OWC Fanboy blames Apple???

[DonMega]

An OWC fanboy pays them to mod his iMac and when an Apple firmware upgrade bricks his machine he blames Apple! UNBELIEVEABLE!

This is the account from the DigiLLoyd website:

Andrew H in the San Francisco Bay Area writes:
Wanted to let you know about a great customer service experience I had with your sponsor OWC/Macsales.

I purchased a 2011 i7 iMac two months ago, and based mostly on research from your site, I had it modded by OWC. I had them install 16gb of RAM and two 120GB SATA III SSD drives. After setting up the two SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration, the machine just screamed (almost 1,000Mbs read speeds).

About a month ago, the Apple Software Update said there was an EFI 1.7 update for my iMac. Without thinking, I clicked update. It instantly bricked my machine -- and endless loop of trying to install the update, then nine SOS beeps and a reboot.

I have no idea what happened, but I'm sure that this was Apple's crappy software update. I know that my machine is not officially supported, but it seems that Apple should be smart enough to write updates that don't brick machines.

I took it to the Genius bar. After several iterations they refused to do anything, saying it was out of warranty. They offered to replace the logic board for $750. So I sent it back to OWC. They have no idea what caused the problem, but offered to fix it (under the one-year warranty). They ended up sending it to an Apple Store in Deer Park, IL and paid $750 to replace my logic board.

What a great company -- and so smart to do this. It's a drag that this happened, but the fact that they stepped up to cover my warranty issue is a really smart business move on their part. All part of being in the Mac-modification business...

Anyway, just thought you would find this interesting.

Yes, I find it VERY INTERESTING that he would think that Apple was at fault. He paid for them to hack his machine, so why wouldn't they pay for the repair. Frankly, I'm surprised that they did pay. I'm sure there is some waiver of liability that he signed in order for them to do the mod...

How STUPID could he be to think that Apple was going to fix a MODDED machine? "Apple's crappy software update"??? Utterly laughable!!!

And there's Lloyd, the OWC pitchman posting this as if it were a good thing...

What do you guys say to this?

 

[visim91]

I say: forget about it.
"Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time."

 

[GoCubsGo]

OWC fan boy? How odd.

 

[bigjnyc]

This part is particularly laughable.... I guess Apple's updates should account for every possible hack in existence out there

I have no idea what happened, but I'm sure that this was Apple's crappy software update. I know that my machine is not officially supported, but it seems that Apple should be smart enough to write updates that don't brick machines.

 

[FrancoisC]

Installing RAM and SSDs is not exactly what I call a mod or a "hack" of a machine, it's pretty standard procedure...

 

[GoCubsGo]

Installing RAM and SSDs is not exactly what I call a mod or a "hack" of a machine, it's pretty standard procedure...

I think for the HDD it is because I think Apple has now done something with the HDDs to where you can't just swap them. I could be wrong.

 

[Sandman1969]

Maybe he should have put the original drive back in. Really needed a new logic board? Kind of odd.. I think.

Though, that is pretty impressive that OWC actually got it fixed for him. Does it go on to say the SSD drives are still in it, with the new logic board?

Could the problem be due to multiple drives setup in a RAID configuration?

Anyway, laughable that he thought Apple should fix it.

 

[SDColorado]

I think the original poster makes two important statements "Without thinking, I clicked update" and "I have no idea what happened."

The rest is all conjecture and speculation on his part. The fact is that he didn't think about whether or not there would be any problems or repercussions from doing the firmware update. Perhaps if he had checked with OWC first, he could have saved himself some grief. Secondly he really doesn't know what happened. While firmware updates are generally a low risk procedure, things can and do go wrong. My iPhone failed on the IOS 5 update and was replaced by Apple. I had a Garmin Nuvi brick once during a firmware update as well. It isn't a common thing for something to go wrong, but it can happen. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, at some point, for someone.

 

[DonMega]

More than that...

Installing RAM and SSDs is not exactly what I call a mod or a "hack" of a machine, it's pretty standard procedure...

OWC does more than that on this modification. Even they call it a "mod".

 

[thekev]

OWC does more than that on this modification. Even they call it a "mod".

I'm wondering what bricked the logic board here. Apple has a standard 3.5" SATA bay and a separate spot for an SSD. Using a sled to swap it to two SSDs doesn't seem like much of a mod. 16GB of ram is fully supported. I'd like to know what part voided the warranty.

You mention they call it a mod, but that doesn't really mean anything. Do you have any specifics on what the user ordered? This really isn't enough information.

 

[DonMega]

I'm wondering what bricked the logic board here. Apple has a standard 3.5" SATA bay and a separate spot for an SSD. Using a sled to swap it to two SSDs doesn't seem like much of a mod. 16GB of ram is fully supported. I'd like to know what part voided the warranty.

You mention they call it a mod, but that doesn't really mean anything. Do you have any specifics on what the user ordered? This really isn't enough information.

If you purchase an iMac without the SSD, OWC and other companies that do these mods have to put a custom frame in the iMac for holding the SSD. It's not built like that by default. An HDD iMac is different than a SSD iMac that way.

You're right, there isn't enough info from this person. My guess is that they did the eSATA mod as well and that is what bricked the logic board.

See here: OWC iMac MODS???

 

[thekev]

If you purchase an iMac without the SSD, OWC and other companies that do these mods have to put a custom frame in the iMac for holding the SSD. It's not built like that by default. An HDD iMac is different than a SSD iMac that way.

You're right, there isn't enough info from this person. My guess is that they did the eSATA mod as well and that is what bricked the logic board.

See here: OWC iMac MODS???

Yeah... you know I've stated before that an imac is really no substitute for a mac pro in that kind of setup. This further emphasizes my point. I mean that it's simpler to buy something that natively supports this. Some people don't like the current TB enclosure due to noise factor. SSDs are supported in the Mac Pro as long as you don't use the RAID card. It's much simpler avoiding machine hacks.

Bah one more edit... I don't trust SATA III / 6G SATA SSDs after the sandforce controller issues

From the Apple store page regarding 512GB SSDs for the mac pro......

About Solid-State Drives
Solid-state drives have no moving parts and are capable of accessing data at speeds up to 223MB per second, which is up to twice the average speed of hard drives. The result? Incredible performance at a range of data-intensive tasks, including up to 2x faster ProRes video encoding using solid-state drives compared with hard drives.

Note: Solid-state drives are not compatible with the Mac Pro RAID Card in either RAID or Enhanced JBOD mode. To add a solid-state drive to your Mac Pro in any drive bay, you must deselect the Mac Pro RAID Card.

 

[DonMega]

Yeah... you know I've stated before that an imac is really no substitute for a mac pro in that kind of setup. This further emphasizes my point. I mean that it's simpler to buy something that natively supports this. Some people don't like the current TB enclosure due to noise factor. SSDs are supported in the Mac Pro as long as you don't use the RAID card. It's much simpler avoiding machine hacks.

See, that's exactly what I was thinking. Why wouldn't you just buy a Mac Pro that is inherently more expandable? [Spend money to buy an iMac and then spend more money for upgrades AND spend money for someone to do the upgrade] vs. [Spend the money to buy a Mac Pro and spend the money to buy upgrades and do it yourself.] I'll always choose the latter.

 

[roadbloc]

Yawn. There is nothing here that is worth debating over.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Um, even with the upgrades, the iMac still costs significantly less than an equivalently-equipped Mac Pro.

And, yes, the "mod" in question is simply putting in a holder for the second SSD. As far as the logic board is concerned, it's stock - you've just plugged in a second drive (something that is fully supported from Apple.)

Yes, it is ridiculous to blame Apple, their firmware update shouldn't brick the logic board simply because you're using non-stock RAM and storage. But at the same time, there is nothing about the "mods" that should void the warranty, either.

 

[DonMega]

Yawn. There is nothing here that is worth debating over.

Yep go to sleep. It's not a debate, it a discussion.