Korean Job Discussion Forums

[m0onbeem]

help (;_; ) !!!!

*powerbook - battery charges. powers on but sporadically shuts off. clock resets to 1970; mm/dd/yyyy
*airport express - doesnt power up.
*isight camera - powers on but shuts down after a few seconds. confirmed not firewire/usb issue.

warranty for all expired.
got everything around same time.
all's been working great til i got to korea.

i've been travelling a bit the past couple months,
so i think it may have something to do with the hardware.
maybe i confused/burnt something out?

i'd look but i don't have the kno how or the guts
to diassemble and peek.

or maybe all this could be panned obsolescence at it's best?

please help.

thank you (^_-)

[oskinny1]

maybe it is the wrong voltage? I have a MacBook that I bought in Korea, but it worked just fine in the States as well. Take the plug to an Apple store and compare.

[Ursula]

Hey, ok, I don't think it would be the voltage because macs can take any normal voltage. It says that on the plug itself, 100-240 range, so it can work anywhere in the world. Only if there was a surge would it be damaged that way.
My suggestion would be for you to take out the battery, clean it off a bit, and put it back in. Sounds dumb, but that could be the problem. You just need to unscrew that thing in the back to take it out. If that doesn't work, I recommend getting a new battery.
If that doesn't work, there's a program called Disc Warrior that can reformat your hard drive (without erasing anything). If you are near your memory capacity on your computer it can mess with its efficiency and cause it to act strangely- that's what happened to mine. Does it take a long time to boot up?
Finally, despite my love for them, macs always die when their warranty runs out. It happened to me 4 times with different products but I still prefer them. So no matter what I sincerely recommend that you buy an external hard drive and back up your computer while you can still turn it on. Even if its not ready to die now, it's only 6 months or so max until your hard disc gives out. So I hope this was helpful!

[moosehead]

are you using an adapter to plug it in or did you buy a new power cord?

you need a new cord, I think, at least that's what I use.

also a LOT of wiring in K is really screwed - be careful or the wall you are plugging into could maybe be surging really bad and could fry your mac.

can you take it somewhere else - to a coffee shop maybe and try it there?

[zai]

which model powerbook do you have? how old is your laptop? My friend's Ti powerbook (before they went aluminum alloy) is starting to go dead, one of the first things to go was the battery and airport. If could also be your logic board (which is pretty much your computer) thus explaining why your isight is not working properly. Do other usb peripherals work fine?

[m0onbeem]

[m0onbeem]

[m0onbeem]

[Kimchi Cowboy]

As far as the Airport goes: How long have you had it? I'm guessing between 18 - 24 months? That's typically the life span on 'em; I had one myself and it cacked out at 20 months, almost to the day. I just came home one day and it was dead. I did some research and found out it's a common problem, esp. in countries that use 220V. Apparently it's just some little fuse inside that can't handle the voltage, but replacing it is damn near impossible.

I can't really speak to your other problems, though, but it sounds to me like you may have had a power surge.

[m0onbeem]

thank you everyone for helping!

just quick update/advice:

as i mentioned before, everything is out of warranty. to my surprise, i took everything to UBASE (near COEX) at samsung station. they kept everything for about a week and replaced EVERYTHING for FREE!!!!

laptop - new battery
airport - looks new
isight - working

[moosehead]

wow that's great news - thanks for letting us know!