Nacho Libre was, by far, my favorite movie release of the summer. Take what you may from that statement, but my wife and I really loved the movie. I knew that it was coming out on DVD yesterday, but didn’t plan to go out and buy it…until my sister-in-law sent me a picture of herself in a Nacho mask. Yes, for a limited time, the Collector’s Edition comes with your very own Nacho Libre mask. Best Buy has them in-store and online for only $16.99. I still have my wrestling shoes from high school. Now I just need a cape, some stretchy-pants, and some big red undies for a Halloween costume!

“When you’re a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants, in your room…it’s for fun.”

About a week and a half ago, my friend Jeremy Darty posted the first episode of his new podcast - Step ‘n Side. Back in the day Jeremy and I were the two renegade PC users in the graphic design program at UCF. As fate would have it, we both work on Macs full time now and I’m guessing he even produces his show in Garage Band. In his podcast, Jeremy is exploring and exposing some great alternative and independant bands and providing a steady stream of new podsafe music.

On Monday, Jeremy posted the second episode of his podcast and I have to say that there hasn’t been a single song in either episode that I didn’t like. So far he has played music from Brother Love, Lee Coulter, Munk, Darren Geffre, Rayko Pipes and the Kenny Ryan Band, Megaphone, and Seven Mary Three. Of all those bands, I had only really heard of Brother Love and (of course) Seven Mary Three. It’s pretty crazy that he got Seven Mary Three’s management to allow him to play one of their songs on his podcast. They’re a big name and have been around for about 10 years now. Back in 2002 Jeremy and I got to see them play at Spirit Splash, one of UCF’s annual homecoming traditions. When they got on stage they announced that although they had never canceled a show before, they almost canceled ours because lead singer Jason Ross was sick and had pretty much lost his voice. When they started to play “Cumbersome”, Jeremy and a few other guys jumped up on stage and got to help Jason belt out the chorus. Good Times!

Be sure to check out Step ‘n Side and let Jeremy know what you think about the music. He might even play your comment on the air and call you out like he did to me. :)

(If you have a first generation G5 iMac that is giving your problems, feel free to skip the story and get to the point.)

As it turns out, those issues I was having with my G5 iMac a few months ago may not have been RAM related at all. A few days after replacing a DIMM that I concluded was bad after it crashed memtest, I started having kernel panics again. It started out as an occasional crash, usually when I was waking the computer up in the morning. As time went by though it got to where the computer would need a reboot every time I left it overnight. Sometimes it would take me 10-15 minutes to get it booted, but once it was up I was good for the day. With my regular job during the day and working on the book each night, I didn’t really have time to troubleshoot it though, so I tried to incorporate the delay into my morning routine. As frustrating as this was, it was bearable because it never crashed during the day…until a couple weeks ago. Just like the rest of the issues, it started out as a freak occurance and then became more and more common. Like a lobster in a pot of slowly heated water, I shrugged off these “inconveniences” and was content with my regualar backup schedule and copying important files (like book chapters) onto another computer. About 10 days ago the problems came to a culmination and I couldn’t ignore them anymore. At that point I couldn’t have the computer on for more than an hour without it crashing again. I was convinced that it was a software error caused by my previous RAM issues and attempted a full format and reinstall of Tiger. Somehow I managed to get the full OS, the Adobe suite and a few other regular applications installed…and then it crashed again.

OK, I thought, it’s definitely hardware related. In doing some research, I found out that there was a repair extension program for the motherboard (or midboard or logic board…in the PC world, it’s a motherboard so that’s what I’ll call it) for first generation iMacs but the symptoms listed were video and power failure (which I didn’t technically have) and I had to take it to an Apple Authorized Serivce Provider to find out whether or not it qualified for a motherboard replacement. Just to be safe I snapped a few pictures of the interior and exterior of the computer before taking it in to a shop. When I took it in, the technician opened it up on the spot and said that it definitely qualified. When I asked him how he knew, he pointed out the orange goo on the tops of some of the capacitors on the motherboard. Although I had noticed this before, I thought it had always been there and assumed it was that way from the factory. When I got home and Googled leaking capacitors and iMacs I discovered that my situation was common among the first generation G5 iMacs and eMacs. Apparently those faulty capacitors are the primary reason for the extension program, even thought it doesn’t say that anywhere on the site. I also learned that many other computer and parts manufacturers were affected by this as well. For more info on that nightmare story of faulty hardware and industrial espionage, check out the wikipedia article on the “Capacitor Plague”.

So, to make this long story short, I just got my computer back on Saturday after having the motherboard and powersupply replaced for free (thanks, Apple!) and I wanted to send a warning out to anyone with a first generation G5 iMac. The repair extension program only extends 2 years from the date of purchase and most of these computers are nearing that deadline. Check to see if the serial number on the bottom of your stand matches up with the ranges on the repair extension program page and if it does, open it up and look inside. Here’s a picture of mine before it was repaired:

If any of the capacitors on your motherboard are bulging or leaking, take it in immediately. Apple has only promised to replace the faulty hardware for 2 years from the purchase dates. After this they will reevaluate the program, but aren’t making any guarantees. Unlike replacing the motherboard on a homebrew PC machine, you can’t easily make this repair yourself, and when I asked the technician what it would cost to replace an iMac motherboard that wasn’t covered by the program, he said I would be better off buying a new machine. As an optimisitic DIY kind of computer user, I don’t like that answer, but don’t take a chance.

On the bright side, my computer has been running for 2 days straight now and it didn’t cost me a thing. I only wish I had found out about the repair program earlier.