iMac
Sat, Jul 24, 2010 @ 9:21pm | by Cindy
I love Skype, because it makes it easy and fun to keep in touch with my husband when he travels. It's especially great for my kids, because we can all see and hear their daddy for the whole conversation, and we can talk as long as we want for free. Needless to say, I was really upset when I just updated to Skype 2.8 and it told me I can't use it at home anymore on my iMac, which is the only computer (and mobile device) that I have that plays audio and video properly.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but I have a solution. The error produced by Skype stated that Skype does not work with private WIFI networks; specifically my home network could not be accessed because it is private and secure. Huh? It has something to do with security, Skype on mobile devices, and wanting to make money. Not exactly sure how it all goes together, but it was enough to make me rather irate.
If you use Time Machine for backups, here's how you can get it working again. Drag the current Skype application to the trash. After deleting it, there are still random Skype files on your computer. Using Finder, look at your Hard Drive under Library > Preferences, and also Library > Application Support. Delete any files that have "skype" in them. Then do the same thing in the same two folders under your Users account. Using Time Machine, go back to a time before you updated to Skype 2.8. Click on Applications in the Finder window to locate Skype. Select the file and click Restore in the lower right corner.
My "About Skype" window still says it's running 2.8, but the application also prompted me for updates, so I'm not sure if it's the current or the older version. That 2.8 makes me think there must still be another file on the computer I missed when I was cleaning up. Whatever. I can now connect to my home network wirelessly, and hopefully you can too.
Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 8:33am | by Cindy
God bless AppleCare Support! Ok, I'm still unhappy with the local store, the corporation and the repair center, but the AppleCare Tech Support people are fabulous, wonderful, amazing, and they can work miracles. They've saved me so many times already.
My iMac has been working ok lately, but honestly I've been afraid to do anything significant in case it started acting up again. Just a few days ago I decided to start using it more seriously, and consequently ordered new software and a new external hard drive for storage (did I mention my Seagate backup drive is dying?) It all arrived yesterday late in the day. If I had been paying attention to my fate trends with the iMac, I should have known something was coming...
Before I had the chance to install the new backup drive, my child stepped on the surge protector, turning it off and consequently the iMac as well. I didn't think much about it last night, after all it's a reliable surge protector. When I tried to turn the iMac back on this morning, the iMac was dead. When I pressed the power button, I heard the fan start up, then nothing. Black screen.
So I called AppleCare, and they fixed it! Apparently the power had been "locked" on the iMac somehow, I didn't ask for specifics, but all you have to do in this case is:
- First disconnect the computer from the power source for 15 seconds.
- Plug it back in.
- Press and hold the Option, Command and R keys while you press the power button, then quickly press the P key as well.
- Continue to hold the Opt, Cmd, R and P keys until you hear the start up sound twice. That resets everything and voila! Tears are gone, you're back in business.
Have a happy day.
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 @ 11:32am | by Cindy
True to their word, well, their final word at least, The Mac Shack did indeed finish repairs yesterday and I was able to pick it up. I was so surprised when I called them and they said it was ready (ummm.... why didn't they call me?) that I asked, "Really? It's really ready? And it's working now?" The guy must have thought I was crazy, but disbelief is the mode when it comes to the iMac. I rushed up there and picked it up, brought it home and let it just sit and run the screensaver for a couple of hours with no problem. I proceeded to use it a little, and after nothing crashed I did some heavy iMovie work on it; yesterday was the deadline for a video project for one of my clients, I finished it about 11:30 last night! But thankfully I was able to finish it and meet their needs.
It all seems to be functional. It comes out of sleep mode, the fans don't run wildly, and I haven't seen a single spinning beachball yet. I have heard the hard drive making more noise than normal, but honestly I think that might be due to my paranoia of spontaneous combustion more than there being a valid concern. I did have to re-install iTunes which is a bit puzzling since they didn't do anything to the applications on the machine, but it worked upon re-installation. So, for the moment I think I can safely say it's finally working. Let's hope it stays that way!
Wed, Mar 10, 2010 @ 11:01am | by Cindy
Well, just when you thought the story couldn't get any worse, it does. So let's back up a little, as I mentioned in this earlier post, my AppleCare Support guy had determined that the hard drive thermal sensor was the culprit for some unknown reason. He called The Mac Shack for me to verify that they could and were willing to perform this repair, he did this while on the phone with me. He also was documenting what we tried and what the problem was, and assured me that The Mac Shack would be able to read all his notes and know what to do. So I took it into The Mac Shack that Monday afternoon. When checking it in, they asked me what was wrong, and I told them there were extensive notes from Eli at AppleCare Support that explained everything. Well yes they could see them and that was fine, but they wanted me to tell them again, so I said, "If you run the Apple Hardware Test, there's an error that will tell you what needs to be fixed." No, they wanted me to put in my own words what the symptoms were. So I explained the fans were continuously running faster and faster, never turning off. OK, they'll have it repaired in 3-5 days.
When I called 3 days later, they were just "putting it on the desk to look at it". That's 3 wasted days I could have used it for business. So they looked at it, then ordered new parts, a Logic board whatever that is. When I pressed them they didn't seem inclined to explain it to me, so I let it drop assuming they knew what they were doing. Friday, the next day I called, they said they had ordered the part the day before but it hadn't arrived yet. Monday I called, the piece hadn't arrived but according to this guy, they had ordered the part on Friday, not Thursday. Tuesday the Logic board finally arrived, they replaced it, but it didn't solve the problem. So they called Apple and after some "research" were then told that the hard drive sensor needed to be replaced. Hmmm... where have I heard that before? Perhaps from my own lips? They verified that the Apple Store people who replaced the hard drive two weeks ago replaced it with a different brand hard drive and did not include the compatible hard drive thermal sensor that they were supposed to include. Confirmation that it was the idiots at the Apple Store that caused this problem, which my AppleCare support tech suspected.
To recap, on January 23 the Apple Store misled me feeding me incorrect information about what it could do, then proceeded to sell me an iMac with a bad hard drive. Exactly one month later the iMac went back to the store where they belittled and berated me, then took longer than they promised in repairing it. I picked it up and brought it home, and had to reinstall the operating system because the Time Machine backup didn't work properly and it caused it to continually crash. I also realize that day that the fans aren't working properly. After two phone calls to AppleCare support we determine the problem with the thermal sensor and take it to The Mac Shack, where due to their indifference, not being willing to even read what the AppleCare support tech figured out and detailed for them to use, and not running the basic Apple Hardware Test to figure out what was wrong with the hardware, it has now been 10 days since I dropped it off with them, and they're hoping it will be fixed today. Argh!!!! How unbelievably frustrating this entire experience has been! My advice to anyone buying an iMac: it is a cool toy, but don't expect to be able to use it!
Mon, Mar 8, 2010 @ 2:56pm | by Cindy
I promised to report back after The Mac Shack repaired my computer. Unfortunately, even though it's been a full week since I dropped it off for my 3-5 day repair, it's still not repaired. I left it there on Monday. I waited until Thursday to call, and they were just opening it at that point to see what might be wrong. I called Friday and they said they had ordered a new Logic Board from Apple, but Apple hadn't shipped it and it hadn't arrived Friday morning like they expected. Today is Monday, I called again and they said they had ordered the piece on Friday (not Thursday like they said before), but Apple didn't ship it. Apple's website doesn't say it's on backorder, so they don't know why it hasn't arrived yet. But I shouldn't worry, "Apple takes good care of their customers." Well, maybe some of their customers somewhere, but certainly not me!
What a complete and total waste of over $2000. I'll never make that mistake again. This was supposed to be my business computer, yet in the 6 weeks I've owned it, it's spent two weeks getting repaired, and I've spent numerous more wasted days either on the phone with AppleCare trying to fix the problems on it, or trying to find ways to make it do what the salesman said it would do. At this point, I've done just enough work on it to make my clients want more from it (the videos with iMovie), but then it's been broken long enough that my clients are upset I can't finish their projects. Apple's crap is making me look bad to my own clients and hurting my business, financially and my reputation.
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 @ 9:28am | by Cindy
The AppleCare support staff (phone support) have been very knowledgeable and helpful, except for not knowing about the authorized service center in northern Colorado (see previous post). Eli helped me yesterday with 2 useful tools I thought I'd share today for anyone else having problems with their Mac.
The first tool is the standard Apple Hardware Test (AHT). He had me get to it by inserting the Applications disk that came with the iMac, then restarting the computer. As soon as it turns to a black screen press and hold the "d" key. It will eventually bring up the Apple Hardware Test. If it fails, it will return an error code the Apple service people can decode, in my case a "hard drive sensor mis-reporting". You can learn more about this on the Apple site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
The second tool is actually not an Apple-authored piece of software although it is found on their website, and it's quite useful. It's a Dashboard Widget called iStat Pro. This handy little app displays such useful things as the temperature of your computer, your fan speeds (mine were increasing constantly), CPU and Memory resources and more. http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 @ 1:25pm | by Cindy
Remember my favorite friends at the Apple Store at Flatiron Crossing? The ones who told me a bunch of incorrect things about the iMac and its software when selling it to me, who sold me a computer with a bad hard drive, who gave me attitude when I returned it for repair, who told me I should change the way I do things rather than make the computer work for me, and who theoretically fixed my broken computer? They broke it in the process of "repairing" it. Not only were they a day late in getting it fixed, according to an AppleCare Support diagnosis they either didn't replace my hardware sensor as they should when they replaced the hard drive, or they didn't hook it back up securely. There's a small chance that they simply replaced the bad hard drive with a hard drive that has a bad sensor, but that's "unlikely".
One good piece of news I can confirm for people living in northern Colorado - unbeknownst to the majority of AppleCare support folks, as helpful as they are, there is indeed an Authorized Apple Service Center (reseller too) in Fort Collins, Colorado. They're The Mac Shack, at 157 N College, on the west side between Mountain and Laporte Aves. I'll report back on their service when I get my iMac back from them. No more trucking all the way to Boulder or Broomfield! http://www.themacshack.net/
One other good piece of news I can in all honesty credit Apple with: the box the iMac comes in is nice and sturdy, and has withstood all this traveling around northern Colorado. Maybe that's what the $2000 was for, the hardware is crap but at least you can cart it around in a sturdy box to get it repaired frequently!
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 @ 9:50am | by Cindy
Are you hearing a clicking sound from your computer or an external hard drive? Clicking sounds are not good. My iMac hard drive clicked for the first month I had it. It reminded me of a miniature Irish step-dancing troupe inside the computer, dancing up a storm. Now that I have a new hard drive in it, I haven't heard the step-dancers at all. That's good, right? If only the fans were working properly...
More to the point, when talking to Apple support they acknowledged that when you hear clicking sounds, that typically means the hard drive is failing. She described it as sounding like a gerbil running around inside the computer.
To top it all off, my external Seagate hard drive has been clicking as well. It hasn't clicked a lot and it is also brand new, so I didn't worry much about it. Turns out that one shouldn't be clicking either. When I tried to re-install my iMac from my Time Machine hard drive, thankfully it did recover completely. It counts down how many minutes are left to restore from the backup, and whenever the hard drive started clicking, the minutes would increase. Clicking stops, minutes decrease. Clicking starts, minutes increase. Direct correlation between the two. I'm grateful that I could actually recover my system, but now I get to go back to Dell and complain about the hard drive they sold me, and hopefully get that replaced before I need a complete recovery and my backup fails.
Fri, Feb 26, 2010 @ 2:06pm | by Cindy
I cannot believe their incompetence. Exactly one month and three days ago I first visited this store as a then-strictly-pc-user. I already blogged about my experience there, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But it doesn't end there. I picked up my iMac from repair this morning (a day later than they promised), brought it home and started it up. It had a new hard drive, no data. They were going to charge me for putting all my data back on there even though they're the ones that sold me a bad hard drive in the first place, but I was too quiet of a mouse to argue so I decided to try it myself. Time Machine recovery worked flawlessly, except for the new clicking sound now emitting from my external backup drive. Thankfully it didn't die in the middle of the process, so I have my computer restored.
The fan is noticeably louder, but I figured if that's the worst of my problems, I'll deal with it. Guess what, it's not the worst of my problems. My iMac now goes into sleep mode as it should, but won't come out of it. Moving the mouse, tapping keys on the keyboard, tapping the power button, none of it brings it back. I have to hold the power button in until it eventually powers off.
I called the store and was told, "Gosh, that doesn't sound right." I can either A) call AppleCare Support, or B) make another appointment with the idiots who sold me a bad computer and then broke it while repairing it, she recommends B. Not on your life, I'm never stepping foot back in that store again!
Tue, Feb 23, 2010 @ 12:07pm | by Cindy
Today marks the one month anniversary of buying my iMac, and I had to return it to the store today because the hard drive needs to be replaced. I am so impressed - badly! It didn't take them long to figure out what was wrong, but that doesn't make me any happier. They didn't have the standard iMac hard drive in stock, so I had to leave it there - with all of my private data on there, I'm not happy about that.
As I was leaving, no less than 3 employees stopped me on the way out to make sure I was pleased. Well let's see:
- My 1-month old, over $2,000 iMac is dead already because this store sold me a bad computer in the first place
- I had to drive an hour to the store, another hour home, and I'll drive two more hours to pick it up in a few days. That's ok, I surely had nothing better to do with my time, like run my business and work for my clients.
- I will have lost a total of 3 productivity days where I can't get my job done because they couldn't fix it on site.
Do you really think I'm happy?
When talking to my "genius," he tells me that I should have called Apple Care because they could have told me where a closer Authorized Apple Repair Center is. I DID call Apple Care, and they told me to come to this store!
While there, I inquire about Time Machine. You can't set the backup interval on it, it's either on and performs backups every hour, or it's off, but I can exclude certain files. I have a 10 GB mail file using Thunderbird. Thunderbird is far superior to their Mail program - I'll blog about that another day. In the meantime, I can't allow Time Machine to backup my 10 GB file every hour - my computer will be filled up in a week, but I want some type of backup for my email.
Hence, a new inquiry about a second external hard drive with backup software that will allow me to manually determine files and time intervals for backups. Well sure, they have them, but my "genius" strongly recommends I don't bother with them and stick with Time Machine, and switch to Apple's Mail program instead of Thunderbird. Well, there goes a couple hundred dollar sale for him, I'll take my business elsewhere.
So my final experience from this morning? Chatting with another woman who was bringing her iMac in to get it fixed. She had a handy little cart for moving it, and she suggested I buy one, only $20 at Costco. Why, you ask? Because, in her words, "It makes it so much easier when you have to keep bringing your iMac back here." Oh joy, I get to look forward to more returns?
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