So, I had no wireless on my laptop and that was frustrating. To test if it was a software or hardware problem, I reinstalled the OS, set up a new user and found that the problem was still there. If a fresh install of the software didn’t fix it, it must be hardware.
So I rode the bus across town yesterday to The Mac Store because they had a usb wireless adapter for sale. As the sales guy talked to the repair guy about the device, the repair guy suggested I pay to have it fixed instead.
“I can’t afford it,” I told him.
He shrugged and took the adapter off the wall. I asked if I could try it out right here in the store. He shrugged again and we started opening the package (which had been opened once before).
The install disc doesn’t do much in the way of installing, and the repair guy starts fussing with it. You know that feeling when someone else is typing on your computer and you want to push their hands away and do it all the right way? I fight that urge.
While I’m looking at the contents of the adapter package, the repair guy does something to my computer that completely fixes the wireless. As in, it was software all along and he’s thoroughly solved the problem. I make him explain it to me, showing me that he went into System Preferences and created a new “location” which easily connected to the web.
And he did it in the ten seconds that I was looking at a page of the user manual. He also didn’t charge me.
The Mac Store on 45th in the U District. They are awesome.
Today I will be rousing myself from this morning’s (somewhat unproductive) writing session and I’ll head downtown to buy an anniversary gift, after a very long walk to buy some stuff we need. It’s a school holiday, so my son has a chance to hang out with a buddy across town all day. Once I’m done, I’ll head home and do some more writing from there.
So glad it worked out!
Oh, crap me too.
The Apple store people (especially the Geniuses) have a lot of leeway in what they can do for people, even if they don’t have Applecare. For example my father took his MacBook to the Apple store a few days ago because the mouse pad wasn’t working and the unit was freezing up. He got it back with a brand new keyboard and a new track pad at no cost. Apparently the past battery problems he had with the same computer (which they also fixed at no charge because it was a manufacturing flaw in the battery) caused secondary keypad problems, so they fix at no cost.
Apple is awesome. I have enough to buy a new computer every 3 years when the Applecare runs out. The computer usually also has enough resale value to help pay for 1/3 to almost 1/2 of the new computer.
I forgot to mention that his Applecare had run out a few years ago.
The only reason I have a Mac is because Consumer Reports said they had highest customer satisfaction.