And shockingly, it did not cost a million dollars.
The computer is back.
She's humming along and appears totally unfazed by the fact that she's been gutted, lubed, and thoroughly probed.
In keeping with The Way These Things Work, our precious iMac went into the shop, displayed the dreaded clicking noise with horrible blank screen trick exactly once, and then proceeded to work like a pro. So, the techs called us and said, "Well, it seems okay now, but we did hear the noise. That noise normally means the hard drive has died."
This is like when you beg your pediatrician to see your kid who's been coughing up chunks of spleen every night for a week, but will only giggle at the doctor. You leave with the receptionists whispering to each other about "Those parents" and a recommendation to drink more water.
But, unlike children, we could say, "Replace the hard drive anyway, and while you're at it totally upgrade that sucker."
So here we are, a complete family again with a computer that has three times the memory she had when she decided to go all scary and blank on us.