Caught in Apple restart hell
I just loaded the latest Apple Macintosh updates.
Now my machine won’t boot. Well, that’s not really true. When I power it up the Apple comes on. Then the screen gets dark and a little message comes up:
“You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.”
So I restart. And get the same message. I do it five times just to make sure.
And so, now I’m back on my Windows machine.
Screw you Apple and your ads saying you’re better than Microsoft. Screw you. Screw you. Screw you.
Screw you and your controlling PR machine.
Grrrrr.
Oh, and if you think I have something against Apple, no I don’t. But my computer, a 17-inch MacBookPro, has already been in the shop twice. My son’s MacBookPro 15-inch has been in the shop twice and has a dead USB port now so both of our machines need to go back into the shop.
What’s ironic is lots of other computer companies would LOVE to give me free stuff (I don’t take it) but Apple is the only company that’s never raised a PR finger to help me. Instead I feel so honored to spend my money on this crap. Why? Just to have a shiny machine?
Well, sorry. The shine is wearing off. Screw you Apple.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Out of curiosity, which computer do you have?
November 16th, 2007 at 5:04 am
And Apple only has to make it work on their own hardware, while Windows has to work on thousands of different machines. Sometimes this little thing is forgotten by Mac lovers. But hey, I am biased because I make a living writing software for Windows ;)
November 16th, 2007 at 5:05 am
There’s been reports of this (look in macrumors forums etc), basically try to let it sit for like an hour. During this time it might reboot itself. Otherwise, just try wait try wait try until it does.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:13 am
“Shark Jumping For Dummies”, by Steve Jobs, anyone?
November 16th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Thats a kernel panic you’re looking at.
If it was what jonas is reporting, you would most likely be sitting at the Apple logo screen watching a spinning cog while the computer verified the disk.
Depending on the cause of the panic, you may be able to repair the issue using some standard troubleshooting tips:
Reset the internal NVRAM (press and hold Command, Option, P, R immediately after powering on until you hear the startup chime for the second time).
Are you able to start in Safe Boot (press and hold the Shift key at the startup chime)? Starting in Safe Boot forces a directory check, so will verify if there is a problem with your startup disk.
If you are still unable to boot, check the directory manually by running the Disk Utility from the OS X install CD. You will find it under the Utilities menu when you boot from the disk.
If the directory is sound but you still cannot boot, you may need to perform an Archive and Install preserving Users and Network Settings.
If it is not, you may need to perform an Erase and Install. If you need to do this and have a firewire cable, you may be able to back up important files to Patrick’s machine using Target Disk Mode.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:24 am
wonderplanned. Resetting PRAM didn’t work. I am trying to “safe boot” now.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:26 am
[...] I wonder if I broke Scoble’s Mac, too. Related [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 5:30 am
wonderplanned: safe boot worked. I’m seeing if things are going to reboot normally now.
I don’t think I’d be so mad if I didn’t see another Apple ad on TV tonight attacking Microsoft for not working well.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:43 am
I got bit by restart hell too, but with the 10.4.11 update (not ready for Leopard yet). I could only successfully boot into safe mode.
I got my machine back getting the larger Combo update (while in safe mode, I could go online with Safari via Ethernet only) and running that. Took at least 30 minutes for the machine to restart, but it finally did and it has been running perfectly ever since.
For 10.5.1, it may work for you to grab the stand-alone updater and run that.
First time in a long time that I had a bad Apple upgrade.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:43 am
wonderplanned: er, safe boot didn’t work. My desktop image is there, but the machine is just sitting there now. Nothing else on screen. Sigh.
So, I’ll leave it on and try again this weekend.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:59 am
Update: I rebooted my machine one more time and it started working. Very weird. Sigh.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Sorry, but i never had problems with an Apple Computer.
I recently bought a new MacBook Pro 2,2GHZ, installed Leopard a few weeks ago, and made the update yesterday in 12 minutes. No problems, no glitches, everything is allright.
Before you upgrade to a new System you should ask yourself some questions:
*Is my computer too old for the update?
*Did I install ANY kind of non-Apple system expansions?
*Did I made major changes in the system setup (like changing directory structures etc.) ?
*Did I missed to read the f…… manual? (It says, for example, that it’s not recommended to upgrade when you have File Vault enabled, neither Time Machine will work correctly)
Did I forget to make a backup before upgrading?
If you can answer any of this question with a “yes”, well DON’T upgrade, until you solve the problem first.
BTW: I’m sure you tried that before, but you should BOOT with your Leopard-DVD by pressing C a logn time on startup, and then choose the Disk Utility from the Drop-Down-Menu. Then repair the rights (not the Volume). Try to boot your Mac.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Have you booted from your OS installation DVD and let Disk Utility verify the disk?
November 16th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Brian and Ryo: I think you guys are funny. Sounds like Microsoft users — we’re used to this kind of hell. I expect better from Apple, especially when they are running ads saying they are better.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Well, look at the bright side, no one has suggested you disable some extensions or rebuild the desktop file… Ahh the rapture of troubleshooting the classic Mac OS.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:14 am
Brian: hey, I remember that stuff! That’s why I switched to NT 3.5.1! Heh.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:17 am
Back before becoming a developer I was a service tech back when we had to actually fix CRT’s (or at least get near high voltage). My personal favorite Apple Boner (TM) was the LCIII motherboard. If it’s backup battery died, it would not POST - no chime, nothing. Apple’s service manuals of the day for a failure like that was to replace the logic board.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:10 am
If your hardware keeps breaking, you can blame Apple, but you can’t praise Microsoft for your Dell that doesn’t break down.
Not exactly Apples and Apples, heh.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Time to throw out your Mac and buy another one :)
November 16th, 2007 at 7:26 am
Robert,
With today’s throw away sociaty, I find it hard to find a quality product from the lecronics world. I just purchased an HP laptop, when I asked how long the warrenty was good for, they said 1 year. You have to stick with what you know works. I find it amusing that your fall back machine for Apple is a windows box. My fall back machine for my Windows is an older Windows.
Guy
November 16th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Thanks Robert for letting me know that my faith in Windows is now VALIDATED!
Before updating it is usually a good idea to see what the update is for and what it affects.
The Golden Rule on ANY DESKTOP OS:
Get it working and leave it alone! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Make sure you run Disk Utility on the startup disk to verify the volume. I had the same problem but the startup disk needed to be reformated. It would not verify or be repaired.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Robert, better ≠ perfect. Expectation of perfection is the penalty of being pretty darn good.
I was at Apple back in the early nineties, when PowerBook was flourishing, John Sculley initiated a project to explore whether the PowerBook brand might be used on a line of Wintel computers. This wasn’t today’s reality of Mac OS on Intel, with an option to also run Windows under Boot Camp or Parallels. Back then it would have been two separate product lines a Mac PowerBook (68K processor) or a Windows PowerBook (X86)
Would the market accept a non-Mac PowerBook? Apple went so far as to prototype a Wintel PowerBook take it to focus groups. Looked identical to the Mac version, but ran Windows.
The reaction: People were very interested in a Windows-flavored PowerBook from Apple… until they heard that it was nothing more than a Windows computer with an Apple brand slapped on. They expected more: They wanted a little Apple magic that would somehow improve the experience of running Windows.
Glad you’re running again.
PS: I’ve got the updates downloaded. I’m a restart away from either sharing or escaping your woes. If you don’t hear from me soon, send a rescue party.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Ironic, the only machines that give my family grief are the Windows ones. Personally I buy Macs and DIY machines to run FreeBSD and KDE. From my experience, I wouldn’t let any of my machines touch anything later than Windows 2000, and even then the installs are securely tucked away in VMs where I can quickly delete and restore them when they inevitably trip and collapse on themselves.
I guess it just shows how much personal experience affects future purchasing decisions, as you would expect.
Plus I love Objective C so Apple is naturally a more friendly platform!
November 16th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I’m running hundreds of Macs for years. When reboot problems have occurred there’s usually been a bigger hardware problem: motherboard, bad HD, bad memory.
These have been rare though. My customers wouldn’t put up with it if it were as common as Scoble is portraying it.
And to rail at Apple marketing is puerile. It is hardware. The cosmic rays even have an influence on a Macintosh.
Maybe Scoble should just quite using Macs so I don’t have to hear whine about it anymore.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:46 am
I had a similar issue when upgrading my 17″ MacBook Pro to OS X 10.4.11. However, the solution appeared to be to plug in an ethernet cable after the install and before the reboot. When I tried to startup in safe mode with only wifi access to the net I repeatedly had no luck getting the desktop to show up.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:50 am
The late House speaker, Tip O’Neill, said, “all politics is local.” Same goes for updates. Mine installed with no problems. For me, Apple is 100% successful. Robert had a problem. For him, Apple is 100% “screw you.”
November 16th, 2007 at 8:54 am
[...] see how many Mac-heads come to the company’s defense. It happened just today. A-list blogger Robert Scoble posted about the issues he was having with his Mac computer. Here’s an extract: I just loaded the latest Apple Macintosh [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 8:56 am
What do you mean - the Mac’s not perfect?! As the Mac moves into the mainstream, the demands on it to just work become more demanding. I blogged on this reality today.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:58 am
[...] Poor Robert Scoble’s having Mac woes. Sounds like Jeff Jarvis’ Dell Hell [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 9:03 am
take out any 3rd party RAM you installed. It is bad and thats why it won’t boot. This happens all the time with bad RAM chips
November 16th, 2007 at 9:20 am
My brother called in a panic last night…was installing Leopard, realized he’d not backed up so quit the install mid-stream somehow and for some reason (probably involved beer) and was then getting the kernal panic with the DVD stuck in the drive.
Had him shutdown, start up from the DVD, repair permissions, check the drive and then archive/install. All went well at that point.
Other than that bonehead move I’ve had 6-7 uneventful installs/upgrades.
———-
Love you Apple, love you Apple, love you Apple ;-)
November 16th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Well maybe the best thing for you to do is wipe the Mac OS off and run Vista.
Go ahead, I dare you. :)
November 16th, 2007 at 9:44 am
You sound like you’re throwing a bit of a tantrum. Sorry to hear this happened but let’s count the number of times my friend with vista has had to do a complete clean reinstall since he installed it 6 months ago… 1… 2…. 3.
I hope some troubleshooting like PXLated suggest works.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:48 am
If you have the nerve you can try this:
Boot up the machine holding down Command-s. This will boot you into an all text screen.
At the prompt, type fsck -f
(be sure to put a space before the “-f”)
Let it run through it’s course. If it tells you all is okay, try shutting down and restarting. If it tells you it made repairs, run it again for good measure. If it tells you it can’t fix things, then call Apple, you probably have major corruption that is unfixable, or a hardware problem.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Holy COW! awesome rant Robert! you should have seen me throw my Newton across a room back in the day. Anyway nice rant well done. Apple seems to be the deaf and blind maker of fine violins.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Hey Robert,
it is unfortunate you had a problem with your update.
I was more lucky. My update to Leopard fixed two issues I had with 10.4 and my update to 10.5.1 fixed a further issue I had so overall I’m delighted with Leopard and this update.
My Vista experience has been awful. Within 10 minutes of running it I found a bug which Microsoft were unaware of! It still runs dog slow (on a new dual core Vaio with 2gb ram) and Microsoft Support gave up trying to fix one of the problems I was having with it. Seriously. They emailed me and said sorry, we can’t fix it!
I’m sure by SP2 Vista will be reasonably ok. Leopard though is already fantastic on 10.5.1
November 16th, 2007 at 10:16 am
“Robert, better ≠ perfect. Expectation of perfection is the penalty of being pretty darn good.”
Agreed.
Robert, you’re part of the reason that people refer to fans of the Macintosh as zealots — you’re screaming in public about something that is, as far I can tell, pretty freaking rare, and you have a very far reach. So people come in and try to point out why this might be happening, and that’s where the zealotry comes in.
I had an 800Mhz G3 iBook as my only machine for five years and I never had problems with it. Now I have a MacBook Pro and I have had no problems with it. I can’t imagine for a second that anything Dell or HP has to offer could be better.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:17 am
It’s so touching to watch Apple lovers jump to the companies defense.
I consider myself fairly neutral (at least between Apple and Windows based machines) but I have to give a slight edge to Apple and it’s users. If it’s hardware, it’s hardware, but OS X is far less complex from a diagnostic point of view than Windows. I know people who are like bulldogs when it comes to latching on to a software problem until it is fixed, but they are reduced to tears trying to figure out why their home (Windows) machines exhibit unusual behavior. They used to ask me, but I stopped helping them when I stopped using Windows myself. Now I just say “uh-huh” a lot as I listen to their tales of woe.
@23: I love my Powerbook. I probably won’t buy another Apple computer though, or go to the latest version of the OS. It was clear (to me at least) that the switch to Intel wasn’t so much about on chip versus another as it was about not wanting to fight the commodity PC market on price any more. They couldn’t beat the commodity PC so now they are one, along with all the mediocrity that that entails.
Maybe they’ve seen the web-centric future and realize that the details of what computer you use (hardware or OS) won’t matter so much. Or maybe the artsy designers at Apple would just as soon produce handbags as gadgets. As a brand the company has a future, but as a tech company I think they are overvalued (both stock and otherwise). Where is the Apple server push? Why is their online offering “iForgetWhatItsCalled” so lame? And what happened to all the cooperation they were going to have with the Open Source community?
All I know is that Linux keeps getting better, the others keep getting worse. I have no trouble deciding which elevator I want to be on.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I’ve owned more Macs than the average Mac person over the years. Both desktops and laptops. I’ve used every Mac OS from the 6 days to now. I can honestly say I think the UI is nice, but that’s about it. There are some programs for the Mac that are just gorgeous: BBEdit, OmniWeb are my two faves.
But, Apple’s are more expensive for what you DO get. I switched back to PCs with Vista and haven’t looked back. Some say I’m nuts. Maybe I am. MS, while a monopoly, does not have vendor lock-in like Apple does since they don’t make both hardware and software.
Apple has become cocky since they’ve gotten bigger and more popular. Their hardware is no better than what’s on a comparable PC. I know. I’ve done plenty of autopsies on Macs over the years.
For my everyday use I went out and bought a cheapo Gateway laptop with 2GB RAM. I bought my own copy of Vista as I hate OEM trialware. I have Intel chips throughout. My friend’s Mac has roughly the same specs but is no better, no faster. I boot up faster than he does. My Opera launches faster than his. My Firefox launches faster than his. Read time and disk burning is faster on mine. He’s hating life for spending $2k+ on a machine that is no better than a $500 Gateway. His looks better than mine, but I’m not using mine to win girls or looks. I use it to surf the net and handle the thousands upon thousands of digital photos I have and burn to disk. I still don’t trust external drives enough to buy into them. The thing about backups is, you need redundancy.
I’m fully convinced after years of being in the IT industry that what makes a computer truly viable is two things (assuming recent hardware):
1. as much RAM as it can hold
2. a fast Internet connection.
Everything else is just preference.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Robert, apparently you’re still nothing but a “Microsoft Shill” - http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/11/apples-social-media-hell-why-it-needs-to-repent.html#comment-36753
You have to admire the passion of the Apple community!
November 16th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Just bought a new MacBook Pro. Did nothing to it but ran software update and installed the accumulated updates. It rebooted without a problem.
Obviously you have installed some software that has violated Apple’s software guidelines and screwed up something, somewhere.
Not Apple’s fault, I’m afraid. It’s your fault, or more correctly the fault of the scabby, offending software that you installed.
And you wonder why Apple want’s to keep the iPod and iPhone as closed systems.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:40 am
[...] new Microsoft or so they say, 2007 has been a great/bad year for Apple. I am seeing a lot of Apple bashing taking place place, grow up people its just a company. Though I admit it is one of the most tight [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Robert,
Not that you need defending, but surely you know that Macs have the worst type of fanboys in IT. I know. I’ve worked and work with them. Mac fanboys perpetuate the “my s**t doesn’t stink” attitude by showing off their overly-expensive products with hardware/software vendor lock-in.
Fanboys sell the entire idea of superiority when none exists.
I’m platform agnostic. I use what works in a given situation. Period.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Tom,
I had a customer with a new Vaio who also experience dog slow performance under Vista, but it turned out to be a hardware problem. You might want to give sony a call and see if it’s one of their models that has been giving them problems.
Robert,
While I am an apple fan, you are running into the same problem now on Apple that we also run into on a windows box: the lack of informative feedback from our computers when something goes awry. In the never ending battle to beautify our “desktops”, valuable diagnostic information has been lost. And, error messages don’t get the attention they deserve. We’re not all stupid. We don’t want to just “erase and re-install”. We want to fix the problem so it doesn’t occur again.
I can also empathize with your hardware failures. While I haven’t had one in years, my mother in law’s ibook had to go back 3 times. Twice because of problems created at the repair depot.
So, as they say, “I feel your pain brother”
November 16th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Updates tend to tickle problems that are existing.
Pop in your Restore DVD. Select Archive Install. And then run your updates. You won’t lose any data.
As for hardware failures. Um, I see more than my fair share of Apple failures but I have to raise an eye when I see two different model machines in the same household developing the same fault…
..may not be the Mac hardware?
November 16th, 2007 at 11:10 am
We’ve not LOST diagnostic information. It’s there if you hold down Apple V or look in the system logs.
Yes, it’s a pretty machine but it’s also hardcore.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I can’t tell which you are more upset about.
A.) Your computer is having technical issues
B.) Apple does not think enough of your stature to offer you free stuff
C.) Apple has tv commercials that are not 100% in line with your experiences (unlike say, beer or car commercials which accurately portray the benefits of buying their product)
November 16th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Why not downgrade to XP?
November 16th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I installed the 10.5.1 updated on my macbook pro, and every time it restarted, it showed me the new mac registration screen, no matter what I did.
All I can say is thank god for Archive & Install, because time machine effed up my backup
November 16th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
A faulty Mac is much easier to fix than a faulty Windows box. Most of the time when something goes wonky, it’s because…
1) Hardware Failure - ie, the hard drive is dying. These problems are really specific to Apple, as all Apple does is use the same parts everybody else does, and no component is impervious to failure
2) 3rd party system app/tool/utility that suddenly doesn’t play nice with your system. You can’t really blame Apple for that.
Also, you might find it helpful when you hit these kinds of issues to describe what (if anything) you had just done (System upgrade? Installed a new utility?). People smarter than you (or I, for that matter) can use that to usually deduce what is wrong and how to fix it.
Telling Apple to “screw you” because 1) their stuff is wigging out on you and 2) they didn’t give you a “evaulation machine” (boo freakin’ hoo!) just makes you sound childish and immature. If I was Apple, I wouldn’t give you a free machine either.
BTW - I’m writing this on my recently replaced Macbook Pro, that Apple replaced for my faulty unit that was 18 months. Get Applecare - it pays!
November 16th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Remember the days when you were shilling for Microsoft and the company kept delivering those service packs that exploded computers and especially servers? Why weren’t you yelling Screw You Microsoft?
And since you obviously continued to have computer access, did you stop to think that heading over to Apple’s Support Discussion Group might be a good idea? Last night I saw at least 3 different threads where this problem was discussed and (often) successful solutions presented. But no - you just had to throw a blog tantrum.
Get over yourself and grow up!
November 16th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I think Apple’s build quality has gone down since the switch to Intel. Not that it’s the Intel chip’s fault. It just seems that Apple is using cheaper materials and less reliable hardware now. I know my friend’s MacIntel laptops have broken down multiple times while my PPC PowerMac from 2002 “just keeps going”. :)
Of course, the funny thing about this particular blog entry is that Apple used BSOD icons to represent Windows network shares, yet now Robert’s Macs don’t even boot? No company is perfect, but Apple made themselves a huge target for criticism over any and every problem with that BSOD icon stunt.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
[...] Technology — Fred @ 3:43 pm Tags: Apple, Mac, OSX, Robert Scoble Scoble appears to have run into a snag with his MacBook: Screw you Apple and your ads saying you’re better than Microsoft. Screw you. Screw you. Screw [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Well, I just finished updating my MacBook Pro and My Mini and I have had no problem with any of the updates. That is not just me, since 99% of the people had similar experiences. Unlucky, I guess. Best test will be: Install Leopard again from your original disk and before you get any update test the machine. If all is well, then apply the updates with no mods to kernel and no Apps installed to the machine and test the machine. if all ok, then it means that hardware is OK and your configuration was bad. Good luck.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I’ve run into kernel panics on a mac only via some USB or Firewire problems. If the problem returns, try detaching any external devices for the duration of the startup.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
That’s not ironic. Irony requires you to have the opposite of what you expect, such as, “It’s ironic that I dropped $2,000 on an Apple computer only to discover that it wasn’t a collection of electronics, but rather an apple ingeniously carved into the form of a computer.”
Poetic justice is sometimes meant when the term irony is used, such as Steve Jobs being stopped by a cop with a speed gun that’s running Windows Mobile.
In this case, you’re just saying you want the opportunity to turn down hardware from a company that doesn’t bother to offer it to you. I believe that term is sour grapes.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Increasingly clear with Apple’s popular resurgence in recent years is the philosophical difference between their and Microsoft’s OS upgrades. Microsoft bends over backwards to make sure all (or almost all) older apps work on the new platform, even if that requires software workarounds for specific apps, and it comes at the cost of accrued legacy gunk in the API and the software. Apple has never particularly cared about maintaining app compat outside of some critical ones like MS Office and the Adobe line, and that has enabled them to move forward fairly quickly and without carrying baggage forward.
The interesting bit is that there’s a inverted sense of blame for the negative side-effects. Windows users bitch about Microsoft when an upgrade acts funny due to system-level software hacks. Apple users bitch about other users having “unauthorized” software installed, and attribute zero blame to Apple. Same exact thing, different crowd reactions. Problem is, Apple kids, that users don’t always know when they install an app that it’s doing particularly nasty system-level munging. This is ever more true. Expecting users to know this, and choose to upgrade or not accordingly, is silly. Upgrades are supposed to work, period, and it will be interesting to see if Apple will lose consumer faith over time if OS upgrades keep being allowed to bork peoples’ machines.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I always hear anecdotes about how somebody’s Mac, whether PowerPC or Intel, has millions of problems and every Mac they’ve ever had has had millions of problems. I also hear the same thing about PCs. Then I hear how somebody’s Mac or PC has never so much had an application crash in their entire lifetime. I ignore them all as they’re all childish fanboys who make a piece of hardware into a religion. I think it comes down to luck. I’ve had one problem with my current MacBook Pro while my iBook had no problems (except a dead pixel). I haven’t had any problems with Leopard (though it honestly doesn’t feel as stable as Tiger was, but I understood that risk when getting Leopard).
November 16th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
@Brit: Since the Intel switch Apple has gained a hell of a lot more users. A problem like many you see online could affect 0.0001% of users but when they’re selling 2 million Macs a quarter that’s 200 people with the problem.
@Robert: Yes, Apple gets a bit full of itself at times, but as with the above problem it’s simply a matter of scale. I’ve seen two Vista laptops which have both blue screened, but from that I can’t say that every Vista laptop blue screens (both were most likely issues with overheating). How old is your MBP and what has it been in for repair for? If you’re having a lot of problems in a short space of time then you can start inquiring about whether you can get a replacement.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
What was that so called journalist saying? “Are you acting in a kind of sort of a monopoly way.” Was that really a journalist or maybe a dangerous lunatic? I think it was prudent of the pr person or was it e security person to put her self between the danger and Phil Schiller.
Also
“What’s ironic is lots of other computer companies would LOVE to give me free stuff (I don’t take it) but Apple is the only company that’s never raised a PR finger to help me.” .Good for apple How many bloggers are as conscience as you claim to be?
November 16th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Wait, did you just yell at Apple for not offering to give you free stuff that you wouldn’t accept anyway? And then complain that you actually had to buy a computer, as though that were unusual for you?
I’m sorry that you’re having computer issues, I’ve had some too - but in my experience I’ve had far fewer with osx than I do when I’m running windows. I guess your mileage has already varied. :)
November 16th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Robert, I suspect you know that your reaction to this isn’t exactly the most reasonable.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
So …
When your Win 3.1 / NT / Win 95 / 98 / ME (the HORROR!) / XP / Vista machines crapped out, did you take a hissy fit then too? Because that certainly seems to be what you’re doing here. We’ve all had bad hardware experiences - Apple and PC users alike. So you’re upset that Apple won’t give you free stuff and you had to pay for it? Poor Rob - that’s not a very good way to gain sympathy from your readers.
By any chance: you don’t run a Logitech mouse and have the Logitech control software enabled do you? Logitech did some bad things with their drivers on OS X that caused problems with Leopard…
November 16th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Wow, eloquent! No doubt you’ve honed your intellect from all those years at Microsoft. That would also explain the expectation that vendors send you crap for free so you can talk about how great it is. Incidentally, the reason why Apple “ironically” doesn’t throw its crap at you for free is because it doesn’t need to rely on PR/BS to sell its products.
Apple is currently offering products people actually want to buy, regardless of what the pundits are blathering. The problem for you is that better products don’t necessarily solve all of your problems.
Since you don’t know what’s wrong or why, your “screw you” tantrum doesn’t really say anything about Apple or its products, but really more about yourself. Reactionary fits aren’t that impressive unless you’re the CEO of Microsoft.
A better approach might be to discover what the actual problem is, and then point out an actual fault that needs to be addressed. Dramatically throwing up your hands and rushing to “blog” about your frustrations and why they are the fault of Apple before you even know what’s happening is just a personal embarrassment for your qualifications as a thinker.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
When are you going to take your computers in for service to get the comma key fixed?
November 16th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
My mac works great, too, but what use is that to you? When something doesn’t work, that sucks. Of course, I’m on my second Thinkpad in three months (the first of which fried two hard drives and refused to reload the OS). Every other Thinkpad I’ve had worked great. Bad hardware happens, dude.
All I can say is that if you resent Apple and don’t like your Mac, why not just stick to your Windows machines. No one else should/would care.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
“Mac fanboys perpetuate the “my s**t doesn’t stink” attitude by showing off their overly-expensive products with hardware/software vendor lock-in.”
Yeah, I noticed this “show off” attitude when it seemed that every iPhone owner posed for pictures with their iPhone. LOL
Two prime examples from Scoble’s own blog:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/674803162/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/919009940/
Pretty funny. But also kind of scary!!
November 16th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Yes, I know you’ve never had problems with Microsoft’s software, or anybody else’s hardware.
Yes, we know you’re The Great Scoble, and everybody should be begging you to run their stuff and having their representatives follow behind you to make sure your every whim is catered to.
Whatever.
As for Apple’s “controlling PR machine”, are you insane? The moron brought up a question of a non-existent monopoly which Schiller did answer (and was polite enough to point out that the reporter only asked again only because he didn’t get the answer he wanted). Exactly how long should Apple have let him remain asking the same question, Robert? How long would Microsoft? How long would any company? Hell, he asked it solely for the purpose of getting the reaction on film (which was obvious) so he could put it on YouTube and have knee-jerkers like you think it’s “newsworthy” enough to link to. Looks like it worked. So much for relying on alleged “A-list” bloggers separating the wheat from the chaff.
This blog has become little more than a point from which you try to show people how cool, hip, now, and happening you are, and apparently to take pot shots at companies you’re pissed at because they don’t recognize your greatness and offer you free stuff. Ooooh, you had to actually BUY your Apple hardware. How tragic for you. The rest of us, of course, get ours for free.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Robert,
You seem to be oversimplifying Apple’s marketing message. I take them to be mocking Vista for onerous hardware requirements and the fact that people are downgrading to XP because once they get Vista installed they continue to have problems. You seem to think the message is that it is impossible to have problems on a Mac.
In any case I’m sorry you’ve had problems. I hope that you don’t feel the desire to downgrade.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
[...] is bringing out the Apple supporters in droves). It happened just today. A-list blogger Robert Scoble posted about the issues he was having with his Mac computer. Here’s an extract: I just loaded the latest Apple Macintosh [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Martin Pilkington, I understand that with more users come more reports of problems, but doesn’t that apply to Microsoft 10-fold? (I think Windows has ~90% share and Mac OSX has ~7%? So Windows has more than 10 times the userbase.)
And even so, you do have to admit that Apple made themselves a target for criticism with the BSOD PR stunt, right? ;)
I’ll just stay with my trusty PPC PowerMac and Panther for the foreseeable future. I simply trust it more than the Intel Macs (and way more than Dell notebooks which are pieces of trash; had two die on me way before their time).
November 16th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Ironic, eh? I don’t think you know what words mean.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Glenn is right–this is just sour grapes that you don’t get free gear, which is deeply unattractive. If you want anyone to take you seriously as a tech pundit you are going to have to learn to think before you type.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I’ve bought 3 Apple products, all of which had to be replaced by the manufacturer. My return stories are far worse than Jarvis’ Dell Hell - including a trip in person to the 5th Ave Apple store - WITH AN APPOINTMENT - where the so-called genius bar turned away my iPod. “You have to file online and MAIL it back.” Huh? But I made an appointment. I’m standing right here. Apple blows.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
On the rare occasions when I’ve had legitimate problems with my Macs, it has always been 100% due to my having done something unholy.
Some third-party developers are egregious sinners and should be banished, but that is for Apple to decide.
As a developer and linux nerd, it is exceedingly easy for me to sin all over a Mac. And despite my sinner status, I have always been able to enlist The Google’s help in gaining salvation for my damned machines.
But seriously, you can’t dispite the rock-solid nature of Apple hardware and software. To suggest otherwise is folly. I laugh, ha-ha!
November 16th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
s/dispite/dispute/
November 16th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I had a few problems with this upgrade as well. The worst part… Apple’s knowledge base is well-hidden.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
It’s kind of annoying when some big blogger assumes that because his personal computer isn’t working, Apple’s products are substandard and they’re going to hell. I mean, how big an ego does it take? ‘When Scoble’s machine is down, it is a dark day for Apple.’
This is the very definition of anecdotal evidence. The fact that the anecdote in question happens to be Robert Scoble only increases the decibel of the whine, not the validity of the criticism. Check any customer service/repair survey in the industry, and Apple comes out on top. Evidence-wise, that’s worth more than all the anecdotes in the world.
Whether on the Windows side or in OS X, a single tale of malfunction and woe followed by a series of comments where various people take up this story in service of their preconceived notion, is basically a worthless exercise.
But I hope your Mac stays healthy. If I were you I would take the opportunity to back up everything on it as long as it’s working. Hard drives are not magically immune to corruption and failure no matter which logo they’ve been slapped with.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
So, can I have it then? If you’re so disappointed with your Macs, why not put them on ebay and buy a Dell already instead of crying about how you had to actually pay for it in the first place instead of having it given to you buy Apples’s PR? I might buy it from you if it didn’t have that blue monster sticker on it… maybe that jinxed it.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I had a similar problem. Hard crash on restart. The problem? The disk needed to be repaired first. I booted up with the Leopard disc, used Disk Utility, repaired the disk, and voila, it’s working.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac.”
PC: “And I’m a PC.”
Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac.”
[PC stares at Mac]
Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac.”
[PC walks over to Mac. He grabs Mac by the shoulders, shakes him roughly]
Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello…”
[PC slaps Mac in the face]
Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello, I’m a Mac. Hello…”
PC [to himself]: Man, Scoble is not going to like *this*…
November 16th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
haha so you don’t get a FREE machine, have some issues and SCREW YOU. I think that is where we’ll leave it.
Steve, who pays for his machines too. And they work.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
“What’s ironic is lots of other computer companies would LOVE to give me free stuff (I don’t take it) but Apple is the only company that’s never raised a PR finger to help me. Instead I feel so honored to spend my money on this crap. Why? Just to have a shiny machine?”
I’m ignoring the rest of your post. Sorry you’re having issues, but I’m sure you’ll love all the traffic an Apple bashing article will get you. I’m concentrating on the quote above.
Where do you get off? Who the hell do you think you are, that companies PR departments should be chomping at the bit to give you free stuff? You’re an irrelevant blogger. Get over yourself. You are not a celebrity. You don’t matter. I’ve been leaning towards unsubscribing for a long time, thanks for pushing me over the edge.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Yup. If your steak comes out medium instead of medium rare, blame Apple. Weight gain? Must be a flaw in the OS. If it rains, it must be Leopard.
Damn, man. You’re using a computer. They crash. I’ve used Macs for 20 years. They crash from time to time. That’s reality. Sometimes it’s Apple’s fault; sometimes it isn’t.
If you’re working with a new, clean machine or doing a complete disk erase and install and having problems, then blame Apple. For any other installation, it’s quite possible that some third party code is the cause of your problem.
Even if Apple really is to blame for your problem, to curse Apple when you have no frigging idea what caused your problem is irresponsible behavior for anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a tech journalist.
Grow up.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
I’ve been on a Macbook Pro for 2 years and have never had any issues of any kind with my Mac. Sorry that you’re having trouble, but the inherent complexity of computers, no matter the manufacturer, guarantees that there will be some bad eggs. It’s kind of juvenile to yell and scream about it, especially given your high profile as a blogger.
Just sayin’.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Good to see there was a user there (wonderplanned , within 35 minutes!) to steer you in the right direction.
Of course this had to turn into another Mac/Windows slug fest. *sigh*
I hate it when something goes wrong with one of my Macs. It doesn’t happen too often, but it happens. After all, they’re (just) machines.
I also hate it when something goes wrong with one of my Windows, Linux or Irix boxes…
November 16th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Take advantage of the Apple Store Genius Bar.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Scoble loses rag with Apple - and I don’t blame him!!
I have no illusions that Robert Scoble wrote this in a severe fit of red mist, but really it’s just another story of woe that’s getting bigger by the day…
So here’s my view:
1) Most laptops suck. Seriously. They suck. When Apple…
November 16th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Guess you’re taking that old job back. Screw you Scoble.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Can,t say I disagree with you but your heavy handedness, isn’t going to make you many friends and is not going to solve the problem.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Apple users are a really loyal bunch, but sometimes I wonder why–everyone I know seems to have major issues with their Apple computers, and yet they all keep going back, buying the latest version of this or that. It’s really strange.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I’m always surprised when “tech people” and “tech bloggers” like you and Arrington, for example, admit to the world they are users of Mac products. There is something definitely “un-tech” about Mac, wouldn’t you agree? The idea that you can open the hood and look around in a Mac is unheard of.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
$50 says it’s something you added to the machine.
Panics like this are low level, very often hardware.
- Did you add 3rd party RAM? Remove it and test again.
If you boot from the DVD and still get the panics, memory is a good thing to check.
- Have you installed 3rd party kernal extensions (kext)? Uninstall and test again.
If booting into Safe Mode does not panic, third party system extensions are a possible cause.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I’ve had nothing but issues with the latest update since I installed. My MacBook randomly BSOD’s (black screen of death) almost regularly, now. My network keeps going down as well, and all I can do to fix it is reboot the machine. I’m getting *extremely* frustrated with Apple right now. I was expecting this update to make my Leopard problems better, not worse!
November 16th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
4:45am:
“Screw you Apple.”
5:59am:
“Update: I rebooted my machine one more time and it started working. Very weird. Sigh.”
Comment#11 burried in 55 comments, yet the author sees no need to update the main article. Hey guy, this is not print media that needs a next day correction. Put your update up front in your post (or shameless grip about not getting free Apples)
November 16th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
[...] restart hell not sure if this has allready been posted.. Caught in Apple restart hell Scobleizer FYI: all mac owners… __________________ JIM, This game was stolen from the MICHIGAN [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
[...] restart hell FYI: for all mac owners… Caught in Apple restart hell Scobleizer sorry if it’s already been posted.. __________________ JIM, This game was stolen from the [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Good lord, grow the hell up. Yes, it’s very frustrating when your computer is broken, but going from that to “Apple sucks! Waah! and they don’t give me free stuff” makes you sound like a four year old.
Of course, you could do sensible things, like try booting from your install disks, etc. - you know, troubleshoot the problem, that kind of thing? But I guess it’s more fun to blog about it.
I guess we can all be glad that at least you didn’t share on video.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I recently bought a Gateway c-140x a convertible notebook. With a 2.0 Gig core 2, 2 gigs memory and 120 gig HD the ATI 2300 HD chipset a 12 cell and 6 cell LI-ION batteries, blue tooth, santa rosa chip set, wireless a,b,g and a 14.1 inch wide screen. Since you can *gasp* take out the optical drive which is a dual layer burner and put in a 6 cell battery in its place, so you can have power for up to EIGHT HOURS with 2 batteries in the machine at the same time. Just amazing. I paid $2200 including tax. I totally love it. *Every* game I throw at it runs awesomely. This is replacing a powerbook g4 that is nearly 5 years old and now dead. Vista on new modern hardware is awesome. I have had only a few issues with running older software on it, which I quickly solved. It’s been fun to use and a pleasure to work with. My daughter who is 5 uses the stylus for playing her educational games and practices handwriting writing on it, since you can draw directly on the screen. The handwriting recognition is just simply amazing and 99% accurate.
My friend who installed 10.5 is having the same kind of Kernel Panic attack on his intel based macbook pro.
Apple has dropped the ball. Apple not only makes nothing I want. It’s too expensive, over priced under performing, glitzy crap.
I am done defending apple. I used their products for more than 10 years. But I am now done and have bought a windows machine to prove it. And you know what really amazing? It’s really really well done. Everything on that machine actually works as advertised the first time I used it.
As a side note I bought My Gateway C-140x on October 4th 2007. You now cannot get the T7300 2 gig chip as an option it now only goes to 1.6!? The highest it offered was 2.4. I have no idea why gateway decided to limit the options on the machine. Since I tricked mine out totally. And got a number of discounts since I used a person to create the order and they were very helpful. I got my computer configured as ordered down to the preinstall software without flaw. In guess how long? 7 days. It was perfectly done. I’m happy with what I paid and what I got for that. Apple is gonna fall if it keeps this up.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Robert!
You are acting like a child. Go to your room and time out for 30 minutes.
Then come back and apologize for your ranting and raving.
Then call Apple support for help. Be nice to them. If you are obnoxious or mean to them, they will not help you. And guess what??? You will not deserve help. No one like spoiled fat boys who are bullies.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Movie at 11.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
You have to be the BIGGEST baby in the world! Waaaa!
November 16th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
[...] in Apple restart hell « Scobleizer Caught in Apple restart hell « Scobleizer Now my machine won’t boot. Well, that’s not really true. When I power it up the Apple comes [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Irony: Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs:
So…it is EXPECTED that Apple should give you free stuff?
November 16th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Robert, you REALLY need to see my video on this very subject. I guarantee sympathy and much laughter. It’s a comedic video representation of the flame war i inadvertently started when I dared to speak about problems with my mac
“I hate the smugness of apple”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbLeFNjYeTs
November 16th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I have a 15′ Macbook Pro. It has been in the shop 4 times and needs to go in again. The fan sounds like a leaf blower. The machine is a joke and Apple people have done nothing to help other than to say “take it to the Genius Bar”. I got so frustrated that I sent Steve Jobs an email. I was pleased that their “executive support” read the email and responded to me with a phone call. That is where the customer service ended… go to the Genius Bar.
November 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Robert, surely you live near an apple store. hop in the car go in and ask the genius to fix it. You should be fixed up in a jiffy. What you are describing is probably some kind of software issue with stuff that you added to your computer, no big deal…. but, probably easier if you just take it to the apple store.
While you are there you may want to buy one of their little cards that gets you 12 visits for 100.00 to learn whatever you don’t know on the mac, 1 on 1 with a genius. I’d bet you a big coffee it would eliminate your problems in the future.. and you can take your child along with you.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:28 am
As for the actual question the reporter brought up, Steve Jobs himself has already shared his thoughts on the question in his open letter titled “Thought on Music.”
The relevant bit:
“Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company. Or, if they buy a specific player, they are locked into buying music only from that company’s music store. Is this true? Let’s look at the data for iPods and the iTunes store – they are the industry’s most popular products and we have accurate data for them. Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.
Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.”
November 17th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Computers break down. Software has bugs. Some, less than others.
Not everyone experiences a nerd rage outbreak when their system stops working though.
Just confirms my internet dickwad theory :P Give someone a voice, watch them turn into an asshole.
November 17th, 2007 at 1:00 am
“Mac fanboys perpetuate the “my s**t doesn’t stink” attitude by showing off their overly-expensive products with hardware/software vendor lock-in.”
I don’t really know how the products are still considered overly expensive, or where the hell the hardware/software vendor lock-in is with the computer. I’m sure as hell not able to use a zune on a mac, if you’re going after the ipod, otherwise, I’m tri-booting on my mac. As for overly expensive, I mean, I paid like $1200 for my macbook, and for what I got I was paying nearly the same for a windows laptop, maybe a few hundred less for the windows laptop. But then again, I trip over my power cable a few times a month, so the money i save on power adapters alone pretty much makes that difference moot :P
November 17th, 2007 at 1:46 am
I had a similar problem. I updated my MBP15″ to 10.4.11, and it wouldn’t reboot. Eventually I powered off, and then it wouldn’t start.
I did an ‘Archive & Install’ (or what ever its called) to get Tiger up and running again, then reinstalled 10.4.11.
Apart from a few apps not working (Cisco VPN, Plaxo, Mozy, CoreDuoTemp) everything else seems to be working perfectly.
This is the first time I’ve had to reinstall OSX in 18 months compared to about every 3 months with XP AND after getting the machine back up and running, almost everything was still working.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:03 am
My update to my MacBook Pro installed without a hitch. But, then, I don’t run any third-party software that accesses the system kernel. I’ll wager that you do, Robert.
What has been described is not a kernel panic. They result in changes in the screen pattern of one sort or another.
Start troubleshooting with an fsck. You do know how to do that, right?
November 17th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Funny, I have an iBook (5 years old and it’s never needed ANYTHING. I wonder if it has anything to do with the new intel chips? Personally, i prefer linux as an os. If it weren’t for iPhoto and ffmpegx, I’d rest with buying the DELL at half the fortune/price, deleting every sign of Micro-softbrain OS, and install SUSE 10.3 with Compiz fusion on the DELL. The only time Linux needs a restart is in those very rare instances one installs a new kernel. Hope you resolve your wee issues and then continue enjoying a real computer. I think I will get me the new macbook and install Linux on that.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Hey Buddy,
Calm down. Maybe its just the shop you’re going to thats being naughty. My friend was sitting outside an apple shop and one of the employees walked out. he saw his mac and said it was discolored. He asked my friend to come in and he replaced his plate. he asked if there were any other problems. They replaced his battery too. I have to strongly say, Apple has awesome customer care and if you’re not getting the best, complain about it officially.
Having said that, you should check out my blog for a post on the hanging mac. I caught a photograph :)
Thanks.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:14 am
“Robert, surely you live near an apple store. hop in the car go in and ask the genius to fix it. You should be fixed up in a jiffy.”
Why do something about it? But that would defeat the purpose of complaining about it on one’s blog.
As for Apple not giving bloggers free stuff. It really gets boring quick when they complain about not getting free stuff. Not being invited to some conference or given the scoop on some new product. Really, really boring, really, really fast. Ever stop to think that maybe some companies don’t care what some bloggers have to say? Or at least what some bloggers have to say? Maybe others are better recipients of a company’s products. I don’t think some bloggers do. They just like to whine about it.
Here’s an example of Winer asking whether he has to (shock horror!) buy himself a Zune to evaluate it! Incredible, I know. A few weeks later he’s blogging about how he just purchased $50,000 USD worth of Apple stock. Yet he couldn’t buy a Zune? Incredulous, I know.
Stop your whining bloggers.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Like others on this comment list, I am so totally tired of self-important, bloggers like Scoble whining about anything and everything. He’s a perfect example of the Internet Fuckwad Theory.
If you can use foul language like “screw you Apple” then I guess I can use language like “screw you Scoble”.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Maybe you should remove vista. It’s probably causing the mayhem with your kernel. Personally i prefer SUSE 10.3. If only i could find something to replace iPhoto.. is there anything that makes a slideshow as simply as iPhoto on Linux?
November 17th, 2007 at 5:01 am
[...] likely never be back, thank God. (There was also appreciable traffic from a trackback on a Scoble post and a mention at my friend Mathew’s site, but I’ll bet a very different kind of [...]
November 17th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Aww hunnybunch! Why don’t you fucking call Apple then and get it fixed? Also, out of curiosity: what the fuck do you think the word “ironic” means? I don’t think you used it properly.
November 17th, 2007 at 6:01 am
Great to see that a quick anti-Apple post can really boost the page hits and comments Robert. I’m happy to help out. Even your like to the Daily Show writer’s You Tube vid has less than 1/5th the comments of this post.
As someone who’s dealt with technology for years, I’m surprised and disappointed by your reaction to your upgrade problems. Upgrading the OS on any computer is a risk. Did you have a full, bootable, tested backup of your system before you started..? That’s just a basic step on any system.
Then when it didn’t work, did you try basic trouble shooting..? No you just posted a potty-mouthed blog about how Apple is no different to all the rest. Bizarre.
I recently had to reboot my iMac - a rare occurrence on my Mac, a common one on my WinNT box. When it rebooted I got the grey screen for a while, then the ? folder icon. Was my immediate reaction to throw the thing out and use Windows exclusively… I don’t think so..! I powered down and powered up again and it worked just fine. It took a little longer to boot up, so I think it was fixing something in the background, but now it works again just like before.
Apple are not able to change the laws of physics. This is still a computer with RAM and hard disks, running very complex OS code. Things will go wrong. Would you trade in your BMW M5 for a Hyundai just because the brake pads wore out or it needed a new muffler..?
So screw you, your fake rage and your flawed logic.
November 17th, 2007 at 6:55 am
Scoble’s Little Computer Problem
It sounds like Scoble’s pissed off at his Mac. Apparently, his computer had a little trouble after the latest Mac OS X update, and it was restarting over and over again. What this usually means is that there is some conflict either with hardwar…
November 17th, 2007 at 7:28 am
[...] you happen to have a very popular blog, and end up writing this. An you fail to mention the obscure software you installed 2 weeks ago that modified the kernel, [...]
November 17th, 2007 at 7:52 am
@62,
Good post. I agree.
Just becuase one is a well-known or well-liked blogger does not make one entitled to free swag.
To all bloggers: Do you want to emulate a good tech luminary? Try being more like Steve Wozniak. He’s smart as a tree full of owls, yet he’s humble, etc.
Steve is offered free swag all the time, yet waits in line with the rest of the common man because he keeps it real.
No one is entitled. No one. Everyone should be treated the same. Fairly. People who expect better treatment simply because of who they are deserve nothing.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I bet if you quit hitting yourself in the head with a hammer your headache will go away. Just another way of saying if Apple products are so awful then STOP USING THEM. I have been using Macs since ‘86. Sounds to me that you might be the type of person that really shouldn’t use a Mac or any computer for that matter. Try Linux if you are so unhappy with Microsoft/MacOS.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:46 am
[...] about Leopard’s earlier mishaps (although I understand much of it has been patched), and now, Robert Scoble’s own royal frustrations (see Rob Hyndman’s problems with [...]
November 17th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I just bought a 15″ Macbook Pro. I say that so I am not ripped right away for being a windows fanboy.
Most of you are missing the point. I agree that there are a lot of things that someone can do to fix a problem with their Mac. However, that goes against the point of the commercials, and what I believe Robert was trying to point out. The things that are being suggested to Robert and the problems that he is having are supposed to only be Windows problems. If you watch the ads you would believe that Macs never have any problems and they are nothing but roses and sunshine.
And to blame his problems on “unapproved” software. I don’t recall Apple mentioning anything in their ads that says you will only have a great experience if you don’t install any non-Apple approved software.
Allvright, now to watch the comments that will be sure to come my way ripping me….
Kevin
November 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Kevin: EXACTLY!
November 17th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
And what’s up with you having to go to the Apple store? Don’t you have any geek friends who can actually do something (as opposed to yak yak yak about technology like they have any clue of what’s going on)? Can’t fix a software problem yourself, you need to go to the genius bar?
How did you ever deal with Windows errors?
The kernel panic is caused by some errant extension on your computer that isn’t compatible with OS X. Stop installing junk from every startup “CEO” you talk to and maybe you’ll have a computer that’s stable.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
“Brian and Ryo: I think you guys are funny. Sounds like Microsoft users — we’re used to this kind of hell. I expect better from Apple, especially when they are running ads saying they are better.”
Didn’t you already say a reboot fixed it or is today “shill for Microsoft” day?
If a reboot fixed it and you can’t recreate the error, in the computer industry that’s called “user error”.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Anon: a reboot AFTER I zapped the PRAM and AFTER I started up in safe mode, which ran some diagnostics software fixed it. I only would have known to try those if I had gone into an Apple store and some “genius” would have tried those, or because I have a blog with lots of smart people who hang out here.
It wasn’t “user error” by the way. This was totally caused by the OSX update.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Anon: I haven’t installed any software on my Mac. Nice try. I haven’t had a Windows error in years. Glad to see you are repeating “the brand promise of Apple.”
I thought any idiot could run a Macintosh. Or do all the Apple ads lie?
November 17th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
@128 Unfreakingbelieable! You really don’t get the point advertising? Can we also conclude that you get pissed when you find out can’t rich by buying real estate with no money down? Or lose weight by taking a pill? Or get girls by wearing Old Spice? Or tow a 747 with a Ford F150?
November 17th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Ron: exactly. Be a dutiful little Apple FanBoi and step back in line.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
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November 17th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I don’t get the extremist position Scoble. Look, computers are complex things, as you know. No matter what, they aren’t always going to work as expected.
The Apple ads don’t lie, however, Apple can’t stop people from making up their own stories about what the ads mean. At no time has Apple ever said that you’ll never have a problem if you buy a Mac. No reasonable person should expect zero problems on any computer.
Certainly compared to what people go through with Windows, it’s not even close. It’s not that you’ll never have a problem or a crash on a Mac, it’s that, compared to life on XP or Vista, things are a lot nicer most of the time. It’s a quality of life issue really.
Apple’s ad point out something most Windows users are beginning to realize: there’s an alternative to Windows. When I worked at MIT, most of Windows users I helped didn’t know that not all computers had spyware and viruses and lousy networking. They thought if you used a computer–any computer–this is what you had to live with. People are realizing that’s not the case.
Can someone with enough time, skill and motivation keep their Windows machine in great condition and never run into a problem? Absolutely. Do most people have the skill and the time to do this on Windows? No. Windows forces you to have some pretty decent system administration skills to keep things running smoothly.
On the Mac, you don’t need to be as skilled or motivated to keep things running nicely, since by virtue of how