I kept telling myself I wanted to write something positive about my wonderful PowerBook lately. I love the thing so much and it stands up to all of my abuse, I should really blog a bit about it, I'd tell myself.
Ironically, after just short of a year with it, my PowerBook has let me down for the first time. Just ten days shy of the waranty expiration (thank GOD), I noticed the machine moving more and more slowly. I thought it was my recent install of Tiger (a virtually useless upgrade--if you're a Mackie considering it, don't bother!) so, I backed everything up and did a clean install of OS 10.3. I then began to upgrade with dmg's DLed directly from the Apple site. 10.3.2 went fine. 10.3.3 took over an hour to install--which I knew was crazy considering it's less than 100 mbs. Finally it said that installation had failed and that there had been an error.
K, so I tried installing 10.3.4 which seemed to not care that I hadn't fully installed 10.3.3. 10% into the install, it stalled and froze.
Did a forced shutdown and tried to reinstall 10.3 straight, again. This time it took forever. Took a shower while it was going only to come back and have it still going with out moving past 3% installed.. Did another forced shutdown. Restarted from the install cd and in disk utils erased the disk. Then started another install. The catch? It couldn't see the HD at all. I went back to disk utility (which could see it) and erased it again. That seemed to go fine, but then I thought I'd better verify the disk in the first aid section.
First verification failed.
Second verification failed.
K, try disk repair: Failed.
Kaaaay, try disk repair again.
Failed again.
I go back to the install and try that again just for fun.
No go--no disk, no nothing.
So tomorrow (6/1/5), I plan to drive TheFiancee to work and drive myself and my beloved PowerBook to the Apple store at the Grove. Then I get to watch them prove to themselves what I already know (the HD is dead). Then I get to wait a week while they send off my Mac, swap out the HD and send it back.
I'm debating whether or not to tell them about my past experiences with an iBook. Regular readers of ThePete.com may recall that Apple-corporation-based debacle. In a nutshell, it was two failed logic boards (motherboards to PC gearheads) and a failed hard drive and every time something bad happened I asked for a replacement computer which they refused to do. Finally, they lost my iBook in the mail and finally wanted to give me a replacement. If they'd done that in the first place, I'd have avoided a LOT of frustration. So, I demanded a refund (they couldn't even replace my machine with a PowerBook to compensate me for my month combined of lost time), which they hemmed and hawed about but finally gave me. I added $200 to that refund and bought my PowerBook.
Hey, Apple may be a lame company like any other lame company (in other worse, they're a company), but OSX is more stable and less high-maintenance than any version of Windows that I've ever used (and I've tried a few). After all, PowerBooks are the Porsches of the laptop world and even though mine was the cheapest one out there, it still rocked ass from the day I bought it.
Now, just 355 days later, the HD dies.
All I can say is: WHEW!
Sure, I'm disappointed, but I always try to back my stuff up once a month (or so) and since the warranty is still good, I feel like I dodged a bullet. I just hope they take the damn thing and replace it without hassling me. I have no idea how they could hassle me, but I won't be surprised if they come up with some reason.
I'll, of course, let you know how it goes. I may even put it in a Phlog entry on my way home from the Grove since I've got that scheme worked out (I think). (Phlog=PhoneBlog)
WISH ME LUCK!
Oh and one last thing: Since my PowerBook is dead for now I am back on my 6+ year old Win98 laptop which is not at all portable, very slow (366mhz/256mb RAM!!!) so I may not be able to update as much as I'd like. Maybe I'll bug Jen, Chad and Tim to guest blog some more. Anyone else interested in guest blogging? Shoot me an email using the email form in the sidebar just above TheMagnets. Thank god I use Gmail--no backing up of my email required, which is one less thing to worry about.
Hm... maybe I should send a quick email to Steve Jobs about this. That seemed to help resolve my problem the last time...
Jesus, no laptop. What the hell am I going to do with myself??
And wouldn't you know it? I just beat Super Mario 64 DS so I've got nothing to play on my DS now. Hey, it is my birthday next week. Perhaps someone could check out my wishlist and give me a little Christmas miracle.
Wait--that won't work, I'm an Atheist. DAMN!
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