Computer problems

[fbhjr]

Just as my wife created a new character in World of Warcraft, her computer
started acting poorly. Slow to load. Slow to respond.
Having had hard drive problems before, I knew the signs.
When I bought it 6 ½ years ago, it was very high end
(http://www.fbhjr.livejournal.com/337585.html ) and still outperforms the
majority of current computers.
If I can get it running again for the price of a hard drive, that’s great.
The problem is, they didn’t make iMacs easy to swap the drive. Doing it
involves suction cups, wire clips, multiple types of torx wrenches and a
lot of patients. I can order all but the last on line for a cheap price.
I brought it to the Apple store to have them take a look.
They were able to confirm in short order that it was the drive and
everything else was running well.
But, being a 6 year old Apple product, they won’t do the work on it
themselves.
“Look, just put a drive in it yourself,” the Apple Genius told me. (No,
that’s his title. I’m not being sarcastic. Really. OK, mostly really.
It’s not my fault that’s what it said on his name tag…)
“I tried that with my laptop and I couldn’t get the system software to
reinstall,” I told him.
“Put the drive in, try and reinstall it. If it doesn’t work, bring it in
and I’ll put the system software on it for free.” (Yes, an Apple Genius
used the F word!)

So, I’ve ordered the whole kit. Drive, suction cups, torx drivers, etc.
Total cost is less than 10% of what a new computer would be.
The parts should get here tomorrow and then we’ll see how I do with the
suction cups…

While I was reviewing the instructions, I noticed that there was a way to
get Apple products to grab the operating system off of the internet and
install itself without disks or Geniuses or anything.
So, I dug out my old dead laptop and tried it.
It turned on. It connected over the web. It launched the OSX installation
program!
Then, it failed to install.
Sad.
I was getting very hopeful for a while that I’d get a second computer
running out of this fiasco.
But, I guess it is not to be.
Maybe I can bring that in to him too and say “If you’ll do one for free, do
this one too!”
We’ll see how that works out.

The good news in all of this is a few months back we bought a new wireless
router and it has an automatic backup and hard drive in it. So, several
times a day it backs up our computers on it.
So, as annoying as it might be, there should be no data loss.
I’m happy for that.

Comments

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope you're able to do it yourself so you don't have to deal with bringing it back to them.

[chalcedonygrey.livejournal.com]

Good luck! Resurrecting PCs is a crapshoot, sometimes ending with JACKPOT! IF you don't have luck, I at least hope your Apple Genius remembers the F word and actually helps out when called upon!

[meathiel]

Argh ... computer stuff.
Good luck with rescuing the wife's computer!

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

I hope it works out for you. It's good they will do it for free if you are not able to do it

[merilune.livejournal.com]

How goes the repairs? I hope it works out and isn't too costly!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Messed it up.
Broke off a pin while trying to get things back together.
Now, it's an expensive paperweight...

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

yay for the backup of data!