fadden@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Andy McFadden) (09/10/90)
Last semester (around April), I blew up my //gs. Whoops. I had it fixed at the local Authorized Apple Dealer. Ouch. Got it back, there was a strange static sound coming from the Apple speaker. Turned out to be a defective motherboard. Hmmm... Got another one. Everything seemed fine. Except: - The sound connector requires some jiggling at first. Sometimes. - The keyboard (ADB) connector requires some jiggling at first. Sometimes. - When we plugged two Disk IIs in using an old interface card, the drives would occasionally become write protected. There was nothing wrong with the card or the drives, and rocking the card back and forth would cure the problem. For a little while. Basically I've got an accident waiting to happen here. I just hope it happens before the warranty runs out, because I *know* that if this thing gets set up at the dealer, it will peform perfectly. And at $75/hour, I can't afford to have them sit there all day and test it (at least they won't want to, since they keep getting messages about how inferior the Apple II is, and probably can't stand working with one). (the last time I went the woman at the desk remembered me... she'd probably go into hysterics if I showed up with the infamous Plain Cardboard Box again. Anybody else spend 45 minutes on public transit in Berkeley/Oakland with a $1000 computer sitting in your lap?) I've never had any problems with Apple hardware before. The original Disk II 5.25" drive purchased almost 10 years ago still works flawlessly, running on the same interface card that we used the first time we booted the System Master. So what gives? Two bad motherboards in a row? The first with some faulty electrical connections (presumably), the second with some mechanical problems? Either (a) I'm very unlucky, (b) the dealer dropped the box of motherboards, or (c) Apple's quality control is slipping a bit. (since it's best that not everybody posts a "my stuff works fine" message, if you really want to be heard, send mail (fadden@cory.berkeley.edu) and I'll post a summary. Unless your horror story is particularly vivid, e-mail those too). -- fadden@cory.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden) ..!ucbvax!cory!fadden