Mac Pro going for repair... Can I survive with just my iPad?

Feek

Feek

Feek

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My Mac Pro is being picked up tomorrow and going for repair.

A while ago I noticed that the superdrive sometimes would take a few attempts to open when I pressed the eject button. Last week I needed to burn a CD I couldn't get it to open at all, it just whirrs a bit and that's it.

So, knowing it was a hardware failure, I called Applecare. I sort of hoped they'd just send me a replacement optical drive but it wasn't as simple as that. They talked me through resetting the SMC, then resetting the PRAM, then trying to boot holding certain keys down (all stuff I'd tried already, just in case) and then determined it was an optical drive fault.

So I was given two options, either book it into an Apple Store or have the system collected from me, taken away, repaired and returned.

I thought about it for a day or so and decided that because it's getting close to Christmas I really don't want to have to make two visits to Lakeside so I called back and asked for it to be collected, repaired and returned.

I had a call back after an hour or so to arrange it and all is good.

Later today I'm going to pull all my extra hard drives (and SSD) out, put a single drive in which I'll install a virgin copy of Snow Leopard on using a USB DVD drive and drop the memory back down to the default 2Gb.

The interesting thing will be how well will I be able to survive the week with just my iPad and iPhone. It'll be quite unusual to not have a computer here as last time it went away for a new PSU I had my MBP to use.

It's a bit dusty in there so I'm hoping that it'll come back all freshly dusted and sparkly! I did mention that to the nice lady who booked it in so hopefully it'll be good.

This thread was brought to you by the words "for", "your" and "info" :)
 
We had to get a MBP repaired recently and were surprised at how quickly it was ready for collection. We'd earlier put it off as we were told up to 21 days... when we finally decided we just needed to get it done, we got the call saying it was ready to collect only a week later - so hopefully you won't be without too long.

Managing with the iPad will be much easier with 4.2 (and therefore multitasking!)
 
Awww I'm sure you'll survive....just! :D

It would make it a nicer experience if 4.2 was out so you could've switched apps without closing down etc, but for basic surfing, email and video watching it excels!

On the dust mentioned, I cannot believe how much my Mac Pro collected dust, it did a better job at collecting dust then my purpose bought air purifier! :eek:

I used to blast it every other day with a can of compressed air, really did annoy me.

I'm sure they'll blast it out I'll guess its par for the course when repairing systems like this!

I just used the last of the air to blast my Drobo, took out each drive and they were caked in it, blasted it all and now the fan is much more quieter!
 
Because of my air weapons I have a couple of divers bottles in the shed, 12 litres of air at 300bar, which is somewhat more than a bottle of air duster!

I tend to give the computer a good clean out once a year but didn't get round to it this year so it really does need it - I don't smoke so it is just dust.

And good news - My friend who added me to his dev account is throwing me the GM of 4.2 which has just been seeded so hopefully I'll have that on the iPad before the day is out :) I just have to wait for it to appear in my dropbox and I'll be sorted.
 
this is the sort of thing that makes me disagree with the usual ''omg apple customer service is the best'' if this was a dell machine with their apple care like care package then someone would be at your house replacing the drive on monday/tuesday.

i think i could manage with just an ipad/iphone but it would be nowhere near as pleasant/easy.
 
We have Dell's 'gold' support on all our servers at work which is great but I have no idea what they offer for the boggo standard home user and how the cost compares to Applecare so I can't really comment.
 
I took the plunge and put 4.2b on this afternoon. It is great and like others have said it's how the iPad should have been since day one. Hope it comes in time.
 
Aye, it's installing now. As soon as it's done I'll be getting the Mac Pro ready. I did the install onto a clean hard drive earlier today, I was impressed that it took less time to install Snow Leopard using a USB DVD drive than it did to throw all the ingredients for pizza dough into my breadmaker!
 
I wouldn't bother with the ram mate. I sent mine off with the extra 8gb mine had in over standard, I just took the hard drives out so it didn't go off with any extras.

Infact, the only reason I didn't take out the OS drive was that I suspected it was faulty, along with the DVD drive.

They picked it up, called me the next confirming my thoughts, knackered Superdrive & Hard drive, I had it back 2 days after that.

Great service. It'll be fine :) - Think it was gone for just under a working week.
 
Just thought I'd chime in and say that I believe I have a similar issue to you.

For as long as I can remember now, my Mac Pro (Early 2008?) does the same. When you try and eject, the drive door doesn't open initially. After a few tries, it does so.

I've always thought it was pretty annoying for a such an expensive machine, but I don't use the drive very often so have never really bothered to do anything... especially when it still works fine when I get it open.
 
Mine is the same model and the symptoms were identical. After a few goes it would eventually open and then when I needed to burn a CD last week it just wouldn't open at all.

If your one still has AppleCare on it, get it replaced as the chances are that it will fail completely.
 
I didn't buy it with Apple Care.

However I sort of swindled the University Discount by 'buying it for my sister' with her Uni account. Am I right in thinking that it's covered for three years for free with a student purchase?
 
Great thanks for that.

Still in warranty, so should defo get it fixed.

What's the deal with getting it picked up for repair?
Is there a cost?

As it seems a bit of a mission to lug it to the Apple Store.
 
Mini just went in on saturday (HD pooched) and got a phone call today that it is fixed and ready for collection.

It will have to wait until saturday lol.
 
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