fenix03
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posted on April 20, 2004 12:04:24 PM
I am losing time on my computer. I've been losing time for a year but it seems to be growing more dramatic of late. I've lost 10 minutes in the past week. I am 95% sure this means I need a new battery (last time one went it out it reaped much more havok than just the time) but before i go try to find one I was wondering if any of my felllow Mac users kknew of another cause.
BTW- Last time the battery went out we didn't dianose that as the problem until after I had convinced the boss to replace it with a new $3000 computer - I never told him it turned out to be a $10 part. I needed the new system anyway. Unfortunately that checkbook is not in my desk anymore 
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
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photosensitive
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posted on April 20, 2004 12:19:35 PM
The battery seems to most likely culprit. I would replace it first.
I would insist this is eBay related. If your clock is slow you might miss a snipe!
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The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on April 20, 2004 12:27:36 PM
I vote battery as well.
And here's an interesting thing that might serve some Mac user in the future:
When we had our power outages last week, my G4 PowerMac tower wouldn't come back up. Fan noise, but no disk noise. Black screen. Uh-oh.
Turned out it was the battery. $15 or so at Radio Shack.
I lost some configuration because of the fried battery (desktop icon arrangement and some other minor issues) but fortunately no significant data loss.
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on April 20, 2004 12:47:01 PM
As a former Mac repair tech... I can tell you that the battery is almost certainly the problem. Shouldn't be an expensive fix. You can most likely replace it yourself. If you're running OSX and are constantly connected to the internet... a good temporary fix is to go into your Date & Time System Preference and check mark the "Set Date & Time automatically" box so that it grabs the date/time from an Apple network time server. Hope that helps!
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Japerton
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posted on April 20, 2004 12:50:20 PM
I have that, it's neat.
The one think I don't have to set when the clock springs forward or falls back.
So...eauctionmngment...do I need to take my iMac into the shop so I can integrate my OS8.whatever stuff with my OSX that I loaded? I thought all would be so nice and easily downwardly compatible, but some things are rendered useless.
J
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on April 20, 2004 01:49:25 PM
Japerton,
What kind of things have been rendered useless? When upgrading from previous Mac OS versions to Mac OSX... you're going to have two main areas to deal with... older software and older hardware. If your older software isn't running in Classic (which is actually pretty rare... but does happen with some more obscure programs)... then you either need to find a Mac OSX version... or every time you want to use that program... you can restart your computer after you select the OS 9.x folder for your start-up disk in System Preferences. If the problem is that older hardware devices are not working... you probably need to install a Mac OSX compatible hardware driver. Again... MOST of the more common hardware devices will have these drivers available as a download from their manufacturer's website. If not..., you'll have to restart the machine into OS 9.x anytime you want to use that specific hardware device (or if it's a cheap piece of hardware... just replace it). Hope that helps!
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profe51
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posted on April 20, 2004 09:06:19 PM
It's the battery fenix, almost certainly. Probably a 3.6v lithium...easy to fix, depending on how old your iMac is.
Here's a battery link, although you can probably get it locally. Do you have an apple retail store nearby?
macbatteries
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fenix03
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posted on April 20, 2004 10:44:28 PM
Prof - just for clarification, mine is a G4 but it is one of the early models so the battery going does not surprise me in the least. I do have a Mac store here, just a hop ship and a jump away but I try to avoid it. Me in a Mac store is like a kid in a candy store. I've been trying to avoid going there since they first got the G5s in stock. 
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
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profe51
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posted on April 21, 2004 05:30:21 AM
G4? Then it's a flat panel iMac? They were introduced in Jan. of 2002. Do you have AppleCare on it? If so, a trip to the Apple store and they should install the battery free. I'd call them.
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Twelvepole
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posted on April 21, 2004 06:03:48 AM
Get a real computer... PC
AIN'T LIFE GRAND... 
It's too bad that their blindness can't see they are killing more soldiers than President Bush ever has... Protest Loud and Proud! Your fellow taliban and insurgents are rejoicing at the support...
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Twelvepole
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posted on April 21, 2004 06:03:48 AM
double post
[ edited by Twelvepole on Apr 21, 2004 06:34 AM ]
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profe51
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posted on April 21, 2004 06:15:54 AM
A troll has entered the room. Don't feed it.
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Twelvepole
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posted on April 21, 2004 06:35:24 AM
Leave it in the RT Profe...
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
It's too bad that their blindness can't see they are killing more soldiers than President Bush ever has... Protest Loud and Proud! Your fellow taliban and insurgents are rejoicing at the support...
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fenix03
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posted on April 21, 2004 10:10:27 AM
Prof - not the iMac G4 - the original G4s with the two tone grey tower. I got it shortly before I left my old company which was in 2000. No AppleCare program on it. I'm going to go to the Apple store this weekend, of course I will have to go equiped only with cash or who know what I would come home with
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
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profe51
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posted on April 21, 2004 09:33:19 PM
Sorry fenix, somehow I got the idea it was an iMac. If it's a tower, the battery will be even easier to replace. If you pull down the drop down side door and look in at the mother board, you'll see what is obviously a little battery, most likely purple and black in color. Easy as pie to fix.
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sparkz
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posted on April 21, 2004 10:38:58 PM
If you lose 10 minutes over a period of days, it will be your battery. However if you ever notice a situation where you lose exactly 10 minutes every hour, it will be because the power supply is set for a line frequency of 50 cycles instead of 60 hz. There's a switch in the power supply to correct this. (don't ask me how I found out about this)
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
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fenix03
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posted on April 22, 2004 12:33:09 AM
Prof - The iMacs are cute (and the dancing tongue sticking commercial was just damn brilliant) but the first thing I though when I saw them is.. how the hell am I supped to get in there to add ram, an extra hard drive. etc? I think the low profile design is perfect for the average user but call me a traditionalist - I will always opt for the tower.
Sparkx - it is a slow loss but thanx for the heads up - you never know what little pieces of info you collect over time will one day be the one that saves your sanity (like the deadline week I was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown because there was a 30 second lag time from key entry to charachter appearance while I was putting together a magazine. Luckily someone asked how many Iomega products I had plugged in and that was the key. I had just plugged in my Jaz drive in addition to the always connect Zip and Cd burner and it turned out that was the proverbial straw - 3 Iomega products at a time is a no-no. Whoda thunk it?
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Apr 22, 2004 12:34 AM ]
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profe51
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posted on April 22, 2004 05:27:20 AM
I will always opt for the tower.
Me too, although my son has an eMac, which as far as I'm concerned is Apple's best bang for the buck. Great machine and very reasonably priced.
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