This morning I was using Windows XP on my Mac Mini. The mouse froze up so I restarted the computer. Now nothing happens at all, nothing power ups, only the white light comes up. Any suggestions?

6/23/2008 1:18:24 PM

apple store

6/23/2008 1:22:11 PM

genius bar

6/23/2008 1:24:05 PM

Genius Bar.

6/23/2008 1:36:22 PM

sounds like a HW failure.

6/23/2008 2:09:50 PM

Yeah, I have a suggestion. Use OS X.

6/23/2008 8:24:34 PM

Yeah, I have a suggestion. Use OS X a PC with standardized hardware and fix it yourself.

6/23/2008 8:44:38 PM

Reset the PRAM -->

Command (apple key) + Option + P + R

Power it on and immediately press all 4 of these keys at the same time and hold them down until it reboots itself and POST (chimes). (If it's going to work it should reboot and POST (chime) pretty quickly but you might want to hold the keys down for up to a minute).

If that doesn't work then try resetting the PMU and SMC:

PowerPC:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300574

Intel based:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543?viewlocale=en_US


If it hasn't done anything by then it definitely sounds hardware related.

6/23/2008 9:21:55 PM

^^ ignore the hater.

6/23/2008 9:39:16 PM

I'll ignore all the haters/idiots.


Turns out it was a fried logic board.

6/24/2008 7:33:18 PM

Hope you got AppleCare!

6/24/2008 10:05:30 PM

nope, it's a rip to do that.

Still under warranty though

6/25/2008 6:50:54 AM

how is it a rip? I'm assuming it's less than a year old since it's still under warranty and you don't have applecare.

If it was say...one year and a day...AppleCare wouldn't be a rip would it?

Fried logic boards in Mac Mini aren't cheap...probably cost more to repair/replace than buying a new one.

Logic boards are ~$420 for 1.83 GHz and ~$490 for 2.0 GHz. that's the cost of the board...not including labor which is generally $90/hr.

(prices are from Apple's website, new, not from e-bay or ...)

6/25/2008 8:32:45 PM

i do applecare on all my laptops, and each time it has paid for itself - at least in batteries - after 2-2.5 years, applecare will replace dead or dying batteries.
but I haven't gotten it for any desktops or minis

6/25/2008 10:31:28 PM

^ WRONG - AppleCare doesn't cover batteries. Batteries only have a 1-year warranty on Apple portables (and pretty much every other laptop manufacturer).

If they were replaced it was because of a recall or a LOT of bitching.

6/25/2008 10:39:26 PM

ok, well.... i guess i've had batteries replaced under the 1-year warranty then. i was thinking, though, that if a battery is completely dead (like the computer will turn off if you pull out the power cable) that they would replace it.

6/25/2008 10:41:16 PM

Nope - and that is one of my complaints (not the only one though) with the Macbook Air. It doesn't have a user replaceable battery so not only do you have to pay for a new battery after a year you'll have to pay to have it installed.

I haven't looked in detail but I wondered if they have any exceptions for the Macbook air when it comes to their batteries and AppleCare.

I think it sucks that manufacturers only give their batteries a 1-year warranty. But - I guess since it's a component that is obviously going to die eventually it makes sense.

Same goes with Dell, Lenovo, etc. If you buy the extended warranty through someone like Best Buy/Geek Squad then they cover the battery for the life of the warranty (or at least they did a couple of years ago).

6/25/2008 10:44:29 PM

Quote :

"how is it a rip?"

just like any extended warranty is a rip...with the cost of laptops coming down and figuring in the cost of an extended warranty (which i consider anything past a year, as most companies offer 1 year of relatively "full" coverage), for what the extended warranty covers, you could likely take the money you were going to pay, set it aside, and replace a lot of the parts yourself IF it comes to that, or put that money towards a newer, better laptop with another 1-year warranty

now, i admit i've never used apple's warranty service...how much does it cost, how long does it last, and what does it cover?

6/26/2008 9:01:12 AM

^i'd be shit out of luck if it wasn't for the 2 year full care warranty i got from dell. It was like 250$ and it replaced a HDD, 2 power adapters, 2 sound cards, and a screen which would have probably cost like 1500-2000$ overall to replace myself. So not getting the warranty would have been incredibly stupid.

I guess you're talking about apple though.

6/26/2008 11:30:56 AM

well, i'm not saying there aren't instances where having the warranty wasn't a good idea...obviously, as in situations like yours, the warranty more than paid for itself

but, in my previous job, i was responsible for purchasing laptops for our administrative department of ~15 people...i never once got the extended warranty because it would have been silly to do so...out of 30 laptops (15 replaced every 3 years), the WORST things that happened were a dead battery (within the first year) and a couple of hard drives before the end of the third year

i DID have one laptop completely die just after the 3rd year was out, and on one the backlight went kaput (but it was only $17 on ebay to replace it) just after the 3rd year was out, as well

so, in my experience, the money that would have been spent on extended warranties would have been horribly wasted...my personal experiences with laptops extends back to 2001 when i bought my first one, and i replace them every 2-3 years (so i've had 3, personally - 2 toshibas and 1 HP) and i have NEVER had a situation where the cost of fixing it was higher than the cost of the extended warranty

i realize it's just one person's experience, and that my technical capabilities are not representative of the average user (and that's usually who buys the warranties), but i really can't justify them unless i'm knowingly buying a POS

6/26/2008 12:58:00 PM

corporate bulk purchasing of laptops is a completely different situation than individuals. If the fail rate of a computer in the first 3 years is, say, 10%, and you buy 20 $1000 computers with extended warranties for $250 each, then you have spent $2500 on warranties. If the expected 2 laptops (10%) die in 3 years, though, you can just replace them for $2000.

but for an individual buying one computer, the equation is different. He has a 10% chance of his computer failing, and can guard against that for $250. It's just like auto or home insurance - if he's in the unlucky 10%, then that was $250 well spent. If the computer doesn't die, though, then that just means he spend $1250 instead of $1000 for a laptop. Many people would rather have that insurance than pay another $1000 out of pocket in 2 years for a whole new computer

6/26/2008 1:03:57 PM

^ yeah, i mean there's a time and a place, you pay for peace of mind so much as anything else

so far, though, i've saved enough money from refraining from purchasing the warranty to buy a whole new computer (that's faster, smaller, and better) if i HAD to...and i've kept that money in my pocket to earn (albeit small) interest

6/26/2008 1:08:29 PM

Yeah i paid for peace of mind. I take my laptop everywhere to use as a media center and at parties and such people would accidently step on the cord coming out the 3.5mm port and mess up the sound card, the hdd died after 3 years of being on most of the time, the power adapters wore out after so much use, and the screen hinges became too loose and had to be replaced.

Each time Dell sent some dude to my house next day with the part. I just think 250$ is a great deal for knowing i can pretty much beat the shit out of my laptop and have anything replaced.

6/26/2008 1:18:26 PM

Quagmire is right

Guidelines: Never by a warranty/insurance on something you can afford to replace.

Mac mini ~600$ I can afford that.


^^^Ok he can, but in the long run statistics will play out and it will cost him money.

[Edited on June 26, 2008 at 9:48 PM. Reason : ]

6/26/2008 9:45:13 PM

Quote :

"Guidelines: Never by a warranty/insurance on something you can afford to replace. Mac mini ~600$ I can afford that."

The warranty is around $200...why wouldn't you spend 1/3 of the cost and have peace of mind for three years.

I may not be the brightest person but $200 < $600...even if you can "afford" it.

I can afford $600 but I'm pretty sure I'd much rather spend $200 and have it fixed under warranty instead.

Now on a regular PC Desktop buying a warranty might be a different story. For the most part if a part dies you can easily buy a replacement, pop it open and replace the defective part. For laptops or something like a Mac Mini those parts aren't cheap and majority of people can't do those repairs (like they can a desktop). Especially since most components (sound cards, NIC, video, etc) are built on the motherboard.



[Edited on June 26, 2008 at 10:15 PM. Reason : /]

6/26/2008 10:13:00 PM

You assume most of the time it is gonna break when in fact most minis won't break within their 3 years. I don't have it have and have done fine.

6/26/2008 10:58:12 PM

Quote :

"You assume most of the time it is gonna break when in fact most minis won't break within their 3 years."

and that's the kicker...if you want to talk straight money, sure: $200 is less than $600 and if you KNOW it's going to break, then it's a good idea

but the odds are largely in favor of it NOT breaking, so in all likelihood, you're paying for nothing BUT peace of mind (which is fine, i just choose to live on the "wild" side )

6/27/2008 10:11:17 AM

Quote :

"You assume most of the time it is gonna break when in fact most minis won't break within their 3 years. I don't have it have and have done fine."

You've done fine? Isn't this thread about your logic board being fried? If this wasn't in the first year then you wouldn't have been doing "fine."

Either way - I agree that most of the time with a desktop machine a warranty is more $$$ than it's worth. But like I said - with laptops and machines that you can't personally fix yourself the warranty can really save your ass.

It's just my opinion...and everybody is entitled to their own. I just think that this thread would have been completely different if you weren't still within your 1-year manufacturers warranty.

6/27/2008 7:45:38 PM

oh, btw - on a completely coincidental note, I just picked up my Mac Mini from the Apple Store, which I bought (refurbished) in March for $450, after they replaced the logic board under warranty. I use it as an entertainment PC, so it's been on for about 4 months straight, and I came home last week and it was just dead. I'm not going to get apple care on this one, so I hope anything else that breaks will happen in the next 8 months.

6/27/2008 10:15:19 PM

is it an apple mouse? my little bro orginally had this problem w/ his mouse.

6/28/2008 9:03:47 AM

Quote :

"is it an apple mouse? my little bro orginally had this problem w/ his mouse. "

???

6/28/2008 9:07:16 AM

Apple fails again!

6/28/2008 9:19:05 AM

Quote :

"You've done fine? Isn't this thread about your logic board being fried? If this wasn't in the first year then you wouldn't have been doing "fine.""

It was still under the original warranty and was fixed in less than 48 hours, so yes I am doing fine.

6/28/2008 10:46:33 AM

Quote :

"Quote : "You've done fine? Isn't this thread about your logic board being fried? If this wasn't in the first year then you wouldn't have been doing "fine."" It was still under the original warranty and was fixed in less than 48 hours, so yes I am doing fine. "

6/29/2008 11:28:11 AM

He's still doing fine because it got fixed under the original warranty. It's irrelevant that he would have been screwed were it not under warranty, because that's not what happened.

6/29/2008 4:21:04 PM

Quote :

"He's still doing fine because it got fixed under the original warranty"

Thanks for clearing that up Capt. Obvious...

Quote :

"It's just my opinion...and everybody is entitled to their own. I just think that this thread would have been completely different if you weren't still within your 1-year manufacturers warranty. "

6/29/2008 8:47:12 PM