What to do with a "semi" dead Macbook?

Wail

Wail

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Wail
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Well, taking off from my previous thread about my dead Macbook, I am now not very sure that the circuit board is dead!

Apple Swansea did a lot of tests, and told me that it was the circuit board, then we also found out the hard drive was dead.

The hard drive seems to be dead for sure, they (Apple Swansea) tested it on another computer but it would not boot up. I went out and bought a hard drive caddy, plugged my drive in it and they tried to "see" it from various other machines, still no go .. of course this was after their first attempt to use a Firewire connection to get another machine to "see" it.

So, it seems that this drive is dead. The good news on this is that there isn't much of my photos (may be 3 or 4 days of shots only) on the machine, the horrid news is that every other bit of data is there. I am looking to sending it to a specialist recovery company to get the data back, so I am not that much worried; though not too keen on the whole need to spend the money, especially as the machine is just over a year old :shake: (this is the first time, since my first hard drive - 5MB for my Apple III - that I've had crash on me).

My issue now is, do I send my machine to Apple repair for a deeper look at the machine; and what to do if they say the circuit board is fine, or otherwise?

My inclination is to buy a new laptop, now that the new Macbook Pro are out this is more appealing, but again I am not too keen on having to spend the money.

Any hep would be appreciated.
 
Wail said:
My inclination is to buy a new laptop, now that the new Macbook Pro are out this is more appealing, but again I am not too keen on having to spend the money.
Click to expand...

Be VERY cautious with the new MBP's. There are widespread issues regarding possible defective components. I'm having greif with mine.

Issues included.

Rapid over heating, reports 105°C operating temps.

External display detection issues.

Nividia 9600 graphics chips in early shipments of Macbook Pro's have potential to be faulty or defective.

Waking from sleep issues.

and gamer's experience what they call 'The black screen of death' after playing for as little as ten minutes.

The list goes on.

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1294&start=0

Apple are acknowledging some of the issues but can't solve or offer any fixes as yet.
The new OSX update to 10.5.6 was supposed to clear all issues.
I installed it last night and sweet FA has changed.
All issues still remain and my working temp when running 4 or more apps is over 80°C!

Save your cash, save the stress and wait a while until the next revisions ship.

T.
 
:)

Thank you for the feedback.

This is not typical of Apple to have such huge issues, and unresolvable, with their machines!
 
Wail said:
:)

Thank you for the feedback.

This is not typical of Apple to have such huge issues, and unresolvable, with their machines!
Click to expand...

I know, I've had a intel 1.83 imac for three years without any issues at all.

I have always been quick to defend and rate apple gear but this laptop takes the biscuit.
The issues with the new uni body macbooks and macbook pro's is immense.

Have a read on the discussions forum. There are no fixes or explanations yet.

Apple helplines acknowledge the issues but can't offer any advice other than wait for another osx update!
 
In a way I am relieved, as this means I will not get to spend money .. but what will I do if my current machine is fried? I am not too keen on replacing a motherboard & hard drive ... just don't seem worth it, especially as I do need a more powerful machine.

May be I should wait for the updated 17" Macbook Pro :shrug:?
 
Wail said:
In a way I am relieved, as this means I will not get to spend money .. but what will I do if my current machine is fried? I am not too keen on replacing a motherboard & hard drive ... just don't seem worth it, especially as I do need a more powerful machine.

May be I should wait for the updated 17" Macbook Pro :shrug:?
Click to expand...

:lol: Well I'm glad your relieved when I'm sufferin it up over here :'( :lol:

All jokin aside, the first revisions machines are something I'm going to avoid in future.

To be fair your laptop may not have anything wrong other than the dead drive, the chances of the motherboard or anything else are much slimmer. See what the guys at the shop say.
 
I dived into this thread after seeing the title...(well half the title) on the main page..........only to find it was about computers!! :naughty: :D :lol:
 
It's OK Pushy Princess ... we all make that mistake once in a while :)


Tomas,

Frankly, I very much hope that my machine isn't fried and that it's only just the drive that's gone ... that makes it so much easier to cope with. Though, I was kind of looking forward to the faster machine, too.
 
Janice said:
I dived into this thread after seeing the title...(well half the title) on the main page..........only to find it was about computers!! :naughty: :D :lol:
Click to expand...

Janice, are you saying you need advice on "What to do with a semi"?

:D
 
I have some sata drives here if you like I can check what the fault is. If it is the drive I can make sure BEFORE you spend any money on it THEN you can buy a better drive. I would suggest a 250gb 7200rpm drive for about £70-80 or so (we can discuss this when we know).

Just let me know, happy to help.
 
cowasaki said:
I have some sata drives here if you like I can check what the fault is. If it is the drive I can make sure BEFORE you spend any money on it THEN you can buy a better drive. I would suggest a 250gb 7200rpm drive for about £70-80 or so (we can discuss this when we know).

Just let me know, happy to help.
Click to expand...


Thank you very much for the offer, that's very Very VERY kind of you.

A few questions come up, do I send my machine to Apple for inspection to give it a test? Not sure if they charge for that or not :shrug: ... then, how do I get the machine off to you? I'd hate to think of mailing it!

As I have said in previous posts, I hope it is just a drive issue; and the 250/7200 sounds really sexy :)
 
Wail

If it's any help I purchased a Mac Book Pro 2 weeks ago. It's now doing a lot of the work my 3 year old Dell was doing previously. It quiet happily runs 3 USB drives and a big LaCie Quadra drive via Firewire 800. ( waiting for an eSATA card to arrive to run the LaCie ). Also works fine with my 24" monitor. No problems with overheating or the Video cards.

When plugged into an external monitor the laptop screen works as a second monitor, ideal for Lightroom or Photoshop. Also you can profile the Mac Book screen and the external monitor separately.
 
It looks like apple are able to fix some of the issues now.
My MacBook Pro went into the apple store in Sheffield last week for two problems. One being my own fault for spilling a cup of tea on it which required a new keyboard (All of £28) and for an issue when bringing it out of sleep the backlight would not come back on (though a restart would make it work again)
Got it back yesterday to find they have replaced the logic board (so new nvidia chip) the left io board (power and backlight inverter) and the clamshell. So over £900 of parts and I must admit i was surprised at the amount of stuff swapped out, though their turn around was less then a week which made me very happy. All problems fixed and it does seem to be running cooler when i'm running lots of stuff on it :)
 
Janice said:
Noooo I dived on in case I could give the OP some ideas! :D :naughty:
Click to expand...

Let's hope they're a little more gentle then the sensor cleaning ideas :lol:

OP, sorry for the tangent, hope you get the Mac sorted :thumbs:
 
Chappers said:
Wail

If it's any help I purchased a Mac Book Pro 2 weeks ago. It's now doing a lot of the work my 3 year old Dell was doing previously. It quiet happily runs 3 USB drives and a big LaCie Quadra drive via Firewire 800. ( waiting for an eSATA card to arrive to run the LaCie ). Also works fine with my 24" monitor. No problems with overheating or the Video cards.

When plugged into an external monitor the laptop screen works as a second monitor, ideal for Lightroom or Photoshop. Also you can profile the Mac Book screen and the external monitor separately.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the tip. I am sure that not all machines are going to be bad .. it may be just a batch run, or a bit more .. a lot more :shrug:.

Still Apple are known for their service and that is one of the reasons why I am happy to stick with them.

I will keep this in mind, as I am yet undecided .. especially as I am still not sure to what extent my existing Macbook is damaged.


Diabolos137 said:
It looks like apple are able to fix some of the issues now.
My MacBook Pro went into the apple store in Sheffield last week for two problems. One being my own fault for spilling a cup of tea on it which required a new keyboard (All of £28) and for an issue when bringing it out of sleep the backlight would not come back on (though a restart would make it work again)
Got it back yesterday to find they have replaced the logic board (so new nvidia chip) the left io board (power and backlight inverter) and the clamshell. So over £900 of parts and I must admit i was surprised at the amount of stuff swapped out, though their turn around was less then a week which made me very happy. All problems fixed and it does seem to be running cooler when i'm running lots of stuff on it :)
Click to expand...


I am sure Apple will, eventually, fix all the problems ... only that I am not too keen on these issues that popped up to me suddenly. Also, if there is a slight chance of a problem then I may be willing to wait until the new year when - may be - the 17" is updated!?


pxl8 said:
Let's hope they're a little more gentle then the sensor cleaning ideas :lol:

OP, sorry for the tangent, hope you get the Mac sorted :thumbs:
Click to expand...


No worries, only makes me more curious as to what was suggested? Will have to do a search on this, but my head is still not rested from the past weekend :bang:


Still, please let the suggestions flowing .. nice to get both sides of the field.
 
http://www.circuituk.com/

I knoiw a company very well called Circuit and they deal in laptop repairs and recycling. Ian is one of the lads there and an apple approved engineer who works wonders with macs. I recommend you give them a call (website is being redone due to rebranding so not much on there) and talk about getting it repaired. They will give you a no obligation quote to repair and the lads there really are spot on.

Cant guarantee they will fix it but one of the best hopes you have without spending a fortune with Apple.
 
Yes, sorry I didn't update this thread; too much de-stressing from last week's stress; and getting this sorted out.

Apple have been more than helpful and their service as expected. They've changed my motherboard for me (free of charge, even though I am out of warranty) and I had to buy a new hard drive (got the 320GB 7200rpm).

Have also been trying to find a good & reputable place to get my data out of the dead drive ... I will post a new thread about this since it is a different issue / topic and comes with all sorts of new issues to ponder.

To all those who've offered suggestions, help, advice, etc.; thank you from the bottom on my memory-chips :thumbs:
 
:) Yes, I am
 
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