Question about taking in an iMac for repair to the Apple Store.

[rgG]

I will be taking my mom-in-law's G5 iMac in to the Apple Store for diagnosis and repair of a probable logic board problem. It will either be covered under the G5 repair extension or the extended warranty through AMEX. My question is, what do I need to take other than the machine itself? Do I need to take the box? I assume that I do not need to take the keyboard and mouse, just the iMac and power cord.

Hers is all stock, so no need to pull any third party RAM. Since it is still working relatively well, just the intermittent distorted video/wake from sleep problem, I should be able to delete any personal information, if there is any, before I take it in. I shouldn't need to wipe the drive and do a clean install should I?

Any info will be appreciated.

[Plumbking]

When I took my MIL's iMac to the Apple Store for warranty

1. I cloned the hard drive just in case they wiped it.
2. Made an appointment online which they promptly kept
3. Reiterated the problem, my diagnosis, and the fact that it was under extended warranty.

Imac came back 2 days latter with new midplane (logic board). No cost to me.

Good Luck

[anonymouse1]

If possible, consider cloning the HD and wiping it, to remove personal data.

[chas_m]

[quote rgG]I will be taking my mom-in-law's G5 iMac in to the Apple Store for diagnosis and repair of a probable logic board problem. It will either be covered under the G5 repair extension or the extended warranty through AMEX. My question is, what do I need to take other than the machine itself? Do I need to take the box? I assume that I do not need to take the keyboard and mouse, just the iMac and power cord.
You could, you know, call them and ask them.

Naaah, much easier to ask a bunch of strangers, er, smartarses who think they know it all (I include myself in this group).

I can't speak for every store out there, but our store needs ONLY the actual machine itself. No boxes, no cords, no kb or mouse. If you gave them to us we'd either keep them or lose them, so don't.

Since it is still working relatively well, just the intermittent distorted video/wake from sleep problem, I should be able to delete any personal information, if there is any, before I take it in. I shouldn't need to wipe the drive and do a clean install should I?

Unless your MIL has information that is blatantly illegal (like child porn or thousands of veterans' SSNs), there's NO need to wipe the drive.

That said, when the machine is still working only an IDIOT wouldn't back everything up before sending it in. If there's ANY possibility that the HD could be causing the issue, they will wipe it.

[rgG]

Thanks for the info all. And gosh, I did want to call, but they were closed-imagine that. They are, in fact, closed all week since they are remodeling the store that is nearest to her.

As for backing her HD up, I will look to see if there is anything that she needs, as I said, but this is the computer of a person who does not even save emails, not even one, so I doubt there is anything on the HD that she needs other than maybe a document or two that I put there.

Thanks again all.

[RAMd®d]

You could, you know, call them and ask them.

I've been bitten more than once by the "They said they wouldn't do that/I don't know who told you that" bug.

And over at dealmac I've seen it said that Apple won't erase your HD unless it's required to replace the HD, and yet a couple of posters have said that Apple *did* wipe the HD as part of their troubleshooting routine.

I'd clone the HD, maybe wipe the drive and install a fresh OS.

Of course then I'd check to see if the problem still existed.

Regardless, I wouldn't want to chance the HD being reformatted.

[rgG]

Thanks Rammie,
Yeah, sometimes they will tell you one thing and do something completely different. It looks like I will have to get the iMac to my house and take it to the Apple Store close to me because hers won't be taking in machines for repairs even after they re-open next week, at least for a while. That is what the guy at my Apple Store said.

When I get the iMac, hopefully later this week, I will make sure I have everything I need copied from it before I take it in.

[MikeF]

When I took one in here (to a local Apple service provider, not an Apple store) for the power supply issue, they didn't want anything other than the display/cpu unit. No keyboard, no mouse, no box, no cords. Actually I took it in the box to the store and they told me to take them home as they didn't want to be responsible.