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A confession.

A

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
11
VA
I thought about posting this in a different forum, but at this point, it's beyond troubleshooting tips. I need to confess that I committed murder, no, macslaugter against my parents' iMac.

You see, my parents expressed interest in DVD creation before Christmas, and I suggested adding an internal DVD burner to their iMac (which is a G4, BTW--some of you may know how much of a bitch it is to work on those). So we went to Best Buy and purchased a Sony burner on sale (a great deal, actually). I proceeded to disassemble the iMac, swapped out the drives, and reassembled the machine. Now, I've got plenty of experience working on these things and many others, so I'm able to do this job virtually with my eyes closed. Everything went well, and we fired the thing up. Everything works great -- until we attempted to burn a CD in iTunes. Halfway through the burn, the poor iMac freezes. Now...persistent crashes or kernal panics are one thing -- but with OS X, a complete freeze up (mouse is completely unresponsive) is something of great concern. I tried rebooting, but the screen remained black. I had to unplug the iMac to turn it off. I tried starting it again, but it booted into open firmware and would freeze after that. Seriously concerned at this point, I disassembled the iMac again and verified that everything was in place. Everything looked good, the thermal pipe (for those who don't know, the thermal pipe is a cooling device for the processor -- small "pipes" transfer heat away from the chip, and terminate by mating with the faraday cage, which acts as a radiator with the fan expelling the heat from the top of the dome) was properly mated with new thermal grease applied. I reassembled the machine, turned it on...nothing. No boot chime, no hard drive spool up, just the fan running. I checked and re-checked all components...the drives, memory, etc. It's now officially dead, and will need a new logic board, which will cost several hundred dollars. I don't understand it!!! I did everything right, but the thing is still eff'ed up. My parents told me not to worry about it...but I feel obligated to purchase them a new iMac G5. Do you all think I should do it? I can't really afford it...do you think there's something else reasonable that I could do for them? I'm at a loss, I've never managed to ruin a computer like that. :(
 
That sucks.

Even if you can't afford to pay for an entire new machine for them, there are ways you could help to pay for it:

- Give them what you can towards a new machine.
- Offer to skip receiving birthday and Christmas presents from them for a while.
- Look into refurb'ed machines. There's nothing that says you have to replace the old machine with a brand spanking new one.

The reality is that their machine may have been on the verge of dying anyway... but you can never know for sure WHAT caused it to die. Neither Sony nor Best Buy have any obligation to help. One thing I WOULD do is to return the DVD burner as defective, and use that money to help pay for the new machine.
 
What clayj said. They probably know that you can't afford to buy them a brand new Mac at this point, but you need to make restitution, even if it's on an "installment plan" of sorts. Whether that means forgoing some Christmas and Birthday gifts, or paying them back for the computer over time, you should do the right thing.
 
I could give them my own iMac -- it's the same model as theirs. I'll have to talk to them about it, see what they want to do.
 
2nyRiggz said:
they might not even want to take your imac from you...
Click to expand...

You think that might be a bit tacky -- to give them my used iMac?
 
aquajet said:
You think that might be a bit tacky -- to give them my used iMac?
Click to expand...
This all started out because you were trying to help them out and make their machine a little better. The thought does count! Offering to replace their old machine with an identical one would certainly be reasonable, under the circumstances.

If you really wanted to go over and above, spring for a FireWire enclosure for that DVD burner so you don't have to go through iLamp disassembly hell again.
 
iMeowbot said:
If you really wanted to go over and above, spring for a FireWire enclosure for that DVD burner so you don't have to go through iLamp disassembly hell again.
Click to expand...

You said it -- after this little mishap, I don't think I can ever mess with one again. ;)
 
2nyRiggz said:
no not tacky but they know you need your computer so they might decline
Click to expand...

Well...I don't need it, as I already have two Macs. I do prefer the iMac for sure. I could sell this laptop and use the money to buy them a new iMac...either from the refurb store, or a new one with the education discount.
 
Horrors!
Try and remember this - for the rest of your life:
Doing anyone a good turn or favour will NEVER, EVER go unpunished

You have my sincerest sympathy. However, parents being parents, you can so easily turn this to your advantage. All you have to do is offer, with a small of amount of practical end-point, to make restitution (like offering to re-pay for the damage) and they will be so grateful and impressed. You will have established your credibility (if you need it) as a person who has integrity and is willing to accept responsibility etc. That will count so much more with your parents than keeping their profit/loss accounts clean. And they will almost certainly refuse to take any of your money, accepting that s**t happens and it was all an unfortunate coincidence. Their machine was going to die anyway.
All of that might need to be drastically re-thought if they insist on taking your last dollar until a brand-new machine has been bought.
Good luck, whatever.
 
UKnjb said:
Horrors!
Try and remember this - for the rest of your life:
Doing anyone a good turn or favour will NEVER, EVER go unpunished
Click to expand...

What you just said is that doing anyone a favour will always result in punishment.

Try not to enlarge your text when what you're trying to say is the exact opposite of what you just wrote, or make sure you get it correct. ;)
 
Question: can your parents afford to buy a new one or would it mean them missing out on a holiday etc?

Don't sell your laptop or iMac without speaking to them first. If they have the cash to cover a new one, then they'd likely be happy enough you were responsible to offer... I know my mother would hate to think I'd sold something to cover something she could easily pay for. You can agree a settlement (whether it's not getting presents or you mowing their lawn all year)
 
Abstract said:
What you just said is that doing anyone a favour will always result in punishment.

Try not to enlarge your text when what you're trying to say is the exact opposite of what you just wrote, or make sure you get it correct. ;)
Click to expand...

It's "No good deed shall go unpunished":cool:
 
I'd give them your imac if I were you. It's the same model, and theirs was already used, so it's not like you're downgrading them...
 
Abstract said:
What you just said is that doing anyone a favour will always result in punishment.

Try not to enlarge your text when what you're trying to say is the exact opposite of what you just wrote, or make sure you get it correct. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice; all absorbed and filed away for the future. Didn't know that fiddling around with text sizes on these fora was not acceptable.
As for the rest (getting things correct etc.), it's called irony ---- loads of it around in the UK; obviously it doesn't export too well. Sorry if I've upset anybody else with that one.
 
Applespider said:
Question: can your parents afford to buy a new one or would it mean them missing out on a holiday etc?
Click to expand...

I'm certain they can afford to buy a new one.

For now, I'm going to investigate the cost of repair. If it's reasonable, say below $300, I'll go ahead and do that. If not -- well then, we'll just have to see. I want to get this resolved soon as I am returning to tx to start the new semester.
 
UKnjb said:
Thanks for your advice; all absorbed and filed away for the future. Didn't know that fiddling around with text sizes on these fora was not acceptable.
Click to expand...
Oh no no, using enlarged text here is fine.

As for the rest (getting things correct etc.), it's called irony ---- loads of it around in the UK; obviously it doesn't export too well.
Click to expand...

Large text is fine, but I didn't know that what you said was irony. I thought you just typed that quote in wrong, since the message you wrote is basically the opposite message given in the rest of your post.

I got it wrong. Sorry.
 
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