Sam b.2003-d.2006 RIP

Last tuesday I was handed down a tragedy into my life. A death in the family. On May 16th 2006 my dearest Powerbook G4, Sam, left the world of working computers. The signs were long and coming and I fear I did too little, too late to save it. The fan had been going out and Monday morning I went into work and ordered a new one. Tuesday afternoon the fan arrived and I replaced it. Everything seems to have gone smoothly, except for one thing. The Thermal Pad (a pad of thermally conductive material put between a processor and a heat sink to aid in cooling) over the processor was well… discolored as if it was burned. Obviously something meant to conduct heat shouldn’t become burned, but it did. After replacing the heat sink, be it coincidence or something of my doing, Sam refused to boot. The symptoms were consistent with a processor failure and at that point there was nothing I could do.
When looked at it objectively to fix Sam it would have cost far more than she is worth. I sent an e-mail to my parents explaining the situation. My Dad was very understanding and sent me some money to replace her. More on that in the following posts.

Sam Powerbook G4 b.2003-d.2006 RIP