It turns out that diagnosing why your car won’t start is very much like troubleshooting your Mac.
How do I know? We’ve been down a vehicle in the Potter household for just over a week now as I struggled to figure out where things were going wrong between the time I turned the key and the moment I heard nothing but a loud (and scary) single click coming from somewhere deep within the recesses of my engine compartment.
Dammit Jim! I’m a tech guy, not an auto mechanic!
And, yet, the desire to avoid a tow charge, let alone the cost of diagnosing and repairing what could be a minor problem (or, admittedly, a major one), was strong within me. (Hey, two paragraphs, two nerd references!)
There were things that I knew I could attempt on my own, and those things were high on my list of “stuff to try” before cracking open my wallet at the service center: Battery? Starter solenoid? A simple fuse? How about a new grounding wire? I know what a bad starter sounds like, but I couldn’t rule it out…yet.
Those were all suggestions made by others that I’d uncovered in my investigations into the car’s “Click of Doom”.
As I turned to the online forums of owners who’d experienced similar symptoms (anyone else remember the pre-Internet Chilton repair manuals?), I realized there’s a ton of knowledge out there just waiting to be tapped … by me … when my car decided that it wouldn’t start.
Just like Macstock!
The depth of knowledge found within the walls of Macstock Weekend each year seems endless! I may organize the weekend, but I walk away each year with tons of new skills, ideas, and simple tips & tricks, and often find myself wondering how I got along without them.
And this year will be the biggest Macstock yet, because Macstock 9 is three days of awesome talks, super useful workshops, and a chance to hang out with some of the nicest (and knowledgeable) Apple fanatics on the planet WHILE taking in some amazing talks from the likes of Brittany Smith, Kelly Guimont, Doc Rock, Mike Schmitz, Kirschen Seah, Dave Ginsburg, Allison Sheridan, Brett Terpstra, Jeff Gamet, Marty & Will Jencius, Jill McKinley, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs PLUS two new voices to Macstock’s stage in 2025, Chris Cooke and Mike Burke (just to name them all 😎) — all of whom you can learn more about on the Macstock website right now!
In case you were wondering, my car repair story above does have a successful ending. As of this morning (literally, Sunday, April 27th), my car happily started once again. Turns out that despite my best diagnostic attempts to eliminate it (and when it comes to cars, my skills aren’t quite where they are with operating systems), it WAS the battery after all! I suppose it was a bad cell within the battery and I simply didn’t have the right tools to figure that out.
Macstock gives you the tools you need to be a better Mac user. (iPhone, iPad, and other Apple gear too!)
So while you’re reading up on this year’s presenters, be sure to also check out this year’s schedule for some fantastic sessions covering anything and everything Apple like getting the most from Photos, Apple’s new AI features, tech tools for Travel, Apple Health features, Accessibility, creating Shortcuts to boost your productivity, and even security focused talks like staying safe online, and those new Passkeys you’ve been hearing about (but maybe aren’t using yet)!
And that’s just scratching the surface of what will almost certainly be the best Macstock yet.
See you at Macstock 9!