Forums | MacLife

Last week, 10 March 06, my emac crashed.
I was getting a "Raster Effect".
The Raster Effect is when the screen goes dead.
Or you get half a screen, where the Desktop is not visible.
One day the screen went completely Black.
Using a backup Computer, I went to MacFixit and other websites.
One indicated I get into system preferences, and adjust the display.
Another said, Apple had a download fix.
MacFixit indicated the Emac needed an IVAD cable. Picture on website, on the concerned subject.
THe emac is a cluncker.  That is it is heavy.  Probably well over a 100 lbs.
Taking it to an Apple Store would be a problem without a cart.
Note in several articles:  Apple knew of the problem, but said nothing.
Some of the dealers refused to sell emacs because of the problem.
Some stores indicated 60% of their emacs had a Raster effect.

In addition to the Raster Effect, the date reverted to October,1969 and locked itself.
A second problem: The internet would not work.  Nor would it accept
any enteries for the Cable format.
A minor problem:  The screen although in full screen was dark.
Below were the solutions:

What I did:
I went to DISPLAY, and adjusted the Contrast, and brightness.
The second step:  I found a way to unlock the date, and went to a
manual entry.  (Later on I used an Atomic Watch) and reset the time.
After the first two steps, the Internet feature accepted the Cable modem.

Why it happened:  It is unclear.
I have a "wired cable modem",  and a Norton's Firewall.
My Virus checker is always active.
I always figured if anything goes wrong, it will go wrong within 90 days of use.  Not after 3 years.
I have to assume that the problem was related to the date, and internet.
Because when the cable company assisted me in restoring service, the
Raster Effect came back.
I have to guess that a download may have done it.  The only system download I did at the time was from Microsoft for a wireless mouse, and keyboard.
I also learned that Entourage does not completely back up.  You need to
take manual steps to back up.  Groups do not back up.
Nor does Drafts. 
I use a LaCie hard drive for back ups.  So I was lucky in 2 ways.
The Computer revived.  And my Data was saved.
To save groups in the future (should anything go wrong), I placed copies of the groups in my hotmail account.