Gordon
> I've contacted the Birmingham store, and got an appointment
> with the 'Genius bar', but I really don't want to be without my
> computer for any length of time at the moment. Strangely enough, I've
> just got home and turned the iMac on, and it has booted up as
> normal! Just wondering if any of you have encountered a similar
> problem, and what the outcome has been. Fortunately I've got an
> extended warranty, but I'm not impressed if the hard disk has failed
> in such a short time.
I had what sounds like a very similar problem with a white MacBook a
couple of years ago. It was intermittently failing to boot, which
eventually became not booting at all. In the process of crashing it
managed to corrupt something on the hard disk which disk utility
couldn't fix, and system reinstall disks couldn't fix either (the
reinstall in place just failed).
The Genius Bar said that something like Disk Warrior might fix it, but
rather than making me buy it they let me run it in the store. It found
and fixed a few problems, but still didn't boot. However it seemed to
fix enough to get the system to reinstall, and I managed to lose
practically no data (a couple of corrupted files).
What was clear though was that the crashing and disk corruption were
hardware-related, and I personally traced it to a single RAM slot on
the motherboard (it eventually refused to boot with any memory present
in that slot). Apple serviced and replaced the motherboard, and fixed
a few other developing problems at the same time. They took about 3
days, which is not unheard of at all, assuming they have the parts you
need. They'll even order the parts in before you drop off the Mac if
possible.
The HD I eventually replaced anyway: HD technology is hugely prone to
failure, and any glitches are warnings to be heeded. This isn't unique
to Apple (in fact I hear of few HD failures on Macs in relative terms)
and the drives they fit are pretty good I think. In normal use drives
develop bad sectors which the OS is good at spotting and marking as
unusable. Occasionally one of these in in a critical sector and you
start to get bootup issues, Fix regularly, and back up lots. If you
get a problem with the hard disk before you lose your data then thank
the gods of technology, back up, and swap the disk out without
complaining. Things could be much worse.
Robert
> Since you don't know if the disk is in a good state or if the files in
> the Time Machine backup are part of the issue, be careful what you
> choose to reinstall. Personally I'd avoid restoring Applications or
> plugins & redo them from installers.
All good advice. I'd also do multiple backups of stuff you really
need. DropBox is good for 2GB of free storage that syncs between
machines (and iPhone!), and you could always upgrade to 50/100GB for a
month or two (I'm now on the 50GB account and keeping all my working
files there). Archive your iPhoto library, back up your iTunes
purchases and the music folder to somewhere else. You really can't be
too backed up.
Robert
BrianBW
However, they do have a couple on display and they're even nicer in
the flesh.
I was concerned about wireless lag and battery life: I had a wireless
Mighty Mouse that ate batteries very frustratingly, was slow to
connect. And while it seemed fine enough, when I then tried a wired
one, that was so much faster and more response than the Bluetooth model.
But I just tried a Magic one at the store and I want it. I hear
battery life is four months, I don't know what the source for that
information is, though.
William
That's useful thanks! I was going to look too but I saw the shipping delay online and figured it meant the stores wouldn't have it either. FWIW, I've not had any battery issues with my wireless Mighty Mouse. I routinely get several months from it. Does the new one feel lighter or heavier? My girlfriend complains about the weight of the wireless Mighty Mouse (yeah I know..).
Robert
William