Just got my Mac back.... 7 weeks, and its almost as broke as it was when i sent it

[otispunkmeyer]

so 7 weeks ago, i took my mac to the nearest fixers to get sorted. Screen was totally bust and the KB backlight was so uneven, it looked gash. the backlight is a minor prob, but the screen is very major, i figured might as well just get both done.

so i get it back today and....

1) screen is fixed and is a very good example, better than the one i had before!

2) it appears that something untoward must of happened to my old case as im pretty sure i have a completely new case, top and bottom!, theres no scratches or dings like i had and the serial no stickers have clearly been removed and re-stuck.

thats the good, now the bad

3) despite fitting a new KB, i can tell by typing, they DIDNT actually fix the problem which was the 50p (max cost im sure) back lighting system being fucked up (4 LED's plus a white sheet)

4) my battery has returned, with 19 cycles (not sure how many i had to start with though) but a measly 80% health which is way too low for a mere 20 cycles.

5) the fans, OMG the fans.... they will not stop running at the full 6000RPM...no matter what. PRAM reset? check, SMC reset? check! nothing.

running on battery gets the fans to slow a little, but as the speed trundles up n down i have a feeling the fans are running as fast as the battery will allow. plugging the mag safe back in = 6000rpm again.

i dunno what to do now, im so sick of this machine fucking up.... its a £1600 machine and i know people with £300 dells that are more reliable. does QC not exist down at apple? fuck sake.

avoid AT computers (the approved resellers and repair center) they are slow and seem not to actually care about whats happening to your machine. every time i rang up i got a different story, i got numerous promises that they'd ring back and never did.

i rang once, expecting my machine to be close to ready (after being told a week earlier that it'd be done in a week), only to be told its in Tewksbury and that actually its the KB thats been fixed, not the screen (the complete opposite to what i was told previously)

then i found out that they only ordered the new screen on the 13th of august, a full 2 weeks after telling me that the screen was repaired.

Im ringing up tomoro, first thing 9AM and im gonna fucking mouth off at the fuckers for being shit and demand that i get the repairs done, and done properly ASAP

[Lilleput]

This will be good..

[cl191]

About the fan...does the machine run hot at all? I am wondering if the fans are just running at max all by itself or the temperature is actually high enough to make the fans kick in.

[otispunkmeyer]

thats the thing

CPU usage around 5% (checked with OS X's equiv of task manager)

and the CPU temp? a staggering 37 degrees C..... yeah, 37, lowest ive seen it and thats after running for over 3 hours. somethings not right somewhere.

as its a MBP, with it being all aluminium its quite easy to tell if the read outs are lying as the case conducts heat rather well, especially the bit between the KB and screen. that part has been stone cold - bordering on sligtly luke warm all day, so temps seem well under control.

heres hoping they forgot to hook up a sensor or maybe used too much thermal paste and accidently covered a sensor or something. since they replaced top an bottom of the case, that means the innards were transplanted and they may of had to do the heatsinks over again. (though judging by the temps they did a very good job of that at least)

[hansvonaxion]

If they're really that bad, make a complaint directly to Apple. If Apple gets enough complaints they will probably revoke their licence.

Good luck with the rest of your repairs.

[epp_b]

lol, Macs :p

[otispunkmeyer]

it definately has been the most expensive and most unreliable machine ive had (also my first laptop)

even this beater windows rig under my desk never give me any jip despite being old and decrepit with a el-cheapo failing PSU.

my most reliable machine ever... is somewhat ironically, the one i built myself, with my own hands picking my own components. 4 years on and the core of that machine is still going without fault.

[jeffy777]

I never spend a whole lot on laptops because it seems even the really expensive ones break down just as often.

[cl191]

Have you tried installing SMC fan control? http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eid...ge5/page5.html
You are not supposed to be able to set the fan speed lower than the sensor set it to, but may be give it a try anyway.

[Zuhaib]

Well first mistake I guess was getting your laptop not thru Apple and getting Apple Care. I have had good service with them while I do find there laptops to be a bit more fragile then other brands.

Which mac laptop do you have? Macbook Pro or Macbook? OS 10.5? What intel chip? That info can be helpful for troubleshooting.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by cl191

Have you tried installing SMC fan control? http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eid...ge5/page5.html
You are not supposed to be able to set the fan speed lower than the sensor set it to, but may be give it a try anyway.

yeah had SMC from day one really, thats how i knew my fans were borked in the first place. SMC fan control seems to have zero control over the fans on my machine, which is why im hopeful that its just a sensor not hooked up or something.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by Zuhaib

Well first mistake I guess was getting your laptop not thru Apple and getting Apple Care. I have had good service with them while I do find there laptops to be a bit more fragile then other brands.

Which mac laptop do you have? Macbook Pro or Macbook? OS 10.5? What intel chip? That info can be helpful for troubleshooting.

Mac book Pro 2.4Ghz C2D, basically the first Santa Rosa based machines, 4GB ram, 160gb hard disk, 256mb 8600gt.

yeah got the latest Leopard build on there too.

bought the machine through apples HE store over the phone since apple have very little in the way of Official stores here where i live. infact they have none. theres only a handfull of certified resellers and repair places too. so i havent got much choice about where i can take it.

[Zuhaib]

Ah, i have the slightly older MBP 2.33 C2D.

For your 1st Question:
Where are you getting the 80% health number from? Is it an app? I have seen some battery apps be totally off, including not reporting true problems. I had an battery that was under 300 cycle, and I was getting "decent" battery life from it and iStat told me the battery was "Poor" which was expected.
BUT
When I went to System Profile it reviled that my battery was in worst condition as the health it was reporting was "Check battery". Because of the "Check Battery" warning Apple Care warrantied my battery as that was apple code for my battery had died on itself.

As for the fans... I am at a lost a bit, my only guess is maybe your fan control software has gone nuts and maybe an OS X reinstall might be called for. Thats the only software idea I would try.

Also did not the Apple HE Store sale AppleCare? You can also get your stuff serviced by apple via the Mail, at lest in the US.

[drummerdude89]

i figured i would throw my story in to prove that apple sucks at repairing laptops... i took mine in for a known issue of the case cracking. they repaired and found that the lcd was dented and the picture was messed up on the screen... take it back and they break the cd drive. two months later case cracks again even tho they said it shouldn't ever do it again. they fix it and break the logic drive. get that fixed and they bread the cd drive again.

[katwalk]

Did you take it to an Apple store or someplace else?
Normally even with major things they get it in and out in a couple of days.Getting it back still broken isn't a manufacture defect it's whatever place you took it ripping you the fuck off. I know for a fact that if it was Apple store techs that did that here there asses would be fired already. Spending that much time on a computer alone is unacceptable never mind failing to repair it massively.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by Zuhaib

Ah, i have the slightly older MBP 2.33 C2D.

For your 1st Question:
Where are you getting the 80% health number from? Is it an app? I have seen some battery apps be totally off, including not reporting true problems. I had an battery that was under 300 cycle, and I was getting "decent" battery life from it and iStat told me the battery was "Poor" which was expected.
BUT
When I went to System Profile it reviled that my battery was in worst condition as the health it was reporting was "Check battery". Because of the "Check Battery" warning Apple Care warrantied my battery as that was apple code for my battery had died on itself.

As for the fans... I am at a lost a bit, my only guess is maybe your fan control software has gone nuts and maybe an OS X reinstall might be called for. Thats the only software idea I would try.

Also did not the Apple HE Store sale AppleCare? You can also get your stuff serviced by apple via the Mail, at lest in the US.

i dont think you can here in the UK, every time i have rung apple care with an issue they go through the usual checklist spiel and after that they reccommend taking it for repair and find the nearest center for you.

i think they do do cross shipping, for example if you get a dud battery they will cross ship so long as you have a credit card for them to charge if you dont follow through and send the dud back. i dont have a credit card unfortunately.


the battery health, well i use iStat too, but i also go to system profiler and just do the simple math of dividing the current battery capacity with what its supposed to of been (5500mAh) and that gives the same answer.

if the fans havent been fixed then, i may have to do that...though im not 100% sure what was replaced to sort my gashed up screen. im assuming from what i was told that the LCD was replaced (which since my original calibration profile now looks yukky im sure it has) but i wonder if they also replaced the logic board? i know they transplanted everything to a new chassis, maybe they used a new logic board too? if so then maybe a OS X reinstall will fix the problem (thanks to Time Machine re-install isnt such a chore)

Originally Posted by katwalk

Did you take it to an Apple store or someplace else?
Normally even with major things they get it in and out in a couple of days.Getting it back still broken isn't a manufacture defect it's whatever place you took it ripping you the fuck off. I know for a fact that if it was Apple store techs that did that here there asses would be fired already. Spending that much time on a computer alone is unacceptable never mind failing to repair it massively.

i think the nearest actual apple store to me is manchester or some such place, its really too far to travel for a repair and even though im sure they dont let you mail your machine for repair, i wouldnt wanna do that anyway coz i like to know that the guys on the other end are aware of exactly what the problems are.

even the nearest place that will service apple computers is a 3 hour round trip. i have a choice of Newcastle or Scarborough and the quickest is Newcastle (i have to use public transport)

[katwalk]

Originally Posted by otispunkmeyer

i think the nearest actual apple store to me is manchester or some such place, its really too far to travel for a repair and even though im sure they dont let you mail your machine for repair, i wouldnt wanna do that anyway coz i like to know that the guys on the other end are aware of exactly what the problems are.

even the nearest place that will service apple computers is a 3 hour round trip. i have a choice of Newcastle or Scarborough and the quickest is Newcastle (i have to use public transport)

They probably do. I'd call them up and see. When i needed a new battery they shipped a replacement in 2 days for me and paid shipping for sending the broken one back too.
They'll probably be able to ship it all the way to american and have it fixed alot faster than that shop didn't fix it for you so I'd go for that. The place you took it to probably had no clue what they were doing and stuck some HP parts in there or something.

[johns13193]

Originally Posted by epp_b

lol, Macs :p

+1

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by katwalk

They probably do. I'd call them up and see. When i needed a new battery they shipped a replacement in 2 days for me and paid shipping for sending the broken one back too.
They'll probably be able to ship it all the way to american and have it fixed alot faster than that shop didn't fix it for you so I'd go for that. The place you took it to probably had no clue what they were doing and stuck some HP parts in there or something.

i need a credit card to cross ship things....i dont have one

and anyway, the guy at apple care was the one who suggested i take it to ATcomputers in the newcastle. i think apple operate a little differently here.