut. Actually, the worse type of cut I have ever gotten was with a dull knife.

[agdickinson]

Thanks for the expression of concern : FuzzyBallz
+ Frohickey. :P

I was more concerned about getting blood on the inside of the case which was pumping out rather freely. I think I could of cut myself on the metal guide for the airport card inside of the G5 case. It was my erm pointy (first finger) that got the cut (1cm long).

I'm not sure soaking my motherboard in blood is covered (pun intended) in the Apple warranty....

I was attempting to remove the Aerial wire which has a little horizontal plastic catch on it, with the bluetooth connector wire as well. It does not come off easily and I had to persuade it off, with said result :(

When I used to install Hardware in PC's I was always cutting myself on edges all over the place. The G4 Powermac internally seems a little safer....

A

[robbieduncan]

I personally find this very disappointing. Good quality alluminium PC cases do not have sharp edges on the insides to prevent this sort of injury. My Lian-Li case has all rolled inner edges appart from one that has a large plastic protector running round the edge. This (and the removable motherboard try and drive tray) make working in the case much easier and safer.

I would have thought that Apple would have done the same.

[synergy]

On a PC I built a few years back I was trying to pull the IDE cable out. It was sticking, when it came oout I took a small chunk of skin off on my right had ring finger. Still have the scar to show for it. Of course that was a PC case, cheap one at that.

[Frohickey]

Ah.

The trick is to use a small screwdriver or plastic ballpoint pen cap to pry open the clip and then ease the antenna cables out of them.

Dripping blood on the G5 motherboard... only time you are supposed to do that is if you are part of a satanic cult during a ritual virgin sacrifice... that, or you are trying to get SCSI voodoo magic to work, but in that one, you use a virgin goat. :D :p

[agdickinson]

Yes,

:)

I should be the warning when installing an Airport card in the G5 do it slowly and carefully.

The what not to do example :) :D

The bull in the china shop example :)

A

:)

Funny my G5 has started talking to itself and growls, maybee I did annoint it with my blood

:eek: :eek:

[5300cs]

I got this scar (white line under my nail) from installing/removing an airport card from my 550 TiBook

Much easier on the iBook ...

[Frohickey]

Cool. Battlescar pictures. :D

I'd show mine, but this is rated PG-13. :p

[sonofslim]

Originally posted by Frohickey
I'd show mine, but this is rated PG-13. :p

and what, exactly, were you "installing" in your computer to get that one?

[StealthRider]

LOL!!!

[Powerbook G5]

Honestly now, those air holes in the PowerMac G4s were *not* meant for that purpose!

[5300cs]

Originally posted by sonofslim
and what, exactly, were you "installing" in your computer to get that one?

Or more importantly, what were you installing hardware with? :confused: