My iMac...

[Bill]

... has died, just short of its fourth birthday

Over the last few weeks I've been having occasional, and increasing, problems with HDD oddities that Disk Utility couldn't repair, thus requiring a restore from backup, but the last one was terminal.

Now it won't even boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD, so I suspect that the disk errors were a symptom and that the real problem was deeper in the innards.

But at least it gave me some warning... and the email from Apple confirming that the new 27" quad core iMac had shipped arrived shortly before the final death throes

Just have to hope I can get everything off the Time Machine drive...

A word of warning by the way- there isn't an Archive and Install option with Snow Leopard.

[Steve]

I don't know whether you've got any other Macs with Applecare Bill but they released TechTool Deluxe recently. But anyway nearly perfect timing but not quite.

[Bill]

That's a thought, I had Applecare on that one but I think it's probably expired by now... must go paper hunting

[Bill]

Dammit, Applecare extends the warranty to three years, not by three years... I'm well outside

I've got the TechTools DVD that came with it, and if I can ever get the damn thing to boot again I'll try it

[Steve]

Can you try verbose boot - cmd v I think.

[Bill]

Just the same- the opening Bong, a white screen... and zilch.

[Steve]

Have you done NVRAM and PRAM reset. No idea how though

[Bill]

I've no idea either, I'll google for it... tomorrow, I've had enough of the bloody thing for today

[Tacitus]

You could try starting it up in Target disk mode (cmnd-T).  Then if you have another Mac, connect both machines with a FW lead and the iMac should show as a FW drive on the desktop of the other machine.  At least you should be able to retrieve any data unless the drive has really gone belly up.

This method has got me out of a hole on a couple of occasions.

[Bill]

The only other Mac I've got is this MacBook- no firewire

But worth a shot when the new one arrives, thanks.

[RichR]

If you boot from the Snow Leopard DVD while holding down D it should boot into Apple's hardware test. Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

NVRAM/PRAM reset is hold down cmd+alt+p+r at boot before the grey screen appears and hold until you get the startup sound a second time. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM

[Bill]

Done the NVRAM/PRAM reset, no change.

It won't boot from anything atm

Reseating the RAM is another suggestion that I'll try later.

[Steve]

We're just trying to fill in the time for you whilst the new one arrives.

[Simon]

Hold on, isn't it against the law to publicly announce a fault with an Apple product? 

[Glenn]

Is a crushed Apple computer, called cider?

[Bill]

We're just trying to fill in the time for you whilst the new one arrives.

I'll believe you 

Order tracking gives a possible delivery tomorrow (though I think Monday is more likely), so I might go quiet for a day or so... got to go to a christening on Sunday so that's one day of playing gone

[Bill]

Is a crushed Apple computer, called cider?

It's certainly giving me the pip

[Steve]

 

Glen have you got insider knowledge?

It's probably pear cider anyway

[Glenn]

 

Steve, that would only be after things have gone pear shaped. It's not happening at Apple at the moment, they are now, by stock value, the 2nd most valuable company in the USA, possibly worldwide.

[Bill]

The new one arrived at ten past eight this morning

But I need more coffee before getting to grips with it...

[Lance]

In that case, have a good weekend!!!

[Steve]

 

[Bill]

Well, I'm (more or less) back up and running

It's a lovely machine... decided not to restore from the backup but only put back the bits I want, I've collected an amazing amount of junk over the years so this is doubling up as a spring-clean

Now I've got a decent sized HDD (1TB) I copied the iTunes stuff over from the external drive it used to be on. Copying half a terabyte over a FireWire800 takes about 3 hours!

A 27" display with 2560x1440 pixels gives a lovely lot of real estate, but need to get an adapter for the 2nd monitor, it uses a different connector from the last Mac. More money

Back to seeing what I need to install again...

[Simon]

Fun fun fun! 

[Steve]

Did you get any fancy bits to go with it i.e Magic Mouse or Trackpad?

[Bill]

The Magic Mouse is standard, but whether I'll stick with it depends on the battery life! It's nice though.

I also opted for a wired UK keyboard rather than the standard Apple wireless one. Can't see the point in wireless keyboards, and it's nice to get back to a UK layout. Everything else is bog standard, but you don't get an Apple remote now. Fortunately I've got two anyway.

It's just taken me half an hour to find where I put the registration code for the Marine Aquarium screensaver... I wasn't going to bin that, it cost me money

The sort of thing takes ages is preferences (OS and application)- you get so used to the ones you set up years ago that you forget a) which ones you changed from out of the box and b) where the hell you have to go to change them!!!

I still haven't got Finder working the way it used to

[Steve]

I think the battery on our Magic Mouse probably lasts a couple of months.

[Bill]

I've only just noticed that there's a mouse battery level indicator in sysprefs

It's still showing 99% which is promising after a fairly busy day, especially as I doubt they're high-capacity ones. I tried a Logitech wireless mouse some time ago, that thing could eat a set of Duracells in 5 days, so it didn't stay on the system for very long!

[Steve]

The power saving feature seems to work