That’s Why They Call Them Genius’s
…Or is it “Genui?
So after sending my computer away for three to five days, had the logic board replaces, sat on the phone with Apple for what seemed like three to five days, to explain to them the problem again, to be told that I no longer had phone support, but that they would send me a new battery for my laptop to see if that was the problem. It wasn’t. Another long phone wait, and another long explanation of the problem an appointment with a genius was set up. A real live genius. One who officially has a title that could be put on a resume. Genius.
So, today at 10:45 am I was standing at the counter with my scalding hot laptop. I waited until my name was called. I opened my laptop and explained the problem to the genius, or genui. He listened intently, nodded occasionally, then opened my Utilities folder. From there he went to the Activity Monitor and selected “All Processes”. This showed a big list of things that my computer was apparently working on. The main one being a “printer job”.
“See that there.”, the genuis said, “Your computer is trying to figure out what it’s trying to print.”
“Okay”, I said.
“It’s trying to print something on a PC and can’t figure out how, and it’s using 99.4% of your computer to figure it out.”
“That’s a lot of my computer isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
The genuis clicked on the printer job, then clicked the “quit” button. Instantly the fan stopped and the temperature dropped from eighty-six degrees Celsius to fifty-two. Apparently for the last several weeks my computer was working really hard at trying to communicate with a PC. See there’s the problem. A PC. I walked away from the genius bar at 10:51 am. Six minutes. Six minutes!
At least I got a new logic board and battery out of the deal.
Still Around Eighty
I know I haven’t been the strongest advocate for Apple products the last few weeks, and I’m sure that my computer has now been “flagged” as one being used for ill purposes toward the entire Apple organization. Here’s the thing. It’s not like I will ever use anything but Apple computers, but I would like to have a quick sit down with Mr. Jobs and ask him why no one, and I mean no one, within his organization knows what the average running temperature of a Black MacBook is.
I have sent my computer in for three to five days, which ended up being five, then I needed to call and ask and was told that someone had already left me a message and I must have just not gotten it. When I went to pick my computer up they told me that they had replaced the $900 logic board, and ran all the tests they could and everything was good to go. They wiped it with a cloth to make it look pretty and I was on my way. About five minutes after turning it on and checking my email, the fan started running louder and louder. I checked the temperature on my fancy meter thing again, and it was floating around eighty-three. Eighty-Three?! It wasn’t that hot when I brought it in.
So after an entire morning on the phone with Apple, and questioning why no one in the company knows exactly how hot my computer is supposed to be running, they are sending me a new battery to see if that is the problem. If not I will need to mail my computer in and let them take a look at it, for yes, another three to five days.
Three To Five Days
So, I took my computer in last night to the two early-twenties guys standing behind the counter at the local Mac store.. The first guy asked me what the problem was and I told him that the temperature on my dashboard was saying that something in my computer was floating around eighty degrees Celsius.
“That’s not good”, he said.
Then he looked at me disapprovingly and asked if I had done my software updates.
“Yep”, I assured him.
“Hmmm, are you sure?”, he said opening my laptop and clicking in the Apple icon in the top left corner.
“Yep”
About ten minutes later a window popped up on my screen saying that I had, in fact, updated my computer and there were “no new updates”.
“That’s weird”, said the guy behind the counter.
“Not really”, I thought.
So now my computer has been left behind the counter for three to five days. They are going to look at it, open it up, play with things, and most likely run any updates that need to be run.
Thank you Mac people. And thank you Kristin for treating your computer better than I treat mine, so I can use it for three to five days.
HMMM…
No, this is not my computer. But I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty soon. Remember when my power cord caught on fire? Well right about that same time I noticed that the fan on my computer had been starting to run constantly and get louder and louder the longer I worked on it. I started looking around online, to see what the average temperature for the Black MacBook’s is. I never found an exact number. Then I found this fancy widget to go on my dashboard that tells me seven (yes, seven) different temperatures.
Because blisters are now forming on the tops of my thighs, I am really only concerned with the hottest temperature that this little widget is showing. Eighty One degrees, Celsius. That seems a little hot to me. Isn’t one hundred boiling? What’s “igniting” temperature? I noticed that when I take the battery out it drops down to around sixty-two degrees, Celcius, but with the battery out little mishaps can occur. Like, let’s say you are writing a long guest post for someone, and the dog steps on the cord, unplugging your computer. With no battery, that could potentially be tragic.
So this morning I have tried to call the local Mac store but in true Mac form, they don’t like to answer the phone.What’s your laptops average temperature? Want to place bets on when my lap catches fire?
