I remember a time before complete Apple dominance when the Mac was just some weird, colourful box computer thing on my friend’s desk; something for him to brag about, even though I didn’t care or understand what he was on about. Now how things have changed, with Apple Macs and iPods and iPhones and iPads spilling out of every orifice of every person you meet. It’s still tech and tech still likes to go wrong, even Apple. So here are some common problem your Apple devices might have and ways to fix them. And if this guide doesn’t help you can either go here contacttelephonenumbers.com or Google it, of course. And remember, when in doubt, when Google and the telephone have failed you – “Turn it off and on again”.
MacBook Not Charging
This one has the power to devastate even the most stalwart person. You have three hours before the assignment is due, but you’ve turned on your MacBook only to find it’s got 2 hours of charge left and it’s not charging further. I’m struggling to breathe just writing this… Officially Apple suggests taking the batteries out and putting them back in (a take on turning it off and on, I suppose). It this step fails then you need to turn off the machine, plug in the MagSafe adapter and then hold down the following buttons: Ctrl, Shift, Option, and Power for a few seconds (5 should do it). Then turn the machine back on and it’s hopefully fully functional. If not, the battery is most likely fried and you will need a new one … Off to the Apple Store for you.
Frozen Disc Drive
It’s quite common that discs will get stuck in the Mac and not come out when you tap the eject button. Sometimes just holding down the button longer should work or, failing that, launch Terminal and type ‘drutil tray open’ and then press ‘Return’, and chances are this will do it. If this doesn’t work … Off to the Apple Store for you.
Losing Wi-Fi on the iPad
Quite often people’s iPad will fail to maintain a connection to the Wi-Fi. This is easily treatable by resetting the router by turning it off for 30 seconds or so and then adding in the Wi-Fi settings into the iPad again. And if that doesn’t work … Off to the Apple Store for you.
iPhone ‘Blue Screen of Death’
The Xbox 360’s infamous ‘Red Ring of Death’ is a thing of the past – the iPhone ‘Blue Screen of Death’ is the new fear in tech circles, but luckily it doesn’t spell disaster quite like the 360’s RROD. This fix is quite ingenious: connect the device to your computer with your iTunes. Then reboot the phone by holding the Power and Home buttons until you see a ‘Recovery Screen’ then let iTunes ‘Update’ your iOS. This way your phone should work again and you don’t have to lose everything on the device. And if that doesn’t work … okay, even I’m tired of it now … but you probably will need to go to the Apple Store.
That was four of the most common Apple problems that one will find with their shiny, new, overly-expensive devices. I hope it helps, but you always know where you can go if not.