Please Help

iHatePCs · Aug 3, 2004

Hi, I own an iBook G4. And last night I had my first hardware related problem. Okay, I am 13 and I can imagaine what your all thinking... I'm the type of kid that just throws there laptop around and could care less about it. But, I'm really not, I am a big time computer nerd, and I treat my iBook as if it were a baby. Okay, well anyways, last night I was putting the MS Office 2004 CD into the iBook and it was fine. After I was done installing it I pressed the eject button. The CD came halfway out and got jammed the CD started moving in and out and in and out till finely it came out all the way. I took it out of the slot and as I was taking it out a type of rubber material came out (similar to that of an inkstrip on a type writer) I looked at it and I was like "Oh this is great" and before I knew it, the strip was back inside (don't ask me how) So now CDs will not go into the drive because something is blocking it. Luckily it's still under warrenty, and the Apple store is just about 5 minutes from me. I will probably bring it to them later on today, since the have a repair service area in the back of the store. I have two questions. Has anyone had or heard of a similar situation? And I have some files (term papers, homework, photos (of friends, not what your thinking!) etc.) The Apple Store won't go through any of my files, will they? Thanks for any feedback.

JeDiBoYTJ · Aug 3, 2004

ive never heard of that problem, but im 99.9% sure your friendly neighborhood Apple store will fix it for you. just tell them what happened.

if your worried about them looking at your files, you can encrypt them if you want (if your running Panther I believe). im not at a mac right now, so I cant tell you how to do that, but there is 128bit encryption built into OS 10.3. look in the system preferences. but I wouldnt be so paronoid (unless your some super-genious with the answer to all the worlds problems and all your documents and paperwork is on that iBook), the most they will do is see whats wrong hardware wise, fix it, put a CD in, test it, and give it back to you.

musicpyrite · Aug 3, 2004

Just go to the Apple store, tell them that the CD gets jammed, and they should fix it since its still under warntee.

As far as you files, you can do JeDiBoYTJ said, and encrypt the files, but there is a good chance that the Apple store will wipe the hard drive clean, destroying all you files, so you might want to back up you stuff on a CD, DVD, external hard drive, iDisk, or another computer.

janey · Aug 3, 2004

nice to know there's a fellow person-under-18 on these forums

its a good idea to back up perhaps. Last few times I sent either of my laptops to applecare they didnt damage the data nor did they look at it. Well, im assuming they didnt. Didnt tell them my admin password or anything but its not hard to boot up ito single user mode or something..

Then again one of my friends went to the genius bar, the genius saw the serialbox icon in the dock and just laughed.
Shrug. YMMV.

rueyeet · Aug 3, 2004

I've never heard of that kind of thing happening before, but if the iBook's still under warranty and the drive failed under normal use, Apple should fix it. I can't imagine the techs at the store would bother looking through your files when they have actual work to do, either. Takes too much time. But a backup would probably be a good idea, too.

jsw · Aug 3, 2004

I would definitely back up the system and deauthorize iTunes. Can't hurt, might be a life-saver. Sometimes, on rare occasions, they just swap your system for another one. It's unlikely, but why risk it? Plus, it's never a bad idea to do a backup.

applemacdude · Aug 3, 2004

Just dont take that you did it and its accidental damage **** , demand service, because some geniuses are *******s

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