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Author Topic: iMac troubles, really ****ed  (Read 6226 times)

John Camp

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« on: January 06, 2007, 05:45:15 pm »

I have four Macs at the moment -- an older dual tower, an iMac G5, a Powerbook G4 and a MacBook Pro. I've had the iMac since March of 2005. It now has something non-obvious wrong with it -- the screen will always come up, but sometimes it won't load the OS, and sometimes it will. Sometimes the screen gets littered with artifacts, sometimes not. I ran all the diagnostics, and they all came up clean, because the only time I can run the diagnostics (of course) is when the machine is working. Anyway, when I bought the iMac, I also bought Apple Care. The guy at CompUSA who sold it to me told me I didn't have to do anything with it -- if I ever needed it, just call the number on the card in the package. I never even opened the package until this problem came up. When I did, it turns out that Apple Care has to be registered; I called Apple, and they will be happy to register it...as long as I have the original receipt from CompUSA. I don't -- I have everything else, including a serial number for Apple Care, the box it came in with all the contents (which is only good for the iMac), the computer itself, etc. But, I've been told (very politely) by Apple that they can't help me. So I paid for Apple Care, and now I guess I'm going to have to pay Apple's extortionate price for fixing their own busted computer because nobody bothered to tell me that I needed to be able to fax the original receipt to Apple...and I guess they're right. It says, halfway down one of the sheets in the slab of miscellaneous brochures in the Apple Care box that I may need the receipt.

I had a lot of problems with Microsoft,  but not this kind of bull**** scam.

JC
« Last Edit: January 06, 2007, 05:46:38 pm by John Camp »
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erikhillard

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2007, 06:53:32 pm »

JC,

Can't blame Apple for CompUSA giving you false information.  AppleCare does have to be registered.  

Is there anyway to track down your CompUSA receipt?  Have you contacted CompUSA about this?

Maybe with your credit card charge or something you can somehow get another copy of the purchase.  I would hope there would be a way for you to get a copy of it.  

You do mention you have ran utilites and had no problems come up.  Have you tried reinstalling your system software?  That might take care of the issue if its not hardware related..
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Chris_Brown

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2007, 11:20:42 pm »

Quote
I've had the iMac since March of 2005. It now has something non-obvious wrong with it -- the screen will always come up, but sometimes it won't load the OS, and sometimes it will. Sometimes the screen gets littered with artifacts, sometimes not. I ran all the diagnostics...[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94203\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Boot off the original OS X DVD for that computer and hold down the option key until you get a cryptic selection of icons. You should have three choices: Hard drive OS, CD OS and diagnostics.

Click the diagnostics and choose the complete test. This will perform a set of very complete hardware tests, including the monitor.

This is the first thing AppleCare would have you do if you could use them.
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John Camp

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2007, 04:59:03 pm »

I've already run the diagnostics that came both with the system and with the Apple Care package, which has its own diagnostics tests, and everything passed. I also reloaded OSX.

I suspect the fault is in hardware, and it might be something simple like a loosened connection somewhere. I think that because the machine seems to boot up more often when it's warmer, if that makes any sense. (When I turn it on for the first time in the day, I get a gray screen, with nothing on it. If I immediately turn it off and try again, I usuallly get a gray screen, but sometimes the Apple logo, but then no little time spiral, whatever you call it. After I've gone through this for a few iterations, it'll boot, and then everything runs fine. If I skip all the turn-ons, and just turn it on and let it run for a couple of minutes with the gray screen, then turn it off, it'll often boot all the way on only the second try. The only reason I can think that it'd do this is that the heat from the machine is actually firming up a connection somewhere; but then, I really don't know what I'm talking about.)

I'm taking it to Apple repair tomorrow. I really don't care about the money as much as the principle of the thing. It's as if you bought a health insurance policy, paid up in full, and then found out you couldn't get coverage when you need it  because you lost the original receipt, written years before, even though you still have the policy itself in your hand. What I really need to do is get my ass kicked (which I'm sure the repair bill will do for me) for taking the word of a sales clerk who was probably hustling t-shirts the week before, and gym shoes the week after.

I'm still seriously annoyed with Apple because, after all, it IS their policy, and if they have people out selling it, those people should know about the key components of the deal.

JC
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kaelaria

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2007, 08:46:41 pm »

So let's see, it's not your fault that you never opened your documentation and RTFM.  It's *somebody elses* fault you failed to RTFM.  Gotcha.  I can only imagine the 'problems' you had with Microsoft.

Mr. Drrrrr: "Hello, Microsoft?  I bought your Office98 here, and it won't install on my Commodore 64"

Microsoft: "Did you read the side of the box where it explained the hardware requirements?"

Mr. Drrrrr: "No, the kid in the store said Office98 was the best software and it's all I would need, so I never looked at the box description."

Microsoft: "Sorry, sir we can't help you, we recomend buying a PC."

Mr. Drrrrr: "That's it!  I'm going on the forums with my story and everyone will know what kind of problems I had with you people!"
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Jonathan Wienke

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2007, 09:10:54 pm »

Sounds like some of the tech support calls I've hd to deal with...

Real men DO read the manual.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2007, 09:11:54 pm by Jonathan Wienke »
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Chris_Brown

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2007, 10:06:57 am »

Quote
I'm still seriously annoyed with Apple because, after all, it IS their policy, and if they have people out selling it, those people should know about the key components of the deal.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94396\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
John, at the very least you should've read the AppleCare "Read Me". You blew it. Move on.

Quote
What I really need to do is get my ass kicked...
Check your RAM first.
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John Camp

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2007, 03:20:49 pm »

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John, at the very least you should've read the AppleCare "Read Me". You blew it. Move on.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94514\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yeah, yeah, I know. But if you read all that stuff, you'd go crazy -- I should have done it, but there are five or six pages of inane bs inside the Apple Care box and that line that said you have to have the receipt is about three-quarters of the way down one of the more inane of them.

In any case, I took it in to the Apple store and got some good news -- Apple still won't honor the Apple Care (they suggest that I go to Comp USA and see if they can recover my receipt from sometime in March, 2005) but, the problem has to do with a bunch of capacitors that are inadequate for their jobs -- a "known issue" -- so they're going to fix it for free. Now if I can just nurse this puppy through another 14 months, I will have run out of Apple Care coverage anyway, and won't feel bad about not reading the fine print.  

As far as Microsoft machines go, I've never had much problems with the machines themselves, it's always been software issues; on the other hand, I've had problems with two different Macs. If I could get OSX to run on a Lenovo, I'd do it.  

JC
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kaelaria

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2007, 04:10:34 pm »

'Microsoft Machines' LOL

Mommy, I made pictures on my Photoshop machine!  LOL
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John.Murray

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2007, 10:15:53 pm »

What actually makes this sad is:

1) The machine has a serial number

2) Apple knows *exactly* which distribution channel was sold the machine and when

3) I've never seen inventory, particularly Apple, rotting on the shelf for more than a few days, the channel would quickly be out of business if they couldn't manage stock effectively

Sure, you should have registered . . . it would be nice to see you get a little help, someone could very easilly step up, either at Comp USA, or Apple
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John Camp

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iMac troubles, really ****ed
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2007, 10:53:17 pm »

Quote
'Microsoft Machines' LOL

Mommy, I made pictures on my Photoshop machine!  LOL
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94604\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Actually, I *do* have a Photoshop Machine. Its a Mac dual tower, three or four years old now, and all I do with it is run Photoshop and occasionally browse the web. I also have a Travel Machine (a Mac Book Pro) an Office Machine (the iMac) an Old Machine (a Powerbook G4) and even a Projector Machine (an aging Toshiba Windows laptop.) And that's usually how I refer to them.  

JC
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