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Brand New Piece of **** Mac Mini is Dying

paintballer said:
I restarted it and tried the hardware test again only to have it freeze in the same spot as before. And if I went to the Apple Store I wouldn't be yelling at them because its not their fault that this happened. The reason I don't want to go to the Apple Store is because I don't feel like driving for 8 hours or waiting a week or longer to get my Mac back.
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Call Applecare. They'll send a box, they pick it up and two or three days later your machine is back.

What exactly do you use this machine for that you cannot be without it for a few days? It's not like you bought enterprise hardware here.

I don't know if I could go that long using Windows.
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Oh. What did you do before you got the mini?
 
Well the screensaver came on and about 10 minutes after it came on a screen came up on top of the screensaver and it said you need to restart your computer, hold down the power button or press the restart button.
 
wwooden said:
I bet if you called Apple and they said they would fix your computer that it wouldn't be gone more than a few days. I had a harddrive go back in a PowerBook, called them monday, they send the box tuesday and I shipped it out that day. I got my computer back thursday so I was was without my computer for 48 hours. They really are pretty quick when it comes to some repairs.
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I've had things go even faster. I sent my powerbook in last year because the hinges broke and I was having hardware issues. Well they sent me the box to mail it in, I had it the next afternoon and sent it out around 3pm thinking i would have to wait a week for my computer. Well, I don't know if i lucked out or how it happened but literally the next day at 6pm I had my computer back. This was when it went through DHL, so it mighta been quicker, but I am pretty sure you won't have your computer gone for more then 24-48 hours. Apple is crazy.

Infact, they took 6 days on my dad's computer 2 years ago to replace the harddrive and do other stuff and because they "took so long" and there was "more to fix then they anticipated" they sent it back with an extra 512mb of ram for free because of the inconvenience of being computerless so long.
 
TOTALLY unrellated (well unreallted company wise..) but when my Xbox disc drive failed, I sent it in the morning before went to college and it was back on my doorstep the same day when I got home (fixed!!) To this day I have no idea how they done that.
 
paintballer said:
Well the screensaver came on and about 10 minutes after it came on a screen came up on top of the screensaver and it said you need to restart your computer, hold down the power button or press the restart button.
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I don't think it's a ram issue since you are not experiencing kernal panics, however since you say that the hardware diagnostics stop at the ram checking phase (as I remember, you aren't supposed to be messing around with the keyboard and mouse during the hardware diagnostics but anyway...), check out rember
and see if it brings up any errors with the ram.
While it could be a graphics card problem, I would imagine that if the graphics were bad you would experience trouble in other situations aside from waking from sleep. I'm guessing this is a solvable problem. Also, it wouldn't hurt to zap your pram (check out the MR guides for this).

Oh, one other suggestion, in your system prefs under energy saver uncheck "put the hd to sleep when possible" and slide 'put the computer to sleep...' to "never".

YT
 
Well do you think I should try reinstalling the OS? I don't know what else I can do. If I take it to the Apple Store it probably wouldn't happen for a few days so I'll try to fix it myself.
 
paintballer said:
Well do you think I should try reinstalling the OS? I don't know what else I can do. If I take it to the Apple Store it probably wouldn't happen for a few days so I'll try to fix it myself.
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have you called applecare? they do try to help you fix it before telling you to take it in for repairs.
 
Well I did a clean install and I havn't had any problems since so hopefully that took care of the problem. If I have any other problems I will just take it in to the Apple Store. Thanks for the help.
 
Well it happened again and I won't be able to take it in until the weekend so let me know if you have any suggestions on how to fix it. Also if I do have to take it in to the Apple Store what do I have to take with me? Do I just have to take the Mac or do I have to take the box and all the cables and everything?
 
paintballer said:
Well it happened again and I won't be able to take it in until the weekend so let me know if you have any suggestions on how to fix it. Also if I do have to take it in to the Apple Store what do I have to take with me? Do I just have to take the Mac or do I have to take the box and all the cables and everything?
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Why don't you just call Apple? They'll send you a box, you put your mini in it, and it comes back a few days later fixed. Much easier than going to a store. You don't even have to pay shipping.
 
My Advice - call.

IF you have never called - you don't know they are HELPFUL. Sure they have sheets of stuff they must try, but then you get a case number.

So when you walk into the store - everything is there, you don't have to repeat what you did on the phone.

If it happens again - call! The best advice I can give you. Oh, and the $99 for Pro Care was worth it... even though it took a day longer than it was supposed to, I got things fixed quicker than without it.

So, CALL next time!
 
killmoms said:
Why don't you just call Apple? They'll send you a box, you put your mini in it, and it comes back a few days later fixed. Much easier than going to a store. You don't even have to pay shipping.
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That's what I'd do if I were the OP.
 
Well I don't really trust sending things like that throught the mail where it can easiliy be damaged, stolen, or lost. And I doubt the people you talk to when you call know much. They probably just have the same stuff that is on apples support page which I have already searched through.
 
paintballer, where do you live? You don't have to go to the Apple Store in Salt Lake necessarily. I don't know where you are, but there's a MacDocs in Orem I think, and Expercom in Logan. Seems like there's a Mac shop in Ogden too but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, any authorized Apple reseller can arrange/do warranty repairs. What do you think people did before the Apple Store opened here a year ago? Before that, the nearest Apple Store was in Las Vegas.
 
paintballer said:
Well I don't really trust sending things like that throught the mail where it can easiliy be damaged, stolen, or lost. And I doubt the people you talk to when you call know much. They probably just have the same stuff that is on apples support page which I have already searched through.
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I have sent my PowerBook to Apple 3 times, and each time it has come back perfectly. They send a very sturdy box with plenty of padding. I wouldn't worry about damage in the mail.

EDIT: The first two trips, within the first year, were two days, each. Sent on a Tuesday, back on a Thursday. Third was right at the end of my warranty, and took longer since they had to back-order the screen part. That one was also complicated by the fact that I was moving to California at the time. But yeah, AppleCare is really responsive until you get to the end of your warranty and they have to back-order your old-ass parts. :p
 
Quit being stubborn and thick. Call AppleCare. Get them to exhaust the options of repair over the phone. Get them to send out an empty box, put your mini in it, and patiently wait for the repaired/new mini to come back quickly.

Heck, if you would have been smart, and called AppleCare immediately when the problem started you'd probably have your machine back by the end of this week. If it even needed to be sent away at all in the first place.
 
Well according to Apples website the only place that is authorized to do repairs and is closer than the Apple Store is Expercom and it is only 3 miles closer so that won't make much of a difference.
 
paintballer said:
Well according to Apples website the only place that is authorized to do repairs and is closer than the Apple Store is Expercom and it is only 3 miles closer so that won't make much of a difference.
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We're not talking about any place you drive to, we're talking about their mail-in service. Geez. Trying to communicate with you is like talking to a brick wall. :rolleyes:
 
killmoms said:
We're not talking about any place you drive to, we're talking about their mail-in service. Geez. Trying to communicate with you is like talking to a brick wall. :rolleyes:
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I was replying to mduser63. And if I send it in do I have to send the cables, packaging and everything or do I just send the Mac itself?
 
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