Friday, January 12, 2007

powerback

ok. so yesterday, i got my PowerBook back. after almost a month-exile to Apple to have the 'foam-dust-cover' of the optical drive replaced, I agreed to let the techie folks do their stuff.

for almost a month, i was without my beloved notebook. well, Sas got hers and I've been using it for the duration of the repair. i could not complain, primarily because i was the one who got her the laptop and at the same time, it'll be a bummer not to be wired for the Holidays.

now, i got the smile from ear to ear. and i am quite mistaken on the aftersales/technical support of Apple---as opposed to my hushed ranting last night. anyway, here's what happened. i've been bugging them since i handed over my notebook to Apple Store last December, carrying with me their guarantee that it'll take only a week or so for the repair folks to do what was needed. besides, their only concern was the replacement of the protective cover and not on any hardware/software quirk. however, the apple guy told me that they need to remove the entire bottom part of the computer (or the underchassis, if you will) and replace it with a new one.

since it was near Christmas when the cover blew up on me, the apple guy said that parts would be difficult to come by, notwithstanding the influx of unexpected repair the techies might encounter, he could not provide me with a realisitic estimated time on when i'd get my computer back. what i did was bug them all-throughout.

until yesterday when the nice lady from Apple rang up and told me that my laptop's ready for pickup. i rushed over to the Apple Store right after work (where I had an appointment the Apple gal willingly set me up---she claimed that it would be easier [and conveniently] than going online and sign up at the retail website) and had my powerbook with me ten minutes later.

when i got home, i discovered one thing that would force you to decapitate someone: a sluggish laptop and a RAM missing. backtrack: i installed a 512MB RAM a few months ago to replace the sluggishly-underperforming 256MB that was initially preconfigured in the notebook, boosting the memory capacity to 768MB--which is not bad considering the bunch of systems-resources-hog software applications i put into the notebook.

there you go. as soon as I opened up iTunes, Safari and powered-on the USB-connected external HD simultaneously, the whole shebang fucked up the system. the trademark rotating beach ball danced as if being pounced between nets while the three applications crawled to a snailpace. i could've reinstalled the extra 256 RAM that i removed, but i don't know why i didn't. it seemed to me that i was ripped-off by the Apple techs and parted off with my notebook not because it was the best thing to do after a repair, but merely for the reason that i've been bugging them everyday for two weeks.

so i called up their customer support. put me on hold for God-knows-how-long and i hung up. what bothered me was the realization if Apple entered the complete specifications of the powerbook into their file. if not, i thought, i need to be prepped up for a verbal tussle.

to truncate the tale, I was able to persuade the Apple folks to replace the missing RAM. the following day, the nice lady who called to inform me of my laptop's availability rang me up and informed me that the repair center who fixed my computer returned the missing RAM to the store. i even asked her if i should return the one that they replaced but she shrugged it off. in anyway, i won't---i was 73 miles away in orlando when i received the call---and in any event, i'd probably convince them of the inconvenience it would cause me.

altogether, it was a happy ending. the only tragic thing was it took almost a month for the notebook to be repaired as opposed to the 7-10 days estimation that Apple gave. yeah, but i'm not complaining. understandably the holidays contributed to the delay.

anyway, kudos to the folks at Apple.


(hehe. I know i'm a little inclined to say that the entire incident might have turned out differently if i dealt with companies with deplorable technical/customer support).

Labels: powerbook

latest musing of Etchie at 00:55 0 comments

Sunday, December 10, 2006

PowerBroke

for no apparent reason, the protective rubber lining of my Apple PowerBook G4's optical drive came off as i was ripping CDs to iTunes last night.



i don't really use the drive that much except for my occasional dose of dvds as well as ripping/burning compact discs. although the drive is perfectly functional, the only thing that worries me is that it scratch discs as soon as they are ejected.

view from another angle:



this afternoon i decided to bring it to the nearby Apple Store to have it fixed. by the time we got there, the apple technician (and the ever helpful apple staff) told me that i need to sign-up for an appointment first before they could check on the problem. so, i did. lo and behold it turned out that there were no available appointments left for the day. (note to self: sign-up for tomorrow). out i went.

compusa fared a little better, at least. however, the tech said that i need to leave the notebook for 7-10 days while they ship it back to Apple to have the optical drive replaced (or whatever's needed to be fixed) because the warranty is still covered by the manufacturer. that got me thinking. i could hand them the notebook and the assurance that they could repair it---but i'll be without a computer in the next two weeks which will be bloody excruciating (let's leave the metaphor to that, believe me, it'll hurt pretty darn bad).

in the end, i had to settle on bringing it back tomorrow to have the Apple folks look at it (or fix it). that is, if i could get the earliest appointment in the book.

Labels: broken, optical drive bust, powerbook

latest musing of Etchie at 22:12 0 comments

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