mac repair newbury park
Mac Pro Repair Caught On Fire
When this Mac Pro 2008 with 4 hard drive bays came in, the customer told us they saw some smoke coming out from the front. So we thought maybe there was a shortage in the power supply unit. Or maybe some dust caught on fire inside, as it happens sometimes.
But after we pulled the DVD drives, it became clear it was a little more than just the dust catching a spark. It was more like one DVD drive half melted with all the cables around it. As well as black ash coming out of the power supply.
I’m still quite not sure where it started. My first thought was it began inside the power supply and then burned all the wires on DVD drives and spread from there. But now I’m not sure. It could have been the other way around.
Either way, since this was an older Mac Pro unit from 2008. The customer decided it was time to upgrade. They were going to go look for a newer mac pro on macsales.com where you can customize your mac with how much memory you want, what kind of CPU, etc…
Instead, we were able to find them a 2012 unit locally from the computer repair shop of a friend of mine. We went and picked it up the next day. Put customers’ hard drives into it. The newer mac pro booted up and after an operating system upgrade, runs like a charm without any issues.
Why not buy a new mac pro, you may ask, or get an iMac or something? Many people love these Mac Pros because otherwise, they are very solid computers. Plus the biggest thing people love is the hard drive bays. This Mac Pro can hold 4 hard drives at the same time. They are easy to take out and take with you or replace them fast in case a hard drive fails or fills up and you need to put a new one in. Having four hard drive bays, means you don’t have to have any external hard drives laying around with wires hanging all over the place.
Another benefit of having these Mac Pros is that they are capable of housing 2 CPU units. Which adds to the processing power of the computer and makes it fast. As well as they have 16 slots of RAM. Whereas 2010-2012 units can be loaded up to 64GB of RAM into them.
The downside to these Mac Pros is- they are getting old and are not much upgradeable anymore. Sure, they still are powerful and more than enough for most people. But even on a 2012 unit, which was the last year, Apple made it, before they went to the “trashcan” mac pro design. It is only upgradable to Mojave OS. And that also requires a Graphics Card With a metal plate on it.
Yet the good news for the Mac Pro fans is that in 2019 Apple started making them again. I am not sure why. Perhaps because trashcan Mac Pros weren’t so popular, even though they are REALLY good computers. Either way, Mac Pros cheese graters are back. But without the hard drive bays. They only support 2 SSD drives and perhaps a few additional drives if you get special housing for the front of the unit (Caddy).
New Mac Pros have been built to be really powerful. They support up to 128GB of RAM and have very powerful CPUs. So if you’re a video editor, who needs massive power that is probably something you might wanna look into.
As for our customer, who had a Mac Pro that caught on fire. They love 4 hard drive bays, wanted to stay with a Cheese Grater, and didn’t want to upgrade to a new Mac. This is what they have now. 32GB of RAM (can be upgraded to 64GB). 2 Xeon 6 core CPUs with SSD and 3 Hard drives in bays.
The best part is they bought it literally the next day and for less money. Instead of waiting for macsales to assemble it, ship it, and pay 2 times the money for it!
If you live in the Thousand Oaks area and have Mac Repair issues. Call us at 805-585-5535 and we help you solve all issues very quickly and give you all options possible!
or stop by at 3339 Kimber dr. STE D, Newbury Park, CA 91320
Slow Mac Mini SSD Upgrade
Most customers we have these days who complain about their mac computers being slow, first think they need to clean their computers up from viruses. Or reinstall their software. Or even buy and come to ask us to install some extra memory for them.
All those things are ok and in some cases necessary to do. But…
What many don’t realize. Is that the reason their computer is slow. It is only because they still have an old spinning hard drive in it.
Now this applies to all macbooks before 2013 (we don’t get many of those anymore, cause they are just getting too old to use in most cases).
It applies to mac minis before 2015. And all imacs before 2019.
When you have an old spinning hard drive in your computer as storage device. Where your mac stores your operating system, along with all your files. That data is being read at pretty slow pace.
Back when these were THE ONLY thing. They were great. Yet the also came in different speeds. 5400RPM, 7200 RPM and even 10000RPM (rotations per minute). they were an amazing piece of technology that helped store loads of data and changed computer industry, as well as music industry (when steve jobs figured out how to put one in your pocket and walk around with thousands of songs on it that you can listen to on your ipod).
However, these days, as technology progressed and flash memory devices emerged- USB sticks, SD cards, etc.
Manufacturers also started producing flash memory drives called SSD’s (Solid State Drives) to go into computers.
And if you will compare read and write rates of a SSD to a regular 5400RPM hard drive. They are usually 10-15 times faster.
So if your macbook or imac or mac mini is running slow. First thing you need to do is to find out, whether you still have an old hard drive inside your device. And if you do, that’s the first thing you need to replace, to see a major difference in how your mac operates. It will be like night and day. You will be literally amazed how fast your imac can run without doing anything else to it, except by just replacing old hard drive with a SSD.
At Fastest mac repair and pc repair Newbury park- we are really good at it and we can do it for you in a heartbeat!
we offer mac mini SSD upgrades, Imac 27 inch and 21.5 inch SSD upgrades, and also macbook pro ssd upgrades as well on those older units that some people still use.
call us at 805-585-5535 or stop by at our store at 3339 Kimber dr. STE D, Newbury Park, CA 91320
We are the fastest and most qualified mac repair in thousand oaks, ca area!
Mac Operating System Upgrade for iMac or Macbook
What are my Mac Operating system upgrade requirements or which Operating system should i upgrade my mac to, are the questions we get asked a lot. Should i upgrade to Big Sur or Catalina, or how to upgrade to older operating systems like high sierra, el capitan, etc
The answer is a little tricky. But if you understand the way Apple works it becomes a little more clear on how to navigate this situation easier.
When it comes to computer hardware, Apple actually makes (or used to make) pretty superior products. They usually last, or rather USED TO LAST, for a very long time(compared to newer ones). Which was a great thing for consumers, yet maybe not such a great thing for Apple itself. Because if a computer they sell you lasts 10 or 20 years, it means, a person will not need to buy another computer for a long time. That means less sales for apple and that is not a very great thing to experience for the “greatest company” in the world. Especially not a great thing for shareholders of the company!
So what does Apple do to overcome that? What they do is, they give each computer a ten year window, in which it can be serviced (by Apple or private computer repair shops), upgraded and used with full functionality. Meeting all security and software requirements to do pretty much anything a new computer is intended to do.
Next question is: what happens after 10 year window expires, you might ask?!
For most part nothing terrible will happen. You will be able to use your iMac of Macbook pretty much forever… the only real issue you will start having is when you will try to access internet.
Because the way Apple makes their old devices obsolete is they limit your ability to upgrade them to newest software, or in case of Macbooks and iMacs- OS or Operating System. And the reason you will have problems accessing internet, is because safari browser can only be updated by updating the OS. And if you are not able to update your OS because of your computers age, you will not be able update Safari browser and you will be limited in which website you can or can not access!
This is it in a nutshell. Other than that if you just use your computer to run some programs or you want to do some word processing. You can use old Mac devices until they actually stop working or maybe become too slow to use or something physically goes wrong with them.
Also here is a list of apple devices with the maximum OS they support if you have an older apple computer and dont know which OS can support click this link to see the list: Supported max Os on mac computers
And if you need help upgrading your macbook or iMac to newer OS or reinstalling Operating System completely- feel free to call us at 805-585-5535
or stop by at Fastest Mac Repair and Pc Repair Newbury park at 3339 Kimber dr. Ste D, Newbury Park, Ca 91320 (we’re next door to Country Harvest restaurant).
Or visit us at our Agoura Hills location at 30315 Canwood St. Ste 11, Agoura Hills, Ca 91301
where we fix iphones, iPads, and also offer Macbook and iMac computer repair in Agoura Hills, Ca
Macbook air keyboard replacement (after coffee spill)
Macbook air keyboard replacement is a pretty tedious job. Mainly, because apple started “welding” their keyboard to the cases. it means, there are no screws at the bottom of the keyboards anymore. all because apple wants eliminate repair shops and make repairs for people more difficult and more expensive. Instead they want you to call apple and wait in line 2 weeks for an appointment so they can replace it for you for the price triple of what it should be!
So you best don’t spill coffee or any other fluids on your macbook air (or any other macbook), because it will usually cost you arm and a leg to replace the whole palmrest on a macbook. especially on the new ones models!
however, if you happen to spill some coffee on your macbook air and your keyboard stops typing certain keys, or some keys will be sticky, or perhaps your computer won’t even turn on. Then you can try calling us. and we might be able to help you. we have some used parts that might be cheaper to replace or we can find another solution for you! so you don’t have to go buy a new macbook and or spend more than what you paid for computer to repair it!
Persons macbook air in the picture, had some coffee spilled on it and was still working after it was dried out. However after a while it wouldn’t start properly or it wouldn’t type certain letters. After quick diagnosis, it was obvious that the keyboard was at fault.
it took 45 minutes to do macbook air keyboard replacement and it is back to life working perfectly!
for all your macbook air repair call us at 805-585-5535 or visit us at 3339 Kimber dr. Ste D, Newbury Park, CA 91320
Unlike few other repair shops in the area, we do not outsource our repairs to anyone and repair everything in house, fast and well!
Imac 27 inch SSD Upgrade
Imac 27 inch SSD Upgrade, nowadays, is probably the most common repair that we do in our shop at fastest mac repair and pc repair in newbury park.
when SSD’s or solid state disks first came out, it did not seem like a big improvement, but now since SSD’s have become better, faster and cheaper. it seems like the most logical way to go.
Installing SSD into your imac, macbook or pc computer makes the whole difference in the world. because SSD we use, are 15 times faster than a regular 5400 rpm hard drive in the way they read information.
so upgrading it really becomes a no-brainer at this point. because your computer will literally run 10x faster and you won’t have to wait that extra second for things to open and using a computer will become nice again!
how long does it take to do it? this Imac 27 inch SSD Upgrade took literally overnight. but it really depends on how many files your old hard drive has. yet unless your old hard drive is really failing, no imac has taken us more than a day to do an upgrade. or in some cases same day also.
most imacs even if you have an imac with fusion drive still use factory installed old type spinning hard drives. and they can be replaced and upgraded to SSD.
if you want to have a faster imac, feel free to call us at 805-585-5535 or stop by at 3339 kimber dr. Suite D, newbury park, ca 91320 and we can do it for you in no time! cheers!
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Why You Shouldn’t Ever Go To Apple For Repairs
Today I received a call from people who told me they took their macbook pro a1502 2015 to the apple service department (NOT-SO Geniusbar) because it was shutting down. Apple kept it for an hour in the back and then came out and said they needed to replace the logic board on it. because it was bad.
So naturally, macbook pro owners got shocked and decided to come to us for a second opinion. and im glad they did.
it took me about 15 minutes to find out what was wrong with it. In fact, it was actually pretty much visible to the naked eye what was wrong.
it was not a logic board failure. because if you know anything about computers you know how to figure out if the logic board is really at fault.
However, Apple did none of those things. they just kept the macbook pro in the back, probably without even opening it. See their procedures are to diagnose at their best ability. and their best ability is some kids off the street filling out applications and hopefully being accepted for a summer job pretending they know how to fix computers on resumes, just because they have used one and pressed some keys on it at some point in their lives!
when I looked at it, I saw almost right away that one cell of the battery looked more expanded than the others. to the point where it had some tiny marks on it, from pressing against the lid for a while.
And again, if a technician knows anything about macs, he would know almost immediately that apple batteries go bad by expanding all the time. and in this case, the battery was shorted out somehow and made the macbook pro a1502 shut down intermittently.
When I disconnected the battery and ran the macbook pro on adapter power only, it was working just fine! no logic board replacement is needed! voila! couple hundred dollars saved! and no need to replace parts that dont need to be replaced! imagine that! All this MacBook pro needed was a1502 Macbook battery replacement!
stop by for a quick repair at the fastest mac repair and pc repair Newbury Park, ca 91320
or call for a quick free quote over the phone! 805-585-5535
virus cleaning on a mac (but i thought macs don’t get viruses)
virus cleaning on a mac
BUT BUT I thought macs don’t get viruses! is one of those phrases that if I could get a nickel every time I heard that, I would have a lot of nickels! or not!
Th reality is that a lot of people are surprised to hear that macs get some kind of virus because that is one of those myths (and sales points) people know about macs in general. people are sold on it for a long time ago and rightfully so. Because the statement is kind of true in a way.
When someone says macs do not get viruses they mean mac OS or macs operating system can not be infected with a virus. That is almost true. Because mac os is built(unlike windows) in a different way. Where pretty much all programs run independently of the operating system. They are like little separate entities running their little scripts and they don’t rely on other programs or operating systems to do it. They use the operating systems as a foundation only and that’s why it is difficult to put a virus on a mac which would affect the way the computer works as a whole. So usually there is no need for virus cleaning on a mac at all. 
Windows is actually the opposite. Windows runs as if the whole world is a bubble and everything is connected inside with each other. all programs are connected with windows as if they had an umbilical cord connected to the mother for survival. and therefore by injecting a code into a system like that it is easy to affect the whole operating system and make things crash or whatever else viruses do that will affect everything.
however, in today’s day, and age things are different. and the main difference is that word virus used to describe malicious programs in the past. has now evolved into many different other words. like malware, adware, ransomware, cryptoware, etc etc. they all do different things and that’s why they have different funny names.
Now let’s get to the actual topic of this post! About time right!? the picture I have posted above is from a virus scan on an iMac that a customer brought in. it was infected pretty heavily. if you opened a browser, first of all, you would see some strange-looking home page, that sort of looks like google but its not. then you see all kinds of ads popping up, then you type a web address into a window but you are taken to a completely different website! What’s going on?! well, you need a virus cleaning on a mac. That’s what’s going on!
most of the time these days people get what’s called adware on their computers. they are kinda like viruses but they are not! I call them legal viruses. they are legal because they don’t have any characteristics of a virus, they even have a special term to be called- PUP or potentially unwanted programs. they don’t do any harm to your computer but they sure are annoying. on mac you see them in the forms of mymaccleaner, mackeeper, shopping buddy, etc. what they do is they pretend to be an antivirus or a shopping companion or something else, they are hard to turn off, they offer you to buy something and so on. but they don’t steal your information nor do they harm your computer, they just annoy and trash your computer hoping you will buy something or they will take you to a site they advertise so you can buy something there!
anyhow that is what you get on a mac (as well as on pc) nowadays! they are common, they hijack your browsers they drive you crazy, and that’s when you know you need a virus cleaning on a mac!
if you’re looking for reliable, quickest mac repair or pc repair service in the Newbury park or Thousand oaks area call us at 805-585-5535 or stop by at 3339 Kimber dr. Suite D, Newbury Park, Ca 91320 www.fastestmacpcrepair.com check out our reviews on yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/fastest-mac-repair-and-pc-repair-newbury-park-thousand-oaks
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macbook air wifi no hardware detected a1466
macbook air wifi no hardware detected a1466
at first sight when this lady called us, it seemed that her wifi card was defective and she asked if we can replace it for her. because if you google this problem that is pretty much the answer you will find. so she was calling around people to ask how much would it cost to repair macbook air wifi no hardware detected a1466 by replacing the wifi card.
of course much to her surprise many people didn’t even have the replacement wifi card in stock. for few reasons. wifi cards rarely go out, if ever. therefore not a lot of people have them. but we did. we had 2 cards laying around and when she brought the her macbook air wifi no hardware detected a1466 in we replaced wifi card with two different cards, yet the problem was still the same.
the actual defect in macbook air wifi no hardware detected a1466 was logic board damage. the wifi ic was damaged and had to be replaced. it took 2 days to do the repair and now macbook air logic board recognized wifi cards again with no issues! wooohooo!
if you’re looking for reliable, quickest mac repair or pc repair service in thousand oaks area call us at 805-585-5535 or stop by at 3339 Kimber dr. Suite D, Newbury Park, Ca 91320 www.fastestmacpcrepair.com check out our reviews on yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/fastest-mac-repair-and-pc-repair-newbury-park-thousand-oaks
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I opened my first computer store, after i looked around to notice that people didn't have a proper place to repair their computers at.
It is similar (if not worse)with companies like Geek Squad(Best Buy), Genius Bar (Apple), Asurion(UbreakiFixit). They hardly do any inhouse repairs. Most of their computers get shipped out to manufacturers or other repair centers.
For that reason i was on a mission to change this industry and get computers fixed as fast as I can. So you and your family can get back to their zoom meetings as quickly as possible!
Another reason you should come here is because I fix most of the people's computer in the area anyway. Most just collect them and send them to me or I usually have to take care of their customers because the "other computer geniuses" break something and computer still ends up in our repair shop after that. I'm not saying that I'm perfect. I also make mistakes sometimes or sometimes get overwhelmed and forget something. But that doesn't happen very often. and if it does. It happens because of my own error or accident, not because I'm incompetent nor do i need to hide it by telling you to just go buy anohter computer cause this one is not fixable. Like other people do. I write this, because i really take it personally. And i don't understand why people have to lie instead of telling the person they don't know how to fix it. and just tell them to go look for some other options. I take this service seriously. I love doing it and i love providing nothing less than a truly NO-BS-Excellent service to people who come visit me! hope you will be one of them! Oh yes, and also in my free time i get out of town and shoot landscape photography! feel free to stop by our shop to see my artwork!
Visit my photography website here: Nature Photos For Sale
