My friends mac mini got drunk...

On Dec 13, 6:38 pm, "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodg....RemoveThis@nomail.afraid.org>
wrote:
>I've taken it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, with isopropyl alcohol,
>and a tooth brush.

Next time, don't use a tooth brush. Not very friendly to circuit
boards.

Also, if you ever spill alcohol on components, it's best to just let
it dry before trying to clean it. Unlike your average tap water, ethyl
alcohol is not very conductive and evaporates quickly. Often there's
no damage at all if you just drain it and let it sit for a couple
days. Of course, this all depends on the drink - wine might have left
some gross residue.
 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

In article <op.t3ary0j6a3w0dx.TakeThisOut@hodgins.homeip.net>,
"David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins.TakeThisOut@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> Part of a spilt glass of wine got sucked up by my friends mac mini
> (from approx 2004), which it spit out the front, and then shut down.
>
> It would no longer turn on.
>
> I've taken it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, with isopropyl alcohol,
> and a tooth brush. Re-assembled. Still won't turn on.
>
> Anyone had any luck repairing a mac mini, from this type of problem?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

That puppy may be done for. Components may be damaged. The data might be
recoverable from the hard drive.

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

dave_devine.DeleteThis@nospamcop.net (Dave Devine) writes:

>David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins.DeleteThis@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>
>> Part of a spilt glass of wine got sucked up by my friends mac mini
>> (from approx 2004), which it spit out the front, and then shut down.
>>
>> It would no longer turn on.
>>
>> I've taken it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, with isopropyl alcohol,
>> and a tooth brush. Re-assembled. Still won't turn on.
>>
>> Anyone had any luck repairing a mac mini, from this type of problem?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
>He's lucky it didn't become sentient, take over his life and steal his
>girlfriend (ala the film "Electric Dreams" from the mid 80s - Hello
>Moles).

Help me Moles, I'm crashing!

Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't have this. :-( My kids would love it!

-Stephen
--
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malchus842SP.DeleteThis@AMgmail.com (remove SPAM to reply)
 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:31:33 -0500, wightstraker <johnaolmsted RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> Next time, don't use a tooth brush. Not very friendly to circuit
> boards.

Very soft, clean toothbrush, used very gently. Power cord and internal
battery removed, during cleaning.

> days. Of course, this all depends on the drink - wine might have left
> some gross residue.

It was a dry red wine. Left a very gooey sugary residue. There were only
a few spots on the logic board. The rest got sprayed on to the circuit
board the hd connects to, and around the connector for the power button.

I've already told my friend, her best bet is to replace it, and then
swap the hard drives with the new one, to see if the data is recoverable.

Local computer repair store, that I usually use, won't even touch it. They've
had a couple of similar cases in the past, and couldn't get it to work, for
less than the cost of a replacement. If she does replace it with another
mac mini, you can bet it will be elevated, above the desk.

Does anyone know if the sealed power supply contains a fuse, that might make
it worthwhile breaking it apart, to see if that's the problem?

Thanks for the response.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins.RemoveThis@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> I've already told my friend, her best bet is to replace it, and then
> swap the hard drives with the new one, to see if the data is recoverable.

Absolutely do NOT swap hard drives with the new one, unless your goal is
to void the warranty of the new one. First, simply doing the act of
swapping will void the warranty right then and there. Second, based on
when it was purchased, the old one is a PowerPC mini, while the new one
will be an Intel, and the new one will only be able to boot from the old
one's drive if it's been upgraded to Leopard.

Instead, buy an external case for the old mini's hard drive. Once her
files are on the new one, she can use the external drive for backups.

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:25:15 -0500, Mike Rosenberg <mikePOST.TakeThisOut@togroupmacconsult.com> wrote:

> Instead, buy an external case for the old mini's hard drive. Once her
> files are on the new one, she can use the external drive for backups.

Ok. Thanks for the warning. I'll pass this info on to her. I'm not sure yet,
whether she's going to be replacing the mini with another used mac, or a pc
(built from parts, srcounged from friends). I'll check out external cases,
which will hopefully be useable for either. I'll disassemble it again (still
haven't put the cover back on), and make note of the hd model number, and
check it's specs, to see exactly what I need.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins.RemoveThis@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> I'll check out external cases,
> which will hopefully be useable for either.

It's just a matter of having a compatible port.

> I'll disassemble it again (still
> haven't put the cover back on), and make note of the hd model number, and
> check it's specs, to see exactly what I need.

It's a 2.5 inch serial ATA (SATA) drive. The HD model number isn't
important; a case that's made to enclose a 2.5 inch SATA drive will fit
all makes and models.

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

Mike Rosenberg <mikePOST.TakeThisOut@TOGROUPmacconsult.com> wrote:

> David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins.TakeThisOut@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>
> > I'll check out external cases,
> > which will hopefully be useable for either.
>
> It's just a matter of having a compatible port.
>
> > I'll disassemble it again (still haven't put the cover back on), and
> > make note of the hd model number, and check it's specs, to see exactly
> > what I need.
>
> It's a 2.5 inch serial ATA (SATA) drive. The HD model number isn't
> important; a case that's made to enclose a 2.5 inch SATA drive will fit
> all makes and models.

Not if it was a 2005 Mini (PowerPC G4 processor), as implied in the
original post. They use parallel ATA drives.

Mini models with an Intel processor (from early 2006) use SATA.

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:39:17 -0500, David Empson <dempson.RemoveThis@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:

> Not if it was a 2005 Mini (PowerPC G4 processor), as implied in the
> original post. They use parallel ATA drives.
> Mini models with an Intel processor (from early 2006) use SATA.

Took it apart again, to be sure. It has a Seagate ST9808210A, which
is a 2.5 inch ide (ATA) drive, so it looks like all I need is a hard
drive adapter, to mount it as a 3.5 inch drive, in my pc.

I've never used a Mac myself. I understand it uses HSF filesystems,
which linux (Mandriva 2008, in my case), does support.

Thanks for the help.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins RemoveThis @nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:39:17 -0500, David Empson <dempson RemoveThis @actrix.gen.nz>
> wrote:
>
> > Not if it was a 2005 Mini (PowerPC G4 processor), as implied in the
> > original post. They use parallel ATA drives.
> > Mini models with an Intel processor (from early 2006) use SATA.
>
> Took it apart again, to be sure. It has a Seagate ST9808210A, which
> is a 2.5 inch ide (ATA) drive, so it looks like all I need is a hard
> drive adapter, to mount it as a 3.5 inch drive, in my pc.
>
> I've never used a Mac myself. I understand it uses HSF filesystems,
> which linux (Mandriva 2008, in my case), does support.

Actually HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus), also known as "Mac OS
Extended", probably with Journalling.

I expect Linux will be able to read HFS+ via the FUSE subsystem (which
adds support for various file systems in user space without requiring
kernel support).

I'd be hesitant copying files off a drive via a non-Mac, if the goal is
to eventually put them on another Mac. You need to preserve a lot of
Mac-specific information. Hopefully FUSE's HFS+ support is good enough
to follow Apple's conventions for how to store Mac files on non-Mac file
systems: the data fork is stored in the normally visible file, and the
Mac-specific data (resource fork and metadata) is stored in a second
file which is named "._" followed by the original filename.

If it doesn't do this, it will be possible to extract the most important
data (e.g. text of documents) but some documents and most applications
and the system software will have problems or won't work any more when
copied back to a Mac. In this case the best approach would be to repeat
the data extraction from the drive with it connected directly to the new
Mac (e.g. with the old drive in a USB or Firewire enclosure).

All assuming the drive is readable, of course.
--
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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

David,

Do you think your friend might like to sell the broken mini
after the hard drive is removed/copied?

I would like to experiment a bit.

Thanks for any reply,

Phil (remove the X for a direct email reply)


"David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins.RemoveThis@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in
news:op.t3ary0j6a3w0dx@hodgins.homeip.net:

> Part of a spilt glass of wine got sucked up by my friends mac mini
> (from approx 2004), which it spit out the front, and then shut down.
>
> It would no longer turn on.
>
> I've taken it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, with isopropyl alcohol,
> and a tooth brush. Re-assembled. Still won't turn on.
>
> Anyone had any luck repairing a mac mini, from this type of problem?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk... 

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:10:52 -0500, Phil <pjock.TakeThisOut@xalltel.net> wrote:

> Do you think your friend might like to sell the broken mini
> after the hard drive is removed/copied?

I was quite surprised, when she said no. I gather she's still
hoping someone will be able to fix it.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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 >> Stay informed about: My friends mac mini got drunk...