The greatest gift is the present.
Yes I know. I love Macs so much, but I keep getting the lemons. My new Intel iMac started behaving funny on Friday night. Friday night. Of course Friday night. That's the night when you just want to think about nothing, watch a stupid movie and flake out. But I couldn't because my beautiful new computer was acting funny.
It was frozen; something that just doesn't happen to Macs anymore. Sometimes a program might get into a loop and hang itself, but you can always force quit and everything is fine. This time it was frozen solid. Nothing was happening and I couldnt force out of it. So I restarted, and I could hear the sickening "click....click..." sound of a dying hard disk, and a grey screen.
After about an hour of (actually very funny) conversation with a Mac Support specialist named Sasha, I came to realize I had only one option left, and that was to try to reformat the disk. I thought long and hard before I even attempted this, but finally had to admit my drive was not recoverable. But even when I tried to format it it just clicked and clicked. The drive was dead.
What was most painful was that long after transferring all my files to the newer iMac, I had just begun erasing things from the old computer, feeling pretty confident everything would be fine with the new machine for the time being. What a mistake. So much has been lost now that I don't really want to think about it. Among other things, the working files for the new music website, and for the dink dolls site. I'll likely have to build some of it from scratch, if not all. I'm not sure what I still have on the old (and also malfunctioning) iMac. But I think I'll be able to get something.
So I gave up on recovery, and took the machine in to the Apple store in the big mall a few miles away. Its a cool store, and of course, as I was talking to the chipper "Mac Genius" at the "Genius Bar" the conversation moved to the new Mac Books. It's the new portable machine with Intel chips. Blazing fast, beautiful, and equipped with a built in video camera for chatting, and a remote control for movie or music enjoyment from a distance. And of course, it comes with all that cool Mac software.
I think it was my sense of loss that did it, but yes, I bought the new Mac Book. I needed to retire my old portable anyway, and even though it still functions very well, I'll really love being able to do real work and not be stuck to my desk. The old portable was really only good for surfing and emails. But the new one is good for just about anything. I can even rig this thing to do pocasting and graphics without much trouble, and then I'd have a nice backup for anything that goes wrong in the future. Nothing had better ever go wrong in my whole lifetime of Mac use, by the way.
So the sick computer will have a nice new hard drive come next weekend, all on Apple's dime (I should think so, huh.) and they even tell me they'll likely fix my older iMac for free, because it was a well documented problem they had with power supplies on that model. So that's good. Soon I'll be swimming in Macs again, and that will make me happy.
Happy Halloween.
(this may be the geekiest post I've ever written)
It was frozen; something that just doesn't happen to Macs anymore. Sometimes a program might get into a loop and hang itself, but you can always force quit and everything is fine. This time it was frozen solid. Nothing was happening and I couldnt force out of it. So I restarted, and I could hear the sickening "click....click..." sound of a dying hard disk, and a grey screen.
After about an hour of (actually very funny) conversation with a Mac Support specialist named Sasha, I came to realize I had only one option left, and that was to try to reformat the disk. I thought long and hard before I even attempted this, but finally had to admit my drive was not recoverable. But even when I tried to format it it just clicked and clicked. The drive was dead.
What was most painful was that long after transferring all my files to the newer iMac, I had just begun erasing things from the old computer, feeling pretty confident everything would be fine with the new machine for the time being. What a mistake. So much has been lost now that I don't really want to think about it. Among other things, the working files for the new music website, and for the dink dolls site. I'll likely have to build some of it from scratch, if not all. I'm not sure what I still have on the old (and also malfunctioning) iMac. But I think I'll be able to get something.
So I gave up on recovery, and took the machine in to the Apple store in the big mall a few miles away. Its a cool store, and of course, as I was talking to the chipper "Mac Genius" at the "Genius Bar" the conversation moved to the new Mac Books. It's the new portable machine with Intel chips. Blazing fast, beautiful, and equipped with a built in video camera for chatting, and a remote control for movie or music enjoyment from a distance. And of course, it comes with all that cool Mac software.
I think it was my sense of loss that did it, but yes, I bought the new Mac Book. I needed to retire my old portable anyway, and even though it still functions very well, I'll really love being able to do real work and not be stuck to my desk. The old portable was really only good for surfing and emails. But the new one is good for just about anything. I can even rig this thing to do pocasting and graphics without much trouble, and then I'd have a nice backup for anything that goes wrong in the future. Nothing had better ever go wrong in my whole lifetime of Mac use, by the way.
So the sick computer will have a nice new hard drive come next weekend, all on Apple's dime (I should think so, huh.) and they even tell me they'll likely fix my older iMac for free, because it was a well documented problem they had with power supplies on that model. So that's good. Soon I'll be swimming in Macs again, and that will make me happy.
Happy Halloween.
(this may be the geekiest post I've ever written)
11 Responses to “Intel outside”
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aw sad, farewell to thee, old Mac and newer Mac =( sorry about all the lost stuff, too - that stinks lots. hope you get to dive into your new pool of Macs soon.
I don't know. Maybe you should get a PC for backup. haha.
Boo Gary. Boo.
All technical things tend to break down, wither when they're fresh out of the box or old and grey. It always sucks.
That is a major bummer, especially losing all that work. I hope you can get it all back together without too much hassle (if thats possible where computers are concerned).
I shall now cast a magic spell over all your electronic equipment:
"May Dave's nice things with plugs and batteries always be nice to him, for he is always nice to you. And don't break neither you buggers......SHAZAAAAAAM"
That spell should be good for about 25-30 years. Let me know if it ever needs topping up.
Jeez, Marvin. You could have cast that spell a lot earlier. I thought we were friends!
D
Dude, you are just not the right person to advertise for the Mac, you know? :-)
My theory (completely unfounded, as befits someone with No Technological Knowledge Whatsoever) is that the whole Intel chip thing brings some bad PC juju to the Macs.
No, that doesn't explain the iBook power supply problem (which mine has, too -- I need to get around to taking it in to get it fixed).
I think I may have to write down Marvin's spell and try it out sometime. Does it work on cars? Mine was in the shop for two weeks (sigh)...
Somehow, even with all your Mac problems, I still think PCs are evil incarnate. I hope everything rights itself in your tech world sooner rather than later.
owch! another mac breaks but doesnt bite the dust... theres to much of that happening lately all the ones that i no have broken are from a hard drive failure.. and there all intel macs.
maybe someone should write to apple and ask them to get a new hard drive supplier.... lol
Join The Green My Apple Campain and try to get PVC out of our beloved macs!!!
lol
TOM!!!
I'll join the PVC campaign when people stop cutting down trees to wipe their butts. Jesus, find a cause that actually makes a difference. A child dies every 30 seconds of Malaria. A five dollar mosquito net would save one of these kids' lives. It makes me shake my head when people expend energy on these ridiculous causes. Long ahead of anybody else, Apple in about the year 2000 had the foresight to stop putting floppy disk drives in all their computers. I can't imagine how much plastic that move alone saved from entering the environment. 1.5 megs per disk. haha. Stupid.
Good point. But I prefer each person who expends energy on a small cause over all those people, who do nothing to make anything better.