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asb819 · Aug 9, 2006, 09:42 PM

Hey everyone,
I own a 1.42 ghz 512mb ram mini, bought just under a year ago. It has always had an issue where sometimes it gets stuck in the grey apple spin screen during bootup, requiring at least another try before it boots successfully. Since it didn't occur EVERY startup, and didn't affect performance (as far as I knew...), I didn't think it was worth it to take into the Apple store. Today, however, it got a little worse, and would just turn off after a couple minutes of grey apple screen and intense fan whirring. I decided it was time to take it to the Genius bar, and I'm glad I did because my warranty expires in 5 days. Turns out it's a logic board issue, which is being replaced for me within the next couple days. Now, I'm wondering... is it possible that this will not only improve any bootup issues, but other performance problems I may have been having? For example, lately my Airport connection has randomly been dropping bars after running flawlessly for nearly a year -- no new 2.4ghz phones, no new microwaves, computer is in the same spot. And it's always seemed that the in store models just run smoother than mine. So is there any chance that I'll be pleasantly surprised by any performance improvements after having the logic board replaced?

-Ari

Big Mac · Aug 10, 2006, 03:42 AM

certainly possible, Ari. Hopefully it will cure the issues you've been having. Btw, nice to see another Ari on the forums (had to do a double take on that one).

asb819 · Aug 10, 2006, 10:58 AM

Yep, Ari's are hard to come by these days... I actually go by Ariel but Ari's more convenient for internet purposes

By the way, the Apple store called me today -- misdiagnosis. It's the hard drive, not the logic board. So there goes my data. Luckily I had backed up all my music right before my computer stopped working. Perhaps those 4 hours of hard drive work finished it off.

imitchellg5 · Aug 10, 2006, 12:41 PM

For your iTunes Music Store music open iTunes> Advanced> Check for Purchases and it will download your iTunes Music Store music.

asb819 · Aug 10, 2006, 01:08 PM

Thanks for the iTunes tip!

Can someone refresh my memory -- does the g4 mini use 2.5" or 3.5" drives? I have this apricorn hard drive enclosure/backup kit for laptop drives which may come in handy if Apple lets me keep the old drive... but I have a feeling that's not likely. I'd like to salvage some of my documents and bookmarks and such, but it's not a huge deal. A fresh start is always good, and hopefully the new drive will improve more than just startup time -- there's no reason why not, right?

imitchellg5 · Aug 10, 2006, 09:05 PM

2.5 drives.

asb819 · Aug 11, 2006, 12:40 AM

Thanks.

While they didn't let me keep the drive, they did repair it extremely fast. I brought it back home less than 18 hours after I took it in last night. I am very pleased with the fix. Within seconds after firing it up I realized how bad my drive had been this whole year. The initial OS startup took just minutes, from powering it on to surfing the web. When I started it up after first getting it a year ago, it took several minutes just to get to the first setup window. I'm in the process of reinstalling a bunch of software, but to be honest, I'm not complaining. Booting up now takes about 52 seconds and restarting not much longer. So far it seems like applications are opening a little bit faster, but we'll see after I finish installing more stuff and use it as I would normally. Thanks for the replies!

imitchellg5 · Aug 11, 2006, 11:54 AM

18 hours is very fast, enjoy your fast mini!