Want to learn to service mac machines

[AdvancedTech]

I have been thinking about learning to service macs for some time. I have gotten alot of information here from those who have posted links to numerous service techniques. Thanks to all for this information.

I'm a big reader and have purchased several books on OSX and other mac related subjects. I don't have a big customer base of mac users, however several of my customers have recently purchased macs and have already reached out to me for support. Fortunately their issues were minor ie. network connectivity and printer problems which I was able to resolve.

I don't want to turn away business if I don't have to. I think my next step would be to buy a mac to get experience and to practice on. Replacing hard drive upgrading memory etc.

I'm thinking of a mac mini from 2009 or possibly later. I intend to use an apple wireless keyboard and mouse but I want to use one of my existing monitors. I have several with HDMI or DVI capabilities which should work well.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to which model would be best. Are there any other pieces of equipment I should consider ie wired mouse and keyboard, video converter cables to service older customer equipment?

If necessary I would even purchase a new mini if anyone thinks that would be a good idea.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

A mini is a great machine. Whether you want to buy newer or older is up to you and your budget. Obviously the newer the model, the longer it stays relevant. Apple is shifting some of their emphasis on storage towards fusion drive technology and a newer Mac mini with fusion would be a very fast machine and give you some practice with troubleshooting and working with fusion.

Get an actual wired Apple keyboard for doing PRAM resets or going to boot manager (wireless won't cut it). A mouse pretty much anything will do. Get some firewire cables (mostly 800, but would hurt to have at least one firewire 400 cable on hand or an adapter). Maybe a thunderbolt to firewire adapter also. some mini-display port to VGA/DVI adapters. Also, while supplies last, invest $20 in a 10.6.3 retail installer before Apple pulls the plug on the last (and best) version of OSX that you can actually obtain a physical disk for. This disk is invaluable for any Intel Mac made up to 2010/11.

 

[AdvancedTech]

Thanks so much for such a quick reply...this is just the type of info I needed. I just ordered the DVD you recommended. I'll get the other things over the next few days....Thinking of going to the local apple store tomorrow and just going with a new mini. I too thought that the newer the system the longer it would remain relevant.

Is the fusion drive something I need to decide on now or something I can do at a later time?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Is the fusion drive something I need to decide on now or something I can do at a later time?

You would have to know what you want before hand. Can't really be added on later, although there is some terminal commands that will make a machine think it has a fusion drive installed. Can't imagine there would be any performance benefit without the actual hardware.

 

[AdvancedTech]

Thanks again for your assistance. I ordered the cabling, converters, and a new wired keyboard today. I'm hoping to get to the store tomorrow and pick up a new mini. I'll look into the fusion drive as well.

Do you think I should consider an apple external optical drive as well? I have a few usb external drives I have used in the past when servicing netbooks and the like. If I have read correctly, these should work.

Thanks again for you help, it is very appreciated!!

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Do you think I should consider an apple external optical drive as well? I have a few usb external drives I have used in the past when servicing netbooks and the like. If I have read correctly, these should work.

I'm not sure how the ordering options are for the Apple usb opticals. I don't really ever play around with 3rd party opticals. But I am fairly certain that the Apple external optical will only operate on that machine (or something very similar). I'd say if it is something you can wait and get later (which I'm almost sure it is) then play around with the 3rd party ones to see if it is necessary.

 

[AdvancedTech]

I went to the Apple store today and picked up a new mini. It's the low end i5 with 4GB ram and 500GB hard drive.

Also picked up a seagate backup plus drive to use for backups. I plan to upgrade the ram and upgrade the hard drive to a larger 1TB? 7200rpm.

Did my first installs this afternoon....Avast....VLC media player. Just spending some time working with the system and getting used to it.

It's different than any computer I have used before, but I think I'm getting the feel of it.

I want to thank you so much for your help. I have never used a Mac before and your information was most helpful.

Probably spend some time looking for appropriate utility applications and such.

Thanks again...

 

[Markverhyden]

I went to the Apple store today and picked up a new mini. It's the low end i5 with 4GB ram and 500GB hard drive.

Also picked up a seagate backup plus drive to use for backups. I plan to upgrade the ram and upgrade the hard drive to a larger 1TB? 7200rpm.

Did my first installs this afternoon....Avast....VLC media player. Just spending some time working with the system and getting used to it.

It's different than any computer I have used before, but I think I'm getting the feel of it.

I want to thank you so much for your help. I have never used a Mac before and your information was most helpful.

Probably spend some time looking for appropriate utility applications and such.

Thanks again...

As soon as you put in a new HD you will complicate the warranty process if you have to get a warranty repair. I would recommend that you just use a external drive for additional storage space. You can also partition the external HD and install OS X on that so you can use it to boot from for testing other Mac's.

You should also look at installing the Server app. Only $20 and does not effect the basic machine in any way. But it lets you learn all about the various services offered.

 

[trevm999]

As soon as you put in a new HD you will complicate the warranty process if you have to get a warranty repair.

Have you had a bad experience? The only complication I see is that the technician will not warranty your hard drive.


I believe some external optical drives you won't be able to boot to. I haven't had to use them much. The only disc I've booted to lately is memtest.

If you think you'll be getting into hardware repairs make sure you have trilobe and pentalobe screwdrivers. I like to keep some magsafe boards around too. You might want to get a couple optical drive sensor cables for imac hard drive replacements (some iMacs have temp sensors that plug into the hard drive, so you have to use the optical drive sensor for third party hard drives) and some suction cups.

Not sure what else I use daily that hasn't been mentioned or is not normal tech stuff.

 

[Markverhyden]

Have you had a bad experience? The only complication I see is that the technician will not warranty your hard drive.


I believe some external optical drives you won't be able to boot to. I haven't had to use them much. The only disc I've booted to lately is memtest.

If you think you'll be getting into hardware repairs make sure you have trilobe and pentalobe screwdrivers. I like to keep some magsafe boards around too. You might want to get a couple optical drive sensor cables for imac hard drive replacements (some iMacs have temp sensors that plug into the hard drive, so you have to use the optical drive sensor for third party hard drives) and some suction cups.

Not sure what else I use daily that hasn't been mentioned or is not normal tech stuff.

My comment is based on my experience (significant) working on the bench side of the repair transaction. At CompUSA we were ASP's for all of the major manufacturers whose product we sold, including Apple. The reality is that the tech's time (labor) is compared against reimbursements from the manufacturer which were never generous to begin with. When CUSA closed '07 I think we got something like $55 flatrate from HP for a depot repair.

Spending time diagnosing a problem when third party hardware is involved gets complicated but was dealt with in a simple fashion. Of course the customer may not be happy about it. Remove the third party stuff, if it works fine then it's the customer's problem and, officially, we are supposed to charge them since we do not get a reimbursement from the manufacturer for diagnosing a machine that has no problems.

Of course there is some leeway on this but it is the business's decision to make. Personally I've only had to repair one thing, my MacMini server, under warranty with Apple. It had a third party RAM upgrade but was getting a HD SMART error. So I can't speak from Apple experience. But they seem to be interested in making the customer happy. Of course they won't replace a part that is not their's but maybe they will go the extra mile during the diagnosis.

On the opti drive thing. I've used a number of different USB opti drives over the years and can't remember having had a problem booting from one.

 

[AdvancedTech]

Thanks to all...this information is very useful. I am totally new to the mac platform.

The only reason I wanted to upgrade the drive and ram was to get the experience, not to mention improved performance as well. I would put the drive I removed in a safe place in case I would need to reinstall it so that may remove the warranty concerns.

Today I thought I'd mess with networking..test my printer and just get a good feel for the OS. Probably set up Time machine as well. I'm a big believer in backups.

I was not aware of the trilobe and pentalobe screw drivers, I thought I'd be covered with torx. I'll look on e-bay for those.

With regard to the magsafe boards, are they used to bypass the internal power supply in the mini? If so I suppose I should get one that meets or exceeds the specs of my machine.

I know that some macs have a cable sensor attached to the hard drive. From what I read these are attached with an adhesive tape. If I am wrong, do I need to be sure that a replacement drive has a connector for this cable? Can these cables be replaced?

I'll also be searching for utility software. I thought I'd try Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. If anyone thinks of any other software please let me know. I'll look into the server app as well.

I'm sorry for all the questions but as I said this is all so new to me.

Many thanks to all who have contributed!!

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Have you had a bad experience? The only complication I see is that the technician will not warranty your hard drive.

We are an Apple Authorized repair shop. We don't look at 3rd party RAM as being a problem (unless of course it seems like a memory problem). As far as drives go, there can be a vast array of issues associated with any drive installed in a machine. If we install and out of spec 3rd party drive we will stand behind it as well as strongly recommend the customer keep their spec drive available. The issue with 3rd party drives comes when these folks install their own 3rd party SSD equipment or these dual drive bastardized setups from OWC. Then they start having issues with these machines being so out of spec then they insist it must be something with how the machine is manufactured. In those cases, we always insist the machine be put back in spec before we look at it for a warranty related issue, or pay us to put it back in spec, or pay us a diagnostic fee to figure out the problem.

So I'd say if you want to install a larger drive, go for it. But keep the old drive and be ready to swap if there are issues. Also, don't break anything installing the drive. Another thing is the drive will have one or two stuck on very fragile sensor cables (with very fragile logic board connectors) that can be used on the new drive. However, these sensor cables are obviously not designed for frequent tampering. So obviously handle them with care as they may very well need to be transferred back onto the old drive and try not to make a habit out of messing around with them often.

 

[trevm999]

With regard to the magsafe boards, are they used to bypass the internal power supply in the mini? If so I suppose I should get one that meets or exceeds the specs of my machine.

I know that some macs have a cable sensor attached to the hard drive. From what I read these are attached with an adhesive tape. If I am wrong, do I need to be sure that a replacement drive has a connector for this cable? Can these cables be replaced?

I'll also be searching for utility software. I thought I'd try Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. If anyone thinks of any other software please let me know. I'll look into the server app as well.

Magsafe boards are the DC-in boards for Macbooks. I like to have some because the new magsafe boards you can't test with a multimeter (at least I haven't figured out how to). So if the LED on your adapter doesn't light up, you can swap out that board to see if it is the problem.

There are iMacs where the temp sensor just sticks on to the Hard Drive, there are ones where the cable plugs into the hard drive, and the new ones use the sata cable to get the temp information. For most hard drive replacements, you'll probably just be seeing the ones that have the sensor that sticks on. If you get one where the sensor cable plugs into the hard drive, you can replace that cable with a cable with a sensor that sticks on (which is the same as the optical drive sensor. For the ones that get the information from the SATA cable, the only solution I have found is to get a hard drive from Apple or to use the program HDD Fan Control. In theory you could short out the extra pins in the cable, but I'm not sure if that has been tested.

I use Carbon copy all the time, Super Duper occasionally. Disk Warrior is a must have.

 

[Markverhyden]

I'll also be searching for utility software. I thought I'd try Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. If anyone thinks of any other software please let me know. I'll look into the server app as well.

Since OS X is really just custom roll of BSD, a *nix flavor, there are tons of apps out there. It's just Apple does not offer them all in the App Store.

To begin with *nix has a ton of excellent utilities built in. It's just that some do not behave properly because of Apple fiddling with the OS installation.

Some independent things to look at:

1. For printing. This site is the go to place for printer driver needs if the manufacturer does not provide the app's/ppd's.

2 Network utilities - insecure.org is a great place for picking up OS X compatible apps. Of course many of these are also available for M$. Top of my list is Wireshark.

3. File System - there are a number of third party apps. Such as Data Rescue 3 and R-Tools for data recovery. Disk Warrior is excellent for fixing problems that can't be fixed with Apple's tools or the OS built in tools.

4. Virtual Machines - yes this will be around for a while. Not only can you create VM's for M$ and *nix's but you can also create them for the various OS X versions. This is important for trouble shooting customer issues. Currently Parallels seems to have the most functionality but I am also a big fan of Fusion (VMware). You can also use Virtual Box which is free.

 

[KH58]

Never had a problem with any third party optical or HDD with Mac.

 

[DataBitSolutions]

Some great advice on here... We are also in the boat of "learning" to repair macs. Thanks for sharing the info.

Can anyone share any website for ordering mac parts? I'm in the need of a Macbook LCD and an imac (the white all-in-one) power supply.

 

[paristotle]

I'd say do your research before installing a hybrid drive. Some of these are known to have issues coming out of sleep or power saving mode.

There are some nice networking tools like NS lookup, PING, Traceroute, Port scan etc found in the Applications -> Utilities -> Network Utility

I've been using Data Rescue 3, and tech tool pro for a while. Good for data recovery and MAc maintenance

For remote file systems like FTP, Amazon S3, WebDAv, or Windows Azure try Cyberduck

And if you're bored fire up your terminal and paste this in 'emacs -batch -l dunnet' (no quotes)

Have fun. They are nice machines even if warranty restrictions force you to be careful under the hood