G4 is Go!

So, my Mac is back up and running, good as new. I'd like to take a moment to tell you a little bit about my dear old Mac, our long relationship, and how she got sick.

My G4 is from 2001. I know I bought it way way back in 2001, because I bought it right around 9/11. It's a Quicksilver, 866 MHz (whoosh!) her name is Ruffian (after the famous filly), and she has run fairly consistently for over six years. I do have a new Mac Pro, an enormous monster of a tower, but it is really for video editing, 3d animation, and compositing... the heavy stuff. And mostly Geoff's stuff. For photo editing and blogging, I still use ye olde Ruffian.

So, I was reading about the phantom load and decided that since I don't fire up Ruffian all that often, I should unplug her power strip when not in use. I did this when I went home for Christmas. But uh-oh! The Daily Green did not mention that my particular G4 does not like being unplugged. When I plugged it back in a week later, it would not turn on. Horrors! After six years of faithful service, was Ruffian gone from my life?

When I searched the internet, I did eventually find out that this is a known issue with these computers, usually found after a power failure, and that there is an easy fix. There is a button next to the battery, inside the box, that you press to reset the PNU or something (I'm posting this in case anyone else is still attached their G4). Then the machine magically comes to life. So, in the future I'm going to unplug the printer and monitor only, and leave poor old Ruffian alone.