hard/soft problems

[captain spanky]

hardware and software that is...

For all of you that works with a company or on your own... what happens when you have a problem with your system? Do you fix it yourself? Do you get someone in? Does your company support you well? Does your company outsource the IT support?

Please also note how good the timescales are.. are they fast and effective or do they drag their feet? What's the longest period of time you've been 'out'?

Currently I have had a broken mac for about 3 months now... and try as i might i can't get any sort of decent support for it within the company (well there was this one bloke but he's leaving for pretty much the same reasons I'm tempted to...) So I'm trying to see if this is a bad example of if it's like this everywhere... :)

[AlexNJ210]

well i cant vouch for company support, but if youre going to do it yourself...its really how much you are willing to pay to get it back as quick as possible. Money, is a cure all for hard/software problems. Unfortunately it dont grow on trees so its really up to you to put in the effort.

[erichmond]

Try fix it yourself, go to the Apple website and check their support to see if your problem is a common one - they may have a quick fix.

or

Get someone in - if cost is an issue ask your mac pals if they know a Mac technician. I used to freelance at some big agencies and they usually had internal tech support - usually some eastern european chap who was a complete wiz with a Mac. You might be able to get intouch with someone like that, they are usually very helpful and advice is free, the parts however are not, but it should point you in the right direction and give you an idea of what to do.

What is the problem with your Mac anyway?

[erichmond]

Also, In my opinion, Specialist Tech Support companies have a scale of support, usually the less you pay the slower response time etc., the more you pay the better the service you get. It can be an unnecessary expense, but it does depend on the system of course, ie. if you have a busy network of 20+ mac you probably need full support, if you only have a couple-a-few macs - one could manage ones own network.

[captain spanky]

i have many problems with my mac :(

I have tried fixing various things through apple's help pages and other resources on the internet but it only goes so far. Believe me, I'll try everything available first before i go to our internal support.. We're supposed to be fully supported here but being the only mac in a company full of pcs, it's really difficult to find someone who is willing or actually can help... I'm not allowed to get an external company to support me as our company has a contract with the current IT support.. and talking to them to try and get some help is like backing my head against a brick wall. the problems have been escalated higher and higher and this morning we went to the top boss but still waiting for a response.

i was just wondering what you guys do? and what your experiences are with IT 'no support'...

[PrintDriver]

I took one of those CompuMaster courses way back just to get the nuts and bolts of how the machines go together and how the OS (9 back then) worked, then learned the rest by roaming tech sites in my spare spare time.

Otherwise, no Mac IT support here. The rest of the company is all PC except for our department. Nothing is less reassuring than watching a PC IT guy sitting at your comp with a manual of some kind in his lap. LOL!

If you don't want to do the learning, go to Apple's website and see if there is an outlet store near you. They have what is called a 'Genius Bar' where you come in with your machine and sit on a stool while they ask you what is wrong with it. Our local one is REALLY good. Mind you, it really helps if you can say something other than 'It's broke'. How it broke, what it does and does not do, and anything you may have tried to fix it helps immeasurably in cutting down the diagnostic time.

[Craig B]

i have many problems with my mac :(

I have tried fixing various things through apple's help pages and other resources on the internet but it only goes so far. Believe me, I'll try everything available first before i go to our internal support.. We're supposed to be fully supported here but being the only mac in a company full of pcs, it's really difficult to find someone who is willing or actually can help... I'm not allowed to get an external company to support me as our company has a contract with the current IT support.. and talking to them to try and get some help is like backing my head against a brick wall. the problems have been escalated higher and higher and this morning we went to the top boss but still waiting for a response.

i was just wondering what you guys do? and what your experiences are with IT 'no support'...

There are quite a few Mac people here that are pretty good at technical problems and helpinf fix things, you might want to elaborate on some of the problems and see if any of us can help you out.

As far as being in a large company with no Mac support, that's how I am as well. And over time I've learned through support forums, other people, etc. until I got to the point that I can keep things going without needing to use the internal IT support, because they're worthless when it comes to Mac. I know it's probably not the best answer but I'd recomend trying to educate yourself on all things Mac as much as possible.

[Silence04]

i typically fix them myself when ever i have a problem...

what mac do you have?
what are the issues your having?

[erichmond]

i typically fix them myself when ever i have a problem...

what mac do you have?
what are the issues your having?

Me too :cool: