Ever have a bad computer karma day? What's the worst that has happened to you?

[Hughvane]

My computer caught fire! It was a Performa 6200, a faulty psu overheated and shorted, some wiring started smoldering. When I returned with my mug of coffee I was tempted to use the contents as a fire extinguisher. However I unplugged the machine, pulled all connecting cables and lowered the offender out the window. The fire, such as it was, petered out. I recovered the hard drive from that machine but most other components were history.

[nixgeek]

Well, it looks as though I'd have to say the incidents with my iMac G5. I've had the logic board and power supply replaced in January as some of you already know. Guess what? Now it won't start up anymore. I open it up and what do I see? Two bulging capacitors and the LED lights on the inside only show one lit up. So it looks like it's back to the Apple Store to have my iMac G5 innards replaced once again. I'm going to have to start saving up for an older Power Macintosh G4 (maybe a MDD model) until the Intel Macs come down in price. Yes, I've thought about the Mac mini but I need something a little more beefier than that for my music compositions.

*Sigh*

[Hughvane]

Originally Posted by nixgeek

...start saving up for an older Power Macintosh G4 (maybe a MDD model) until the Intel Macs come down in price. Yes, I've thought about the Mac mini but I need something a little more beefier than that for my music compositions. *Sigh*

What about a G5 tower machine? The dual-processor 1.8 GHz sells 2-hand here for US$950. One of these is on my long-term shopping list, they come down steadily in price as people move to the 'must have' models.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by Hughvane

What about a G5 tower machine? The dual-processor 1.8 GHz sells 2-hand here for US$950. One of these is on my long-term shopping list, they come down steadily in price as people move to the 'must have' models.

If I'm going to spend that much money, I might as well go a little further and get an Intel Mac. As it stands, even some of the Power Macintosh G5 systems are having reliability problems. Check MacinTouch and you'll see what I mean. It's a shame that such a nice processor was scarred by such crappy design all for the sake of form.

If the PowerPC 970 really needed the cooling, Jobs should have conceded from the get go or just stuck with the G4 until it was time for the big switch.

Besides, my father bought a nice dual 867 MHz Power Macintosh G4 for only $299 from Mac of All Trades. It only cost him more (about $75 bucks more) because he had to pay sales tax since both my father and MoAT are in Florida and he wanted it shipped ASAP. They also had a 1 GHz MDD (single CPU) for less than that ($249).

[Hughvane]

Originally Posted by nixgeek

some of the Power Macintosh G5 systems are having reliability problems. Check MacinTouch and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for the info, one of the best features of these forums. I take it you mean this: http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html

I'll be looking - and waiting - for the PPC 970MP model.

Besides, my father bought a nice dual 867 MHz Power Macintosh G4 for only $299

That's a very friendly price. The equivalent here is about US$80 dearer. It's all about numbers. We don't have the turnover in Mac computers in NZ. You'd be amazed at how we Kiwis hang on to supposedly obsolete hardware (of all descriptions).

I'd stick with my old G3 b/w dual-drive Yosemite if it were faster, it does its work wonderfully well - but slowly. Comparing it with modern hardware is a bit like comparing a Case tractor with a Ferrari. In other words you don't plough a field with a Ferrari!

[reed]

That bleaking Icon in the middle of the screen? All is dead as a doornail. Somebody "screwed-up." Need I say more? Start all over again....and good luck to re-install the lot!!!!!

SIGH.

[vivunger]

Recent disaster in not backing up when my PowerBook died unexpectedly... as a Grad student I almost lost all my work.. thanks to the Apple store I (my data) was saved... AMEN! Taught me a good lesson!

[rubaiyat]

My worst disaster was when I upgraded to OSX and experienced a disappearing directory, unfortunately containing all my tax and accounts which I was in the process of updating but hadn't quite completed and backed up.

The worst part was I didn't notice for a while and found it extremely difficult to find my place and reconstruct all my efforts.

Recently I upgraded my iMac G5 to Leopard after cloning my Tiger system onto an external FW drive. After the Leopard upgrade it will no longer see any FireWire devices, so I can't get at my precautionary backup.

This and other associated problems have been consuming my time for over 2 weeks now.