[DigitalEl]

Just returned home with my 12" PowerBook. Open the box, unpack everything. Inspect the case. Everything looks even. No sticky trackpad button. So far so good.

Plug in the AC adapter, the green light glows. Press the Power button. Nothing. "Okay, that's weird," I think. I press and hold the button and the PowerBook boots. No dead pixels. Sweet!

I shut her down, plug in a Firewire cable and move my Documents, Pictures, Music and Movies folders over from my 17" G4 iMac, along with some applications.

I "eject" the PowerBook from the iMac, shut down the PowerBook by hitting Power again and disconnect the Firewire cable.

Now nothing. I hit Power to reboot the 12" and get nothing. I press and hold the Power button. Still nothing.

I press the battery check light on the bottom of the PB and one light flashes quickly (like a strobe) for about 5 seconds. I remove the battery and reseat it, reconnect the AC adapter. Still won't boot. I disconnect the AC again and try to go only off the battery... Nothing. I reconnect the AC again and now it's amber, with a single LED on the battery check blinking more slowly now.

I can find nothing in the Manual and don't want to call Apple just yet.

Help!

[DigitalEl]

Just reread my above post and damn, it seems whiny. I understand this is probably a power/battery issue. But even if the battery is dead from shipping, shouldn't the PowerBook boot fine off the AC adapter?

[tisoncam]

I think that you need to fully charge the battery before you do anything else.

Maybe it needs some small amount of battery power even when starting off the ac adapter?

Congrats on the new PB ( I love mine)--good luck

[webb3201]

good luck and hope this works out. I just opened mine last night and loved the experience. My only problem was that I did not have a "00" phillips to put in my new ram. I was just about to report my great out of box experience and saw your post.

[iWrite]

You may have a dead battery on the motherboard.

There's a tiny battery on the motherboard that keeps the system "going." If the system was COMPLETELY dead (meaning the battery) then there's a good chance that battery is dead also.

I'd say just plug in the computer and then reset the PRAM after it's been charging for a couple of hours and then it should boot up. If not it needs to go in for service.

I think it'll be fine, however, with a good charge.

[DigitalEl]

After the battery was fully charged, my PowerBook still wouldn't come on. That is until I held down CMD+Option+P+R to reset the PRAM. <sigh>

Okay then. Maybe I can get excited now.

UPDATE 1-Hour Later: Dammit!

No! It's still not right. After working for awhile and shutting down... Same thing. It won't start with the Power button, either with the AC cord attached or on battery power, which after a full charge and a little use, was at about 87% when I shut down.

Zapping the PRAM isn't working now either.

[DigitalEl]

Anybody!?

[ae86_16v]

Maybe a dead power button?

[coolmacdude]

Try resetting the Power management unit. Shouldn't be the problem with a brand new PB, but you never know.

[DigitalEl]

1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
2. Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
3. Wait 5 seconds.
4. Press the power button to restart the computer.

Tried this already to no avail. I talked to the dude at MacMedia in Phoenix, where I bought it. He said they see this from time to time and it's likely the little internal battery. He says if the main battery is completely drained, which it was, this secondary battery would die very quickly. He said leaving it hooked up to the AC adapter (at least) overnight should fix things.

Anybody heard of this? Sound plausible? I'll give it overnight - I guess I have no choice, actually - but once on the AC adapter, why would a battery matter at all?

[Nep2ne]

Damn. Expecting my 12" in a number of hours, and sure hope that it's okay!! Please fill us in when you wake up!

[ngrundy]

12" powerbooks don't have the 3 mins emergancy standby battery.

The flashing you're refering to is an exausted battery, charge it. Also read the manual, it tells you to discharge and then fully charge before using etc and stuff.

Failing that, take it back and bitch, DOA and stuff.

[Laserbutt]

This happend to one of my customers last week. It was a faulty power inverter. The only way to fix this is take it back to the store you purchased it from and declare it DOA. This should not be a problem and you should get a replacement from Apple.

[DigitalEl]

Confirmed. It's as good as dead. Can't get the f'er to boot no matter what I try. Now I have a couple of more questions.

1.) Is it likely a 3rd party retailer will swap this out or have I just spent $1,600 and am going to have to be without for weeks while it's sent back to Apple? I'd like to just go exchange it for a new one. I have had it less than 24 hours, after all and haven't registered it.

2.) ALL of my files are on this new machine, since it did boot twice out of the box. Documents, Pictures, Music, Movies, etc... If it's exchanged, how vulnerable is my stuff?

Seeing as I'm not into anything embarrassing and also not in the CIA, there's nothing that's going to change the world on the computer... But it's kind of creepy that someone else could rifle through years of old cover letters and resumes, personal pictures of my baby daughter and parents, etc.

It will ruin my weekend if I can't just exchange this and still come home with a new computer today. I could've gone to one of the two Apple Stores in Phoenix or even CompUSA or Fry's Electronics and had this computer on Tuesday. Instead, I waited until Thursday to support my locally-owned Mac-only retailer, because they were out of 12" PowerBooks. I hope the place will show me equal respect now that I need it.

Lastly, as I drone on here and bore you guys... My new wife is asking "Why I support that company." She knows my out-of-box experience history.

iMac DVSE #1 - DOA (exchanged)
iMac DVSE #2 - DOA (exchanged)
(Apple said they must've been part of a "bad batch.")
iMac DVSE #3 - Three years of good service.

iPod #1 - FUBAR hard drive (exchanged)
iPod #2 - Battery issues. I'm likely to take it back this weekend.

If these were all Dell experiences, we'd be laughing in mocked enjoyment. I hope this is just my luck, because I can't imagine many switchers would be impressed if this is common.

[schmoe]

Sorry to hear about your awful new laptop experience. Apple's quality control seems to be poor, an increasing trend in the computer industry. IBM recently lowered their MTBF for hard drives "in line with industry leaders".

In place of consumers demanding quality and being willing to pay for it, we have state laws that prevent stores from selling you broken products. You should be able to return the Powerbook and either exchange it for a working model or get your money back.

Don't sent it in to Apple, all the horror stories of screwed repairs are scary. Can't be helped if it fails after the return deadline expires, but you should be well within that window.

[iWrite]

I say bite the bullet and send it to Apple.

The wife is right.

Don't go back there and deal directly with Apple from now on.

Call Apple and get a box overnighted to you and get it taken care of properly and don't mess around with all of the in-between BS/crap.

Apple will also do a check of some other things and make sure it's okay. If they need to replace a mobo or anything else they can do it there. Besides, most people don't know it but local Apple authorized resellers and the Apple Stores are NOT authorized to do repairs on portables: ALL iBooks and Powerbooks go back to Houston whether or not you send it in or the repair center sends it in.

And, if the system is toast Apple has the capacity to exchange it outright for you.

Good luck.

[Flash2000]

Originally posted by iWrite:
I say bite the bullet and send it to Apple.

The wife is right.

Don't go back there and deal directly with Apple from now on.

Call Apple and get a box overnighted to you and get it taken care of properly and don't mess around with all of the in-between BS/crap.

Apple will also do a check of some other things and make sure it's okay. If they need to replace a mobo or anything else they can do it there. Besides, most people don't know it but local Apple authorized resellers and the Apple Stores are NOT authorized to do repairs on portables: ALL iBooks and Powerbooks go back to Houston whether or not you send it in or the repair center sends it in.

And, if the system is toast Apple has the capacity to exchange it outright for you.

Good luck.

I think he meant his wife was wondering why he stuck with apple after all his misfortune not the store he got it from.

[Ti X]

Were all of your products purchased at the same small retailer? I know you want to support them, but they sure don't seem to be supporting you with quality equipment.

I would purchase somewhere else if that is the case, an Apple store preferrably.

[stevesnj]

Apple's quality control seems to be poor, an increasing trend in the computer industry

I never expect any company out there to produce a product perfectly in a mass production assembly. If quality control was perfect there would be no product warranties. Like cars, and people they all cant be perfect...not even Apple Computer.

In this PCWorld article Apple has the fewest relaced units after purchase than any other computer company out there.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1186135,00.asp

[maceyedoc]

if you're afraid someone will look at your data, can you remove the hard drive and send the rest in?

[Link]

Ya know, I say bite the bullet and get an exchange. Applecare is garbage service and your quality problems are very common.

You also bought the notebook with the highest return/defect rate in the industry (no joke, it's even worse then compaq)

[coolphage]

Originally posted by Link:
Ya know, I say bite the bullet and get an exchange. Applecare is garbage service and your quality problems are very common.

You also bought the notebook with the highest return/defect rate in the industry (no joke, it's even worse then compaq)

Do you have a source for that. Thats a pretty bold statement.
I was just wondering. Im hopping to buy one in a few weeks.
Thanks
Nick

[mrmister]

he doesn't--that flatly contradicts data you can find on the consumer reports site and elsewhere.

[DigitalEl]

Thanks for all your input, everybody.

To clear some things up, the DVSEs from three years ago were bought at (don't laugh) CompUSA and exchanged without hassle. I was new to the platform back then, Apple brick and mortars didn't yet exist and I probably didn't know any better anyway.

The first iPod was from a store whose name I don't remember in Kansas City and this week's PowerBooks were from a great little Apple Store lookalike called MacMedia here in the Valley of the Sun. Yes, I've moved around quite a bit.

The dudes at MacMedia are pretty straight up and exchanged my PowerBook for a working one without a hint of hassle or stress. Walking out with my new machine, I felt silly for having sweated it. They were great... And anybody in Phoenix looking to buy should support these local guys (locations in Peoria and Scottsdale).

The MacMedia tech guys didn't know what was wrong with the old one. They couldn't get it to boot either. It'll be sent to Apple and eventually sold off as a refurb, no doubt.

Bottom line, I'm on my new PowerBook as I type this and couldn't be happier. It seems like it was a long way in gettin' here, but I'm finally happy now and enjoying this incredible little wonder. It's already my favorite Mac ever!

That is all.

[Nep2ne]

Originally posted by DigitalEl:
Thanks for all your input, everybody.

...

Bottom line, I'm on my new PowerBook as I type this and couldn't be happier. It seems like it was a long way in gettin' here, but I'm finally happy now and enjoying this incredible little wonder. It's already my favorite Mac ever!

That is all.

Very glad for you. I received my new 12" today and remembered your plight. Hope your next big purchase is not as bad as this one!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Link:
You also bought the notebook with the highest return/defect rate in the industry (no joke, it's even worse then compaq)

Bullshit.

Why do you post this crap?

Until you back that up with numbers: Liar.

-s*