Baked Apple 705
Aaron Steele writes "Okay, I work at an Apple Authorized Retailer and we just had a lady come in to see if we could fix her PowerBook G4. She walks in the store and comes up to me, 'Sir, I've got a baked Apple.' The top of the screen was a little brown and warped. The lady opened up the machine and the screen was all cracked, and there was not a single key left on the keyboard. It turns out she had the machine in the oven for 20 minutes, baking at 400 degrees. No joke. And what's even more amazing. The machine still works. Ethernet, Modem, USB, it all works. Plug in an external monitor and keyboard and it's good as new ... almost." Am I the only one for whom this conjures up images of Shrinky Dinks?
Gosh, that was quick (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Gosh, that was quick (Score:3, Informative)
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/Personal8.h
Burglars do not look in the oven (Score:4, Insightful)
I saw a baked Compaq Armada like this. But then, it didn't get stolen.
It still worked fine after 10 mins at 180C in a fan-forced oven. If you do this, take off the ON knob.
I'd like to see comparative tests for Intel and AMD baked this way (as opposed to removing the heat sink). Let's see the Intel try and cool off by lowering the clock speed now.
Bad link in article (Score:3, Informative)
So did you void her warranty ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So did you void her warranty ? (Score:5, Funny)
Baked? (Score:5, Funny)
baked apples (Score:5, Funny)
I'm more amazed.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:2)
That's the only pseudo-logical reason I can think of for toasting a $2500 machine.
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
if anyone knows who to attribute the following quote to, please let me know.
"You can't cure 'stupid'." - anon.
New ad campaign (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly this is the start of a new Mac ad campaign. You remember "It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking!"
Soon we will be deluged with pictures of powerbooks that were dropped from great heights, run over by buses...
You get the drift.
Re:New ad campaign (Score:3, Funny)
Who's gonna play the part of John Cameron Swayze(sp)? I want see the one where they strap a laptop to a boat prop....
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:5, Funny)
Do we look down on non-computer people so much that we don't even bother to ask anymore why they do stupid things?
Yes. Do you think the submitter's thoughts were:
"Man, this woman is a retard? I better ask her why she did this.."
or was it more along the lines of:
"Bahaha, stupid twat! I can't wait to submit this to slashdot!"
My money is on the latter.
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
As long as she's willing to pay money for the job, it's none of his business.
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
He's being paid to fix it, not to ask questions.
Who thinks like that? How can you train your brain not to function? How can you train yourself not to be curious? "Why?" would have been the first thing out of my mouth.As long as she's willing to pay money for the job, it's none of his business.
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:They're just not saying, 'cause... (Score:5, Insightful)
So maybe we're not hearing the reasons because this person wants to keep her job.
(I know ten women like this customer, though. Think of how casual she was in saying her little "baked apple" thing. Didn't faze her much. This is a woman with serious money and no sense. She miplaces four cell phones a year, at least.)
Re:They're just not saying, 'cause... (Score:5, Funny)
My reading, is that anybody who can walk into a store with an obviously fried (er, baked) $2500 box, and say with a straight face that she's got "a baked apple", has got to have a sense of humor.
I'm betting that she went home, and told her astonished friends.
Re:They're just not saying, 'cause... (Score:3, Insightful)
So you can't ask a question without ridiculing or bitching?
How about "Can you tell us why it was in the oven?"
Re:They're just not saying, 'cause... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why/How Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll bet you dollars to donuts this is how it happened: A lot of people get the bright idea to hide their valuables in the oven. They either forget that they've done this, or forget to inform their housemates that they've done this. Then, somebody gets a hankerin' for a frozen pizza, and preheats the oven....
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Other potential reasons: powerbook belonged to a disgruntled SO, thieves never look in the oven for valuables, schizophrenia, and just plain insatiable curiosity.
Re:I'm more amazed.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I would suspect that he was too stunned to think to ask.
Personally, if I was to ask for an explanation for every stupid thing I heard or saw, I would be listening to morons 18 hours a day, for the rest of my life.
Someone (who I'm ashamed to say I'm related to) called me up to tell me about the code red bug... Yes, I still have the recoreded message telling me that there is "some sort of a bug" going from computer to computer, "killing people".
If it wasn't so very real, it might have been funny.
There's no reason with most people. How many people do you know that move their bodies in the direction they want a videogame character to go? How many people think dogs get "worms" from sugar? How many people do you know that have lucky charms (not the cereal)?
COPYING HER DATA FOR HER (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as not asking her _why_ she did it, I'm not surprised he was polite. There are things people do that are dumb that deserve comment, especially if it looks like an educational issue to keep them from doing it again, like not understanding what "are you sure you want to reformat the hard disk now?" means... But things like putting a computer in the oven are so excessively over-the-top bone-headed dumb that it's not something you do from lack of education (or at least, it's a problem that provides its own education and you don't need to add to it.) So you raise your eyebrows and say "okay..." and try not to laugh, and if she wants to explain, she will, and if she doesn't want to explain, well, that's her business.
Re:COPYING HER DATA FOR HER (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry to shout, but the tech should have copied her data for her, either to a new machine if she bought one, or at least to a new hard drive, and the article doesn't say he did. It does refer to him having reformatted the drive; I'm assuming that this was after they declared it trashed.
no. The tech should have offered to see if he could copy the data for her, at a reasonable cost, reminding her it may not be possible. Maybe he offered and didn't mention it in the article. Maybe she didn't need the data cause she backed up well (ha ha ha).
I also think that once he found it was operating fine, he should have chased down the woman (if reasonable) and told her. It smacks of dis-honest trading to say a computer is trashed, wait until the customer leaves, then use the computer yourself.
Karma whoring (Score:5, Informative)
If it was baked, does that mean the lady was (Score:2, Funny)
500 degrees and 40 min (Score:5, Funny)
Warning Sticker (Score:4, Funny)
Best when used before experation date.
Open laptop to allow for venting.
Baked Hard Drives (Score:5, Interesting)
almost as weird as the Compaq 5166's. If they blue screened, you drop them from 6 inches onto a flat surface. Viola! working computer.
Freezing works too (Score:5, Interesting)
Spun right up and stayed active long enough to do what i had to.
Neat trick.
Re:Freezing works too (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Freezing works too (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Baked Hard Drives (Score:5, Interesting)
1) Hair dryer (oven would work but we didn't have one available). Apply heat for a few minutes to see if it gets the lubricant on the disk spindle warmed up enough to let the disk spin.
2) Freezer (we had one of these). Freeze the drive for 20 minutes or so.
3) The "three finger drop". Hold the drive three finger widths over the table top and drop it.
If the drive was otherwise dead, it didn't hurt it any more to abuse it this way. The goal was to get the drive to spin up once - and get all of the data off of it.
Spank that puppy. (Score:3, Funny)
When I did tech support for the Architecture department in college, we had a string of possible remedies for hard drive failure. The very last option on the list, after things like checking cables and switching jumpers, was to give the drive a good spanking. You just hold it in one hand slap the top a few times with the flat of your palm. I was skeptical the first time I saw it done, but I'll be damned if a few drives didn't walk away functional after a good whippin'. Seems the platters were getting stuck and the "spanking" dislodged them, enabling them to spin freely again.
When not mind-numbingly frustrating, tech support is hilarious.
real braniac there (Score:2)
dumbass
Geez (Score:3, Insightful)
If this had been a Dell or Compaq, you'd all be laughing at how stupid Windows users were. Instead, you marvel at how the computer still works (strictly because it's an Apple, I'm sure).
Re:Geez (Score:3, Funny)
Tell you what, go put a Dell or Compaq into the oven for 20 min at 400 degrees and we'll all marvel at your stupidity too.
Re:Geez (Score:5, Funny)
Why? (Score:2, Redundant)
P.S. The picture seems to be slashdotted into oblivion now.
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Maybe because she likes to "Think Different" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why? (Score:3, Funny)
Now where did I put my tinfoil hat!?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
In other words, she was making Apple Pi.
Maybe she tried to hide it from burglars? (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe she went on holydays (planning not to take her powerbook with her), was concerned that the house might get burgled, and proceeded to hide the valuables: jewelry into the trash, bearer's share certificates among the old newspapers, apple into the oven, ...
Three weeks later, when she came back, she had all forgotten about these hiding places, took the trash out, threw the old papers into the chimney and pre-heated the oven for a pizza...
Sure, why not? (Score:2)
Did she also add some pie crust and cinnamon?
How on earth? (Score:5, Funny)
Why oh why.... (Score:2)
Was she hungry? Grandkids coming over for a snack?
Re:Why oh why.... (Score:5, Funny)
Damn, I've got to stop reading alt.folklore.urban.
I've heard this story before. (Score:2)
Are you the same individual who took those pictures, or a worthless ripoff?
Baked a SUN server once (Score:5, Funny)
Why? (Score:2, Redundant)
Did she say what she was trying to accomplish by doing this? I'm really curious.
Ellen Feiss (Score:5, Funny)
She was probably trying to get baked and then talk about Apple, but instead baked the Apple.
Simple mistake, really. Anyone could have made it.
Re:Ellen Feiss (Score:4, Funny)
-T
I knew Powerbooks were tough... (Score:2)
EEEEEK!
And I thought I abused my iBook by pushing it off my desk a few times (once open and running) - it looks a little scratched and the hinge mount on the screen is a little bent, but no damage.
Theory- (Score:3, Interesting)
Serious-Her young kids/any young kids in the house put it in the oven and she turned it on for something else.
Apple Crisp (Score:2, Troll)
You think the powerbook is baked?!? (Score:2)
Gentlemen start your browsers...
Commence slashdotting!!!
palm baked (Score:2, Insightful)
but in the case of the palm, someone else didn't notice the palm in the oven and baked a pizza over it.
What this reminds me of... (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe she had just switched from an x86 laptop... (Score:5, Funny)
Reflow (Score:3, Insightful)
Old News (Score:2)
Since the story is slashdotted. (Score:2)
Apple Coverage (Score:2)
In the past if you sneezed weird on your powerbook the warranty would be void and need to be sent to Apple at the customers expense for warranty inspection.
So can it be fixed? (Score:2)
I say this because my PowerBook G4 is probably the most valuable uninsured thing that I own (I wonder if homeowner's insurance would pay for it) and I shudder to imagine something like this happening to mine.
Well, not something like THIS, for crying out loud. I can't imagine the logic that would result in even temporary storage of my PowerBook in the OVEN. But I often think about how I'm just a drop or a crush away from being REALLY pissed off and out the $2000 that I spent on my PowerBook.
John
Re:So can it be fixed? (Score:3, Informative)
I doubt baking it in an oven would be covered, though.
She was probably trying to make this (Score:5, Funny)
Apple Filling:
1 large tart Apple Powerbook G4
40 grams / 1 1/2 oz of butter
1/2 cup of castor sugar
1 cup of water
1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
4 whole cloves or a pinch of ground cloves
2 large strips of the rind of 1/2 a lemon (zest)
1 teaspoon of cornflour
Peel the Powerbook and cut into quarters. Remove the core and dice each quarter. In a large saucepan melt the butter over a medium low heat, add the diced Powerbook, sugar, water, lemon rind, cinnamon and cloves and combine. Cover and sweat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the Powerbook is just tender but still retains its shape. Remove from the heat. Discard the lemon rind, cinnamon stick and cloves. Drain most of the excess liquid off and mix in the cornflour. Set aside to cool.
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
2 cups of flour
A pinch of salt
125 grams / 4 1/2 oz of butter
1/4 cup of castor sugar
1 egg
1 to 2 tablespoons of milk
Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or gas mark 4. Grease a large deep pie dish or a round springform tin. Shake two cups of flour into the tin to dust the sides. Pour the flour out into a large bowl or food processor and add the sugar. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour with your hands or process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix or process for another 5 to 10 seconds until the mixture comes together, adding the milk if necessary. Turn out the mixture on a lightly floured bench or board and knead until the mixture forms a smooth ball. Handle as little as possible to prevent the pastry from becoming hard when baked. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
On a lightly floured bench or board roll out two-thirds of the pastry, 5 mm (1/8 inch) thick. Place inside the greased and dusted tin to form the base and sides of the pie. Carefully spoon the cooled Powerbook filling into the pie shell. Roll out the remaining pastry into a circle, 5 mm (1/8 inch) thick and large enough to cover the Powerbook and form the lid of the pie. Wrap the lid over a rolling pin and carefully unroll over the top of the pie. Trim off the excess pastry, seal the edge by crimping the pastry sides using a fork or pinching between your forefinger and thumb. Make small slits or holes in the lid with a small knife for air to escape. With a pastry brush, lightly coat the top with a little extra beaten egg. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Serve hot or cold with ice cream, whipped cream or custard.
To form a lattice top cut 1 cm (½ inch) strips out of the pastry lid. Lay them across the pie, 5 mm (1/4 inch) apart. Fold back every second vertical strip and lay a new horizontal strip across the strips that have not been folded. Lay the folded back strips back down. Then repeat folding back the vertical strips that were not folded in the previous round. Cover the rest of the pie in a similar fashion.
(Serves 6 to 8)
Baked furby (Score:3, Funny)
And there was much rejoicing
YAY!
Re:Baked furby (Score:3, Funny)
When I was visiting a friends place, another mutual friend also came over and brought her two little monsters along, two girls ages 3 and 5. These kids got into everything and so of course they found my friends furby. All us adults were upstairs and the kids were downstairs playing with some toys, and the furby. I went down to get a drink of water at some point and was greeted with a rather bizarre sight as I was coming down the steps.
The furby was laying on its back and thrashing about wildly. It was emitting this horrible scream like "AAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaa" and just flopping like a fish. It was like some bizarre horror movie and I was expecting some sadist to come around the corner, having tortured the furby to the point of insanity.
I have no idea what those two little monsters did to that thing, but they really scarred that damn thing bad. It never was the same again.
Let the Non-Apple Pie Jokes Begin? (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, ok, enough with the Pie jokes. There is plenty of good material here without them:
Are you sure this machine wasn't stolen? From the pictures, it looks kinda hot.
Are you sure she wasn't just trying to burn her first CD?
Insert OB Overclocking Joke Here
"Ma'am, I feally think you are missing the point of FireWire."
lightning (Score:5, Interesting)
--here's my tough as nails apple story. We run on solar here. The first year though I didn't have a proper buried power cable, my AC feed from the inverters was literally just an extension cord on top of the ground. Was running a mac 6400 tower at the time, through a surge protector/power strip (no, too dumb to send in warranty card when I got the surge, duh on me). Anywho, one day there's a thunderstorm, being reasonably cautious I unplugged everything. Storm goes away, cool, plug all the stuff back in. About 5 minutes later ZAP! Rogue lightning bolt hits I guess the ground nearby or the cord directly. Pooter goes POP, everything shuts down. I mean it was loud, a very close by hit.
I am steamed, think oh crap no pooter. Reset breaker, hit power button, CHIME, that nice boot up chord! Amazing! thing boots but ran sorta screwy. Just-screwy. surfing was a tad slower, would get occassional screen freezes, etc, but as it was at the time my "best" computer I just kept using it. Next day I open the case, WOW, the mobo is all crispy! I mean fried city, and the thing is still working. Hard to describe except it looked -lightning hit. there's burnt stuff all over. I cleaned it as good as possible and put it back together. Used it for a few more months in crippled mode, then upgraded an old quadra to use instead, then I bought a used pb 1400, then I just parted the 6400 out, kept the drives and those great built in speakers.
tough boxes for sure
Re:lightning (Score:3, Funny)
But: Moderation (-1 Called Computer "Pooter")
Oh come on people! (Score:3, Insightful)
On a side note, it's kind of hard to say much to the customer about it at all. Management frowns on pretty much any question you would be inclined to ask them. They like to steer you away from phrases like "Are you on drugs?" "What, are you retarded?" and "What the FUCK is WRONG with you?" So you just sigh, shake your head and fix their machine.
so like... (Score:5, Funny)
so like I was working on a paper for school and I thought it'd. be.. like.. cool.. to put my PC laptop in... the oven... for like.. 20 minutes and it was like.. bleep bloop bleep and it died. I lost my paper.. it was.. a.. really good paper.
Then I bought a Mac laptop. I was working on another.. like.. paper.. and thought it'd be cool to put.. this Mac.. in the.. like.. oven for 20 minutes. and I did.. and it still booted up..
it was a really good paper.
Apple engineering (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember the Space Clam iBook? The corners were double-shod rubber wrapped around the two frontmost corners, which (on this model) were the likeliest impact points in the event of a drop. The newer iBooks have an HD that is encased in a brick of rubber. Aluminum/titanium frames. This is the stuff you want in a laptop.
Also at Macworld (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple also did a demo similar to what you describe with the iBook, I forget if it was the initial introduction of the toilet-seat iBook or the Macworld directly after but they had a guy climb a ladder and toss the iBook on the floor, where Jobs proceeded to pick it up and boot it.
Anyone remember this?
Re:Also at Macworld (Score:3, Informative)
The demo was more about showing how AirPort kept working even if you shoogled it around, not really about bounce-testing an iBook^Wexecutive.
Old Apple ][ Ads... (Score:5, Interesting)
There was also a story about a library in a village in Papua New Guinea that was flooded, and the Macs in the library were filled with mud. They hosed em off, dried them out, and they worked.
Finally there's an old BMUG article about "hanging your disks out to dry" after their shareware library was flooded. They opened the floppy disks, washed the disks gently with detergent, air dried them, and put them back in new cases. Voila they were readable.
I used the same trick on a floppy disk soaked with spilled coffee (far worse than flood water I imagine). No data loss.
The classic "Baked Apple" ad (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.weaselcollectibles.com/cart/item-detail .cfm?ID=6152 [weaselcollectibles.com]
Probably little kids that did that. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not a big deal (Score:5, Informative)
So this is a big deal? Wish I'd know. I could have had a story on Slashdot!
I'm confused. (Score:4, Insightful)
This story has the stink of "bullshit" written all over it, frankly.
Re:I'm confused. (Score:3, Insightful)
They said it's going to be at least a thousand dollars for the screen alone. And after you've poured another couple thousand dollars into the thing, you've got a laptop that's been baked in an overn, and likely never works quite right. It's almost cheaper, and certainly easier to just replace the whole thing.
My worst... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, one day I get a call from this guy, and his mouse wont work,... says that the mouse is jumpy on the screen... "Dirty track ball" I think, so I have him clean that... still jerky,... "Check Settings" I think, settings are fine... so we reinstall the drivers, reconnect the mouse, reboot the system,
So I call over my lv2 tech and his partner, and they go through all the same procedures.... for 45 minutes, were working this guy through navigating in windows with a mouse whose pointer jumps from one side to the other...
The guy is frustrated, pissed at the mouse, pissed at us... and he vents... "I Just don't get this, Why do you sell this mouse if it doesn't work!!! I mean, it's not even designed right, the buttons are hard to click, and the label is upside down..."
My ears peaked, so I took a chance... "Sir," as politely as I could muster, "When you look at the mouse, as your using it... describe what it looks like for me, tell me how your using it."
With a frustrated sigh, he responds, "Well, I hold the mouse, and move the ball with my thumb, and click on the buttons, just like you're supposed to!"
The dumb ass was holding a normal trackball mouse in his hand, upside down, and moving the ball with his thumb. I got him on mute as fast as I could... both me and the other techs, and everyone else who had gathered, burst out in cries of pain and agony.
2 days later, I quit... that was just too much.
The baked Apple lady's perfect mate was in Peoria. (Score:3, Funny)
Around 1990, my friend Jeff Byers (later head of tech support for Telix at deltaComm [telix.com]) was sitting in the old basement computer lab at Illinois Central College [cc.il.us], when a one of the lab staff, for no particular reason, cut up a 5.25" floppy disk with scissors and inserted the pieces into the floppy drive in the next computer over. When someone asked him why he did that, he just shrugged and said "I don't know" and went back to what he was doing. A couple days later, the computer was gone.
New switch ad (Score:3, Funny)
My name is Joe, and I'm a moron.
Apple should deal with the baked apple situation. (Score:3, Funny)
The vastness of space . . . . . (Score:3, Insightful)
You guys are so easy to fool (Score:3, Troll)
Check all the pictures labeled warped screen. You will notice two things. Their is a plastic IR cover to the right and an RCA plug to the left. Both are made from the same plastic as the keys of the keyboard, which if you remember correctly completely deformed in the oven.
Both of these peices of plastic show NO deformity. Also the white plastic of the RCA plug has not even turned brown at all. This is a total fake.
probably cleaning... (Score:3, Funny)
Don't laugh - my wife did this to a tray full of tupperware (so she could clean the sink and counters) and it ruined her oven.
Ok, now laugh
Just to finish the job (Score:5, Informative)
Set of pics of the machine [mac.com]
Shows it still boots [mac.com]
Story behind this [mac.com]
More pics showing it works [mac.com]
Re:WTF? (Score:3, Informative)