[Sakino]

I have a first gen al 15 inch powerbook. Basically I am on my 4th one of this model because everyone that they sent me was basically DOA(screwed up uhhh).

Well I sent it in at the beginning of the summer to fix white spot problems, and a ticking sound. I recieved the powerbook back with only the white spot problems fixed. During repair the scratched my casing, and the hand rest area made noises. To add to that they didn't fix my ticking sound.

I sent my powerbook in for the second time last week and just got it. The hand rest area was replaced but the scratched casing and the ticking harddrive not fixed.

I'm about to call apple this afternoon and demand a new computer. This is ********, I have probably spent over 30+ hours on the phone with apple tech support to get these issues fixed and they have offered no help. The same goes for The apple store and registered tech support places.

[Sakino]

I just got off the phone with the rudest product specialist ever. I must say he offered me no options. Didn't even appologize for not replacing the scratched lid, nor offered me any option dealing with the ticking hard drive.
I really wish I knew what my options are right now. As I am sitting here the ticking sound is clearly heard just typing on the keyboard with normal background noise.

[killer_735]

Does the ticking definitely come from the hard drive, not the speakers? My 12" makes a ticking sound unless I use an app called keep sound awake..has to do with the system sleeping the sound card.

Otherwise,sounds like time to find someone's supervisor, then find that person's supervisor, etc. Tell em' you're a sysadmin and were just about to advise your company to switch to an all-mac setup blah blah blah.

[Paul Huang]

Three strikes (of serious problems) on the PowerBook or any other Apple products, you get a new one. If you _work_ it to your advantage, I would wait until the 1.5 GHz stock runs out and cash your check, then Apple will give you a brand-new one that is better than the 1.5 GHz, provided that the "unavailable" period is already over.

[kuzelnik]

My TiPB was scratched by a technician when I sent it in for repair. I called and got a case number, then went to my local Apple store and explained the problem. I told them that I know it's my word against theirs. The guys there said they generally take the customer's word for it unless it's obvious otherwise. They replaced it.

The same thing happened with my wife's 12" PB and they replaced that too. The techs at Apple are probably working to quickly and don't pay attention to things like scrathes.

[Black Seal]

What is this 'ticking' you describe the drive making?? .
In my office with ambient sound I can clearly hear the drive being accessed. (5400 80GB Hitachi)
If you think you ought not to be able to hear the drive being accessed at all you're mistaken...

[Tomster330]

Mine is back at Apple for the 3rd time in 7 weeks. First to replace the LCD as white spots appeared after owning it 9 months. Then to replace the logic board as the lower memory bin was not being recognized. Now back again to once again replace the logic board....this time due to Airport Extreme card not being recognized.

Thank God we got an Apple Store here in Austin this summer! They do all the paperwork and shipping. All I do is wait for it to be delived to my office. They say that if 3 major components go out that I get a replacement for free. As I have a 1.25 GHz 15 inch aluminum, I figure I could upgrade at least to the 1.50 Ghz model.

Hopefully it will break again soon and I can get a new one.

[MichaelNH]

Before sending something like a laptop in, I would personally take pictures of the laptop. I like to keep mine in mint condition.. and would expect it to come back that way. I do know people that have dropped/scratched their laptops and try to get apple to fix it saying it's a defect in the case... umm the corner of your kitchen table scratching your laptop isn't an apple problem, but they believed it was.. take some close up pics of your laptop now, while you say there are scratches, for future reference if you send it back in. Always cover your butt, and don't assume that everything will be fine and dandy.

[Synotic]

Originally posted by Sakino:
I sent my powerbook in for the second time last week and just got it. The hand rest area was replaced but the scratched casing and the ticking harddrive not fixed.

Do a quick search, it's the hard drive heads parking normally. There's a utility that lets you change a setting that eliminates the sound. You can find in one of the many threads about it.

[vdrummer]

I'd suggest that when you send something in for repair, you clearly label (with masking tape, or list on a sheet of paper left inside or something) the things you want them to fix. My 1Ghz TiBook has been in three times (mostly case repairs); the first two times they ended up replacing things that were fine and missing things I wanted them to fix. For the third repair I used masking tape to indicate the problem, and it came back perfect. I got a brand new top without needing one.

[PBG4 User]

I just sent my almost 1yr. PowerBook to Apple due to the dreaded white spot issue. I included a note asking they adjust the hinge because it had started making cracking noises when I went to shut it. Also, I remarked that sometimes my PB wouldn't go to sleep when I closed the screen unless I used extra pressure.

All of these problems were fixed and I was quite impressed with the turnaround time once I received the box. Dropped it off at Airborne on Thursday evening, picked it up on Monday. 1 business day for repair is about as fast as they can get.

[carlsz]

I sent my 15" Al PB back to apple about 3 weeks ago for the logic board issue. Same problem as reported here... the lower DIMM slot was not being recognized. Get this, for the last 2.5 weeks my PB has just been sitting there because they "are waiting for a part". I am getting pretty frustrated with the whole process. On the upside, the tech at my local apple store is watching the case and has been calling me regularly with updates (or lack thereof). How long before I can start bitching? Can I ask them to just sack the repair and send me a new one?