[waterbuck]

Hi
My 667 MHz TiBook is 2.5 years old and still on AppleCare.
I rarely use its CD-ROM/DVD (read) drive, but it failed for the third time about 2 weeks ago. It just stops recognizing what is in it, and stops spinning/whirring and doesn't work. Each time we send it back through AppleCare, they swap in a new one and after about 5-10 uses, the next one stops working.

One catch is that 1 week after this one failed (it's the second swap-in replacement drive to fail), the Powerbook (still in its own hard-board and soft-padding Tom Beene case) itself dropped out of a zipped-shut backpack (old zipper failed). The TiBook casing was damaged in the process (machine functions okay though).And I need to get that fixed, and I can't hold Apple responsible for the Jansport Backpack's zipper failure.


I am thinking of going to my Apple-authorized repair place and send it in again. I need to get the CD-ROM drive dealt with definitively (and presumably I'll need to pay for repair to the casing). While the drive failed before the Powerbook dropped, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple worried that the order was the reverse.

What do you suggest I do in my communication to Apple?

Should I ask for a new PB on grounds that 3 CD-rom failures is enough? Or should I just beg for understanding that they won't think that my zipper failure caused the computer damage, including the third CD-ROM failure. Honest folks, the drive failed a week before the zipper catastrophe, but I 'm not sure how to approach to this.

My dream is that they say "hey, 3 CD-ROM drive failures is too much. We'll sell you a new one at $500" but it's not so likely...

[tungtied07]

Unfortunally, you will have a problem trying to claim warranty for the cd-drive too for your tibook. They will say that the drop caused the "problem", trying to avoid repairing it because they saw the dent on the powerbook. I'm not too sure what to do except for you to replace the casing yourself to prevent apple having thoughts that the dropped messed up the cd-rom drive, voiding your warranty.
Good luck!

[romeosc]

Call Safeware and report the fall and say it caused the DVD problem as well.... you did have insurance didn't you?

[waterbuck]

Well

I am happy I had Applecare. The CD-ROM/Combo drive failure represented the 3rd failure of the same component, one which I barely ever used anyway.

I called and basically felt I should explain everything, the Combodrive, and the backpack that broke open, and just hope they would take my word for it that the Combo-drive failed before the case damage from the backpack problem.

As soon as the Applecare rep figured out that the Combo drive had failed a 3rd time he passed me up to a product specialist. The specialist felt that after failure #2 they should have already offered me a replacement Powerbook, and he set me up for a new Powerbook, which I was permitted to upgrade for extra $$. I did tell him about the damage to the case but he basically had ruled that Applecare had responsibility for a component that they had swapped in new ones twice already and that there was something sufficiently wrong that they needed to replace the machine altogether.

Right now I have ponied up $400 upgrade bucks to receive the following:
PB1.5 GHz
100 GB hard drive
512 x 2 ram chips (total 1 gb)
Superdrive

I also bought Applecare.
Do people think I should beg my wife to let me further upgrade to a 1.67 MHz 128 MB VRAM machine? I bet it's 150-200 more.

waterbuck