Apple Gray Screen of Death Update
Back in December, I blogged about a series of problems I was having with my iMac. (You can read about it here.) I’ve been getting a lot of hits lately from people googling about the same problem so I thought I’d give you an update.
LONG VERSION: We made an appointment and took my iMac in to the Apple store where an Apple “Genius” proceeded to test it, reformat, and test it again. He even took a photograph in store to demonstrate that it was now working. See? Now chop chop, go. Next.
I was in and out in half an hour.
When I got home, I noticed some of my programs were missing. Attempts to install the missing programs from the factory discs failed. Not a good sign (but will do some research to resolve).
Then I started surfing, testing first Safari, then after installing, the Firefox browser. After 15 mins, all went well. Then I got my first browser crash on Safari (the browser unexpectedly quitting). And after that initial crash, more followed from both. Not a good sign.
Any attempts to reinstall and reformat (I tried 6 times) came up with the same errors I was getting before I brought it into the Apple store. Not a good sign.
Called Apple customer support and spoke to a rep (who was obviously reading form answers from a manual) who only told me to do what I’ve already done. Multiple times. Not a good sign.
After 45 mins of that, I hung up and ran an Apple Hardware test.
SHORT VERSION: I performed two Apple Hardware tests. The first one (the shorter one which the Apple store “genius” also performed) passed. The extended one failed. Ran an extended one again to make sure it wasn’t some weird glitch or by this time, in case I was seeing things with my eyes. Failed again. Documented error and proceeded to the most convenient Apple authorized dealer for repair (there was no way I was going to let another Apple “genius” waste my time again), which in my case, ended up being MicroCenter.
They ordered the part and replaced the memory module (RAM) and I got my iMac back within a week. The entire cost was covered by my warranty which would have been $242.77 just for the part.
I’m happy to say that today, my iMac is working perfectly. I don’t surf as much as I used to due to time constraints and I’ve elected to bypass installing unnecessary third party software to be on the safe side. But I do rely on my iMac as my main computer now and rarely ever use my Windows Vista laptop anymore. I’ve been spoiled. The graphics just do not compare.
As a side note, both times I had problems with my iMac, they turned out to be major hardware problems with the first time my entire computer being replaced. I didn’t mind that really because I ended up getting a newer version all covered by my Apple Care Protection Plan. The extra that it cost to get the plan paid for itself 10 times over. I highly recommend it especially since Apple computers ain’t exactly cheap, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, both times, I fastidiously documented all the problems I experienced including what I was doing with what program, the time and date, and any error messages I received.
Every time I brought the computer in for repairs and handed over my 2 to 3 page documentation, not one tech even looked at it. Instead, their eyes went up and over to the other side.
They all want you to tell them the problem in 10 words or less. Sure, I find it humorous now, but it was certainly disconcerting that they wouldn’t care to find out exactly what the problem was and fix it correctly the first time instead of me having to go back and forth over and over again.
So I guess the lesson is - keep good records, but keep em’ to yourself. Keep a concise list of problems that you can rattle off to a tech in a few seconds. Delete any unnecessary words like “uhmmm” or descriptions. Instead of: ”Everytime I surf, my browser crashes after 15 mins.” ”Browser crash” is enough. Think caveman talk. Or better yet, robot talk. Wait for additional questions before saying anything more. Not even a beep.
