My only guess as to what caused it was maybe there was a power surge which fried your fan controller. It may have also just been a genuine failure on the part of the hardware. From what I gather, computer hardware is not an exact science.

Bryan,

It’s best to just ignore the naysayer. They only attack you because they are biased and have a chip on their shoulder.

Monkey see, monkey do.

The reason for my “confusion” is the challenges of my months/years-long quest for a fun machine + OS.  I seek new ideas. 

I’m still debating between Ubuntu, Mac OS, and my idealized visions of how things should be. 

I’m neither a Mac Fan or a Linux Fan because neither of them completely satisfies me.  If anything, I’m a fan of the potential of computing in general.  I hope sharing information genuinely helps many people.

I use whatever works and what I can afford.  As it turns out, I can buy a new iMac for my 21st birthday.  I really don’t know how I feel about that.  To me, it seems like a shame they didn’t put a 23” screen in there for HD compatability.  Otherwise, a great-looking, well-integrated package.

I’m running Ubuntu on my Cube (finally) which was a big risk for me and currently cripples my iPod which I also tried to install Linux onto.  I tried a lot in the last few months to be open-minded about Linux.  I’m not so much frustrated as I am at a loss on how to succeed.  I can’t even install software that is not in the Ubuntu “Add Application” library. 

Plus, AirPort Express audio out isn’t working in Linux and I don’t think it will for quite a long while, thus making my Cube have no audio output.  I could buy a $200 SqueezeBox again or a Turtle Beach $25 USB output and go that route.  Either way, I don’t want to “switch” any where that cripples my computer.

In summary, thanks for your support, whichever side you support as long you want my computer(s) to work and my iPod to play all my music.

“It’s best to just ignore the naysayer. They only attack you because they are biased and have a chip on their shoulder. ”

Who’s attacking anyone? ?

Mac Fan:  Please put your sword down, your pen is feeling lonely. 

Bryan:  I was going to say that you should dual-boot, and ideally put OS X and Ubuntu on different partitions, but that might not be enough for you.  If you could get another computer, that would work well because you could run Linux on one and OS X on the other and have the best of both worlds at the same time.

You might also want to try other distros.  Sure, Ubuntu’s a great one, but like you’ve been saying it’s not perfect, and another distro might offer you more.

As for me, at some point I’m going to transfer my data to the new hard drive I bought and replace the drive inside my iMac.  I will write up a tutorial that will be useful to all the iMac users who visit this site.

Who’s attacking anyone?

I was being facetious. It’s an inside joke between me and Funktron.

Hey Bryan, no ill feelings meant by my post, everyone has such moments and there is nothing wrong with that! I merely want to see what your thought process is, that’s all…

Good luck finding that which works best for you!

I’ve heard good things about SuSE, but the only reason I don’t try it is because of the download: 4.3 Gigabytes.

OT: Formatting buttons on comments! sw00t.

OT: Formatting buttons on comments! sw00t. 

Heh, I’m glad you like them.  Now I just have to figure out how to customize them.

Anyway, my question is: What did you do to that fan to cause it to malfunction? I can’t think of any way possible aside from spilling something in the case that would cause an internal laptop fan to fail…

FunkTron, I’ve never opened up the computer to check but according to the PB Fix It it the fan is located on the top left corner and that’s definitely where the noise is coming from.  When I got the PowerBook back from AppleCare a few months ago they considered everything within spec and generously replaced a few parts even though the side where the SuperDrive is had a dent in it from a fall.  That side is opposite where the fan is and I believe the noise started well before the fall.  I think it’s been a consistent problem.

With Apple it came down to not a question of how it was broken but whether I could demonstrate the ‘Book was out-of-spec.  My whole family heard how loud and irregular the noise was.  It shocked the computer sales manager when I took it for service at the U of Rochester. 

My dad and I spent an afternoon with the computer and a very nice Genuis but together we couldn’t trigger the noise The head of the store related to me that it was like a phantom noise that their family’s car had recently.  “If a tree falls in a forest and noone’s around to hear, does it make a noise?”

http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/53.13.11.html

I still apologize for getting mad at Mr. Ekstrand.