Multiple crashes first day - keeper?

[scotts]

Well, I'm a three-day-old convert from Windows and let's just say it's been a rocky start.

My brand new PB 15" 1.25 G4 (Panther) froze and remained frozen upon inserting the first disc (brand new), about an hour after turning it on for the first time. After restarting I was able to extract the disc and I haven't had the same problem since.

However, later that evening, when I restarted the PB after calibrating the battery it froze again (after the clock reset to 12/31/1969, which it does every time the battery runs down). Like the first time, no keys were responsive, the pointer frozen.

Despite multiple reboots nothing worked. It remained frozen the whole weekend. And then, for no apparent reason, on reboot 17 or so it just started working.

In my half-day of use since it's been great. But...

I'm obviously paranoid now that I have a lemon. The apple care guy dismissed it as "a system anomaly," and said "I may never see that problem again." And naturally, since it was then working, an exchange was out of the question.

Obviously, for the $3,000 I spent and all the marketing and popular hype I believed in, I'm significantly disapointed.

The real question is: How do I know my OS is up to par? Should I push for an exchange?

Can anyone ease my concerns? Validate them? Thanks!

 

[dulcemara]

G5 had the same problem

$6500 and no computer a month into owning it. Tech at the house twice, left it with their repair center for a week. Bad motherboard and bad harddrive. Glad I switched from MS!!! But hey, they sent me a shirt (they didn't have my size but sent it anyway - how's that for a perfect ending). Now the computer mostly works and I'm just running into compatability issues (microphones, software built for OS 9 not working in OS 10). At least MS was backwards compatable.

Best part is there will not be a virtual PC until something like May so I can't fully switch to MAC and still have to keep my Dell operating.

Happy Happy Joy Joy.

 

[SiliconAddict]

*sighs* Every time I read threads like this I keep hearing a little voice in the back of my head telling me you'll beeeee sorrrrrrrrrry. and every time I keep slapping the little thing down.

I hope owing a Mac isn’t something I’m going to eventually (sometime this summer or fall.) regret.

 

[Marble]

Well, new "Rev-A" hardware like the G5s are frequently the source of irritating and persistent problems (anyone remember the debacles over the Yikes! G4 models when they were first introduced?), and Apple has notoriously been having some issues with their portable line, especially with this most recent revision (portables are generally more vulnerable to defects considering their mobile nature). Though it may be a pain, Apple will repair it for you and eventually replace it if they can't solve the problem.

There are going to be issues, and Apple does a pretty good job of not leaving you out in the cold, even if they have to piss you off while doing it.

 

[dulcemara]

Marble, you hit the nail on the head. I was expecting "exceptional" customer service, I guess these days solving your problem eventually regardless of how they get there qualifies.

My favorite was the arguement with the "Apple authorized repair center" (microcenter - I know, I've learned). They kept insisting that I should have 7 CD's for the operatiing system. I spent an hour getting Apple to confirm to MC that yes, the one DVD was all there was and that the operating system had been shipping that way for over a year.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

 

[virividox]

sorry to hear about your bad experiences. hopefully the future wont have much of these in store for you guys. i just want to say that not everyone has such terrible experiences, don't let this discourage you too much

 

[MacBoyX]

Oh I might regret this but...

to the guy with the PowerBook. Did you upgrade the memory? If so what brand did you use. My TiBook freaked when I bought a cheap memory upgrade. It kept kernel panicing (is that a word?).

That would be my first thought as to your problems.

My second would be to reinstall the system. I know it sounds dumb but I ALWAYS (even when I used Windows) rebuilt my systems as soon as I get them for 2 reasons...

1. I don't usually need all the crap they install
2. I like to know what and how my system was built.

It is possible that you have a bad PowerBook but most likely it is a software issue. You have to get used to the fact that the OS is MUCH more closely tied to the Hardware than a Wintel machine and that means funky things happe that under the old way could NEVER have been a software issue that actually could be now.

When you reinstall boot off your DVD (hold down the OPTION key to get a list of drives to boot off) and choose the Panther install.

To the other poster who had issues with his G5, I am sorry to hear that I haven't had any ISSUES with mine, but to your comment about OS 9 vs OS X, and MS being backwards compatible, what you mean is FORWARD comapatible and first forward compatibility of Software is never guaranteed, and there were LOTS of apps that worked on 3.11 that did NOT work on Win95 because Win95 was a major change in the OS and the structure, OS X is the exact same way. OS X and OS9 are as different as OS 9 and Windows. If you have apps that are made for OS 9 you can run them in Classic if you need. The memory management alone is why an OS 9 app cannot run natively in OS X but Classic is a major thing and if you need help with understanding how to use it just let me know.

To the poster who is worried about switching. Remember that the forums are a place where people usually "bitch" about their Macs, you have nothing to worry about, I have had 8 Macs in 2 yrs with narry a problem ( i just kept upgrading and selling them to friends and family).

To everyone please understand there are growing pains in switching, hardware issues aside.

Good Luck, Godspeed, and welcome to the family

macboyX