<p>Hey.</p>
<p>My mac laptop decided to stop working last night (right in the middle of midterm studying). As in... I turn it on and the only thing is a gray screen.</p>
<p>Is there a place I can go on campus to get help with this... or am I going to have to treck off campus to an apple store?</p>
<p>I suggest you first go to the USC student computer store on campus and see if there is someone who can help you. Maybe you need a new battery.</p>
<p>Your hard drive probably crashed and needs to be replaced. Apple will most likely replace it for free if you are still within warranty time (1 year standard, 3 years if you purchased Apple Care.) </p>
<p>If you ever have any questions about your Mac, go to the Apple Forum where you will always find others with similar problems. For example, here is a search about gray screen:
Apple</a> - Support - Discussions - Search Discussions</p>
<p>There are two ways to get it repaired:
1. Go to the USC computer store and they will send it out for repair. It usually takes 5-7 days.<br>
2. If you have access to transportation, you can take it directly to an Apple Store. The closest one to USC is in The Grove. Make sure you make an appointment at the Genius Bar before you go. They MIGHT be quicker but no guarantees.
Apple</a> Retail Store</p>
<p>Moral of the story for Mac users:
Purchase Apple Care when you buy a Mac.</p>
<p>Moral of the story for all:
Back up and back up often.</p>
<p>The important thing is to make sure you have enough GB memory on your hard drive to hold everything.</p>
<p>The important thing is to back it up on an external hard drive, separate from the laptop. My son learned this the hard way recently. Yes, Apple will give you a new hard drive within warranty, or you can buy one for under a hundred bucks, but to get your data off of the one that crashed can be very expensive. If anyone knows of a cheap place to have this done, please share.</p>
<p>It's happened to me before and the computer store might be able to help you. If not...you have to go to an Apple Store. It's why I invested in a Time Capsule, lol.</p>
<p>If his hard drive crashed, it doesn't matter how many GB he has (or if he has an external hard drive at this point). It's dead and it costs ALOT to get it back. It happened to me, and I just gave it up got over it.</p>
<p>my friend's Mac hard drive failed too last year and they just gave her a new one I think.
It might be your motherboard too, one or the other. If its your motherboard.. your hard drive might be safe? Anyways gluck, I'm sure you have the insurance for this kind of situations! :)</p>