Monday, October 8, 2007

The White Screen Of Death

Windows users know all about the Blue Screen Of Death. It's abbreviated BSOD. It's that blue screen that happens when something very, very bad goes wrong with your computer.

Even Microsoft acknowledges it as the BSOD, though unofficially.

Well, I got a Mac back in August. A MacBook, actually. And I knew that I would get no more Blue Screens Of Death.

Didn't know about the White Screen Of Death.

WSOD

I know about it now.

The little icon flashes at about 1 second intervals. And it means something is very, very wrong with your MacBook.

And, after running all kinds of diagnostics with the guy from Apple support, it seems it doesn't think there's a hard drive.

Well now, I mused, that can't be good.

He concurred.

So, my Apple Care Protection Plan kicks in. I have to take it to an Apple place. There are a couple of Authorized Representatives in Columbus. The nearest full-fledged Apple Store is in Atlanta. That's an hour and a half to two hours away.

Unless there's road construction.

And there is road construction.

So, off to see the Apple Authorized Representatives tomorrow.

And this, on top of another issue that arose that I really needed my computer for.

So, I'm without my new toy.

However, my old toy, this Dell notebook I'm currently on, is working.

It's taking a little getting used to, with the keys and functions all a little different. Sure, I use a Windows machine at work all day. But I don't have my blog up there. Having the blog up puts me in blogging mode. And blogging mode now means MacBook mode.

Only not right now.

Oh, well. After spending all day Saturday working on my daughter's computers (a Dell desktop and a Dell notebook), I get to experience my own computer issues.

Seems she gets it honest.

8 comments:

  1. This looks like the perfect opportunity to go the extra mile and check out the new apple store at the mall of Georgia. Somehow, I've been able to avoid that problem on both of my macs. Wonder if somehow your home folder got deleted?

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  2. When I first purchased my MacBook a year ago, there was a major problem with the onboard wireless card, such that I had to trade it in. When I took it to the Apple Store here in Phoenix, they did it no questions asked.
    And I have had no problems at all since then.

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  3. Huh. My stepfather has that same problem with his desktop. I'd be curious to hear what the fix is. He asked for my help but I'm a PC girl, not a Mac girl.

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  4. Uuuuuurrrghhh, its the most frustrating thing ever, isnt it? my laptop isnt even a week old and i have that problem!! managed to boot it up once by holding down command - option- p and r all att the same time before the white screen appears, but that trick doesnt seem to work this time!! :( How did u get urs fixed???

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  5. Turns out the hard drive had crashed. Since it's under warranty, I took it to the Apple Authorized Service Center and had them perform the service.

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  6. Well im from Ireland and It's looking like i might have to ship it back to the US to get it looked at..Torture having to give up my new toy!! :(

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  7. Don't know how long it takes over there, but here, they got it back to me quickly. Hope you have as smooth an experience with Apple support as did I.

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  8. I just got a mac book just like you, and like most of you, updated the os, and got the white screen of death.

    What you do remove is the battery and adapter, hold the power key for about 5 seconds, put everything back together, hold the C button while holding the power botton, a screen will appear asking you to re install your os from your installation discs you have.

    A message will appear that you've installed a newer version of the software and give you the option to erase and re install, (hint that's what you pick) and it should work.

    I'm in the process right now and I'll you guys know how it goes...

    Good Luck

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