Dead Mac Mini

[Voncaster]

Today I tried to turn on my mac mini and it did not respond. No warning light, nothing. I suspect it either got fried in power surge (I note my surge protector no longer protects from surges, it has a red light) or the internal battery gave out.

Its an Intel late model 2009 mac mini, and is no longer covered by the warranty. The machine loss is not that big of a deal to me but it has photos on the hard drive that mean a lot to me. Of course I'm a bad person and did not back up these photos. Lesson learned.

I made an appointment with the Apple store to have it looked at on Tuesday. Anything else I should do or try?

 

[prisstratton]

Maybe something got fried (as you suspect), but the HDD might still be okay and if that is the case then all of your data is easy to recover.

If it was only the HDD that was dead then the system should at least have responded in some way. The fact that the system did nothing says that maybe the HDD is still okay.

You just need to plug the HDD into either an external enclosure or you can use a USB to SATA adapter, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISA...38573088&sr=1-11&keywords=usb+to+sata+adapter

Once you have either one you can plug the drive into another Mac (Windows systems cannot browse Mac formatted HDD’s unless you use a third party application) and then simply browse the drive.

Here is a link to repair guides for your system if you feel like removing the HDD yourself:

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Model_A1283

Good Luck !!

 

[Voncaster]

Thanks very much for the reply. I'll see what the Apple store has to say. If they can't fix it I may give this a try.

 

[westom]

I suspect it either got fried in power surge (I note my surge protector no longer protects from surges, it has a red light) or the internal battery gave out.

If the protector has a battery, then it is a UPS - does not do effective protection.

If the protector has a red 'fail' light, then the light is reporting that protector was so grossly undersized that only a thermal fuse averted a house fire. The protector can still be degraded and the light not report that failure. That light only reports one type of failure - that the protector was so grossly undersized that it should not have been purchased.

Nothing adjacent to an appliance (ie Mac) claims to protect from destructive surges. Anyone can read specification numbers. Destructive surges can be hundreds of thousands of joules. How many joules did that protector claim to absorb? Hundreds? Just enough above zero so that naïve consumers will *know* it must do protection.

Assuming this is surge damage, then learn about the only solution always installed to have even direct lightning strikes without damage - a 'whole house' solution. This typically costs about $1 per protected appliance. How much did you pay for that near zero protector?

 

[Voncaster]

Apple store could not help me because I have a vintage mac mini (2009 model). Why this information can't be communicated to me when I make an appointment to see a tech about my dead mac mini seems wrong to me. Its simply not good customer service to have me drive to a store have them tell me they can't help me because of the age of my machine. I've been generally happy with Apple products, but this customer service experience seems poor.

On the plus side I did get a card from the Apple employee on a data transfer place in town to try.

I got a local contact in town, that my mom has had great experience with, that I will bring the computer into to transfer information off the drive to a different computer. I don't think its worth spending big money repairing a 2009 computer. Better to put that money towards a new machine.

 

[prisstratton]

I am sorry, that does not sound like any type of customer service that you should be seeing from Apple. The age of the unit should not make any difference, they should know how to take it apart and test it.

With regard to your third party contact, please be cautious. I know that not everyone is out to S***W you (I have become very cynical), but some people just have no ethics. If they suggest that it might cost you several hundred dollars to retrieve your data, then that is not right. If the drive is still "alive" then all it takes is what I suggested earlier.

 

[Voncaster]

With regard to your third party contact, please be cautious. I know that not everyone is out to S***W you (I have become very cynical), but some people just have no ethics. If they suggest that it might cost you several hundred dollars to retrieve your data, then that is not right. If the drive is still "alive" then all it takes is what I suggested earlier.

In this case I trust the tech services, because my mom has used them a lot and they have been able to help her. She found them through Angie's list and they had very good reviews. Tech services, like car mechanics, you have to be wary of. But like you say there are good and honest ones out there. I believe I have a good one.

 

[Fishrrman]

priss wrote above:
"I am sorry, that does not sound like any type of customer service that you should be seeing from Apple."

Apple stores often will not service hardware past a certain "legacy" cutoff point...

 

[Voncaster]

Apple stores often will not service hardware past a certain "legacy" cutoff point...

If that is their policy that is fine. I certainly don't expect to bring in my Apple IIe and have them fix it. My computer is 6 years old and they said they don't have parts to fix it with in stock anymore. All that is fine.

What is not fine, is when I explain the problem and the year of my computer to representative at the Apple store on the phone and he proceeds to schedule me an appointment to fix my computer. I drive to the store to have an appointment where they tell me they can't help me. This is bad customer service.

That "legacy" cutoff point could easily be communicated out over the phone and would prevent me and the Apple tech from wasting each others time.

 

[Weaselboy]

If that is their policy that is fine. I certainly don't expect to bring in my Apple IIe and have them fix it. My computer is 6 years old and they said they don't have parts to fix it with in stock anymore. All that is fine.

What is not fine, is when I explain the problem and the year of my computer to representative at the Apple store on the phone and he proceeds to schedule me an appointment to fix my computer. I drive to the store to have an appointment where they tell me they can't help me. This is bad customer service.

That "lagacy" cutoff point could easily be communicated out over the phone and would prevent me and the Apple tech from wasting each others time.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

Here is the relevant support document, and you are right to be annoyed by this. No reason they could not have checked this when scheduling the appointment and saved you the trip.