August 6, 2013

My Headache is Not Over




The tale about my deceased Mac continues. After they replaced the hard drive, we picked it up yesterday. We hooked it back up in my office, and I proceeded with the Time Machine restoration from the dedicated external hard drive. With a firewire connection (faster than USB), it took 7 hours to complete. At the end, I permitted myself to edge into a smile when I saw the "successful transfer" message on the screen. I actually took a photo of it, LOL, in the hopes of using it for a post.

But I am enough of a realist to know that I wasn't completely out of the woods - or safely off of the rock in the middle of a raging river. My desktop actually appeared, similar to what it used to look like when all was right with my digital world on Friday night. But there were some curious broken application links in the dock at the bottom of the screen. Okay, I thought. I can just redo the links on the dock. So I clicked the mouse...

The "white screen of death" returned.

At this point, I don't mind sharing with you that I was upset, times ten however many digits there are in our current national debt. I called Apple Care again. A nice young man (who spoke English!) walked me through various keyboard acrobatics. At times, I got strange colored screens (one green and one blue) that looked like digital corduroy. At least I had something new to look at besides the plain white color, right?  The disc drive wouldn't even vacuum in the DVD startup disk that originally came with the computer. The bottom line was that my Mac had returned to its assumed state of being an extremely oversized night light. We were given another appointment at the Genius Bar today.

I did a little research on the laptop and unscientifically concluded (since I only speak "camera" and not "computer") that there was either a graphics card failure, logic board failure, or both. I must be getting pretty talented with Google searches.  The Genius Bar lady who was assigned to me today ran the diagnostics and said it looked like failures of both components.

Apple is now eating another $1002 outlay on top of the $265 sunk cost for the hard drive replacement. And, there is no telling whether this will be the end of the reconstruction. We made it clear to Miz Genius Bar lady that everyone's collective goal should be for us not to have to return for a third repair. She recognized the wild and feisty looks in our senior eyes, and she readily agreed. They are going to do extensive diagnostics to ensure that this time they will fix it, once and for all.

Folks, this is exactly why it pays to cough up the extra dough for computer insurance. Because if I was looking at spending this kind of money (not to mention aggravation, trips to the dreaded mall, and time), I would be raising the surrender flag and getting a new computer. I even told Miz Genius Bar lady that Apple would be spending less money on the whole deal if they just handed over a new one to me right now. Unfortunately, she didn't bite on that suggestion. Drats!

Here's the bottom line. I'm still using Mr. Jim's laptop and will continue accessing it for an undetermined amount of time. Our Apple store didn't have the supercharged graphics card in stock that I had gotten as an extra when the computer was new. The card has to be shipped from a warehouse. Maybe my computer will be ready for me to pick up in a couple of days.  Maybe not. Who knows anymore.

Because I have now gone full-tilt paranoid (current motto: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong), I'm making a copy of the entire Time Machine onto another external hard drive. (This crazy gal has multiple external drives with 10 TB total storage capacity. But most of my edited original photos end up being around 1GB in size, so I'm not entirely pegged out on the wacko meter when it comes to storage capacity.) Once the backup of the Time Machine is done, I plan to copy off some older RAW photo files and do some editing using Mr. Jim's Mac desktop. He has all of the photo editing software that I need. So - fingers crossed - I may be able to post up a Wordless Wednesday photo tomorrow and actually participate in my own photo challenge this Saturday. They won't be the photos that I originally planned to present. But I'm sure I can scrounge up a few morsels out of my archives.  I would sure hate to miss a photo party that I am hosting!

I'm way behind on visiting my many blogging friends. Continuation of the computer saga and next Tuesday's cataract surgery will slow me down even further. If you get a blog comment from me in the couple of weeks, consider yourself blessed -  or cursed - whichever the case may be, LOL!

P.S. Thank you so much for the prayers for both of us. I am so grateful for all the encouraging comments and e-mails that get directed my way. Mr. Jim continues in his efforts to rally and deal with all of his doctor appointments/treatments.  And I'm still waiting for my second round of antibiotics to kick in with some vigor and kick the sinus infection to the curb. "Feisty" remains the watchword at Grey Havens cottage!


15 comments:

  1. Oh dear, I thought for sure you'd be up and running. Best wishes for your eye surgery. Keep up your spirits.

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  2. Very appropriate picture considering. Hang in there Donna!!

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  3. Well, goodness gracious, so sorry for all the computer problems. Hopefully this time, it will be back to its right self.

    Prayers continuing here.

    xoxo

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  4. 'wild and feisty looks' had me laughing, but i sure hope they fix it this time!

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  5. Donna
    I can not even imagine how MAD you must getting over this whole computer saga! I don't understand half of what you're talking about with your computer problems, but I had to buy a new one last year because warranty had run out one lousy week before.
    BTW, I never tire of your bear photos-such beautiful creatures!

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  6. Yikes. More headaches. Love the photo - imminently suitable. Will keep you and Mr. Jim in my prayers.

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  7. Oh goodness! When it rains, it pours! I hope you get a brand spanking new Mac and that you and Mr. Jim are feeling better. Still have you in my prayers. xoxo

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  8. Oh dear! No wonder you have a headache! Illness, computer breakdown(s), trips to the mall (uggh), frustration...

    Does it console you at all to know that you are a marvelous story-teller? No, I suppose not. But your relating of these woes had me both smiling and sympathizing! More prayers for Donna and Jim...

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  9. oh that all does sound like a major headache. Hope it's all straightened out soon.

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  10. First things first here.....the bear! OMG what a fabulous pic Donna - have you ever entered it in a contest? It's really a beauty!
    OK, thank goodness you have a great sense of humor (or humour as we say in England of course!). Without it I believe the Apple Store might have been a battleground the second time you visited - how did you stay so calm? Why oh why didn't they just go ahead and give you a new one - so much easier for everyone. Hope all works out - meanwhile thanks to jim for letting you use his, smile, and an extra hug for him!

    Hang in there - be well soon.
    Mary X

    P.S. See you Sat. for the 'challenge' hopefully.

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  11. Oh my!! I hope this never happens to me. I would just about die I think. And we don't have insurance or an extended warranty on my Mac. Yikes. I hope things get corrected soon for you. I also hope you and your husband are feeling much better. Hugs, Pamela

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  12. You deserve to be feisty, my friend! Hope things are fixed this time!
    ~Adrienne~

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  13. Seems the more you pay for something, and the more you need it, the more grief you're going to experience in relation to it. And I agree: Apple would come out ahead if they'd just hand you a new iMac. Why they'd give it back to you still broken is beyond me too. I thought they were geniuses. They'd better fix it right this time, or else.

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  14. Felt I needed to respond to this post. Even if I say "I"m so sorry" --maybe that will help a little. Computer problems can be so frustrating.... I don't understand though why Apple doesn't just give you a new one --instead of making you go through all of this... AND---they could at least have given you a 'loaner' to use.... Oh Well--as much as we love Apple, that just seems to be the way that all businesses are run these days. The money they make is the bottom line --and whether they make the customer happy or not is irrelevant. Shame!!!!!

    Hope you get your computer back soon --and hope it is OKAY.

    Hugs,
    Betsy
    P.S. Good Luck with your second eye surgery.

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  15. Always enjoy your pictures of the bears!

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Marty, here! Donna loves comments, and I faithfully pass them on to her. Thank you so much for visiting!