Apple Forgot to Erase This iMac's Internal Software - Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures

Win iFixit Tools! Each week, one lucky fixer who shares a photo of their repair at #fixitfeb will win a Pro Tech Toolkit! Last day to enter is Feb 28th. Winners will be contacted directly via social media. ifix.gd/computerclan
You can support this channel on Patreon! Link below…
This late 2009 iMac has internal Apple software on it and the OS appears to have a non-public build number. You know what else is odd? The Mac's serial number doesn't appear in any lookup tools. And you know what's WEIRDER?! The Mac died on Krazy Ken. Join him as he fixes the computer and explores the hard drive, with help from Brainiac Brent!
Watch part 2 next! ● • Apple Forgot to Erase ...
Check out our rare tech playlist ● bit.ly/clan3zlKXX9
Watch the WOW Computer episode! ● • I Bought a $1,300 Comp...
Download our epic wallpapers ● thecomputerclan.com/wallpapers
Support our channel and get cool stuff ● / krazyken
Follow us on Twitter ● / thecomputerclan
Like us on Facebook ● / computerclan
😎Shop for cool stuff on our store ● thecomputerclan.com/etsy
💬Hey! We're on Discord ● thecomputerclan.com/discord
⭐️ Patrons got early access to this episode. They also got behind-the-scenes access, Discord VIP access, and their names in the credits! Pledge now to get those awesome perks, and help fund the future of the Computer Clan! Thanks for your support. / krazyken
📱Contact Us ● thecomputerclan.com/contact
🎬Get royalty-free stock footage with Artgrid. Sign up with my link to support the channel and get 2 extra months free: bit.ly/clan2Dr3M3e
🎵I also use Artlist for the music in my videos. I highly recommend them 👌 Click for 2 extra months free: bit.ly/clan2LBaKov
🎥Get film gear Ken uses ● amzn.to/2hmJhHU
On a lower budget? ● amzn.to/2hLrJBL
Computer Clan is an Amazon Associate. Amazon links are powered by the Amazon Associates Program.
#fixitfeb #KrazyKen #ComputerClan

[@ComputerClan]

UPDATE: Hey all! Part 2 is now out! We found some juicy stuff. Enjoy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/opO4mZd_fNirfpo Hey! If you guys want to see a follow-up, please leave a "like" on the video so we can gauge interest! 👍 Plus, HUGE thanks to Brainiac Brent for helping with this project. Also, thanks to everyone in the tech community who reached out and assisted with research. And of course, thanks iFixit for sponsoring this episode, and for making great tools and repair guides. ❤️

[@astragirll]

I would love to see a follow-up

[@Tamay.]

No

[@NicoTheCinderace]

@@Tamay. Yes

[@NicoTheCinderace]

Yes

[@jorno1994]

backup these tools into the internet archive website!

[@peanut38100]

As a former Apple repair depot tech, can confirm that Phoenix is Apple's test bundle name. The versions would differ between models but it was always a Phoenix environment. Seeing those failure pop ups reminds me of all the headaches but still pretty cool to see it again! Edit: as far as the K22 thing goes, you're right. Every Mac model will have this number combo to point out year and Gen, but not necessarily the specific build. For example, the J52 was the 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 13 with forcetouch. J44 was the mid to late 2014 MacBook Pro Retina.

[@EhsanYaseen8]

Thanks, SouthernFriedTech

[@pickachublast8]

Oh what about the J680, J132, and J152?

[@joshedagg]

Very interesting! I do liquid damage repairs on Macbooks and I was always curious what the codenames at the top of the schematic were - the 2014 Macbook Pro example you used has an 820-3476 logic board, and the schematic says J44 as well!

[@thomasholland5902]

Lol remember when they openly called a feature “forcetouch” without thinking about how much it sounds like a slang word sexual assault

[@OneAndOnlyZekePolaris]

"Apple's test" you double spaced it.

[@WhatIsKevinUpTo]

When I was a Mac genius at Apple we were told that prototype serial numbers are not a part of the main database but a part of a separate database in the research and development department.

[@derwafflehouse]

I still have access to some repair tools, because Apple is terrible at revoking access to third party repair people who’ve quit, and that SN is not in it. Soooo, very likely!

[@bemwy]

@@derwafflehouse apple doesnt need to so they dont mind

[@criminalbrewing5509]

You Rock Bro... You Guys are so Cool.

[@mewity]

i bet someone came in at least once to you with a “i cant set the wallpaper to a .pdf”-like problem

[@videogames8261]

IS THAT GORDON FREEMAN!?!?!??!

[@ColeBarsen]

I can’t wait for the next video, titled - “Apple sent me a cease and desist letter”. Haha. Great video!

[@GraySlicerAnimations]

More like "Apple sent a hitman after me"

[@-TheFacelessGamer-]

Lmao. I'd like to see that. They'd have no ground to stand on. He didn't do anything illegal. Lol.

[@Axodus]

It's completely legal to test repair and own a prototype.

[@sojaquad5127]

@@Axodus Can't take a joke much?

[@Axodus]

@@sojaquad5127 You just don't understand my sense of humor.

[@KOSMOS1701A]

this makes me miss the days then the front glass was held on with magnets instead of an entire 55 gallon drum's worth of glue.

[@ComputerClan]

I feel that 😔

[@SStarlight9614]

nahhhh it was 55 gallons back in 2017 now its 110 gallons 😂

[@Vanilla0729]

@@SStarlight9614 Next year the glue will be too expensive and will be replaced by "Hopes and Prayers."

[@simtitan1]

Hopefully there will be a "glue and adhesive" shortage so Apple is forced to make things more repairable again.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Ooof, I feel you pain too--get out your spudgers! :) Dell's laptops have a front plastic bezel in front of the LCD panel that uses a strip of high-stick adhesive along each side facing the LCD to adhere to the LCD's edges. A real pain in the rump to pry one of these bezels off sometimes without breaking it, due to being thin plastic--at least it isn't glass. :O

[@swolfington]

FYI the music that the Apple EMC Main test plays is the opening riff from Surf Wax America by Weezer

[@ComputerClan]

Oh really? Nice.

[@daltonstudios6395]

I was so surprised when I heard that guitar, it took me a moment to recognize it. Never thought I would see Weezer in a Apple Diagnostic Test.

[@hector189]

@@daltonstudios6395 Windows 95 had the Buddy Holly video included in the CD (kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIDPamechJxrpM0)

[@C4103]

Recognized this immediately haha

[@BrendanThompson]

or as it will now forever be known, "don't fear the weezer"

[@only1gameguru]

AppleKFS is kernel file system. It is useful for knowing what's going on with the system. It's especially the same as /proc on Linux, which just reads ram and other system activities. They are both virtual with very limited write options

[@cybercat1531]

This is the correct answer.

[@revlouch]

Abstract- The Knowledge File System (KFS) is a smart virtual file system that sits between the operating system and the file system. Its primary functionality is to automatically organize files in a transparent and seamless manner so as to facilitate easy retrieval. Think of the KFS as a personal assistant, who can file every one of you documents into multiple appropriate folders, so that when it comes time for you to retrieve a file, you can easily find it among any of the folders that are likely to contain it. Technically, KFS analyzes each file and hard links (which are simply pointers to a physical file on POSIX file systems) it to multiple destination directories (categories). The actual classification can be based on a combination of file content analysis, file usage analysis, and manually configured rules. Since the KFS organizes files using the familiar file/folder metaphor, it enjoys 3 key advantages against desktop search based solutions such as Google’s Desktop Search, namely 1) usability, 2) portability, and 3) compatibility. The KFS has been prototyped using the FUSE (Filesystem in USErspace) framework on Linux. Apache Lucene was used to provide traditional desktop search capability in the KFS. A machine learning text classifier was used as the KFS content classifier, complimenting the customizable rule-based KFS classification framework. Lastly, an embedded database is used to log all file access to support file-usage classification.

[@revlouch]

I pulled this from a computer research paper on the subject and I feel like this would be more accurate…

[@1FireyPhoenix]

@@revlouch I doubt it’s that. The kernel file system answer seems to be the more likely, given the diagnostic nature of the OS running on that Mac.

[@Daniel15au]

If it's a kernel file system, why would it be a physical partition on disk? Kernel file systems are virtual.

[@MarchCain]

Seeing how computers work internally, with logging showing all of the tiny intricate things going on in the background have always fascinated me, especially internal tools. A follow up video would be really interesting! The OpenGL tests were probably the best of the tests, very amusing to watch the chess pieces in chaos mode and "Blue Pony"

[@itsthesola10]

-then use Linux lol- I get you, especially this sense of mystery around proprietary software and hardware, just poking around where you supposedly shouldn't

[@ps5hasnogames55]

@@itsthesola10 uSe LiNuX sure if you like having a computer that doesn't work and can't run any real software

[@kurnma3776]

@@ps5hasnogames55 Common misconception, although slightly true. Support for software in Linux is a bit lacking, but this does not mean it supports nothing. Software, including names like Microsoft Edge, Steam, Chrome, Minecraft, Teams, Zoom, etc. are all supported in Linux, and the pool is growing. Same with hardware, but the pool of support is growing too. I do see your point. Maybe a specific program you use isn’t supported in Linux. Or maybe a piece of hardware you have doesn’t work in Linux. They’re valid considerations for the time being.

[@igorordecha]

@@ps5hasnogames55 then run docker or kubernetes without a VM on your windows. Go on

[@prabhsaini1]

@@kurnma3776 its nice that microsoft isnt acting like linux doesnt exist anymore

[@JustAPersonWhoComments]

The last time anybody on the AppleInsider staff used or saw the "Phoenix" suite of software was several years ago. Even then, during the testing process, the software would have to connect to either a hardware dongle or data stored on a LAN -- not WAN -- to complete testing on any given model. Eradication of the testing software is a required step prior to returning a repair to a user, and there is a specific procedure that is followed to ensure compliance. Obviously, those steps were skipped, resulting in the leak of the software.

[@Sparkette]

Do you know what method Apple uses to delete the software, or otherwise have any information that might be useful for someone wishing to covertly protect their newly-acquired copy of the software from being re-erased by Apple before they get their computer back?

[@generallyunimportant]

@@Sparkette >Do you know what method Apple uses to delete the software they probably just deeply format the drive on the mac. if they dont, then idk what else you can do

[@gsxerwhite]

I had to send my 2006 MacBook to Apple because of a bad heat sync and they sent it back to me with Phoenix software. I had to send it back AGAIN. Sucked

[@jerkycam]

Average DIYer: "the good thing about a desktop, unlike a tablet or phone, is that you can open it easily to replace broken pieces." Apple: "Wanna bet?"

[@weegeenumberone2]

Someone: "Unlike tablets and phones, is that you are able to easily open it up to replace broken components and upgrade your computer." Apple: "I never heard of the word easily. I only know hard."

[@Warutteri]

Apple is so blatantly anti-consumer I really do not understand why people keep buying their products, they're overpriced, badly built (at least for the ridiculous price tags) and limit user freedom basically more than any competing consumer electronics. Unless you're computer illiterate and too lazy, stupid or old to learn to use them or want an idiotic status symbol there is absolutely no reason to buy Apple products, the few things Apple used to be better for (mainly graphical and audiovisual work) has already been surpassed by Windows (and Linux) PCs for years now and the people who cling to Apple and claim it's better for those things are just used to iOS and not willing to give a fair chance to a Windows PC because for the same amount of money you can actually get a more powerful Windows PC than you can and Apple one and it will have a much longer lifespan given that repairs are easier and cheaper to do, and even the stability of that system can be as good or greater if it's set up right and use only for its intended purpose. Boycott Apple, they're constantly doing their best to erode your rights as a consumer and if they get their way you soon won't own the devices you pay hundreds or thousands of $/£/€/whatever but will basically just renting it from the manufacturer (which is largely already the case with the software in the device, but Apple's lobbyists are constantly trying to move the laws to such a direction that it would be the case with the hardware as well, and have arguably already been successful in that to an extent)

[@Anankin12]

@@Warutteri because people don't know their tech, because they're actually good, because the software allows some workflow other don't allow. Many devs use mac, as do editors, because it has tools other platforms lack.

[@jerkycam]

@@Warutteri "for the same amount of money you can actually get a more powerful Windows PC than you can and Apple one" That's what I tell any one who wants to buy a mac and doesn't know much about computers.

[@julerobb1]

@@Warutteri I dont see why the government cant say : Apple you go bye bye now. Because in my view, apple is monopolistic I've used thier shit before. Its just terrible everything is proprietary and its absolute ass for quality.

[@Trice0187]

As a former employee in Apple's Sacramento warehouse I can tell you that PhoenixCE is indeed a version of MacOS with a bunch a testing suites used to troubleshoot. We would load Phoenix then leave the systems to burn in for 2 days then if they fail there were logs for us to read. The version of Phoenix here is much older than the one I seen. The version I knew was based on Yosemite. Most of the tests runs on its own but some of the display calibration tests and keyboard tests had to be manually gone thru and passed/failed before the rest of the tests can load. And yes it could be loaded on any mac that can support that version of MacOS it was based off. By now I'm sure they have a newer Phoenix than even I'm aware of, used for the T2 macs more than likely. So this version of phoenix would not work on newer macs.

[@migidid]

You are correct and to my knowledge Phoenix (and most of these tools) is not installed to new machines these days it is used from local network preventing it from leaking like this!

[@KayvK]

Can you make an image of the hard drive? It'd be good to see this stuff being preserved

[@d3adman404]

Im thinking the same

[@CJT3X]

Yessss

[@Network126]

Yassssss

[@SomeChannelIdk]

Please do that Ken, I really want to inspect this stuff in great detail!

[@adhancock79]

There are thousands of people that would love for him to do that..... But nnnnooooooooooo...... That'd be too helpful.....

[@mashdash]

I like when you called it "Mining off camera" that's pretty accurate

[@raven4k998]

wait apple erase data those monsters!!!!!

[@mikes-wv3em]

considering how crypto is fake? sure!

[@Time4Technology]

Whilst opened up, it would have been wise to temporarily extract the hard drive to copy a full block level dump of it. The contents would have been super interesting for others to explore, and it would have saved the contents from never being rescued if the disk failed. Otherwise a nice video!

[@Time4Technology]

Just read in other comments that was apparently not supposed to be backed up. Ah well.

[@Time4Technology]

@@everythingpony Exactly!! Even powering up such an old disk, possibly one that didn't yet meet production standards, could cause its death - even more so booting an OS off it and using stress tests on it.

[@sarowie]

@@Time4Technology You would not use a hard-drive that is not up to production standards for a Product Validation Test unit. It is easy to upgrade and test hard-drives later. It is a wast of time to hunt down hard drive issue, when that is not one of the uniqe selling points of the device. (if the SSD Chip set is soldered to the mainboard, then offcourse it could be not fully qualified - but even then, reducing risks means using proven silicone and software on a new motherboard makes more sense then to combine all new parts)

[@FeedMeSalt]

Not legal sadly.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

@@FeedMeSalt Legality can honestly kiss my behind when it comes to software preservation, especially pre-production stuff

[@klightspeed]

18:35 "Raw" usually refers to the raw data representing the value, while "Cooked" refers those values having been converted into something fit for human consumption

[@IndellableHatesHandles]

I've never heard the term "cooked". I should probably start using it, though, because typing "converted" all the time in my code is a bit cumbersome

[@klightspeed]

@@IndellableHatesHandles From the jargon file: cooked mode: ... Most generally, cooked mode may refer to any mode of a system that does extensive preprocessing before presenting data to a program. raw mode: A mode that allows a program to transfer bits directly to or from an I/O device ... without any processing, abstraction, or interpretation by the operating system Wiktionary gives the etymology of cooked mode as "a humorous opposite to raw mode".

[@weimarballproductions83482]

It is like when you have raw food and you have to cook it

[@weimarballproductions83482]

A raw partition doesn’t have any data on it yet, i guess

[@klightspeed]

@@weimarballproductions83482 A raw partition usually means that the partition does not contain a filesystem recognised by the operating system / disk management software. There might still be a filesystem, but it is not recognised.

[@worldmenders]

A screen full of H was what caused a computer to generate the most EMI back in the CRT days. We used it for FCC emissions testing.

[@kantraa]

H reigns supreme

[@iammeok]

because of the sudden changes from full bright to full black? I guess as the electron beam scans across it would have to turn on and off rapidly many times per line per frame.

[@Stego27]

@@iammeok would hashtags not be better in that case?

[@Roxor128]

@@Stego27 The character "#" is called a hash. A _hashtag_ is a word with a hash appended to the start. Eg. #retrocomputing

[@iammeok]

@@Stego27 yeah idk, maybe they didn't have '#' in whatever character set they were using?

[@chpcaliforniahighwaypatrol]

I think the backlight doesn't work because the PSU is different than the previous one, you need to get a backlight driver board compatible with this PSU that you replace or find a compatible PSU. The description of the flickering then it shuts off is almost everytime a compatibility issue between those two parts.

[@DavisMakesGames]

Def seems like it's not getting enough voltage, yes.

[@michvod]

Backlight board in these don't care what kind of PSU is installed

[@baconofburger8784]

@@michvod We are literally talking about a company who goes as far as locking components to specific devices with unique identifiers (on newer iPhones at least) so I wouldn't be so sure

[@michvod]

@@baconofburger8784 Yeah, but I literally repaired hundreds of these model iMacs and I know that backlight board and PSU are just dumb units and don't care which one is installed ;) This is 2009-2011 when Steve Jobs was still around

[@baconofburger8784]

@@michvod fair

[@feta_cheesecake]

Man it’s kinda sad how these prototypes often blow up or go wrong. I guess they’re not designed to stick around for long anyway, but they’re still fascinating and their preservation seems to be very difficult.

[@Trainguyrom]

Having worked with pre-release and prototype hardware professionally, I can say they do not lead an easy life at all, plus they tend to be hand assembled (even phones which are what I worked with) so there's a lot more opportunities for things to go wrong.

[@DishNetworkDealerNEO]

The Electrolytic Capacitor that blew is in the backlight circuit.

[@madmolf]

I seem to have that kind of problem after a lightning struck the house. The screen would turn off after a while. I did buy a replacement power supply card, but to no avail. It’s the same generation of iMacs. Do you have more information on that backlight cap fault, is there a way to fix it, maybe a lead on some Google search terms to start a repair. Thank you in advance for any clue.

[@DishNetworkDealerNEO]

@@madmolf follow the LED Backlight wires back to the switching power supply. Search for a single swollen, capacitor that looks different than all the others. There may be a brown oily substance under the part on top of the PC Board. The top end may be blown out at the anti grenade, weakening engineered blowout crimps put in the end of the can, or it may simply be bulged. Remove and replace with same value for both capacitance and voltage, observing polarity. You can Google Damaged Electrolytic Capacitors to see what they look like when failed.

[@deusexaethera]

Electrolytic capacitors are a deal with the devil -- never good, but sometimes necessary. Maybe someday dry capacitors will be advanced enough to make electrolytic capacitors completely obsolete.

[@DishNetworkDealerNEO]

@@deusexaethera at least we used to have great brands like Sprague, now we have crap brands like Nichicon or no brand at all. There are even counterfeit Electrolytics, that are an empty can, stuffed with smaller, lower value capacitors so they seem to work and with sand lured in before sealing the bottom!

[@CraigThomas1983]

Apple_KFS, the KFS is probably Kernel File System, something (similar to Proc on Linux). The 1.9TB is possibly nonsense as it will be virtual, and I would suspect that this is how some of the Diagnostic tooling chats with the Kernel Space in a more privileged mode.

[@un1xl0ser]

Then why have it representred on disk? Spinning metal cache for swap and what not is fine, but proc and similar are virtual filesystems which won’t be on disk. Caching process state even for debugging would slow the system down and bottleneck the system. We need to see the first few MB or so to understand the data.

[@DavisMakesGames]

As someone currently trying to figure out how my engineering sample GPU works, it's always great to see more prototype tech. Great video and good luck figuring out further!

[@raven4k998]

at 15:41 sounds like he put the computer into reverse and is trying to park it🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@BollingHolt]

Also, there's a chance those URLs do work but only on Apple's internal network, but I'm sure you already know that.

[@tateshow0210]

maby you can go to one of the apple develop thing department and act as a guest then ask for Wi-Fi password and gain access?

[@mimat_]

@@tateshow0210 that is illegal

[@thatonefoxxy]

@@tateshow0210 I don't think they're gonna give you Internet access and if then definitely not the WiFi for the internal systems.

[@tateshow0210]

@@mimat_ I am aware

[@tateshow0210]

@@thatonefoxxy you've got a point

[@Codeaholic1]

Some of the hardware monitors give noisy data. A smoothing algorithm is applied to give more sane results. Raw is the actual value from the sensor, cooked is the processed value. These are just a bunch if QA and preproduction validation tools. You're getting a glimpse at how the sausage is made. Hehe

[@noxious_nights]

I just find it funny it’s called “cooked”

[@woulg]

And how the sausage is cooked!

[@Snape1337]

"Play rub and buzz sound test. That sounds dirty." -Ken 2022

[@seanet1310]

The EMC application will no doubt be running though the various system functions quickly on an endless loop so you can ensure you are measuring the worst case reasonable emissions and monitor functionality while exposing the system to external disturbances. Nice to see as morning complex systems like a computer manually can be painful

[@MarioMario456]

Can you leak the contents of the hard drive? It contains extremely rare internal Apple software that should be preserved.

[@HeTake123]

And risk getting sued for spreading copyrighted material?

[@z00h]

@@HeTake123 who's going to sue whom?

[@willblack7353]

@@HeTake123 I don't think he has much to his name, at least compared to Apple.

[@automatedinsanity]

@@HeTake123 apple doesn’t give 2 shits about software they probably don’t use anymore, if it was m2 testing software then yeah they will sue, but this is an old ass iMac.

[@ASAPKep]

@@automatedinsanity Proprietary code is proprietary code. It's age doesn't mean anything. You have to understand that Apple utilized time and resources for this software and I am sure whatever versions they use have trace code leading back to these versions.

[@youi690]

PDCA (Product Data Collection and Analysis) is an internal portal used in factories (e.g. Foxconn), "Warehouses" (e.g. Austin Mac Warehouse) and Apple Engineering. There are a lot of environments of PDCA/SDS for each factory/site. From memory, I think product serialization was a part of PDCA/SDS so it may be most that this iMac was from a factory/warehouse (in PVT stages) and also PDCA included a lot of reports for hardware and factory QA/performance.

[@unknxwn9064]

If that computers internal os gets leaked apple won’t be happy, keep the content up ken it’s amazing

[@the_mariocrafter]

It’s way too old for them to give a poo about it. If it was a M1 Mac, then they would worry.

[@sarowie]

Apple will look up the serial number and see who that machine was last assigned to. At best, this was sent to a recycling center and they just lost their contract with apple. Do not argue - when the order is to destroy and things reappear, then that is reason to use a different service. At worst, this device was personally assigned to a developer and he will be checked for other missing devices. Typically, the warehousing of goods that can not be sold is a mess, so all they can do is tighten their process in general.

[@julerobb1]

i'd say leak all day long every day, screw apple. They're a company, not the government.

[@unknxwn9064]

@@julerobb1 Ik but remember the last time we leaked the iPhone 4, jobs was not going to let that prototype go

[@poker.4203]

@@unknxwn9064that was cuz 4 was being released next. This iMac is a decade old ion think apple gives a shi ab them bruh

[@SianaGearz]

The noise that you heard when your computer gave up the ghost doesn't generally occur without visible damage. Though it often takes magnification to notice. If it was an electrolytic capacitor that blew, you would have had quite an aroma signature as well. Ceramic and tantalum capacitors just singe themselves and a little of surrounding PCB. Power semiconductors quit with a visible crack across them, if they make the noise. What I'm thinking is that the circuit that gave up initially wasn't even in the power supply, but in the display backlight circuit. And eventually after enough jiggery pokery you blew it clean and the PSU was able to power on without detecting an overcurrent fault.

[@WaltuhD]

If the owner doesn't want it to be imaged then that's bad because they would not sell it anyway for money and it's better to keep something preserved with you knowing the software is original and not modified also if the software might have some rare things never found on the internet it's vital for it to be uploaded so people can dive deeper and find even more things don't know why they don't want it to be imaged

[@superstar64]

Because supposedly it would "lower the value of the computer." The owner clearly doesn't deserve to have tech as rare as this. It makes me want to image all of my systems and put it on my server's RAID.

[@stephen1r2]

@@superstar64 if it isn't imaged then it's value will be even lower when that old laptop drive inevitably dies.

[@edwardtan1354]

@@stephen1r2 or it is imaged but for the owner's eyes only I could imagine it as a reference sample I guess someone documenting all if not most of Apple's internal software maybe it will uploaded to archive.org one day maybe it won't but who knows...

[@statinskill]

I think the best way to leverage this would be to say produce the software or you're just making up bullshit so you can make a video.

[@jjb0894]

Apple found out you have it and activated the kill switch. 😂

[@raven4k998]

well duh they can't have a working apple product in crazy dans hands that would be a very bad idea🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@iphonepunker]

That was a blast from the past, When I was an Apple technician with a Reseller in Dublin called Compub we use to use those GPU tests to check if the 2011 iMac's and 2011 Macbook pro GPU / Logicboard replacements weren't still faulty. So after every board repair we would a Diagnostic's Portable HDD with a bootable Mac OS Snow Leopard at the time, and it would have all this GPU stress tests and CPU tests I had or maybe still have some of that software some where. Also I kept the eld Diagnostic OS's no idea if still have them and they would boot up on a specific Mac depending on the model and would allow you to loop stress tests and hardware checks locally of a portable HDD partition, the Portable diagnostic's HDD's would die constantly so like after 6 months I would have take another HDD out of Stock and and create like 20 partitions and restore all these Diagnostic images on the HDD all over again. this is in 2011 - 2014 ish before the simple Ethernet cable when the new retina's where coming out. good times.

[@yearls]

This was genuinely fascinating. I'm not a huge Apple fan, but I won't turn my nose up at learning something new. And I certainly love learning new tech stuff. Plus you make it pretty entertaining to watch. XD

[@simonro9168]

I've had my Pro Tech Toolkit for over a year at this point and only when you did it did I figure out that the bit set lid has these plastic things to act as a screw holder. OMFG

[@ComputerClan]

Pretty cool, eh?

[@Time4Technology]

I only realized it some days ago too.. after using it for years.

[@simonro9168]

I bought a magnetic project mat because I didn’t have a good place to store screws for crying out loud XD

[@emmabentley7945]

Net install is used to distribute An OS to a mac via the network, using a dmg of that OS, this was used to send software to newly repaired macs, or macs in a network environment

[@ZeroExcuse]

LOL "The magnet is sucking in my bit... heh heh. that sounded weird" I love you Ken LOL

[@caseyjames9570]

I had a 24" iMac, one of the pins on the main power cable going from the PSU to the main logic board had pulled out of the molex connector causing the back light to be inoperable. Might be worth a check. IIRC it had something to do with how the display was angled, it was causing tension on the cable.

[@BollingHolt]

That's cool, man! Yes, I'd love to see a follow-up video on this.

[@ComputerClan]

Thank you : )

[@Aikano9]

I bought an Ifixit pro tech toolkit a few years ago. Love it, very high quality, tons of bits and tech opening tools, 100% recommended. Also recently got a Manta driver kit, that big driver has some real nice heft to it, it’s simply amazing, has over 100 different bits too. Have repaired tons of gaming mice, headsets, and other stuff using the pro tech toolkit, and a soldering station.

[@appleleptiker]

Man I haven't seen a video from you in quite a while... And they're still awesome. They are even better than I remember!

[@crying2theocean203]

“According to MacTracker, these macs shipped with 10.6.1” I can confirm this, I have a late 2009 iMac and I tried to use a 10.6.0 disc I burned on it, upon install it gave me an error saying “this version of Mac OS X is not compatible with this computer.” And a 10.6.1 install disc worked just fine.

[@KarstenPHT]

You should archive that so Incase the HDD fails you have a backup

[@raven4k998]

hey how's it going

[@KarstenPHT]

@@raven4k998 ???

[@Redeemed1337]

Backlight issue could also be the connector at the bottom of the LCD panel. Ive seen a number of these unibody imacs where it failed. My 27" was one of them.

[@PeteyG708]

It would be cool to have an image of that disk. If I still had a Mac, I'd be interested in playing with some of those tools.

[@f1neekrants]

Maybe the command prompt at launch would mount the kfs if you had the runcode?

[@rayirth.upside-down]

I mean you can call the iMac because of the fried backlight "Kentucky Fried System"

[@Sb129]

This looks insanely cool, this thing will be worth a bundle for sure. Definitely interested in more on this.

[@saltyowl3229]

Specifically phoenix looks like a tool that would be useful for independent repair shops if the machine still turns on but maybe some specific thing is broken, that would probably be a way faster method of finding rails that aren’t carrying the right voltage

[@Tom55data]

Some useless information about the GL tests you found GL was a graphics language developed by SGI at the 1980's and I worked in a research institute creating graphical software. It eventually became OpenGL when they made it public. GL was built on the core graphics language X11 which you can occasionally still popup deep down in stack traces of kernal graphics. X11 was core graphics - to open a framed window you required 32 parameters most being complex objects. Those GL examples are old 3D graphics that were designed to present the power of for the cross-fire graphics engine of SGI computers, and they run very fast as you have to remember that the speed of computers in 1990's are very slow compared to today - even though a Octane/Crimson SGI computer were between $0.5 and $1 million.

[@FantasticF113]

Thanks Tom55data for your addition. This video is fascinating. I feel it's important that this info gets documented somewhere for future prosperity's sake

[@DBLCreations]

Looking at this, i honestly still miss that 3D Dock! It was so different than anything else!

[@DavidP089]

Thank you for making backups of this HDD.

[@trash_miner]

That guitar riff is the opening to Surf Wax America off Weezers Blue Album

[@ethan043]

I had to scroll so far to find this, but I was hoping someone else noticed!

[@AlvaroGutierrezRomero]

Hi! I had the same issue with the backlight. It is a known issue with the Cinema Display and some iMacs from 2012, more or less. You need to change the led stripes. 14$ two sets from AliExpress. Easy to fix.

[@sarowie]

I wonder what is better for the value of the system: leave in original, defective parts or mounting working AliExpress stuff.

[@AlvaroGutierrezRomero]

@@sarowie actually, the led strips seem original. Like leftovers from production, not new parts.

[@denvera1g1]

For the screen's backlight, if you're advernturious, i'd check to see that no capacitor fluid made it onto other boards, that may be causing temporary shorts only as the circuit reaches a high enough voltage. If other parts of the computer were affected, you might not see these affects for months, but it can kill the machine all together.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

initiate self destruct (BOOM)

[@TimurTripp2]

The build number not matching any retail releases of Snow Leopard is normal, at first release they typically ship with a special build of the OS before the necessary drivers for the new hardware get incorporated into the retail version. It does still seem to be an earlier build than what these shipped with though.

[@matthewsmatters]

Pretty sure you are using Zoom, Apple’s built in screen magnifier, to enlarge and focus on the discussed elements on screen throughout the video. Haven’t noticed other video creators doing this before. As a partially sighted macOS user, who appreciates that Apple includes free, stable, and high-quality accessibility tools on all devices, just wanted to applaud your finding another good application for this lovely piece of software 👏

[@niktechno_official_misc]

Damn it’s so mysterious and interesting! Can’t wait for the next episode!

[@WalnutSpice]

Could try to see if this build of Snow Leopard boots on PPC now that we know, inside 10.6 PPC releases did exist.

[@tripthongUwU]

Finally someone who has the Mac with the diagnostic tools and revealed it publicly. These tools were actually seen some years ago but sadly the owner (owned Macbook, maybe Macbook Air) was stupid and decided to delete/return it instead of told it publicly and anonymously)

[@itsmeoli3705]

I miss so much working on this generation of iMacs, the amount of displays that got bust due to VHB “issues” when the then new slim line style iMacs came out was insane.

[@flaguser4196]

That EMC program is most likely made with LabView by National Instruments. It has the characteristic out-of-place none native GUI look. LabView is also often used for such purposes.

[@_____alyptic]

This is really interesting :o especially considering how protective apple are with their secrets although I'd assume they tried to delete stuff before this got out... Data recovery can work wonders these days 👀

[@nickoffscript]

woah! i love these videos. this is the kind of stuff i find most interesting, if you ever do anymore software videos that would be awesome!

[@gu4xinim]

The unusual thing I got from this video is that my iFixit kit has a screw tray I never knew about. Thanks!

[@c-900-0]

that "1, 2, 3, 4" audio demo had me burst out laughing

[@NoobixCube]

Just over a minute in, and I can see this will be a great drinking game: drink every time Ken says iFixit (but also kudos on getting them to sponsor an episode, really).

[@ComputerClan]

7

[@Cytro]

@@ComputerClan 8

[@hri7566]

my late 2009 imac has the same display problem, it was such a shame because it started flickering back in like 2015 and died shortly after, for years on end we just used a separate monitor like this since the genius bar refused to say anything went wrong (we tested it in the store and the display mysteriously worked perfectly fine)

[@mustardpuddle]

love the weezer sample. to the software engineer that put that in there, i love you

[@suioganwilliam]

I want to see more videos like this one!

[@magicopn]

The first unibody on an unreleased version of Snow Leopard is a Grail

[@PaulGrayUK]

Cooked and Raw will probably be Raw - the hard value from whatever and Cooked will be processed value. That's a guess based upon previous cooked/raw usage, like devices under UNIX with cooked being for a drive, the filesystem and raw would be direct to the disc bypassing the filesystem. That nugget from days of Informix Database work in which cooked would be the using the OS/filesystem and raw was direct disc access in which the database did direct disc access and managing and used for performance. Cooked may also include calibrated data value processed from the raw value. So more an educated guess, but feels right in this context.

[@Sollace]

7:26 Term that comes to mind is Apple Kernel File System. Some research also gives Kitserver File System and Kosmos Distributed File System.

[@CandGoods]

That one repeating guitar riff sounded like the opening to Weezer's "Surf Wax America"

[@mikemanthe]

Yep - that’s exactly what it was!

[@aaaaplay]

I remember back when I bought Apple Care with my 2009 iMac 24" they gave me a disc called Tech Tool Pro. Nothing like this of course.

[@spyjake1]

This has got to be the coolest thing I've seen in a while

[@ComputerClan]

Thanks : D

[@pfuisi]

You are so fun to watch :) thx kKen"!

[@DishNetworkDealerNEO]

Something exploded and it smells like fish oil, that’s an electrolytic capacitor.

[@michaelandersson6088]

KFS = Kernel File System? Somekind of virtual debug filesystem for the kernel is my guess.

[@HazyJ28]

This is how I felt when I changed schools from Madison Plains to London high School and had to switch from Windows Server to OSX. Every time I went into the computer lab or library, I couldn't wait to explore OSX and play around on a MAC. At that point in my life, I had only ever used NT or DOS.

[@elizabethrayet6587]

Damn, I would love to find these drag tools for something rarer, like an Xserve.

[@jamesdriver0317]

Love the intro, keep up the work

[@ComputerClan]

Thank you : )

[@SavvySage]

@Supergingerpantelisgames Already done: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIrdn5-bpMd_bZI

[@SkylarsTerribleMemes]

i used to repair these, just a pain in the ass overall. screws sticking to the magnets when you try to put them back in and having almost no room to actually connect all those cables for the screen really sucked but at least there was no adhesive to fuck with. i learned a neat trick though, use an air compressor to keep dust out while putting the glass back on. i repaired a few optiplex all in ones too and while there's definitely more room to work it takes more time because you have to disassemble the entire thing to get to the display. the power supply dc connector was even worse on those, guess they both cheaped out in the same place. the exposed power supply on the imacs always confused me, maybe i'm missing something but it seems like a bit of a hazard.

[@DeltaDS]

i love the fact that weezer, surf wax america (but only the intro riff) plays during the EMC test

[@lynx9419]

Interesting to see those OpenGL demos. From what I know those were made to teach people to code.

[@JenkemJohannes69]

Ok ty

[@camcappe353]

It happened to me the first time. You damaged the vertical sync cable. You have to replace it now, its not easy but well thats how it is!

[@johnloreth1021]

Seems possible that the AppleKFS partitions are hard mounted network share partitions, like how you can mount a smb share in fstab in Linux. The size seems to suggest this. Likely contained development tools and files that would need to easily be accessible while doing diagnostics.

[@Ghozer]

Did you try resetting the SMC and PRAM (NVRam for intel)? - can often fix things like backlights not working... :)

[@aaronbrown4275]

Pretty sure the guitar riff is "Surf Wax America" by Weezer. :)

[@m4t7eo]

13:10 it’s Surf Wax America by Weezer lmao, when that started I thought one of my devices spontaneously started playing

[@MrSuperduper5000]

They realized something was up and the self destruct sequence kicked in

[@fgbhrl4907]

The reason the serial doesn't show up is that the computer probably wasn't "provisioned" in some way -- there's normally some final stage that might basically write unique info on to the machine, and link the serial to the PCs that are being boxed and shipped out.

[@lunardr4gn828]

The Indy was an SGI machine, possibly tying into the KFS file system

[@ComputerClan]

Huh. Never thought about that. Could be a coincidence. 🤔

[@nonsensicalfox]

@@ComputerClan Slightly unrelated, but would you be interested in borrowing an Indy? I don't want to completely part with it, but I wouldn't mind loaning it out for an extended period of time if you want to check one out

[@ComputerClan]

@@nonsensicalfox that sounds fascinating. Can you email me? Link is in the description. Thanks. 😇

[@nonsensicalfox]

@@ComputerClan sure, should've done that in the first place tbh, my bad lol

[@ComputerClan]

@@nonsensicalfox it’s fine : ) more comments = more engagement, and that’s a-okay in my book!

[@dom_the3166]

I wonder if apple would come after you if you decided to dump the HDD and seed it

[@raven4k998]

Kentucky fried chicken files system🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@domeberlin4480]

thanks for the video , really appreciate your engagement in such thing , greets from germany

[@iandoesmc1363]

The reason why the serial didn’t ping, if I’m to guess, is that this is a diagnostic pc which was never meant to leave the warehouse for consumer use, hence its not on the consumer lookup

[@andresbravo2003]

The days of OpenGL that kept on the Mac for Years because there's got to need a DirectX emulation!

[@Breeze926]

If I had a nickel for every time a Mac has exploded in this channel, I'd have 2 nickels.

[@diesel1024]

I have a couple iPod Touch 2nd gens with Apple Diagnostic software from the Apple Store Genius bar, neat stuff.

[@lavavex]

Any shot of you imaging the drive and archiving it so we can download it ourselves?

[@pesoen]

make an image of the drive, a bit for bit copy of it, and release it :D i got a macbook air from ~2009 i would love to get life back into, since i somehow got it into a "startup repair bootloop" where it tries, and fails to do a startup repair(to factory reset the device) and it then reboots until it either runs out of battery, or i open it and disconnect the battery. its one of the funky ones with the stupidly expensive custom SSD thingy, and i don't want to spend money on one that works just to get life back into it, but so far all i have tried to fix it, has failed.

[@WaltuhD]

The owner said they didn't want it to be imaged as it would lower the value

[@WaltuhD]

And why don't you insert a usb with Mac OS X (version compatible with ur Mac) Installer, format the disk and reinstall Mac os

[@pesoen]

@@WaltuhD yeah i know, but it would be fun to have a development copy of macOS, and try to see what's on the partitions that could not be mounted..

[@pesoen]

@@WaltuhD tried that, it seems to ignore the usb device, and just tries to boot into some recovery mode where it fails and then reboots.. still not sure what the hell went wrong, other than i tried to factory reset it so i could pass it on to my dad, as he likes messing with garageband and had some thoughts on using it for misc music related things. i don't really use it, as i kinda hate apple and their products(they are well made, but i dislike them and the software) but i got it for free from an old friend who was just gonna throw it out, so decided, why not..