PowerBook G4 DVD/CD issue

[The Wookiee]

A friend/coworker of mine is having an issue with his PowerBook G4; apparently, one day it decided to stop burning CDs or reading CDs, but it'll play DVDs fine. If you insert a normal Audio CD, for example, it'll wait three seconds then eject it.

Any ideas?

[InnocentBystander]

Pick up a telephone and call apple, he paid an arm and a leg for that apple, make use of the warranty!

[Vohu Manah]

Agreed, something sounds majorly fucked up. I'd also suggest running a repair permissions just in case, and make sure CRON tasks are being run by the laptop (again, just in case).

[Durandal]

A friend/coworker of mine is having an issue with his PowerBook G4; apparently, one day it decided to stop burning CDs or reading CDs, but it'll play DVDs fine. If you insert a normal Audio CD, for example, it'll wait three seconds then eject it.

Any ideas?

Take it into an Apple Store. There is one in New York City.

One of my coworkers just took her iPod in because it was acting kind of weirdly, and they just gave her a new one, on the spot.

[InnocentBystander]

There are so few apple stores, it confounds me. http://buy.apple.com/
I peeked into the one at Short Hills over the weekend, was not impressed.

[phongn]

Apple has to be careful not to eat sales from other stores that stock Apple equipment, like CompUSA.

[InnocentBystander]

How is apple customer support?

[phongn]

How is apple customer support?

Pretty good, from what I hear. There is a lack of 'accidential damage' coverage options for their laptops, though.

[InnocentBystander]

Hrm, was looking @ apple.com, the support is pretty upsetting. 90 days of phone support is pretty worthless, considering you'll get a good number of years out of a mac. And they really assrape you on the extra coverage (price wise), no middle ground for support, 3 years or bust, I can't say I like that. I also wonder, how they provide parts longer than phone support.

Is there a reason for that? Can they not afford to support all their users? Personally, from the standpoint of someone who might move to apple it's rather troubling.

[phongn]

Hrm, was looking @ apple.com, the support is pretty upsetting. 90 days of phone support is pretty worthless, considering you'll get a good number of years out of a mac. And they really assrape you on the extra coverage (price wise), no middle ground for support, 3 years or bust, I can't say I like that. I also wonder, how they provide parts longer than phone support.

Phone support is "I need help setting up x," hardware support is one year (or three). Their servers get a higher level of support, but in general it is inferior to offerings from IBM, HP/Compaq and Dell.

Is there a reason for that? Can they not afford to support all their users? Personally, from the standpoint of someone who might move to apple it's rather troubling.

Warranty options are designed to generate money for the company; Apple probably set their options to maximise their profits will still remaining a decent level of support.

[Durandal]

Hrm, was looking @ apple.com, the support is pretty upsetting. 90 days of phone support is pretty worthless, considering you'll get a good number of years out of a mac. And they really assrape you on the extra coverage (price wise), no middle ground for support, 3 years or bust, I can't say I like that. I also wonder, how they provide parts longer than phone support.

Is there a reason for that? Can they not afford to support all their users? Personally, from the standpoint of someone who might move to apple it's rather troubling.

90 days full coverage with a year of parts is standard among PC manufacturers.

[InnocentBystander]

Hrm, was looking @ apple.com, the support is pretty upsetting. 90 days of phone support is pretty worthless, considering you'll get a good number of years out of a mac. And they really assrape you on the extra coverage (price wise), no middle ground for support, 3 years or bust, I can't say I like that. I also wonder, how they provide parts longer than phone support.

Is there a reason for that? Can they not afford to support all their users? Personally, from the standpoint of someone who might move to apple it's rather troubling.

90 days full coverage with a year of parts is standard among PC manufacturers.

I'd like to disagree. Go to dell.com, hp.com, gateway.com, alienware.com, falconn-w.com, ibm.com
One year is standard for both phone and parts/labor; hell, most offer 1 year on-site standard. And the option to add a second or third year is affordable. In fact, I would say the standard is 1 year onsite, and it is very easy to find 2 or more years of telephone support at very low prices.

Where do you get that figure from? I just found a half dozen major computer manufactures which do not even offer 90 days of full coverage.

[Vendetta]

End User support is usually slightly different though.

Of all the major manufacturers I know, Apple is the only one that offers any kind of helpline support, most only have diagnostic support lines, and won't talk to you about software beyond "remaster it".

Anyway, a good tgest of whether a CD drive's up the shitter is to try and boot off it (put your OSX system CD in and hold down Option on boot and it'll give you the choice to do so, there's also a hardware diagnostic tool available by doing this, it helps to go in armed if you're dealing with warranty support lines)

[InnocentBystander]

End User support is usually slightly different though.

Of all the major manufacturers I know, Apple is the only one that offers any kind of helpline support, most only have diagnostic support lines, and won't talk to you about software beyond "remaster it".

Anyway, a good tgest of whether a CD drive's up the shitter is to try and boot off it (put your OSX system CD in and hold down Option on boot and it'll give you the choice to do so, there's also a hardware diagnostic tool available by doing this, it helps to go in armed if you're dealing with warranty support lines)

You would call the software manufacturer or consult a manual for that info. These days most software is pretty intuitive, it's the technical support that is important.

[Vendetta]

Which is why Apple's 90 day SW support and one year tech support stands out a little (their extended warranty gets you three years SW support as well as tech support, parts, and labour).

Though I don't know what Dell or IBM do around here

[InnocentBystander]

Which is why Apple's 90 day SW support and one year tech support stands out a little (their extended warranty gets you three years SW support as well as tech support, parts, and labour).

Though I don't know what Dell or IBM do around here

Every Mac comes with 90 days of telephone support and one year of service coverage at an Apple-authorized repair center

This is sub par! Most PC manuf's give away 1 year telephone, 1 year parts,labor and most importantly on-site. It can take weeks to get a computer back that you've sent to an "authorized repair center" esp. since since the machine might need to be shipped off somewhere to be serviced. On site is simply great, it is very convinent and often allows for a much faster repair time.

Dell gives 2 years of phone,parts,labor & on-site as standard (though offers 1 year at a slightly reduced price), however that is above the par.
IBM is a little strange, I don't know what their base service is, but I think it's 1 year parts,labor,telephone, and has a cheap option to add onsite to that.

HP/Compaq is 1/1/1 (phone,parts/labor,onsite) of course.

So I guess you are right, it does stand out: Well Below Average. . .

[Vendetta]

Apple UK give you one year phone tech support, onsite repair, and 90 days software advice, which is a support line for numpties who can't use the OS, can't install, configure, or use programs, or don't know how to Ctrl-Click.

And this is all for home users, Joe Fuckwit who doesn't know the difference between a Powerbook and a piece of cheese.

[InnocentBystander]

Apple UK give you one year phone tech support, onsite repair, and 90 days software advice, which is a support line for numpties who can't use the OS, can't install, configure, or use programs, or don't know how to Ctrl-Click.

And this is all for home users, Joe Fuckwit who doesn't know the difference between a Powerbook and a piece of cheese.

I went through their service plans. In the US, and everywhere else, the free *technical* support is 1 year for the equipment and 90 days for telephone assistance. And if you want a more reasonable amount of support, say, more than 3 months, well, too bad, you've got to go three years; the entire life of the computer, and you've got to shell out another 15% extra for it. Not good when you're on a budget.

I peeked at the UK website, but saw nothing about software advice, but their 3 year warranty does include on site service if you live within 100 miles of two or three major cities, which is nice, but doesn't help most of us who live in the US, now does it?

[phongn]

You know, the site does have information on the three-year warranty.

The AppleCare Protection Plan includes up to three years of onsite service for desktop computers.* The plan also provides global repair coverage for portable computers, which can be very important if you travel abroad. Apple-certified technicians perform repairs using genuine Apple parts.



This plan is not available for Florida consumers or where prohibited by law.
* Onsite service is not available in all locations.

[InnocentBystander]

You know, the site does have information on the three-year warranty.

The AppleCare Protection Plan includes up to three years of onsite service for desktop computers.* The plan also provides global repair coverage for portable computers, which can be very important if you travel abroad. Apple-certified technicians perform repairs using genuine Apple parts.



This plan is not available for Florida consumers or where prohibited by law.
* Onsite service is not available in all locations.

Yes, at a premium. I would never pay for that kind of coverage, a year is enough time to get the kinks out of a system and replace any faulty hardware. Though I would want 2 years if I had been buying, considering I have no diagnostic skills on that platform.