Dead iBook!

[DavidLeblond]

My iBook got the hard drive clicks of death yesterday! Apple is sending me a box to send it back to them in. How long does this normally take to fix, and will I get my data back? I HAVE backed up, but not recently.

Blast! I can't be without my precious iBook long!

 

[jmufellow]

eh that sucks Out of curiosity what ibook do you have? and how long have you had it? I have never done a backup...now it makes me want to do one. Best of luck though. I had an iPod repaired by apple, and they were pretty speedy about things if I remember correctly...hope the same goes for your ibook

 

[DavidLeblond]

I've had my iBook (iBook G4 933MHz) for exactly 2 years. The scary part was, I had bought Applecare with my iBook but never bothered really to look at it all that much. I thought "meh, its just another extended warranty." So when my iBook finally died I went to the Apple Support site to see how long I have left on my warranty, and it said "Oh your warranty only lasted a year! You don't have it!"

So I went to my bookcase and took out the Applecare box and what fell out? The enrollment card... that I NEVER SENT IN.

Fortunately Apple understood and activated my Applecare anyway.

 

[DavidLeblond]

Ok, so the box to send the iBook back in got shipped to my old apartment after I had told them my new address three times. They're off to a bad start.

If my repaired iBook shows up at that hellhole I'm gonna be PISSED.

 

[DavidLeblond]

So, uh, how long does it usually take to get the box from Apple to send the iBook back in? I swear I thought I heard the guy say it would be next-day but I still haven't gotten it.

 

[CanadaRAM]

You're not going to get your data back. Apple's going to install a new drive and ashcan your old one.

 

[DavidLeblond]

You're not going to get your data back. Apple's going to install a new drive and ashcan your old one.

Fortunately I think I have most of my data backed up. I just want my laptop working!

 

[buryyourbrideau]

Ha I know it will most likely not be next day.

Hopefully though it wont take too long and you will be back to your precious iBook soon enough!

 

[ryannel2003]

That really sucks! I would hate to have to send my eMac in for service after the warranty expired (talk about expensive). Anyway, I've had 3 iPod Mini's sent in for service and the time required to send me another one was one week. I don't know if it's any faster or slower with Macs, but I hope this gives you some kind of knowledge of how long it should take. Once again, I'm sorry about your iBook.

 

[DavidLeblond]

Bah! Not only do I still not have a box, I'm stuck using my wife's old Dell... but I can't connect it to the internet! Whenever I try to connect to my wireless router, the router kicks my wife's Mac Mini off and the Dell never connects. I have to reset the router in order to get the Mini back on. POS! I'd install Linux, but I can't seem to get it to connect to the router either!

The Dell can connect to my neighbor's wireless just fine, but its slow as hell and... well... wrong.

 

[DavidLeblond]

Current Status

Well I got impatient. After almost a week of no box, I gave up and went to the Apple Store to visit the genius bar at (dun dun DUN) the mall. He told me it would take a couple of days to fix, but thats a lot better than sending it away someplace and waiting for it to be shipped back, etc.

While I was there I picked up an Airport Express. I was frustrated with my Linksys router... I could not get the Dell to connect AT ALL and my wife's Mini would randomly lose the connection and have me reset the router.

After a grueling one minute setup process, both the Mini and the Dell are on the internet fine. Hopefully I'll get my iBook back before Christmas so I can put the Dell back in the closet where it belongs.

 

[steve_hill4]

Glad it all appears to be working out well in the end. Let's hope you will get that iBook back soon, working, so you can play around with it on your new Airport Express.

 

[DavidLeblond]

Conclusion

Well, I had finally gotten all the crap on the dell so that it was all safe from viruses and that I could work this week while my iBook was away and then I get a call from Apple. My iBook is fixed! They replaced the hard drive and the keyboard (because they saw that most of my keys were rubbed blank.) I can pick it up tomorrow.

Moral of this story? If your machine is broke, take it to the Apple Store and don't screw with hooking up "the Dell." I shoulda known it wouldn't take a long time to fix it, all they had to do was take out the hard drive and stick a new one in.

And they were able to save all my data too! Yay Apple!

 

[DavidLeblond]

Followup

My repaired iBook is running smoothly so far.

But I never ever did get the box to ship the iBook back in. I'm glad I didn't wait around!

 

[ricebag]

That's a happier story than most! I dropped my pbook off at an Apple Store, and they had a new hard drive in it and it was on my front porch within three days. But I lost all my data. I'm one of those that started backing up only after learning the hard way!

 

[NYmacAttack]

My repaired iBook is running smoothly so far.

But I never ever did get the box to ship the iBook back in. I'm glad I didn't wait around!

Glad to hear everything worked out. Sometimes the apple stores can be very helpful.