My mom's eMac 1.25 / 40 / Combo {serial# G8431F46QJ8}, purchased in summer 2004, started exhibiting all these same problems starting around February-March 2006 or so. My mom didn't buy the AppleCare due to the cost, and because we hadn't had hardware problems in recent memory (my old G3 Yosemite, iBook SE, and iMac 233 are still chugging along fine under 10.3.9, and I even have a Performa 6290 and Mac TV doing day-to-day television duty). We were also under the mistaken impression that Powerbook 5300-type inherently defective hardware issues were long in Apple's past (yes, I had one of those too...)
Over the past months, as the problems on the eMac worsened, we've done all the usual things - fix drive permissions, reinstall MacOS, etc. No help. Got so bad that I couldn't even back up the information currently on the drive w/o booting into Safe Mode. Many, many hours wasted.
I brought the eMac home in preparation for a "nuke-&-pave" reformat, but decided to do a little Web searching prior to doing it. What should I find, but this discussion! (thanks!) Decided to hold off on the reformat, deleted the video drivers in Safe Mode (no drop in video speed, but the graphics are noticeably fuzzier now), and backed it up. Functions, but clearly can't be trusted for long-term use.
After reading all the postings here, I phoned Apple Customer Support this morning. They were initially less than helpful, but after I referred them to this discussion, I was put on hold for quite a while and then told to take the ailing eMac to the closest Apple Store so that it could be looked at to see if it could be taken care of. I asked, "just bring it down there?", and they said "yes, just bring it to the store".
I haven't had much contact with Apple Stores in my long Mac experience - in fact, just finding the store info on the Apple website was quite a chore. Missed entirely the small print about "would you like to make a reservation?" - more on this below.
Lugged that darn heavy & hard-to-carry thing into the car for the drive down to the Apple Store (Biltmore). Fought the traffic, found a space, & lugged the eMac into the store.
I have
never been treated as rudely in a retail establishment (and I mean
any retail establishment) as I was by the three so-called 'staff' behind that counter. The worst, a young lady whose name I will omit here, dealt with me in an extremely dismissive and condescending manner, acting as if I was some sort of an imbecile because a) I brought a machine in without an appointment, and b) I wasn't fully aware of their requirement to set an appointment (something I haven't had to deal with at other computer repair centers). She acknowledged that there was nothing on the store website that indicated that appointments were mandatory, but then said in a voice that one would use to a 2-year-old, "I can write this down for you if will help you understand" - it was all I could to control my response at that point. Didn't stop her from trying to upsell me to ProCare in the next breath, though. I was tempted to tell those kids that I was ResEditing System 6.0.3 when they were in preschool, but it clearly wouldn't have helped - likely wouldn't have meant anything to 'em anyway.
The lead annoyance, er, staffer told me (again in that rude and condescending manner) that all appointments were booked for the day (showing my foolishness for arriving at the only time my schedule would allow), and that I'd just have to take the computer back home and try my luck setting a same-day appointment on the Web for some future date - unless, of course, I'd like to shell out for ProCare just for the privilege of setting an appointment a few days in the future. And they were quick to let me know that it was a violation of corporate policy for a machine to remain at the store unless in had been accepted for repair (
after the appointment, of course). Given my schedule & frequent travel, it's going to be tough to set a same-day appointment in the foreseeable future - and no, I'm not giving Apple one cent more for something that should be considered basic customer service.
And so I had to haul that heavy piece of snow-colored
** back to the car for the long drive home, a whole lot less satisfied than when I started earlier today. Meanwhile, my elderly mom, who likened her eMac (when healthy) to "a part of her" due to its being her wonderful gateway to the world of the Web, remains eMac-less until we can get this resolved.
From here on in, I will only deal with the Apple Store on an as-needed basis, and will be sure to tell one and all about their particular style of "customer service". I suppose I'll have to go down there again to get this eMac fixed (or drive 30 miles farther to another store that likely has the same sort of "service") - but I certainly won't spend any money I don't absolutely have to at any Apple Store
ever again.
And after all this we still don't know if they'll have the gall to try to demand $600+ for a new logic board after they finally look at it.
After 17+ years of being a Mac person from the days of the 2-floppy Plus, it's enough to drive me to PCs - except for that memory of resurrecting my wife's Sony XP machine two weeks ago.
rcm <http://www.richardcmoeur.com>
eMac 1.25 (mom's) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Mac OS X (10.3.9)
