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Odds ands Ends: PowerBook fan speed and dust; More Starband satellite problems
PowerBook fan speed and dustThrough several iterations of Mac OS X 10.2.x and Mac OS X 10.3.x, we've noted a series of changes in fan behavior, which have been previously attributed purely to software related control issues. However, MacFixIt reader Cameron Walters notes that another issue may be at play:
"I've recently had experience with laptop fans running excessively that has nothing to do with Mac OS X 10.3.3 or even necessarily Macs: dust. Over time, thick layers of dust can build up inside the small airways in laptop bodies, causing the airflow to be reduced considerably. One solution I have found which immediately reduced fan speed and the frequency which fans activated is to use compressed air to blast the dust out of the airway. After "dusting" the inside of my friend's laptop with compressed air and powering it up, the fans remained at low speed for much longer and only ramped to high speed every once in a while, as compared to before the cleaning, where they seemed to run constantly at full speed."
More Starband satellite problems We continue to receive reports of problems using the Starband satellite Internet access service with Macs - where Windows based systems function without problems.
One reader writes "I too have been having problems with my 480 Pro Starband router since I got it. Frank Bry reports the exact same conditions that I have been experiencing since I've had the 480. I too have to reboot frequently, sometimes up to 4 times a day. [...] I've been working with Starband on this problem for months now, and the last word I have is that Starband has no idea how to resolve the issue, and therefore has no date as to when or if this can be resolved. I wish that there were other options out there for us Mac people that need to have high speed internet access, but can only receive this access through satellite because we're too far out in the country to have DSL or any other high speed solution. Are there any other companies out there that are Mac compatible other than Starband?"
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Resources
The hardware (Dish & DSL Modem) cost $400 along with a $200 installation
fee. Not quite as fast as phone or cable DSL but I frequently download files at
over 100k/sec.
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Gary Orechwa
This may not solve immediate concerns, but, I've been waiting imPATIENTLY
for a couple of years now. This was originally scheduled for April 2002, then
pushed to April 2003... Now it's set for the sencond half of 2004! But, I shall
still wait. My 56k modem gets 26.4 ONLY. And I had a cable-modem in
California before I moved to NM. Grrrrrrr.
I live 16 miles west of the Very Large Arrary (VLA) [you know, those 27 of, 84-
feet in diameter stretched out in a "Y" formation over 3 13-mile sections or
track satellite dishes that look back millions of light-years into the
past] in the mountains of western central New Mexico. If I could only afford
16 miles of coax. Hmmmm.
I heard that wildblue lost the ability to launch the satellite, definately on
hold and no timetable for launch.
Question for DirectWay users: Are the limits on how much you can
download, I heard that they shut you down if you use to much bandwidth?
---
Frank
The few times I've downloaded large files (e.g. America's Army), I did notice a throttling back after a longer period of time. It may have been DW or it could have been the originating server. If I stopped the download and restarted it later, it sometimes would be faster, sometimes not. I have noticed that if I restarted after 9pm PDT it was faster (a new day back east?). Other download speeds did not seem affected, but I am usually surfing, not downloading.
- by Jean Morgan April 6, 2004 9:02 AM PDT
- If you are on modem with a local isp, your isp is using broadband. Our
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(6 Comments)isp set up a wireless system using roof antennas directed to his antenna.
Works like a charm. You can read about it at http://www.sisp.net/
broadband.