October 29, 2004

  • Torque That Torx!

    Following up on this entry, the hard drive upgrade was a success! I'm now looking at Finder windows that tell me I have 52 gigabytes available, instead of 400 megabytes. The new drive is quieter and doesn't seem as hot, though I can't really say for sure. Eventually I'll see the speed increase of a 5400 rpm drive over 4200; for now it's just a happymaking thing.

    I'm going to post a more detailed version of how this all went down, but here's an amusing anecdote for the non-tech-heads out there:

    The service manual says that I need a T8 to get into my iBook, for seven different screws (of the 34 I'll remove and eventually replace). Having taken Macs and other laptops apart before, I know the importance of the Torx.

    I think to myself: Why should I go to my storage unit and hunt for what is almost literally a needle in a haystack? It's a tiny screwdriver the size of my thumb. Screw that, as they say; these little screwdrivers cost $3 at most. So I went to Sears, whose warraneed Craftsman tools I like. Because of the strange nature of my sleep schedule at the moment, I got there at 9:12 AM.

    I know I have to go to a certain aisle (the one where I got a T8 the last time), but from ahead I hear a 'thhh-CRASH!' Then again... 'thhh-CRASH!' There's a Sears employee taking single-package socket wrench sockets and tossing them up to the top of the display, into a metal bin. 'thh-CRASH!' I stand there a while. He's obviously just woken up. His coffee hasn't kicked in. He hates being here right now. So he's tossing sockets around.

    I say, jokingly, "It's nice to see you treating them gingerly.." I make eye contact with him and smile. He looks back at me like a guilty murderer. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

    I tell him I need a T8. I have to repeat it a few times, in different ways, before he understands what I'm saying. They're all out of T8s, though. Not a single one in the store. There's a $20 combo pack of Torx screwdrivers, but someone has swiped the T8 and T10 from it. Finally, though, he finds a Torx driver marked T8. We rejoice. Well, I rejoice; he just saunters off.

    I pay. Go home. Of course it's not a T8. More like a T4. It's mislabeled. I eventually find an allen wrench I can use to open the computer. I also tear up a 00 flathead screwdriver on the hard drive rail assembly, which needs a T6, despite what the service manual says.

    OK, maybe it's not that amusing an anecdote.