Many a time I’ve described Mac users as a wonderful example of a community of practice. They have camaraderie. They identify with one another, wondering what’s with the outsiders who “don’t get it.” They respect each other. Their machines are a badge that says, “I’m cool; I’m creative; I’m hip.” Some put Apple decals in the rear windows of their cars. They are the guy on the right.
When my ThinkPad ate its hard disk last fall, I had to get a divorce from the whole PC/Microsoft axis. This was my sixth ThinkPad, following in the wake of five Gateways, three Sony VAIOs, a Compaq, two Dells, a Toshiba, and I can’t remember how many other PCs I’ve paid for out of my own pocket. The ThinkPad left here by way of a garbage can, as did grocery bags full of software.
I bought a MacBook, MacBook Air, and a Mac Pro. The Mac Pro froze half an hour ago, and I have no idea how to revive it. I was in mid-sentence in Firefox when it stopped working. It had installed some software updates a few minutes earlier. I got the “Force Quit” box up on screen, but it was non-functional. The Apple menu wouldn’t show its drop-down menu. Feeling helpless, I powered the system down. It rebooted to its frozen state. I have Skype onscreen. The control red, yellow, and green control lights look active when I run the cursor over them but I can’t click them. I have the Force Quit box on screen again. Skype is selected. Clicking “Force Quit” does nothing. The Mac Pro has become a big paperweight.
Somebody help me before I kill again.
Also, are catastrophic computer meltdowns just me? Or does this go on all the time? And does the Mac community of practice shield mother Apple from criticism? I don’t read much about this; perhaps I am not reading in the right places.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorry no answers, but as a recent (Jan 08) switcher with a Mac Pro, I’ll be following your ordeal with sympathetic interest. Big paperweight indeed.
Jay, I think it’s you
. Seriously, I’ve never had such a complete meltdown except when my harddrive gave up (and not such a new machine as yours). If you’ve got a protection disk (e.g. DiskWarrior, TechTool), boot from that. If not, and you’ve got AppleCare or are still under warranty, give ‘em a call).
There are more onerous tactics, look in the help or troubleshooting guides on your other macs or check out the Apple Support website. Good luck!
Michael Arrington seems to be running into the same trouble.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/19/apple-is-flailing-badly-at-the-edges/
I switched to a Mac about two years ago and still marvel at its beauty even though it did take me quite some time to adapt to the different mindframe and formatting. I have also experienced flaws so thinking seriously my next step will be a PC running on Linux and Ubuntu – KISS principle and the community feeling is stronger
I have been a Mac user for almost 8 years, in this period, I had 2 macs. A 12″ Powerbook G4 which still serves me well today and a iMac G5 which runs flawless although I bought it in 2005. Do Macs crash ? yes, do they crash as much as windows ? No. Although my machines are no where close to your powerhouse trio, they still serve me great, part of the reason is because I don’t do video editing, but I do use them everyday.
So sorry……..the same thing happened to me……I’ve owned Mac’s since 1986 and love them………
Hi Jay. In the two years since I switched to a PC free life I’ve suffered a few crashes, but it was simple to fix – get rid of Firefox. Since I removed that and switched to Safari I’ve had six crash free months. Bliss
I don’t think I’ve ever had that big a problem with my MacBook. But when I’m having trouble quitting an app, I:
1. launch Terminal
2. type “top” – this gives me a list of processes that are running. Usually the troublesome app is identifiable by name, or by its “%CPU” column. Note the PID (process ID) in the first column.
3. hit ctl-c to kill top
4. type “kill (pid)” (e.g. “kill 9123″)
5. this kills the nasty process. Unless it doesn’t.