[DM-MUG] Help! Is there an official Apple repair shop in Iowa?

[Richard Judson Twohy]

Dear MacWizards,      7-24-05

Help?   
I have a snarf problem with my CD-RW / DVD-RW drive. 

I have one month left on my 3-year "Apple Care"
contract for my 17"-flat screen imac.  I've been sorta
desultory about the "CD-RW /DVD-RW" Pioneer internal
disk drive --- which has NEVER yet allowed me to
finish the
process of "burning" ANY backup data onto one of those
"Frisbee"-eligible round disks.

I've been sittin' here with Tiger lurking near my
elbow since the 1st week of May -- and thinkin' I
should back up SOME of the irreplaceable stuff before
letting this tiger anywhere near my tank.  Finally I
got on it last week  -- wasting boucoup hours with
that stupid CD/DVD-RW drive and then, JUST as you're
saying YES to ''BURN'' ---  and THEN the Mac pops up
with, "HEY!  Are you LEARNING-DEPRIVED, Mister??  This
is the place where I (-yes, "I-MAC") ALWAYS refuse
your "BURN" request.   [and so forth....]
    Of course, the last "exit" moment is ALWAYS where
it happens.

This time, I phoned my problem to AppleCare. -Hey, why
not call ''em?  After all, my access to them EXPIRES
on August 25th.  But of course, "David" couldn't steer
me to a break-through, either.  He said it's down to
(2) variables:
 
   1)  Maybe the original box of "DVD-R" disks (-that
I bought from Apple with the new iMac in summer 2002)
are, **all FIVE of 'em...** simply too AGE-WORN.  It's
an occupational risk w/plastic, says David.  So, I'm
supposed to buy a new DV-R Frisbee-Candidate or two --
and see if that'll work. Otherwise...

   2) Move ahead briskly to the only remaining
variable --- namely, it'll be a HARDWARE issue, says
David-from-AppleCare.  And he says to deliver my Mac
to an official Apple repair shop while the Apple-Care
contract is still alive. 
      (-??- I didn't know that it covers physical
repair, but... Oh, well. 
Uh, I mean Oh, Kay!!).  Yee-Haw.

Anyway.
I haven't done either (1) or (2) yet.
 
I've got a 3-day work-conference in Marshalltown
starting tomorrow 7-25, thru Wednesday --- and so of
course I'll MISS the  DM-MUG meeting on the 26th!---
         It's extra-annoying that I hafta miss the
Tuesday MacMeeting -- since I just finished installing
Tiger onto the iMac just yesterday!! 
        (And yup, I accepted the 10.4.2 upgrade last
nite) -- all of this without any data-backup
whatsoever, 'cuz I finally got tired of waiting for a
miracle.

So I'm all Tiger'd up, gussied up, smellin' all clean
& everything... but I can't come to the meeting
because of my 3-day Marshalltown blues.  
    
     And hey, Tuesday's supposed to be Tiger-night,
right?!!
     Dang.  It would be WONDERFUL if you guys might
could record the discussion somehow.... 

Meantime, what about Twohy's HARDWARE issue-??  
Well, uh... I'm thinkin' of lugging the iMac with me
to Marshalltown tomorrow, just in case there's an
Apple repair shop in or near DM -- or, just in
(EXTRA)-case, there's a cool Mac-Wizard lurking near
the beating heart of DM-MUG, whose magic wand still
answers to abject, grovelled entreaties.  (help-?) 

Any ideas, any Body??
  --??
       --???
            --????

The best of summer funk to you 
all... from the wilds of Iowa City,
--Richard T.

.
===================  
Richard Judson Twohy
P.O. BOX 2233 * Iowa City IA 52244-2233
Home: 319-337-9011  Road: 319- 621-5600 

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