[earthkuei]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any idea on what do do about this situation that i'm in. I dropped my powerbook which led to a dent on the casing. everything was working fine for months but as of late, the hardrive has been having problems and using the utility disk, the apple care rep said that there is a hard drive failure and to send it back to apple. when they received it, they tell me that they can fix the harddrive but since the casing is not covered under warranty, it will cost $900 to fix it. however, the catch is that they can't fix my harddrive without fixing the casing. that to me sounds ludicrous. it's not as if the dent in the casing is that horrendous, and i don't understand how that has anything to do with repairing the harddrive. if anyone has any ideas or explanations, i would love to hear from you. thanks.

[StonedRose]

Originally posted by earthkuei:
Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any idea on what do do about this situation that i'm in. I dropped my powerbook which led to a dent on the casing. everything was working fine for months but as of late, the hardrive has been having problems and using the utility disk, the apple care rep said that there is a hard drive failure and to send it back to apple. when they received it, they tell me that they can fix the harddrive but since the casing is not covered under warranty, it will cost $900 to fix it. however, the catch is that they can't fix my harddrive without fixing the casing. that to me sounds ludicrous. it's not as if the dent in the casing is that horrendous, and i don't understand how that has anything to do with repairing the harddrive. if anyone has any ideas or explanations, i would love to hear from you. thanks.

Just take it in to a reseller and purchase an upgraded drive. If the bottom case is dented in you will not get warranty coverage. It is a form of "User abuse". I'am in no way suggesting that you abused it. Accidents do happen. However, Apple is not resonsible for your accidents. Just manufacturer defects. If you get in a car accident in a brand new car and tear off the front end...The car runs fine, then 3 weeks later the radiator blows up. Are you going to take it in for warranty repair? I dropped my a old PB 2 years ago (Ti) and my HD bacame loose inside and basically wasn't balanced. The bearing eventually wore out and overheated and died. It sounds like the same issue with yours. Bummer about that though. Aloha.

[analogika]

The dented case may actually affect functionality, e.g. putting stress on connectors or boards, or causing a short circuit somewhere. I can understand Apple not replacing the drive except doing it *right* if this is the case, since there is a warranty on the repair. I've seen this kind of stress on the casing wreak some seriously weird voodoo - stuff like where tightening the final screw on the casing would make an iBook spontaneously shut off thirty seconds into booting up. Remove the screw, and everything was peachy.
If Apple replaces the drive but somehow removing and re-fitting the bent case does anything of that sort, you could probably make a case holding them responsible if the symptom didn't show up before they had it.

I second the suggestion of taking it to an authorized repair center. Have them look at it and have a talk with the technician.

That might cost you a couple of tens up-front, but it beats dealing with a far-away unknown.

Also, the tech might tell you as well that he can't guarantee that it will work long-term due to case problems, but you might be able to sign a waiver and have him do it anyway.

Or you might then choose to just purchase the disk and install it yourself, as per the installation guides on http://pbfixit.com/Guide

-s*

[vinster]

Originally posted by analogika:
...<snip>...

Or you might then choose to just purchase the disk and install it yourself, as per the installation guides on http://pbfixit.com/Guide

-s*

That's what I'm thinking, too. If there's out-of-warranty repairs of a significant cost, then you might think about doing the HDD replacement yourself. Problem is, unless you're technically/mechanically inclined you could end up doing more harm than good.

Another option may be a third-party service provider such as PowerBook ResQ or others who may be willing to just do what it takes to keep the PB in operation (I recently had just the headphone jack replaced on my 20GB, 2nd gen iPod by a company called PDAsmart.com - I just couldn't justify Apple's repair/replacement program costs and then possibly having to get new accessories if the replacement ended up being a 3rd or 4th gen unit).

Let us know what you end up doing.