Holy crap! Dropped my new PB and it still works?

[Greenone]

It was on a somewhat tall ottoman, sitting on a lap desk near the edge, at a slant. I stupidly thought it looked stable cause the lap desk has rubber on it to grip the laptop. I was about 2.5 feet away, closed and in sleep mode, and hadn't touched it when it decided to simply slip right off. In slow-motion, I watched in terror as it did a complete flip onto its lid onto the hardwood floor. This is a good thing, that it landed on its lid, right? It hit the corner a bit too (or first, though I've blanked that part out) cause the right front corner is tarnished and has the ever-slightest dent, the shape of a xmas tree or triangle. You can only see the dent if you look at it from a certain angle.

My hotmail was still minimized when I opened it. The latch still works. I'm typing on it right now. Is there any chance that when I turn it off and try turning it on again, that it won't come back to life? Ha ha I'm afraid it will be like when a person goes to sleep after a head injury!

I knew the newer laptops have the shock-aborber thingie that saves your info if dropped, but I thought it didn't necessarily mean it would save the machine from breaking. Has anyone experienced this, and/or does anyone have any ideas about what might go wrong or what might have been damaged?

Thanks so much!

oh p.s.: I hear some clicking sounds every so often, like it's processing something when it shouldn't be.

 

[7254278]

It was on a somewhat tall ottoman, sitting on a lap desk near the edge, at a slant. I stupidly thought it looked stable cause the lap desk has rubber on it to grip the laptop. I was about 2.5 feet away, closed and in sleep mode, and hadn't touched it when it decided to simply slip right off. In slow-motion, I watched in terror as it did a complete flip onto its lid onto the hardwood floor. This is a good thing, that it landed on its lid, right? It hit the corner a bit too (or first, though I've blanked that part out) cause the right front corner is tarnished and has the ever-slightest dent, the shape of a xmas tree or triangle. You can only see the dent if you look at it from a certain angle.

My hotmail was still minimized when I opened it. The latch still works. I'm typing on it right now. Is there any chance that when I turn it off and try turning it on again, that it won't come back to life? Ha ha I'm afraid it will be like when a person goes to sleep after a head injury!

I knew the newer laptops have the shock-aborber thingie that saves your info if dropped, but I thought it didn't necessarily mean it would save the machine from breaking. Has anyone experienced this, and/or does anyone have any ideas about what might go wrong or what might have been damaged?

Thanks so much!

oh p.s.: I hear some clicking sounds every so often, like it's processing something when it shouldn't be.

Clicking might be a dieing HD put the hardeware test CD in NOW(Im prayin for ya)

 

[Seasought]

oh p.s.: I hear some clicking sounds every so often, like it's processing something when it shouldn't be.

That's Morse code for "take me to AppleCare".

 

[hhlee]

oh p.s.: I hear some clicking sounds every so often, like it's processing something when it shouldn't be.

uh oh. start backing up. though i've dinged my 15 inch up plenty of times and it still keeps going

 

[Greenone]

Patmian - where's the test c.d.? Did it come with my pb? I only seem to remember two c.d.'s but I'll look in the box if it should be in there.

Hhlee - did you ever hear clicking sounds? You can barely hear them, and they're not very often, so I'm a little hopeful - but still - I should do that test c.d.!

Thanks guys...

 

[Greenone]

Ok I looked in the box and all I could find were two Mac OS X install discs and various cables. I've had the laptop since the end of Oct. - when this version first came out - and this is all it came with. Is there a built-in test or something?

 

[Laser47]

Patmian - where's the test c.d.? Did it come with my pb? I only seem to remember two c.d.'s but I'll look in the box if it should be in there.

Hhlee - did you ever hear clicking sounds? You can barely hear them, and they're not very often, so I'm a little hopeful - but still - I should do that test c.d.!

Thanks guys...

The Apple Hardware Test is on the 2nd restore disk. Just pop it in and hold option at boot, then select apple hardware test.
Hopefully your PB wont be broken.

 

[Greenone]

The Apple Hardware Test is on the 2nd restore disk. Just pop it in and hold option at boot, then select apple hardware test.
Hopefully your PB wont be broken.

Ok I'm hearing more sounds now. Still hard to hear but it sounds like a spinning and then a click, then about 10 or 15 seconds later it does it again. So I hope you'll write me back again immediately to answer this question (from a computer illiterate): what do you mean by "hold option at boot?"

 

[Greenone]

I'm still under the 3 month warrantee by Apple - it runs out at the end of Jan. If it turns out there is a problem with the hard drive, will they not cover it since it was from it falling?

 

[Capt Underpants]

Ok I'm hearing more sounds now. Still hard to hear but it sounds like a spinning and then a click, then about 10 or 15 seconds later it does it again. So I hope you'll write me back again immediately to answer this question (from a computer illiterate): what do you mean by "hold option at boot?"

It probably means that you hold the option key when booting.

Im not for sure, though... ive never done it.

 

[trebblekicked]

I'm still under the 3 month warrantee by Apple - it runs out at the end of Jan. If it turns out there is a problem with the hard drive, will they not cover it since it was from it falling?

nope. falling counts as "customer abuse". still, my tibook has fallen four times, and is still doing great.

 

[Greenone]

Yeah I figured it has something to do with the option key, but I don't understand if he/she means to press down and hold the key as the c.d. is going in, before doing so, or after I put it in. Hopefully Laser will write back soon - I'm getting worried!

 

[Greenone]

nope. falling counts as "customer abuse". still, my tibook has fallen four times, and is still doing great.

Oh man oh man this is stressing me out! I'm at home on bed rest cause I'm at risk of miscarrying (I know, TMI big time), and I'm not supposed to get stressed out - ha ha ha. I had to get up off the couch and lock our half-kitten half-cat in the mudroom just to stop her from attacking me, the xmas tree, anything and everything...it was just too much for now! I put a soft towel in there and other things she needs. I'll let her out when I'm feeling more calm!
Oh my God I spent SOOOOOO much money we DIDN'T have on this laptop. I hope to hell it's gonna make it. So strange...hoping for a baby in the end (I'm very early on in the pregnancy but am having a temporary complication) and hoping for a laptop in the end, too!

 

[mklos]

You can just press and hold down the C key as well. It will boot from the Apple Hardware Test image on the restore DVD.

Clicks are normal as part of the hard drive working. Are you sure you're just not paranoid? I have a 17" PowerBook and I can hear it clicking every once in a while. Its just normal usage of the hard drive. Now if its some hard clicking, or clunking sounds then you may want to have it looked at. I would immediately do a back up though just in case. I would do that before I even run the hardware test.

BTW.... PowerBooks from the last 2 revisions have what's called a Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) on the logicboard where if the sensor feels that the PowerBook is in free fall, it will park the heads on the hard drive before it hits the ground, or whatever its going to hit. Well, it will try to park the heads before it hits the ground. There's no guarantees. The current iBooks have this feature as well.

 

[Greenone]

Mklos, I know the sounds are normal but I've never heard so many, quiet as they are, which is why I'm a little nervous. I also know about SMS but I didn't know to what degree that really saves the machine - I thought i saved only stuff saved in programs. I repeat, I am computer-illiterate as they get.

I just wish someone would write back with EXACT, PRECISE directions, one step at a time! E.g. does the computer need to be off? Do I hold down the option key or the c key (just pick one!) and do I do it BEFORE putting in the c.d. (if computer is on), or if after, WHEN EXACTLY after? Will I be prompted or does it not matter when I press the key? Pretend I'm five years old (what movie is that from?).

 

[Seasought]

If it breaks (stops working) just take it to AppleCare or an Apple Store and tell them it suddenly "stopped working". Don't tell them you dropped it.

Dishonest, yes. The choice is yours.

 

[Greenone]

If it breaks (stops working) just take it to AppleCare or an Apple Store and tell them it suddenly "stopped working". Don't tell them you dropped it.

Dishonest, yes. The choice is yours.

I admit, my evil dishonest mind thought of this...

 

[Laser47]

Yeah I figured it has something to do with the option key, but I don't understand if he/she means to press down and hold the key as the c.d. is going in, before doing so, or after I put it in. Hopefully Laser will write back soon - I'm getting worried!

Sorry I couldint write back, when I say hold down the option key I mean after the cd is in the drive (put the cd in while you pb is on then restart) hold down the option key when the computer turns on again (when you hear the chime). Holding the option key will give you a boot screen where you can select what you want to start up from, in this cast the apple hardware test cd.
I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Greenone]

Sorry I couldint write back, when I say hold down the option key I mean after the cd is in the drive (put the cd in while you pb is on then restart) hold down the option key when the computer turns on again (when you hear the chime). Holding the option key will give you a boot screen where you can select what you want to start up from, in this cast the apple hardware test cd.
I hope everything turns out ok.

Thank you! I'll go try it now...

 

[Greenone]

Well that was a disaster! I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this. I restarted it, held down "option" when I heard the chime, and waited and waited. A screen appeared that had the HD icon in a little square in the center of the screen with the words "hard drive" just below it. Below this square but to the left was a symbol - but I don't remember what it means. I think it means "go back." It was the letter C with an arrow coming out of the top part of the C. To the right of the center box, and just below it, was an arrow pointing to the right. None of this made sense to me. None offered the option of checking the hard drive. I clicked on the HD icon and that lead me nowhere - just to options of downloading. The arrow to the right didn't seem to do anything either. Eventually I just ejected the c.d.

Any other ideas (or more details to make this work)?

 

[Gokhan]

k

you should see the cd icon on one side and the hd on the other !
click the cd icon and click the right arrow should boot up cd from there run test

 

[mklos]

On my 17" PowerBook the Hardware Test is on the first Restore DVD, not the second. On the first Restore DVD, you should see AHT (Apple Hardware Test) version x.x in the lower left of the restore DVD. Mine is AHT version 2.5. Yours may be different from version 2.5 as you appear to have the newest PowerBook.

Here is what to do:

1. Put in the FIRST PowerBook Restore DVD

2. Reboot the PowerBook and hold down the OPTION key and after a few seconds a purple'ish screen should appear.

3. You should see the HD button, probably a Mac OS X Installer button, and a Hardware Test CD Button. Select the Hardware Test CD Button and it should start booting from the PowerBook Hardware Test portion of the restore DVD.

4. Select Thorough test. (will take a while depending on how much RAM is installed). Mine has 1.5 GB's of RAM and took around an hour to run the full test.

It will tell you when its done. If it reports back anything wrong, it should have an error code with it. Write that error code down, as AppleCare, or a MacGenius in an Apple Retail Store will need that information.

When its done, restart and then hold down the mouse clicker and the Restore DVD should eject. When it does, release the mouse clicker and it should continue to boot into OS X.

 

[dogbone]

Probably the "C" was to choose the boot cd.

Why not try the other way of doing it which was mentioned earlier. If I read that right you shouldn't have to do anything.

Put the install disk in and restart holding the 'C' key down until it starts to boot up. If the info earlier was right it should boot into the hardware test.

EDIT: looks like it's already sorted.

 

[mklos]

You can't use the C key if its on the first Restore DVD. If you do, it will boot to the OS X Installer screen. There are multiple bootable volumes on the first restore DVD, so you need to hold the option key down.

 

[semaja2]

i think for the best way would be to take it into a apple centre and tell them that it is clicking, dont lye but just dont mention the drop. anywho tell them that some people mentioned to do a hardware check and ask if they can do it for you