iGary's Fracking Trouble With Apple Part 1,252™

[nospleen]

Well I'm at a loss as what to do - I mean this is the guy that basically decides if I'm stuck repairing and continuing to eff with this thing or giving me a new machine...but he's obviously got too many cases to deal with and I'm being blown off.

I really don't know if this is the time to start being an ass or not.

I think you should just keep doing what you are doing. I think that they are more likely to help you if you express your concerns professionally. If someone was being an a$$ to me, I would not give him/her what they wanted. Maybe b/c I like to win, but still... I think you have a great shot at getting it replaced. I would save the f bombs for a later date. I think that the right thing for them to do would be to swap the mac out for a quad. Keep us updated...

 

[rockandrule]

I can really see where getting impatient with them would be the right thing to do, but I really don't think it's going to get you anywhere. Just tell the guy that you're tired of waiting, it's hurting your productivity infinitely and that you need to have this settled as quickly has he humanly can. Hell, if you make him fell like he's in control indefinitely then things might move quicker. Best of luck, and keep us updated..... *crosses fingers for you getting a new machine shipped to you tomorrow*

 

[wmmk]

You're being optomistic if you think IBM/Motorola can get through 49 revisions of the PPC in just 20years, you'll be lucky to see a 3Ghz G5 in that timeframe.

ok, thanks. i was not joking at all.

notice the system i state:
"i think a nice new rack of intel xserves with 4 HD ninty inchers hooked up and 100 TB total storage, 2TB RAM, and final cut super 16 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD should make everything ok."

that seems like a joke to me!

 

[rockandrule]

ok, thanks. i was not joking at all.

notice the system i state:
"i think a nice new rack of intel xserves with 4 HD ninty inchers hooked up and 100 TB total storage, 2TB RAM, and final cut super 16 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD should make everything ok."

that seems like a joke to me!

I think he was joking too......

 

[mpw]

I think he was joking too......

I was.

*sharpens sacastic stick*
**poks Democrat622 with it**

 

[Chundles]

but he's obviously got too many cases to deal with and I'm being blown off.

Now that's service

If it were me I'd be on the phone 24 hours a day going "fixed it yet? fixed it yet? fixed it yet? fixed it yet?"

Mind you, I'm an Aussie so I'd probably have already dumped a truckload of turds on the guys front doorstep just to give him the hint. Sounds like Mr AppleCare dude needs to get the lead out eh?

Once this is over go in every week with some old POS Apple hardware (Newton without a motherboard, PowerBook 5300 with burn marks etc) and ask him stupid questions, where can I change the handwriting prefs? Why can't my PowerBook run OS X when it says so on your website? He'll never mess with you again.

Oh, and the truckload of turds is a good idea.

 

[iGary]

Now that's service

If it were me I'd be on the phone 24 hours a day going "fixed it yet? fixed it yet? fixed it yet? fixed it yet?"

Mind you, I'm an Aussie so I'd probably have already dumped a truckload of turds on the guys front doorstep just to give him the hint. Sounds like Mr AppleCare dude needs to get the lead out eh?

Once this is over go in every week with some old POS Apple hardware (Newton without a motherboard, PowerBook 5300 with burn marks etc) and ask him stupid questions, where can I change the handwriting prefs? Why can't my PowerBook run OS X when it says so on your website? He'll never mess with you again.

Oh, and the truckload of turds is a good idea.

LOL

I decided this morning that I am not going to bother him at all today. That way when Monday comes around, it will have been 5 days since I gave them the cache and error logs with no response - just adding to the pile of reasons to give me a new machine.

So yeah, Monday is when I start getting a bit "firm"

 

[yellow]

So yeah, Monday is when I start getting a bit "firm"

Right on. I'm down with that logic. Just don't let it ruin your weekend, Rob will be pissed!

 

[iGary]

Right on. I'm down with that logic. Just don't let it ruin your weekend, Rob will be pissed!

I'm a bachelor this weekend - Rob has business in Dallas. Luckily there's a lot of sailing to shoot this wekend, so that will keep me out of trouble, and give me a chance to bench the PB on Aperture.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I'm a bachelor this weekend - Rob has business in Dallas. Luckily there's a lot of sailing to shoot this wekend, so that will keep me out of trouble, and give me a chance to bench the PB on Aperture...

..& arrange manure deliveries...

 

[iGary]

..& arrange manure deliveries...

So the guy never called back yesterday. So far I have left one voicemail and an e-mail; both very nice and courteous in nature. When I originally e-mailed him the logs for the machine on Wednesday, he said "I will put this as a high priority as you are a business" and said that we would probably hear something back that day or the next at latest.

So here it is (or will be) five days later on Monday. And no resolution or "answers" from engineering.

What should I do - seriously? I can't get ahold of this guy - goes straight to voicemail - I can e-mail him (already tried that)...

I'm really at a loss. I can't decide if now is the time to open a can of Whoopass or not. Five days with not even a callback to say "hey, sorry we're still working on it" is fracking crazy. Meanwhile my machine continues to kernel panic and require restarts...

Do I call AppleCare again and say that this guy has not called me back?

 

[0098386]

Interesting. My 2005FPW was doing something similar. I counted 26 pixels that would crop up on the bottom left of the screen, but only against a black background.

I thought they were dead pixels at first but they seemed smaller than normal pixels, like someone came along and sprinkled sherbet dip over the screen. hmm. completely gone now though.

 

[Chundles]

Five days when you were told one = go totally apesh*t.

That's unacceptable iGary, you should be throwing stuff, yelling down the phone, calling every hour. It's really very poor service.

There better be an equal specced Quad in this for you.

 

[iGary]

Five days when you were told one = go totally apesh*t.

That's unacceptable iGary, you should be throwing stuff, yelling down the phone, calling every hour. It's really very poor service.

There better be an equal specced Quad in this for you.

Well I don't know if I can get it resolved today, as it is a weekend and my case got handed over to this "senior rep," but I will call today, so it is documented.

 

[nospleen]

Time to go nuts... Maybe you will make it on a TV show again!

 

[iGary]

Time to go nuts... Maybe you will make it on a TV show again!

LOL

 

[mpw]

...I can't decide if now is the time to open a can of Whoopass or not...

This can of whoopass, will there be t-shirts at the opening?

 

[skunk]

I can't decide if now is the time to open a can of Whoopass or not.

Better check the "Whoop By" date on the label. It may go off if you leave it any longer...

 

[iGary]

Well I just spent another hour on the phone with Apple (re-explaining everything I've done etc.), and the guy said the engineering department had some questions..one of which was that there are some third-party apps on, including Internet Explorer.

So I tell the guy he must have the logs of another computer, because there is no Internet Explorer on this machine - never has, never will.

So he tells me that he is "lobbying" for me with the other case guy to get this resolved and get "something" (he didn't want to promise me anything) done for me ASAP.

I told him I needed this machine fixed or a replacement on the way early next week, as a big sailing race is in town and I can't continue to mess with the problem. (And I continued to tell him that if this big race wasn't in town, I would have just waited until Monday to hopefully hear something, but I have publications yelling at me and I have to get something done - you know, playing the Mr. I'm a Nice Guy card)

To be continued...

 

[FFTT]

I would be talking directly to Apple Customer Relations at this point.

Meanwhile keep logs on those kernel panics.

My guess is that something is loose from when they rebuilt your machine.

This is really a shame. Most of the major G5 issues I've followed relate
to the original 2.5 GHz towers and the 2.7 GHz liquid cooled models.

The orginal 2005 "Rev B" 8DIMM PCI-X 2.0GHz and 2005 2.3 GHz models
have been much more reliable.

A few did have power supply issues causing the chirp, but that was fairly
easy to resolve with CHUD Tools.

Hopefully Apple will upgrade you to a Quad and that will be the end of your
troubles.

Generally when a machine undergoes this many repairs without solving the
problem Apple will probably " recover " it.

I'm thinking you should also run your system through a good power
conditioner if you aren't already doing so.

When I install the electric meters on most residential services, the voltage
can vary quite a bit, from 2-7 volts higher in many cases.
This can cause major problems for sensitive electronic equipment.

It wouldn't hurt to have your local power company come out and inspect
your meter base to make sure everything is ok in there.

Just tell them, you've been getting some voltage irregularities and want to
be sure there's nothing going on in your meter base.

It won't cost you anything and frankly many meter bases haven't been
opened for decades, so it's worth it for peace of mind.

I can't count how many services I've opened up to find loose connections
and completely cooked service entrance cables and meter blocks.

Considering the amount of money you've spent on your system, I wouldn't
think twice about a power conditioner and a whole house surge protection
set-up.

This may not be the cause of your current problems, but it may prevent
future headaches.

 

[iGary]

I would be talking directly to Apple Customer Relations at this point.

Meanwhile keep logs on those kernel panics.

My guess is that something is loose from when they rebuilt your machine.

This is really a shame. Most of the major G5 issues I've followed relate
to the original 2.5 GHz towers and the 2.7 GHz liquid cooled models.

The orginal 2005 "Rev B" 8DIMM PCI-X 2.0GHz and 2005 2.3 GHz models
have been much more reliable.

A few did have power supply issues causing the chirp, but that was fairly
easy to resolve with CHUD Tools.

Hopefully Apple will upgrade you to a Quad and that will be the end of your
troubles.

Generally when a machine undergoes this many repairs without solving the
problem Apple will probably " recover " it.

I'm thinking you should also run your system through a good power
conditioner if you aren't already doing so.

When I install the electric meters on most residential services, the voltage
can vary quite a bit, from 2-7 volts higher in many cases.
This can cause major problems for sensitive electronic equipment.

It wouldn't hurt to have your local power company come out and inspect
your meter base to make sure everything is ok in there.

Just tell them, you've been getting some voltage irregularities and want to
be sure there's nothing going on in your meter base.

It won't cost you anything and frankly many meter bases haven't been
opened for decades, so it's worth it for peace of mind.

I can't count how many services I've opened up to find loose connections
and completely cooked service entrance cables and meter blocks.

Considering the amount of money you've spent on your system, I wouldn't
think twice about a power conditioner and a whole house surge protection
set-up.

This may not be the cause of your current problems, but it may prevent
future headaches.

Thanks - yeah I tried to take a multimeter to my outlets the other day, but it doesn't have an AC volt option. The unit is currently plugged into a UPS/power conditioner, which does kick on from time to time.

If they give me a new machine, I will definitely have the power company test everything and get a new conditioner just to be sure.

 

[ITASOR]

The unit is currently plugged into a UPS/power conditioner, which does kick on from time to time.

Mine does too every once in a while...I think that's pretty normal.

 

[FFTT]

When people sign up for the whole house surge protection plan here, they
usually do a grounding survey as part of the set-up.
The surge protection hub is installed between the meter and the meter base.

The installation runs about $79-$89.00, then the protection plan bills the
account for $4.95 a month which covers any equipment damages up to
$10,000 caused by any power surge.

This is far better than filing a claim with your home owners insurance.

I lost a heat pump and drainfield pump and quite a bit of audio rack gear
from 3 major surges here on the mountain over the past 15 years.

I'm out $750.00 in deductables and needless to say, my home
owners insurance is less than pleased.

 

[iGary]

So here we are ladies and germs - five days later and no answer from my "buddy" at Apple.

Time till launch: 3:00:00.

 

[Chundles]

So here we are ladies and germs - five days later and no answer from my "buddy" at Apple.

Time till launch: 3:00:00.

Right-o.

Let me go make a cup of tea and get some nibblies. I want to see this unfold.