iSight and iMovie saved my computer

[bousozoku]

Two weeks ago Tuesday, I was getting ready to take my laptop computer to the Apple store for repair. I probably wasn't awake and stumbled on something and almost fell. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I didn't fall but twisted my back and leg. I went to the store and they couldn't hear the problem with the squealing fans, so after all that, I had accomplished nothing.

Later that evening, I thought about using my iSight webcam and iMovie to make a quick movie of the sound and its location.

After playing the original Unreal Tournament, the fans started to squeal again. I started iMovie and moved iSight back and forth near where the fans work. I did this for about 2 minutes in order to determine which of the two was problematic.

I then, made another appointment. On Thursday, I finished backing up some things and cleaning up the machine, just in case it went off to be replaced with another machine. The same Genius looked and listened to the video and immediately wrote the repair order.

Saturday, they called and after retrieving the machine, I found it to be better than when I originally got it. Apparently, the fans were bad when I got it because they've never been this quiet.

Anyway, who knew that iSight and iMovie could be so helpful and save my computer from eventually overheating as the fan bearings died.

 

[bartelby]

That's cool. Although not so easy with a built-in iSight,

 

[Gymnut]

Great idea of making a video demonstrating the problem. I had a serious screen issue with my previous Aluminum Powerbook and occured intermittently so replicating it in front of the Genius was something I was worried about. Fortunately the problem reared its ugly head and they put in the repair request and shipped it off.

 

[imac/cheese]

That's cool.

Ha ha ha... really cool!!!

 

[megfilmworks]

That's a good argument for the old iSight cam. Good for documenting your home for insurance reasons too.

 

[SkyBell]

That's cool. Although not so easy with a built-in iSight,

Well maybe it was an external iSight.

 

[zap2]

Ha, nice story....wish I could find an iSight for my Mac


(as if I had the $$ to buy one)

 

[bousozoku]

Yes, the PowerBook was too old to have a built-in iSight camera and that's fine with me. It would be nice to document other things but I can use my digital camera for things not needing video.

 

[ibook30]

Ha, nice story....wish I could find an iSight for my Mac
(as if I had the $$ to buy one)

Not an endorsement - just an option for ya zap2 :

ebay

Glad to hear you found a creative way to explain your issue bousozoku!

It's uber cool that you made use of video / audio to enhance an oral description- as far as communication that's the next level- instead of explaining stuff we can show it to each other. It;s getting easier and easier, and that's pretty cool.

 

[bousozoku]

Not an endorsement - just an option for ya zap2 :

ebay

Glad to hear you found a creative way to explain your issue bousozoku!

It's uber cool that you made use of video / audio to enhance an oral description- as far as communication that's the next level- instead of explaining stuff we can show it to each other. It;s getting easier and easier, and that's pretty cool.

It's especially useful since the problem was resolved. If not for the audio evidence, they wouldn't have handled it.

 

[twoodcc]

that's pretty cool. glad you got it worked out.