Talk:MacBuild Intel Checklist

Creating the Intel Desktop and Laptop Build Checklist here. When completed it will have its own page and this current page will be the PPC Build Instructions

Getting Started

Visual inspections

• What kind of computer are you working on? Is it a tower, laptop, all-in-one? Does it have an Intel or PPC processor? What's the model number printed on the bottom (if you can read it, mark it on your triage checklist)?
• Check for damage

If the case is dirty, clean it off with a rag. If the battery looks beaten up or warped, change it with a good one.

Set Up Your Computer

SEE MACBUILD SPECS TO DETERMINE WHAT KINDS OF HARDWARE YOU SHOULD BE INSTALLING IN THE COMPUTER YOU ARE REBUILDING

Towers:

• Replace RAM with tested memory (if we have the appropriate tested RAM)
• If the computer has an Intel processor, install a hard drive with a Xubuntu image installed
• If the computer has a PPC processor, install a blank hard drive

Laptops:

• Find the appropriate power supply for your laptop. Check the bottom of the laptop for power requirements. Ask your instructor if you can't find this.
• Laptop RAM is never tested before being installed, so you can leave the RAM the computer came with for the moment
• For MacBooks -- replace the HDD with an imaged one
• For iBooks, MacBook Pros and other hard-to-work-on laptops, leave the hDD where it is and you'll follow directions to wipe it later
• Attach keyboard/mouse, monitor, network cable, and power cord (as necessary)

iMacs:

• INTEL: HDDs are difficult to install, so you'll wipe the drive and install an operating system following the directions in this packet later. RAM is easy to install, but it's laptop-sized memory, which we only test in systems, so it's okay to leave the pre-installed RAM where you'll test it later.
• PPC: HDDs are difficult to install, so you'll wipe the drive following the directions in this packet later. Depending on the model, RAM is easy to install. Check the model number on iFixit.com to see which one you have. Ask your instructor for clarification.

OS X Triage

Booting into OS X

From Network:

• Connect ethernet cable from the wall to the system
• Hold down the N key on the keyboard while the system starts up to enter the network boot screen.

From External HDD:

• Connect the OS X 10.5 Firewire HDD to the system
• Connect the Firewire HDD to a power source
• Make sure the Firewire HDD is turned on (there's a power switch on the back of the drive)
• Hold the Option key on the keyboard while system starts up to enter the Startup Manager
• Select the Firewire drive (OS X Testing HDD) from the Startup Manager to boot into OS X
• If a warning box appears while you are logging in, just click "ignore"

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Confirm hardware

• Click on the System Profiler icon in the dock.
• Check the ATA and Memory sections of System Profiler to confirm that it matches what you've added to the system so far
  • If you did not install RAM or a HDD earlier, check the amount of memory now and compare with the MacBuild Spec Sheet. You can adjust RAM by shutting the computer down and removing or adding RAM at this point. Remember that you will probably still need to test the RAM
  • If it fails to see the HDD or reports the amount of memory incorrectly, the system may have a bad logic board and end up getting recycled. Ask an instructor for troubleshooting assistance
• Check the Disc Burning section of System Profiler to see what the optical drive in the system can do
• Fill out the system specs on the Keeper label if they are not already filled out

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Test CD writing

If you determined that the optical drive in the system can write CD-RWs, do the following:

• Erase a rewritable CD disk
  • Insert a CD-RW disk
  • Open up Disk Utility (Click on the Disk Utility icon in the dock)
  • Click on the optical drive on the left sidebar of the Disk Utility window
  • Click on the Erase tab that comes up on the right side of the window
  • Confirm that it will perform a quick erase, and click on the Erase button
  • When the erasing is complete you'll get a dialog box. Choose Open Finder from the drop down menu and click OK. This will mount the disk on the desktop.

• Write to a blank rewritable disk
  • Select the burnme.cdr file in the left panel of Disk Utility and click the Burn button at the top of Disk Utility.
  • The disk should automatically eject when finished. If the disk icon still appears on the desktop, drag it into the trash.

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Check if WiFi works

• Click on the AirPort icon near the upper-right corner of the screen
• Check to see if the Freegeek wireless network shows up on the list

Disconnect the wired network, select Freegeek from the list, open up a browser, and navigate to any web page. If you see the Free Geek click-through page, it works.

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Test the memory

This test should only be run if you were not able to install all tested memory (anything with Laptop RAM or older iMacs)

• Open "rember" by clicking on the icon in the dock.
• click OK, leave selected default settings, and run the test.
  • The test should take 5-30 minutes depending on the amount of RAM and the speed of the processor. With large amounts of RAM (over 1.0 GB) it may take up to an hour.
• If any memory fails the test, replace it with good tested memory

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Stress test the CPU

• Click on the cpu test icon in the dock
• choose primenet as the test type and start test
  • This should take 3-10 minutes
• If this or any other test fails, mark the printme sheet with the test results and sell the computer as-is, or recycle it - ask your instructor

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Stress test the GPU

• Set up the screen saver for the GPU test.
  • Under the Apple menu select System Preferences > Desktops and Screen Saver
  • Scroll down to the bottom and select GPULife
  • Select Options, unclick limit framerate and click show framerate
  • Set Zoom to 1 and click OK
• Drag your mouse arrow to the very bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
• A black screen should come up with lots of colorful moving dots which are being generated by the GPU.
• Look for any artifacting (obvious glitches, lines, popping lights, cross hatching), this points to GPU failure.
• Check to see that the frames per second number at the bottom left-hand of the screen stays consistent.
• If everything looks good after a minute or so, you can exit the screen by moving your mouse out of the corner.
• If there are any gross artifacts, such as lines on the screen or a plaid screen, consult your instructor. Occasional white pixels are OK.

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Test the iSight camera (Laptop and iMac only)

• Double click on the OS X Testing HDD icon and then double click on Applications. Double click on the Photo Booth application to open it. If you can see yourself in the Photo Booth application the camera works.

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Check The Battery (laptop only)

• Select the Coconut Battery icon from dock. Note the battery capacity (not the current charge) and remember that we will need to enter this value in the Notes portion of the printme sheet. For example: "according to Coconut Battery the battery has 67% of original capacity".

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Test the Keyboard (laptop only)

• These testing steps determine if the laptop keyboard, trackpad, and mouse buttons are functioning properly.
  
  

☐ Boot to the network menu. Refer to the Laptop Evaluation guide if you need help with this step.
☐ Select Laptop Build → Keyboard and Mouse Testing from the Network Menu list.
☐ Test the Keyboard:

• Select Settings and switch the keyboard layout to Laptop Keyboard Layout. Hit OK.
• Press each key to test. You should see the color of the key on the screen start out red, change to yellow when pressed, then change to green and stay there when released. If a key does not change color (or remains yellow even when released), make a note and finish testing the other keys.
• For some laptop keys, you may need to use the Function (Fn) key in combination with another key, i.e. Fn + Num Lk for Scrl Lk.

☐ Test the trackpad, mouse buttons and pointing stick:

• Switch to Mouse to test the trackpad functions.
• Follow the instructions on the screen to test the trackpad and mouse buttons.
• Scrolling functions may not be available, as drivers run by the operating system are needed.
• If you have multiple mouse buttons on the keyboard/trackpad, hit Reset to test the second set.
• Be sure to test the keyboard pointing stick, if there is one. It will look like a big colored dot in the middle of the keyboard.
  

☐ Hit Quit to exit the program once testing is finished, and restart. If you have to swap in a new keyboard or button, make sure to repeat the above steps.

What to do if something doesn't work

• If any keys are non-functional, consult with your instructor. They may have you clean the keyboard, replace some keys, or replace the whole keyboard.
• If the trackpad or mouse buttons are finicky or non-functional, consult with your instructor.

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Bless the Hard Drive

• Open a terminal and type

sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s1 --setBoot --legacy

• You will be prompted for your password, enter "freegeek". It will look like nothing happened, but it worked!

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Xubuntu 12.04LTS Time!

(this is more of an outline at this point, more details to come. Go To MacBuild_Xubuntu_QC_Checklist for more instructions.)

Are you working with a MacBook or MacPro?

• If so you hopefully have already installed an imaged drive with Xubuntu on it. If not you could install an imaged drive now or else you could wipe the hard drive, install Xubuntu and Freegeek customizations using the instructions below.

Are you working on an iMac?

• If so you probably did NOT install an imaged hard drive with Xubuntu on it. Follow the instructions below to wipe the hard drive, install Xubuntu and Freegeek customizations.

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Set Up Hard Drive

Instructions for un-wiped hard drives Wipe Hard Drive Boot to the desktop (try Xubuntu - not install) with an i386 Xubuntu 12.04 desktop disk When desktop appears, open a terminal and run badblocks: sudo badblocks -wvvf -c1024 -e1 /dev/sda Find more hard drive wiping instructions at Hard_drive_wiping_checklist Install Xubuntu If you just wiped the disk, follow these steps: When badblocks is succesfully completeted, close terminal and click on install icon follow prompts and install ubuntu after reboot, select System-> Hardware drivers and activate B43 wireless driver If you installed a wiped hard drive, insert an Xubuntu 12.04 install disk and restart the computer while holding down the C key. follow the prompts and install Xubuntu. If you installed an imaged drive, just start Xubuntu Install Freegeek customization If you just installed Xubuntu you will need to add the freegeek customization. Open System->Administration>Synaptic Package Manager and add the freegeek repository to the list of repositories. click on settings and select repositories click on the other software tab and then the Add button and enter the address of the freegeek repository use deb http://apt.freegeek.org/ubuntu lucid main as the address close the window and click on the reload button. If you get an error about a public key ignore it. close the Synaptic Program Manager Open a terminal window and run updates from Terminal (this may take 20-30 minutes) sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade From the Terminal window add the freegeek build utilities: sudo apt-get install freegeek-build-utils && sudo apt-get install freegeek-manual If asked about installing the packages without verification, respond yes Run updates again (this may take 20-30 minutes) sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade reboot computer Select System->Preferences->Screensaver and deselect the lock screen option

For all computers

Run updates

• If you have installed an imaged hard drive you only need to run the updates.
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get upgrade

Hardware Testing in Xubuntu

Set up printers

• Go to System>Administration>Printing
  • Go to Server>Settings
  • click the top box "Show printers shared by other systems"
  • click the OK button
• close the printing window

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Preparing Computer for End User

Generate "printme" report for system

• In a terminal, type printme
• Enter your volunteer ID in the Volunteer ID field
• Job should be Builder
• Type should be Apple or Apple Laptop
• Choose whether the computer is covered or not (if it has an Uncovered Electronic Device sticker on it somewhere, it's NOT covered. If it does NOT have a Uncovered Electronic Device sticker, it's covered)
• Choose whether the computer is an FG-PDX system or not (if it has a FG-PDX sticker, it's covered. If it does NOT have a FG-PDX sticker, it's NOT covered)
• Notes should include the following information:

Intel w/ Xubuntu installed Processor type and speed Memory size and speed Wireless card info Battery test results for laptops

• Print to the Classroom printer.

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Prep system for the store

• Write the system ID number on a sticker, and affix it to the back of the system.

• Clean the system and remove any stickers from the previous owner
• Add small Free Geek sticker to the system
• Write the printme system number on the computer under the battery if its a laptop
• Bundle system with a power supply (if a laptop)
• Take the system to the back room of the store or place on storage shelf as appropriate.

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