Perhaps this whole Mac thing wasn't the best idea...

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GTP_Jondot
Ok, so I think my MacBook Pro is sort of dying. It's only a year and a half old, and I'm getting a nice catalogue of problems by this point. Let's have a run-through...



1.
The case its self is bent in various places. Particularly so around the DVD drive, which bows inwards. You can't see it particularly well because I fixed it to a degree a while ago by forcing it open and placing a pound coin in the gap to attempt to bend it back (hence the nasty chips).



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2.
The screen makes a nice sort of 'crack' noise when you adjust it. There are now hairline cracks appearing in the casing around the screen, and you can physically see the metal split when you move the screen (see the second shot).


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3.
The keyboard and touchpad no longer work. At all. The caps lock light doesn't come on, for example, so it's definitely a hardware issue. Before now they were acting intermittently (I could take out the battery and press on a bit of ribbon cable to get them to work), but now they're gone completely. External keyboards and mice work fine, though.


















4.
The webcam doesn't work at all. I've tried Photobooth, Skype, even gone into system profiler and it doesn't seem to exist anymore.

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5.
It seems to be Kernel Panicking if I try to do anything remotely intensive. I've never had it happen before, but about a week ago the dreaded message popped up about 5 times in one evening. The one pictured below happened when I was moving a video inside Keynote.



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5.
The dock is now crashing quite randomly. I don't seem to have an icon for iMovie either, which is slightly odd. (Sorry, couldn't be bothered to crop)

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6.
Every now and again, the display decides it's going to get stuck on one level of brightness, and won't adjust. You can move the little slider, but nothing happens.


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7.
The screensaver now has these bizzare scrolling lines that travel up the screen every second or so. It's sort of like watching a video of an LCD
display on your TV - the refresh rate isn't quite the same or something. Kinda impossible to take a photo of, but I tried.


Just above the arrow, you can see a sort of vertical line. They're more pronounced in the flesh, though.

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8.
The display now has a permanent 'smudge' on the left hand side. It's not on the outside of the screen (I've tried wiping it off to no avail), and seems to disappear if I look at the screen from a higher viewing angle. It's visible in the left image, but not the right one:



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8.
The battery is lying to me. Quite often it'll get to about 25% full, and then suddenly go to sleep and claim it's empty. If I then plug it in for about 30 seconds and then remove the plug, it'll say it has 30%.












9.
Oh, and just before I started dragging and dropping the photos for this, Finder crashed too. So, expecting that Camino (my web browser) would probably crash too, I quickly copied this post into Pages and tried to save it. Pages, firstly wouldn't open, then when I did get it open it refused to save or export anything. So I emailed it to myself sharpish. And then Camino did crash afterall.

So guess what? I'm writing this on my mum's Vista laptop because my Mac isn't being reliable enough.






I've got Applecare on it, but I'm not exactly sure how much it'll cover. Things like the cracks and the bent DVD drive probably come under 'wear and tear', annoyingly.


Also, a few months before the keyboard started being funny, I managed to spill fruit juice directly over it (it was apple juice too, appropriately). I'm 75% sure it had nothing to do with the problem (as I could fix it simply by refreshing the PRAM or pressing on a bit of ribbon cable), but I don't think they'll see it that way. For that reason, they're quite obliged to refuse to fix anything on it.


However, my home insurance does have accidental damage protection, presumably meaning that if Apple start being stroppy about water damage, I can simply let the insurance company deal with it. In theory, anyway...


Something tells me this is going to be a complete nightmare to get sorted... :(

 
After working in the retail industry for two years, I've learned that depending on how much you complain (and to a company like apple) you can usually get your way and get most things like that fixed.
 
This isn't the new one, right? Take it to an apple store and go wtf. To be honest, you should've taken it in a lot sooner, especially if you have applecare.
 
After working in the retail industry for two years, I've learned that depending on how much you complain (and to a company like apple) you can usually get your way and get most things like that fixed.

We can but hope... Although I actually have to take it to this Apple authorised repair place near me, rather than phoning Apple themselves.

This isn't the new one, right? Take it to an apple store and go wtf. To be honest, you should've taken it in a lot sooner, especially if you have applecare.

Correct. And yeah I should have, it's just that I've always needed it for some reason or another (I had ongoing assignments where I needed it for months). Now that's all over, I can concentrate on getting it sorted.
 
That's...bizarre. I have a classic macbook and my brother has a 4 year old MBP. Mine is 2 years old and running flawlessly. My brother's has seen better days, but still runs stable. It only needs a new hard drive and a new battery to get it running full steam again.

Any rough use at all? I can be pretty violent with my notebooks without realizing it sometimes.
 
Not really, no. I mean 5 days a week I take it to school, but in a nice comfy padded Crumpler bag. It's not like I'm dragging the thing along the pavement. You could call it 'intensive', but certainly not violent.
 
I guarantee you that the trackpad and keyboard issue is from the apple juice. If you dry a liquid immediately there's no immediate damage, but you can't get all of the residue off. That residue is acidic and will cause corrosion to whatever it is contacting.

Just take it to an Apple Store and see what they'll do.
 
Insurance: depends on your deductible. Don't know how it works over there, if you have a deductible. Here, the first thousand bucks or so of any claim may be out of your own pocket, which may make the insurance not very useful.

And maybe they won't have a searchbot noticing that you've posted on a public forum about spilling juice on your keyboard. (Some of these companies find stuff like that! I got a new headset for my motorcycle helmet when I complained on a forum about the poor service I received from the company. Had a PM the next day offering me the part for free.)
 
Im quite shocked that a laptop only a year and a half old has this many physical problems with it, and the fact thats its a rather expensive laptop at that is really suprising.

I would seriously go into Apple and make a fuss, really give to them (but dont like make a scene) and even bring a list and go through all the problems. I have also found out that the more you push the more you achieve and I could even see them giving you a new one piece alu Macbook as its seems this one has too many problems to fix.

Things like the hairline cracks on round the screen SHOULD JUST NOT HAPPEN! :sick:

Robin.
 
I guarantee you that the trackpad and keyboard issue is from the apple juice. If you dry a liquid immediately there's no immediate damage, but you can't get all of the residue off. That residue is acidic and will cause corrosion to whatever it is contacting.

Just take it to an Apple Store and see what they'll do.

Probably. It has had a visible impact - the backlight of the keyboard is now considerably darker on the side that I spilt it from - so who knows what it could have done. Although presumably not enough to cause case cracks, screen weirdness, smudged pixels, strange battery behaviour and a broken webcam (mainly as the webcam died pre-juicing).

Insurance: depends on your deductible. Don't know how it works over there, if you have a deductible. Here, the first thousand bucks or so of any claim may be out of your own pocket, which may make the insurance not very useful.

And maybe they won't have a searchbot noticing that you've posted on a public forum about spilling juice on your keyboard. (Some of these companies find stuff like that! I got a new headset for my motorcycle helmet when I complained on a forum about the poor service I received from the company. Had a PM the next day offering me the part for free.)

Well the problem is, we have 2 different types of insurance here.

We've got Applecare who, if I hadn't spilt juice on the thing, would happily sort out the webcam, screen, random crashes etc. But because its keyboard has got a bit wet, they're perfectly entitled to claim my warranty void and refuse to touch the thing (even though things like the case have absolutely nothing to do with apple juice).

Then there's the accidental damage policy attached to my home insurance. They cover anything wrong with my laptop that's the result of an accident. If I spill liquid on it, they sort out the repairs. But only repair problems associated with the accident. So they'd fix the keyboard/touchpad, and maybe its newly-attained habit of crashing if it so happens that's a result too. And yeah, I think there's an excess (deductible in british speak) of £50 or something.

The problem is getting these two to work with eachother. If I take the moist Mac straight to Apple first, they'll see the juice damage and void my warranty instantly. If I get the insurers to sort it out first instead, they'll get god-knows-who to sort it out, and probably void the Applecare by not using an authorised Apple person. So either way I've still got a broken webcam, screen issues and a cracked case that nobody will fix.

Arrrrrrrgggh.

And RE: the forum watching, Apple will see it's got water damage. It's as bright as day; or rather as dark as the keyboard backlight.

Im quite shocked that a laptop only a year and a half old has this many physical problems with it, and the fact thats its a rather expensive laptop at that is really suprising.

I would seriously go into Apple and make a fuss, really give to them (but dont like make a scene) and even bring a list and go through all the problems. I have also found out that the more you push the more you achieve and I could even see them giving you a new one piece alu Macbook as its seems this one has too many problems to fix.

Things like the hairline cracks on round the screen SHOULD JUST NOT HAPPEN! :sick:

Robin.

Yeah, I am fairly unimpressed. Thankfully the random crashes have stopped (as I haven't done anything intensive), so it's sort of ok at the mo.

Thing is, I can't really make any sort of fuss about defectiveness when they can just state that I've voided the warranty and walk away. Which I have, and they will.

So I'm screwed, unless I can persuade Zurich that the case cracked from overexposure to vitamin c.
 
How about claiming that it fell off your desk and your cat knocked your drink off too? You might need to drop it so that it has the correct damage from that...
 
I'd say just take it into Apple and let them have a look at it. It's worth a shot, right?
On a side note, my Macbook Pro of similar age (October 07) has none of these issues (hasn't had anything spilt on it, either :P) but unfortunately my GPU proved to be one of the faulty nVidia cards, and is currentlyat an Apple Service Center, with a fresh logic board lined up for installation tomorrow.
Hoping to get it back good as new on Tuesday or Wednesday :)
 
How about claiming that it fell off your desk and your cat knocked your drink off too? You might need to drop it so that it has the correct damage from that...

Well if I'm gonna start dropping the thing, I might as well do it to a degree that it dies completely. Obviously I wouldn't do it deliberately - that'd be insurance fraud. But I might start being careless. Holding it in a vaseline-covered hand as I walk across a tightrope, for example.

I'd say just take it into Apple and let them have a look at it. It's worth a shot, right?
On a side note, my Macbook Pro of similar age (October 07) has none of these issues (hasn't had anything spilt on it, either :P) but unfortunately my GPU proved to be one of the faulty nVidia cards, and is currentlyat an Apple Service Center, with a fresh logic board lined up for installation tomorrow.
Hoping to get it back good as new on Tuesday or Wednesday :)

Yeah, I've decided I'm going to take it to an Apple store and make a genius feel sorry for me. Then mention that I did spill something on it, but it clearly has nothing to do with weird pixels, a lying battery, cracked case or disconnected webcam.

See, now mine's an October 07 machine, and so has one of the affected graphics cards. Maybe that's what's causing the weird lines to appear... Hmmm, I shall mention that when I go and speak to someone. Thanks for reminding me - I'd have forgotten about that recall otherwise :)
 
I dropped it off at the Apple store yesterday, and they phoned me this morning to give me a total of the damage.

Apparently, they found liquid damage (shocker!), which has basically rendered the keyboard and touchpad dead, and has also managed to seep through to the logic board a bit. And as for the cracks in the screen bezel, apparently they consider those 'accidental damage' and won't cover them, but they will replace the entire screen bezel (which apparently should fix the webcam too). So they've suggested that they replace the keyboard and touchpad, screen bezel, logic board, and what they call the 'top case assembly'.

Total cost of all these repairs: £575.

So we've just phoned up our insurance company, and they said they'll send someone to collect it and assess the damage, and then either repair it or just plain replace it. Which means I now have to traipse up to the Apple store again, pay them £69 for their diagnosis, only to have some other company do exactly the same thing again. But at least it's getting sorted, I suppose.
 
Wow thats alot of cash to fix it! Are you sure that no one else has been using this laptop or come into contact with it other than you? How on earth can their be liquid damage if you havent spilt anything on it!
 
Wow thats alot of cash to fix it! Are you sure that no one else has been using this laptop or come into contact with it other than you? How on earth can their be liquid damage if you havent spilt anything on it!

He did, Apple Juice. Still that alot of monies to fix it.
 
He did, Apple Juice. Still that alot of monies to fix it.

Oh right, didnt see that... You would think that a little bit of liquid would be ok. I know Lenovo have a spill membrane under the keyboard and I would have thought Apple laptops (being as expensive as they are) would have something similar.

Apparently they can deal with this! :crazy:

lenovo_keyboarddrain.jpg
 
He did, Apple Juice. Still that alot of monies to fix it.

Indeed. Although when you think about it, if they're replacing the whole logic board that's not actually a bad price - a logic board off ebay is about £450 anyway, and including the screen bezel, keyboard and touchpad and the labour costs, it probably comes out at about that price.

Oh right, didnt see that... You would think that a little bit of liquid would be ok. I know Lenovo have a spill membrane under the keyboard and I would have thought Apple laptops (being as expensive as they are) would have something similar.

Apparently they can deal with this! :crazy:

lenovo_keyboarddrain.jpg

It does as it happens. The guy said that there's a membrane under the keyboard that collected most of the spillage, but some still got through. It was a fair bit of liquid. It was about 3/4 of one of these coke glasses:

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Anyway, I'm off to collect it in a minute. When I explained to them I was collecting it and my insurance company were going to sort out the damage, they (rather kindly) said they wouldn't make me pay the £69 diagnostic fee. So I still like Apple after all this :p
 
I've found that Apple will take care of you if you present your case politely but firmly. (Buddy of mine had his entire upper MacBook case replaced in a day due to hairline cracks. Known problem. We were polite. No extended AppleCare.) But in your case, that's a lot of apple juice and abuse! I've heard of a lot of people dumping varying liquids (milk, tea, beer, wine, you name it) on their PowerBooks and MacBooks. If you catch it early enough, rinse with distilled water, and let the computer dry out completely, then chances are you'll be fine. Leave it to sit and you're in trouble like Eric. has said.

Don't attempt to fix a bent case on your own next time; it will look like user error and not earn you much sympathy. Use your extended AppleCare. ;)
 
Don't attempt to fix a bent case on your own next time; it will look like user error and not earn you much sympathy. Use your extended AppleCare. ;)

Indeed, that was a bit stupid of me... But to be fair it had eaten a fairly important CD which I needed to get out ;)




Anyway, it has now returned from the insurance company and all is well :D New screen, new top case, new keyboard and touchpad, fantastic :) Well worth the £50 excess!
 
Good to hear you got it all sorted out.
Had the logic board replaced in mine for the nVidia fault a month or so ago, has been running perfectly since then. :) That said, last time I get my MBP repaired at an Apple reseller, it's been a fiasco.
 
Well here's a FUN little list of updates for you all.

1) Battery dies. I drive to Manchester and back for replacement one.
2) Logic board dies, and I drive to Manchester to drop it off, drive back again next day to collect it. It's a 100 mile round trip.
3) On returning from Apple store, my keyboard goes wrong and the screen begins to die - presumably broken when they opened it up to fiddle around. I drive to Manchester again, drop it off, then drive back a few days later again to collect it.
4) Having driven to Manchester again and collected it today, I discovered that the light sensor is now spazzing out and making everything flash uncontrollably when they keyboard backlight is on.



Aaaand....
6) To top it all off, I've now discovered that the Apple store have stolen half the screws that hold the thing together. Fan-effing-tastic.

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Total distance driven for repairs since January: 500 miles. Expect another 100 tomorrow when I get the joy of repeating the whole experience again.


So, to sum up: by all means purchase a MacBook, but pray to God you never have to get it repaired.
 
At this point you should really email Jobs. He does respond to emails, and you might get some special treatment out of this.
 
I missed this thread so I'll just quote myself.

You should probably go back and demand that they fix it correctly or give you a new computer and transfer your data. It's their fault for not fixing it, not yours. Stop fiddling around like a polite Mac user and take care of business.

EDIT: Oh LAWD look at that hideous DVI port! It's gigantic! No wonder they switched.
 
At this point you should really email Jobs. He does respond to emails, and you might get some special treatment out of this.

At least someone monitors the sjobs@apple.com mail address. It obviously isn't Jobs but it is a fact that the only time I've had real troubles with an Apple product and sent a polite mail describing the problem to that exact address after several weeks of banging my head against the Apple Care wall, the problem was solved within two days.

Edit: Please also note that it is considered bad form to use that address for trivial matters that could well be solved by the normal support. Good luck
 
Man that really sucks Jondot, and its really bad that your having to travel so far to get it fixed every time. With the amount of petrol you have spent you could have probably paid for half of a new one.

Things and have multiple issues very rarely can be fixed perfectly (sort of like beating a dead horse), it would be best to replace it entirely because this particularly laptop has clearly had issues from the begining. Im appalled at the repair standards they seem to be doing in Manchester and not even screwing the thing back together is unacceptable.

Robin.
 
Which to be honest, you need to be inspecting that thing more closely when you receive it back from the techs. Particularly seeing the missing screws...
 
At this point you should really email Jobs. He does respond to emails, and you might get some special treatment out of this.

At least someone monitors the sjobs@apple.com mail address. It obviously isn't Jobs but it is a fact that the only time I've had real troubles with an Apple product and sent a polite mail describing the problem to that exact address after several weeks of banging my head against the Apple Care wall, the problem was solved within two days.

Edit: Please also note that it is considered bad form to use that address for trivial matters that could well be solved by the normal support. Good luck

Thanks chaps, I'll give that a try 👍


Man that really sucks Jondot, and its really bad that your having to travel so far to get it fixed every time. With the amount of petrol you have spent you could have probably paid for half of a new one.

Things and have multiple issues very rarely can be fixed perfectly (sort of like beating a dead horse), it would be best to replace it entirely because this particularly laptop has clearly had issues from the begining. Im appalled at the repair standards they seem to be doing in Manchester and not even screwing the thing back together is unacceptable.

Robin.


Well interestingly, the logic board was replaced by the insurance people back in the summer, so presumably the one they stuck in was a dud of some sort. Having said that, it's been the store 'fixing' it that's caused all of this as far as I can see.

The issue is, it's now coming up to 3 years old (or rather bits of it are coming up to 3 years old), so I don't think there's really a case for them replacing it. I could see them doing after 6 months, but not 2 years and 6 months. Still fairly unacceptable service regardless of its age, though.



Which to be honest, you need to be inspecting that thing more closely when you receive it back from the techs. Particularly seeing the missing screws...

Well to be honest I wasn't really expecting them to be gone... Particularly as they're so miniscule in size - I only noticed when I was moving my finger along the edge and physically felt a nice empty hole or two.

And I don't really think it's my duty to inspect it with a fine tooth comb to see if they've ruined anything. I checked the keyboard issue and played around with the screen to see if those were fixed; they were. What I didn't get the opportunity to do was hop into a dark room and check the light sensor was working. Not that I would have had there been one provided ;)

EDIT: Oh LAWD look at that hideous DVI port! It's gigantic! No wonder they switched.

:lol:, it's an under appreciated beauty. Sort of.
 
gTo be honest, every time something has gone wrong with either my iMac or my old MacBook (which has been extremely rarely(3 times in as many years between the two)), my local Apple shop 3/4 of the time sorted it out the next day and AppleCare covered it. I'd write to Jobs though if you feel so bad about all this.... Still it doesnt put me off apple, as there products and customer service is second to no-one....
 
man looks like you got a proper bad egg there!

why do you have to drive so far? surely theres an Apple Authorized Service Provider closer to you? i dont know where you are but i see there are 20 showing up within 40 mile radius of manchester.
 
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