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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Genius Bar MBP repair questions

Genius Bar MBP repair questions
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all2ofme
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Jan 19, 2010, 02:55 PM
 
Hi all,

I'm in LA visiting from the UK and wanted to get my 17" MBP looked at at the Grove store this afternoon. I'm backing up before I do, of course!

Questions are:
1) If the issues are severe (and numerous) enough do they ever just replace a machine? Does having a 3.06GHz BTO change things? All I changed when I bought it were the screen (non-glossy) and the processor.

2) Should I swap the original disk (500GB Seagate SATA) back in before I go or just take the original one along? I installed a 128GB Crucial SSD the day the computer arrived.

Thanks very much for any help!
Ben
     
turtle777
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Jan 19, 2010, 03:12 PM
 
Originally Posted by all2ofme View Post
2) Should I swap the original disk (500GB Seagate SATA) back in before I go or just take the original one along? I installed a 128GB Crucial SSD the day the computer arrived.
I'd probably say yes.

If you get your wish, and they replace the whole machine, then you can't expect them swapping the HD for you.

-t
     
Simon
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Jan 19, 2010, 03:59 PM
 
Yes, put the stock drive back in there.

Most probably you won't get a brand new Mac just like that. They do exchanges, but usually under special circumstances (DOA for example) and probably not if you've bought the Mac in a different country and BTO'ed it.
     
all2ofme  (op)
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Jan 19, 2010, 05:30 PM
 
Thanks for the replies, you two.

Just spent the last hour trying to find a T6 and a 00 Phillips. Unsuccessfully!

My appt's at 4:15, so I'm going to see what happens and keep my fingers crossed that an accent will help matters

Will be interesting to see how it pans out, because there's a good few things wrong with it:

- Ghosting on screen
- Hinge creaks (three times the gap on the right-hand side of the screen, which is odd)
- Headphone jack is dicky and only works at a couple of angles

Anyway, thanks for the replies so far, and I'll ping back with what happens if it's interesting.

Ben
     
imitchellg5
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Jan 20, 2010, 07:09 PM
 
If you've had it worked on before by Apple, they'll be more likely to replace it. It's pretty rare that they'll do an on-the-spot swap with only a few issues. My guess is that they'll want to send it off to Texas.
     
pcryan5
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Jan 21, 2010, 09:57 PM
 
So - what happened?
     
all2ofme  (op)
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Jan 24, 2010, 06:45 PM
 
They were very accommodating, and fixed it before I skipped the country.

They replaced the screen and main logic board, and things seemed better for a while. There are a few issues that I have now that I *didn't* have before, though, which is a worry:

- machine doesn't sleep when I close the lid
- have had a fan come on for the first time ever (no big deal, it's quiet)
- screen goes black occasionally (as if it's sleeping), and while moving the mouse brings it back again it takes four or five seconds, rather than happening instantly as I'm used to
- intermittent freezing (just happened as I typed this - machine out of action for 30 seconds)

I'll see if things get better, but I think it's going to need to be looked at again, sadly. At least I'll be able to do a comparison between repairs in New Zealand and the US
     
Cottonsworth
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Jan 24, 2010, 07:37 PM
 
I think you can now demand that they replace the machine for you since it has already been through one major repair and now has new problems. I was in a similar boat before with a Black Macbook, on the third try, they just replaced the machine at the store with a brand new one.

Originally Posted by all2ofme View Post
They were very accommodating, and fixed it before I skipped the country.

They replaced the screen and main logic board, and things seemed better for a while. There are a few issues that I have now that I *didn't* have before, though, which is a worry:

- machine doesn't sleep when I close the lid
- have had a fan come on for the first time ever (no big deal, it's quiet)
- screen goes black occasionally (as if it's sleeping), and while moving the mouse brings it back again it takes four or five seconds, rather than happening instantly as I'm used to
- intermittent freezing (just happened as I typed this - machine out of action for 30 seconds)

I'll see if things get better, but I think it's going to need to be looked at again, sadly. At least I'll be able to do a comparison between repairs in New Zealand and the US
     
bishopazrael
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Jan 25, 2010, 02:57 AM
 
Yeah, taking it back, just be prepared that they aren't going to believe that your macbook DIDN'T have these problems before. This happened to me once in Portland, but it helped that I was a regular there when the consultants used to meet in the store every wednesday am before it opened.. kind of a nice get together. Since the managers knew who I was and the fact that I always had a pristine PB, they knew I wasn't lying when I told them it came back with problems it didn't have before.

Be firm, insistent, but polite at all times. Just make sure they know you won't back down and accept something more damaged than it was before.
Backups are like guns and condoms. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
     
pcryan5
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Jan 25, 2010, 01:16 PM
 
We almost need to start a poll asking how often has APPLE fixed one issue and given you two?
This seems almost commonplace from what I hear.
     
all2ofme  (op)
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Feb 1, 2010, 02:41 AM
 
Well I'm not going to be taking my machine to a standard Apple store, but I'll be sure to update what I get in terms of help.

Fingers crossed it'll be a new 'un!
     
all2ofme  (op)
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Feb 4, 2010, 10:45 PM
 
Had my machine back in less than 24 hours - apparently the sleep switch cable (or something of the sort) hadn't been connected when the LA store put things back together. Oops!

Working fine so far, but not entirely impressed that that wasn't picked up in the final checks before I got it back. Hopefully each of the new problems is because of that. So far so good.
     
Simon
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Feb 5, 2010, 04:26 AM
 
It's annoying when stuff like that happens. Sure mistakes happen everywhere, but when you consider how many of these MBPs are repaired you'd think they could reassemble it properly. I'm also surprised they don't do a quick check to make sure they didn't miss anything obvious (like a sleep switch cable) before they hand it back to the customer.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 5, 2010, 05:17 AM
 
Forgetting to reconnect one of about twenty connectors happens frequently, especially if the techs are working under pressure (which they always are).
     
all2ofme  (op)
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May 19, 2010, 09:41 AM
 
Dredging up the past here, but I had more probs with the machine post-NZ repair.

The backlit keyboard wouldn't light up any more, and the connectors down the machine's left edge (i.e. all of them) were working intermittently.

Took it to the Apple Store in London and they're replacing it with a brand new i7. Woohoo! Was very impressed with the chap I dealt with. Polite and friendly gets you a long way in life in my opinion - was glad that he reciprocated in such fine fashion. Looking forward to the new one turning up.

Now I've got to work out how to move everything over, but that's another thread, I think...
     
   
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