My iMac is broken

[John Duncan]

It just doesn't work...

Flashing file folder on startup, keeps turning itself off. Advice seems to be to boot up from the DVD. Now if only I could find it...

 

[chebby]

My sympathies.

Ours died (dead HD) just over three weeks before the 3 year Apple Care cover ran out. So it all got fixed at their expense. It's been on 'borrowed time' since then. (Weekly backup with Super Duper! just in case.)

I really hope you still have cover and I hope you have a bootable backup to restore from.

 

[RodhasGibson]

John I've got an original snow leopard dvd,is that what you mean?

 

[John Duncan]

It is, and I have one somewhere. But I strongly suspect, as chebby suggests, a dead hard drive. I have a time machine backup, but it's not very recent (d'oh). Genius bar beckons I think (which will no doubt cost an arm and a leg).

 

[6th.replicant]

Surely, an HDD's demise is covered by the Sale of Goods Act's six-year rule - ie, any fundamental failure within six years of purchase date deems the product "not fit for purpose"?

In which case, the retailer is resposible for repair and/or replacement.

'Tis "da law!".

 

[RodhasGibson]

Sorry to hear that John,Mine is a year old now so I must do something along the lines Chebby has.Hope it works out well for you mate.

 

[RodhasGibson]

My sympathies.

Ours died (dead HD) just over three weeks before the 3 year Apple Care cover ran out. So it all got fixed at their expense. It's been on 'borrowed time' since then. (Weekly backup with Super Duper! just in case.)

I really hope you still have cover and I hope you have a bootable backup to restore from.

Chebby can you tell me which version you are using please. [Free or Paid] Thanks

 

[chebby]

My sympathies.

Ours died (dead HD) just over three weeks before the 3 year Apple Care cover ran out. So it all got fixed at their expense. It's been on 'borrowed time' since then. (Weekly backup with Super Duper! just in case.)

I really hope you still have cover and I hope you have a bootable backup to restore from.

Chebby can you tell me which version you are using please. [Free or Paid] Thanks

Paid.

(And the only time I ever had to use it 'in anger' it worked perfectly.)

 

[Paul.]

Plus one for super duper (paid), it's ace!

 

[6th.replicant]

While we seem to have several Mac-ites 'gathered' in one place - can anyone recommend an external HDD for Time Machine/backup that's reliable and not too pricey, please? (My MBP's HDD is 320GB.)

Ta 🙂

 

[chebby]

I use a WD 'My Book' 320GB connected with Firewire.

However it does 'hum' a bit in use. That's not an issue for me as (a) it is in a spare room next door to where the hifi is, so cannot be heard (b) it is only ever in use for the duration of the incremental backup (about 10 minutes).

All our other computers (three Dell Latitude laptops and one Dell Vostro tower) each have their own dedicated WD 'My Passport' USB external drives using Acronis True Image backup software.

The 'Passports' are very quiet. Actually silent, unless you clamp it to your ear!

I would not know what to use for Time Machine as that drive would have to be left on all the time wouldn't it? (I have TM disabled as our use of the iMac doesn't need continuous backup.)

 

[Paul.]

I like ICY Docks, they are aluminium HD caddys that you can swap the disk around using nifty adapters...

They suit the iMac, and you can buy the adapters for cheap rather than several caddys. Saying that, with the Thailand floods it not necessarily cheaper to do it yourself anymore.

 

[professorhat]

Surely, an HDD's demise is covered by the Sale of Goods Act's six-year rule - ie, any fundamental failure within six years of purchase date deems the product "not fit for purpose"?

I think you'd really struggle to argue that for a hard disk drive.

While we seem to have several Mac-ites 'gathered' in one place - can anyone recommend an external HDD for Time Machine/backup that's reliable and not too pricey, please? (My MBP's HDD is 320GB.)

Ta 🙂

I use a couple of these, but no idea how easy they are to get hold of now (clearly not available from Amazon any more). The main thing that was important from my perspective was ensuring they were formatted with the correct partition type so you can boot your Mac directly from the Super Duper backup (link) - makes things easier if your disk does fail.

However, I'm looking to move to a Synology NAS (once they bring out the cheaper versions of 412 range) as this will mean an easier way of ensuring regular backups.

 

[john1000000boy]

Apple time capsule 2tb model. Altough all this talk is making me nervous... When i access the tc everything on it comes under "data"

If i have a breakdown on my macbook will the "data" being itunes, photos etc all sort itself out on the replacement hard drive/computer??

 

[John Duncan]

Surely, an HDD's demise is covered by the Sale of Goods Act's six-year rule - ie, any fundamental failure within six years of purchase date deems the product "not fit for purpose"?

I think you'd really struggle to argue that for a hard disk drive.

So do I. And tbh even if the repair was free, it doesn't bring back the missing stuff. Photos and music are (mostly) backed up, recent documents less so, and my mailbox hasn't been done for three months. The inbox can be reconstituted, sent items can't. Grrr.

 

[landzw]

Apple time capsule 2tb model. Altough all this talk is making me nervous... When i access the tc everything on it comes under "data"

If i have a breakdown on my macbook will the "data" being itunes, photos etc all sort itself out on the replacement hard drive/computer??

Yes you will have an option when starting up a new computer or your old computer with a new hhd to setup from your TC

 

[Trefor Patten]

Another vote for Super Duper. Get along to your local Apple Store, their customer service here in Bristol is marvellous. If the hard drive has failed, it should not be too costly to replace. That is, a lot cheaper than a new iMac. Best of luck John.

 

[john1000000boy]

Apple time capsule 2tb model. Altough all this talk is making me nervous... When i access the tc everything on it comes under "data"

If i have a breakdown on my macbook will the "data" being itunes, photos etc all sort itself out on the replacement hard drive/computer??

Yes you will have an option when starting up a new computer or your old computer with a new hhd to setup from your TC

Thanks Landzw. Put my mind at rest!! 😉

 

[Overdose]

It just doesn't work...

Flashing file folder on startup, keeps turning itself off. Advice seems to be to boot up from the DVD. Now if only I could find it...

I feel your pain. My son knocked my coffee (two sugars included) all over my laptop earlier. It doesn't like booting particularly well now and so, I'm now looking for a new laptop, DAC plans shelved.

 

[John Duncan]

Probably just needs a clean...

iMac is booked into the genius bar for Saturday for a diagnosis. Local Apple Authorised Service Centre is £55 an hour, which is apparently about right for an iMac hard drive replace (plus 50 quid for the same size hard drive, maybe 75 if I go bigger, which I'm inclined to).

Friend of a friend is offering to do a data recovery on my old one if needed for a couple of hundred...

 

[Overdose]

I've had the keyboard out so far and some of the coffee has gone under the top case and into the internals, probably causing the hung starts and loud beeping.

I don't want to fork out for a new keyboard to find out that the system is knackered, nevermind buy a new laptop. I'll maybe give it a few days to see if things improve.

I shall back away from the bay, as with a few ciders, I may do something rash and buy something I'll regret in the morning. Damn.

Good luck with yours though.

 

[professorhat]

Definitely wait a couple of days before "splashing out" on a new keyboard (sorry, that's really unnecessary, I feel ashamed). I saw a few coffee incidents back in my time in support and they didn't usually end well unfortunately...

However, you never know!

 

[Overdose]

I did the first important things like pull the ac power and remove the battery before cleaning externally and leaving in the sun to dry. Fingers crossed. 😛ray:

'Splashing out', yeah, I saw what you did there. Thanks.

 

[robjcooper]

Probably just needs a clean...

iMac is booked into the genius bar for Saturday for a diagnosis. Local Apple Authorised Service Centre is £55 an hour, which is apparently about right for an iMac hard drive replace (plus 50 quid for the same size hard drive, maybe 75 if I go bigger, which I'm inclined to).

Friend of a friend is offering to do a data recovery on my old one if needed for a couple of hundred...

JD,

Is it a flashing file folder with a question mark in it? This can mean that it's just lost the path to where the OS is. That's why you ought to try and find the start up discs it came with and boot up from them. You can then run a check and repair on the internal disc. If it all checks out fine, you can then tell the iMac to boot from your internal drive and it should find the OS on there and start up again.

And another thumbs up for superduper (paid) - excellent.

Good luck !

Rob

 

[robjcooper]

I did the first important things like pull the ac power and remove the battery before cleaning externally and leaving in the sun to dry. Fingers crossed. 😛ray:

'Splashing out', yeah, I saw what you did there. Thanks.

OD,

Before you turn it back on again, if you can find any silica gel bags (worth popping into your local Hi-Fi emporium and seeing if they've any lying around - they can be re-used), put the laptop into a plastic bag with no holes in it along with the silica gel sachets. Seal the bag and put it into a warm place (an airing cupboard for example) for a couple of days - if you can't find any silica gel, then some rice wrapped in cloth is a less efficient alternative. The silica/rice will absorb any moisture left. However what will have done the most damage is not the liquid itself, but the sugar, which if left there will just rot the circuit boards.

I remember seeing a £200K Grass Valley 300 vision mixer receive the contents of a full can of coke from the overexuberant arm waving of a director and then watching two engineers fly into the room like maniacs, rip out all the circuit boards and put them into a bath full of water, before the sugar in the coke could damage the boards - they would only have moved faster if someone had said free beer! Took 2 days to dry them all out, but the desk worked as soon as it was switched back on.

Fingers crossed !

Rob