It's been a day
Feb. 4th, 2008 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithIt snowed last night, 2-3" of wet stuff. I knew I would need to shovel in the morning because the snowplow driver would leave his usual damn at the end of my driveway. King woke me at 530am, so up I got. Looked outside. Swore. Decided to see whether I could get the day job computer to talk to my internet connection--they've been on the outs lately--just in case I decided to try to work from home.
As expected, couldn't get dayjob computer to connect. OK. Reattached cable to iMac. Jiggled keyboard to activate display.
Nothing.
Jiggled cables. Hit Enter several times. Leaned over the top of the iMac to check the cable, and caught a whiff of something electrical. No smoke, but when I unplugged/replugged the power cord into the back of the unit or hit the Power button, all I hear is a very faint meep
I took Apple's name in vain. A lot. I still couldn't figure out why the MacBook wouldn't connect to the internet. Couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the wireless to work. I thought I'd be offline in the evenings until further notice or unless I snuck on at the day job or it stopped snowing long enough for me to trundle down to the local coffee shop and hitch onto their wireless.
I was seriously thinking of buying a very cheap PC, using it to set up my wireless network, then letting the Macs work off of that.
Thus was how my morning began, and I hadn't even gone outside to shovel. As expected, the snowplow driver left a good 2.5 ft damn at the end of my drive. If someone had taken my BP reading this morning, I doubt it would have been that of a teenager.
So. Came home during lunch to feed the pups, and decided to take a chance and call AppleCare about the Mac Book connectivity matter. Backstory: One thing they always tell you when you're setting up a wireless network or troubleshooting a connection is to power down your modem for 30 seconds, then power it back up. This gives the system a chance to clear out/recycle/whatever. I had tried that several times with my modem, but even though I unplugged it, the power light stayed on, I assumed because of some reserve power supply. I called Comcast this morning, asked if they had heard of any issues with Comcast not talking to Leopard, and the tech said no. She suggested that I power down the modem for 30 seconds, then the Mac, then power them up in reverse order. I asked whether it mattered that the modem's green Power light stayed on? She said no, she didn't believe that was an issue.
Needless to say, I did what she told me to do, and it didn't work. Which was why I called Applecare. Nice tech guy tells me to power down modem AND REMOVE THE BATTERY, THEN LET IT SIT FOR TWO MINUTES.
I'm now online with my MacBook. This guy was the first one to mention removing the battery. It makes sense now, but that wasn't something I would have tried on my own without a tech standing over my shoulder telling me it was ok.
After I cleared up the MacBook connectivity matter, I went for broke and asked to talk to a desktop tech person. The Applecare contract for the iMac expired in the Fall, and I fully expected to have to pay for any support, but I didn't care. I needed to get this system fixed so I have a functioning back-up. The first desktop tech I spoke with warned me that the service charge for any help would be $49.95, and when I told her in general what the matter was, she went on to say that they would probably just tell me that I needed to take the unit to a MacStore for repair anyway. But the comment that I had smelled something like burning seemed to bother her. She put me on hold for one of the more experienced desktop techs, told me how long the hold would take (about 20 minutes) and that she would check in on me every so often, and asked that I please sit it out and wait for help. So, I did, and she did pop in on the line every so often to make sure I was still there. After about 20 minutes, Expert Tech came o the line, listened to my description of what happened, and figured that with the age of the iMac, it is likely a logic board or something similar. Then he dug into my old service agreements and looked for some way to extend them to cover the repair. He wound up adding an extension to my Applecare contract to cover costs (likely to total several hundred dollars) because not much ever went wrong with this machine and I didn't have much of a repair history.
So the weather Saturday is supposed to be decent--the snow predicted for that day apparently won't happen. I will likely be visiting the Apple store to drop off an iMac.
The day began bleak. But it got better. Thanks, Apple.
As expected, couldn't get dayjob computer to connect. OK. Reattached cable to iMac. Jiggled keyboard to activate display.
Nothing.
Jiggled cables. Hit Enter several times. Leaned over the top of the iMac to check the cable, and caught a whiff of something electrical. No smoke, but when I unplugged/replugged the power cord into the back of the unit or hit the Power button, all I hear is a very faint meep
I took Apple's name in vain. A lot. I still couldn't figure out why the MacBook wouldn't connect to the internet. Couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the wireless to work. I thought I'd be offline in the evenings until further notice or unless I snuck on at the day job or it stopped snowing long enough for me to trundle down to the local coffee shop and hitch onto their wireless.
I was seriously thinking of buying a very cheap PC, using it to set up my wireless network, then letting the Macs work off of that.
Thus was how my morning began, and I hadn't even gone outside to shovel. As expected, the snowplow driver left a good 2.5 ft damn at the end of my drive. If someone had taken my BP reading this morning, I doubt it would have been that of a teenager.
So. Came home during lunch to feed the pups, and decided to take a chance and call AppleCare about the Mac Book connectivity matter. Backstory: One thing they always tell you when you're setting up a wireless network or troubleshooting a connection is to power down your modem for 30 seconds, then power it back up. This gives the system a chance to clear out/recycle/whatever. I had tried that several times with my modem, but even though I unplugged it, the power light stayed on, I assumed because of some reserve power supply. I called Comcast this morning, asked if they had heard of any issues with Comcast not talking to Leopard, and the tech said no. She suggested that I power down the modem for 30 seconds, then the Mac, then power them up in reverse order. I asked whether it mattered that the modem's green Power light stayed on? She said no, she didn't believe that was an issue.
Needless to say, I did what she told me to do, and it didn't work. Which was why I called Applecare. Nice tech guy tells me to power down modem AND REMOVE THE BATTERY, THEN LET IT SIT FOR TWO MINUTES.
I'm now online with my MacBook. This guy was the first one to mention removing the battery. It makes sense now, but that wasn't something I would have tried on my own without a tech standing over my shoulder telling me it was ok.
After I cleared up the MacBook connectivity matter, I went for broke and asked to talk to a desktop tech person. The Applecare contract for the iMac expired in the Fall, and I fully expected to have to pay for any support, but I didn't care. I needed to get this system fixed so I have a functioning back-up. The first desktop tech I spoke with warned me that the service charge for any help would be $49.95, and when I told her in general what the matter was, she went on to say that they would probably just tell me that I needed to take the unit to a MacStore for repair anyway. But the comment that I had smelled something like burning seemed to bother her. She put me on hold for one of the more experienced desktop techs, told me how long the hold would take (about 20 minutes) and that she would check in on me every so often, and asked that I please sit it out and wait for help. So, I did, and she did pop in on the line every so often to make sure I was still there. After about 20 minutes, Expert Tech came o the line, listened to my description of what happened, and figured that with the age of the iMac, it is likely a logic board or something similar. Then he dug into my old service agreements and looked for some way to extend them to cover the repair. He wound up adding an extension to my Applecare contract to cover costs (likely to total several hundred dollars) because not much ever went wrong with this machine and I didn't have much of a repair history.
So the weather Saturday is supposed to be decent--the snow predicted for that day apparently won't happen. I will likely be visiting the Apple store to drop off an iMac.
The day began bleak. But it got better. Thanks, Apple.
