It pays to know your stuff

[RetiredGuy1000]

Had my first real customer today. His Mac had developed a situation where it would just display a flashing question mark and a folder when booting.

"Sure I could help!" I said. And as I waited for him to come over, I went on google to figure the situation out which i thought I did.

Turns out it was a newer Macbook Pro. Nice unit. And the recovery is all 'internet recovery'' based. Luckily, we had a wifi signal but after repeated attempts I could not get the MAcOSx to reinstall. I should say that he had no data anyway and his buddy that messed up the computer claims to have backed it up, his hard drive was practically empty, so there wasn't anything to save.

But, since the connection was not happening between apple and us.....I had to throw in the towel.
It pays to know your stuff. And I didnt. But I learned lot for next time I guess.

 

[nerd2u]

What stage of the reinstall did you get stuck at?

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

Very beginning. Although I had a WiFi connection the saved MacOS couldn’t be loaded for some reason. This is using ‘internet recovery’. I believe that’s what it is called.

 

[Rosco]

this is another reason to has the dmg files of the mac os. Also have mac osx loaded on a flash drive so you can run diagnostics.

WHen he can over did he stay or just drop it off. Its one thing if you are onsite getting paid by the hour. I would have been very uncomfortable my first job having some stranger standing over me as i try to look things up in my own house. Having good google fu is important.

 

[Markverhyden]

Historically any wireless installs like that have problems. Apple used to tell users it had to be wired only. So taking the time to build a bootable stick as @Rosco mentioned is a very smart thing.

 

[nerd2u]

Sounds like you may have simply not waited long enough for the install to kick off.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[mraikes]

Had my first real customer today....

While it could have gone better, congratulations on your first real customer! It takes a certain kind of guts to step out on a limb and try to solve someone's problem. And you did it.

So don't let it get you down. No matter how long you do this, or how good you become, you WILL occasionally run into a job that kicks your butt.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

Thanks everyone. Yes, it was a bit unsettling. Having the customer standing there. I should say that i am building a counter/bench for this office/room I have set up as my home office And I will try and get the customer to drip it off. This guy didnt want to part with his damaged baby however.

I was able to get into the recovery area and poke around. Was certain that reinstalling the OS would have worked. Especially since data loss wasn't an issue.

I actually had a bootable USB stick. But I could't get it to work or get it to catch, I pressed 'option' while rebooting and that never loaded the usb, only jumped me into the recovery area. So I need to work on this.

Part of me says 'screw macs', but this was a good $60 fee I let go to waste. Its an expensive lesson. Ill be ready next time.

(nerd2u, I think you are right. It probably was prob taking too long)

 

[Moltuae]

The thread title reminded me of this ...

 

[Porthos]

This guy didnt want to part with his damaged baby however.

I have seen that before. I have everyone come to me. They know before they drop it off that it will be here 24-48 hours. I do Windows only.

It helps the trust factor that I have good reviews and I have a dedicated garage to work from. I sorta "interview" potential clients before I even offer to fix the computers. I have been in business since 2003 and "had" a brick and mortar shop for 16 years. Closed it a little over a year ago and have not looked back.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

By the way, his 13inch Macbook pro had no usb ports. It might have been a small Macbook air.

Just had 4 what look to be thunderbolt ports, I think thumb drives are going to be getting even smaller.

 

[Joep]

"I actually had a bootable USB stick. But I could't get it to work or get it to catch, I pressed 'option' while rebooting and that never loaded the usb, only jumped me into the recovery area. So I need to work on this."

+

"By the way, his 13inch Macbook pro had no usb ports. It might have been a small Macbook air. "

=

?

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

I should prob explain that. i tried the stick on MY macbook pro that was sitting right there. Not his. I wanted to see if I could boot to it.

It was a clusterf----!

 

[purdybread]

By the way, his 13inch Macbook pro had no usb ports. It might have been a small Macbook air.

Just had 4 what look to be thunderbolt ports, I think thumb drives are going to be getting even smaller.

Thunderbolt 3 ports compatible with USB-C devices

 

[nlinecomputers]

Thunderbolt 3 ports compatible with USB-C devices

Yep. Gotta have these:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+a+to...efix=usb+a+to+c+a,aps,219&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

thanks. just ordered..

 

[Diggs]

They know before they drop it off that it will be here 24-48 hours. I do Windows only.

Thank you! Was beginning to feel like the only one that avoided Apple. Very rare here so I'm not really losing much business. On-site I don't mind the customer watching but not in my home-based shop.

 

[Porthos]

On-site I don't mind the customer watching but not in my home-based shop.

Don't do onsite.
The customers are in my shop long enough for me to do a crystal disk info scan (smart) and sign paperwork. (ALL AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDED)

 

[Diggs]

Don't do onsite.

Me? That's huge in this area and a big part of my business. No one else does it and people are willing to pay nicely for it.

 

[Porthos]

people are willing to pay nicely for it.

Not around here. Most of the work I do is Windows installs and SSD's, screens and keyboards. People are not willing to pay hourly for that. (not on a 3-$600 computer) I have only a couple of people who have "networked" computers. Printer installs I can do remotly 99%of the time.