Bad Apples

Nine days ago I became the proud owner of a PowerMac G4, which nicely matched my new(ish) 15GB iPod. This evening I became the not-so-proud owner of a 13kg silver paperweight and a credit-card-sized white doorstop.

Somehow, between turning off the machine on Friday night and attempting to turn it on tonight, it flaked out. Symptoms seem to indicate the power supply is fried, and to replace it myself will cost upwards of 1/3 of the price of the entire computer. The other option is to have Apple fix it, which will cost just a few dollars less than the computer itself did. Neither option takes into account replacing the now-dead iPod I had connected to it.

So ends my first–and last–experience with Apple hardware.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles… the iPod, she lives. Apparently there is a problem with the iPod where the battery would drain if connected to a Mac that was off or sleeping. Nice going, Apple.

Saddle up, the Mac lives again too! Thanks to Andy Skuse at Mostly Digital, I discovered that I needed to perform a PMU reset. Even better, he diagnosed the problem via e-mail, and at no cost. Needless to say, Mostly Digital is my new favourite Mac store.

Wincent Colaiuta shared a similar story about a year ago.