Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Jan 4, 2008 5:34 PM, Chipp Walters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. Started about > a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm > pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I > Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there > this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they > have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you > probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. Hi Chipp, I'm surprised you didn't have this happening long ago, as it was a big thing for MacBooks at one stage. It was an issue with the temperature sensors. They are designed to shutdown the MacBook when the temperature gets too high, but there was a bug in the programming so they were shutting down randomly. At first it was thought to require a hardware fix, but after that, a firmware solution was released. Check for firmware updates and that should solve the problem. Cheers, Sarah ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 01:34:19 -0600, Chipp Walters wrote: > My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. Started about > a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm > pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I > Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there > this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they > have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you > probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. Yes, in fact I've been going through this for the last three months with my MacBookPro... for a long time I couldn't tell from the various blogs I was reading exactly what the problem was until I ran Apple Hardware Test, and it pointed me to the fact that it has to do with the fans not turning on when they're supposed to, and the processor overheats and shuts off. I've DL'ed and am running smcFanControl (http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/), and I haven't had it shutdown ever since I had it installed. My understanding is that it's a logic board defect, and when I get a chance I'm going to get it fixed, but for now controlling the fans seems to be working. Ken Ray Sons of Thunder Software, Inc. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/ ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 18:51:25 +1000, Sarah Reichelt wrote: > On Jan 4, 2008 5:34 PM, Chipp Walters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. >> Started about >> a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm >> pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I >> Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there >> this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they >> have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you >> probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. > > Hi Chipp, > > I'm surprised you didn't have this happening long ago, as it was a big > thing for MacBooks at one stage. It was an issue with the temperature > sensors. They are designed to shutdown the MacBook when the > temperature gets too high, but there was a bug in the programming so > they were shutting down randomly. At first it was thought to require a > hardware fix, but after that, a firmware solution was released. Check > for firmware updates and that should solve the problem. Thanks, Sarah! Based on your email, I tracked down the SMC Firmware Update for my MacBook Pro (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookpro15inchsmcfirmwareupdate.html)... hopefully that will fix it and I can remove smcFanControl! Ken Ray Sons of Thunder Software, Inc. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/ ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I had the same problem many months with my MacBook Core Duo (first series) and the problem only showed when I cold booted the machine. On a reboot it didn't happen. When I installed Leopard it never happened again. greetings, MacSMet 2008/1/4, Pierre Sahores <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Chipp, > > Over the last month, the same randomly shutdowns accured even with > the last firmeware update installed on my MacBook Pro 2 Ghz (Tiger > 10.4.11)... > > The problem occurs when the temp goes over 75 ° C when the normal > range must stay inbeetween 40/65 ° C. I found at www.alitacrew.org/icyclone/> a cool freeware witch solved > definitivelly this issue. > > Best Regards, > -- > Pierre Sahores > mobile : 06 03 95 77 70 > www.sahores-conseil.com > > > Le 4 janv. 08 à 08:34, Chipp Walters a écrit : > > > My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. > > Started about > > a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a > > month. I'm > > pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. > > So, I > > Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out > > there > > this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if > > they > > have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you > > probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. > > > > > > > > -Chipp > > ___ > > use-revolution mailing list > > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your > > subscription preferences: > > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > > > > > ___ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Chipp, Over the last month, the same randomly shutdowns accured even with the last firmeware update installed on my MacBook Pro 2 Ghz (Tiger 10.4.11)... The problem occurs when the temp goes over 75 ° C when the normal range must stay inbeetween 40/65 ° C. I found at www.alitacrew.org/icyclone/> a cool freeware witch solved definitivelly this issue. Best Regards, -- Pierre Sahores mobile : 06 03 95 77 70 www.sahores-conseil.com Le 4 janv. 08 à 08:34, Chipp Walters a écrit : My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. Started about a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. -Chipp ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Chipp, It could also be a bad battery. What is weird is that it can happen even while the computer is plugged in to power. It would also explain why it started recently. There was a battery recall so I would check to see if yours is one that Apple will replace for free. Taking it into an Apple Store would be the best first step unless you have a spare battery and can swap it out now. In my experience crashes and freezes on OS X is almost always a hardware problem. Bill Vlahos On Jan 3, 2008, at 11:34 PM, Chipp Walters wrote: My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. Started about a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. -Chipp ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Chipp, I don't know if my problem is the same as your problem, but in my case it was bad/incompatible RAM installed by SmallDog Electronics. Once an Apple tech removed the bad RAM and sent me home, I never had the problem again. I'm sure you or somebody probably thought to check this, but I thought I'd chime in in case you didn't (I certainly didn't). Judy On Jan 3, 2008 11:34 PM, Chipp Walters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My MacBook...about a year old or so, just randomly shuts down. Started about > a month ago, but I don't use it more than a couple of times a month. I'm > pretty sure it knows I hate it-- and that's why it's misbehaving. So, I > Googled "MacBook shuts off" and there's a huge amount of people out there > this is happening to. I'll go by an Apple store tomorrow and see if they > have any suggestions..but thought I would check here, as many of you > probably have MacBooks and may have gone through this. > > > > -Chipp > ___ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Wow! Thanks a bunch to all of you for the most helpful tips and fixes. Yes, I had already installed the firmware upgrade, but it didn't fix it. I've heard about the bad battery before and I hope to get it checked out today at Apple. The funny thing is, sometimes it shuts off even when the AC is hooked up. I notice if I'm playing back video or doing anything remotely processor intensive, it gets worse. Plus, I use my MacBook laptop..on my lap, which I suppose isn't great for cooling. It can be really frustrating, in the middle of a Rev compile and kaput. Arggg! My Sony laptop is also Dual Core but doesn't seem to get as hot and in 2 years of continual service everyday, has yet to shut down once. The only sure fire fix for now, is to completely remove the battery and run only on AC. I'm not sure if the laptop is over 1 year or not-- and wonder about Apple's warranty on fixing it. I would be surprised if they didn't just go ahead and fix it for free, as there have been SOOO many problems with this design. I'll certainly keep you posted. Thanks again all :-) ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? for a laptop? oops sqb only on AC. I'm not sure if the laptop is over 1 year or not-- and wonder about Apple's warranty on fixing it. I would be surprised if they didn't just go ahead and fix it for free, as there have been SOOO many problems with this design. I'll certainly keep you posted. -- stephen barncard s a n f r a n c i s c o - - - - - - - - - - - - ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 15:46:36 -0600, Chipp Walters wrote: > Wow! Thanks a bunch to all of you for the most helpful tips and fixes. Yes, > I had already installed the firmware upgrade, but it didn't fix it. I found out the same thing... my firmware is installed, but it didn't fix it either. > The funny thing is, sometimes it shuts off even when the AC is hooked > up. I notice if I'm playing back video or doing anything remotely processor > intensive, it gets worse. Exactly! My MBP is on AC all the time, and I get that too - especialy when I'm backing up (not a great time for a shutdown!). > It can be really frustrating, in the middle of a Rev compile and kaput. > Arggg! > > My Sony laptop is also Dual Core but doesn't seem to get as hot and in 2 > years of continual service everyday, has yet to shut down once. > > The only sure fire fix for now, is to completely remove the battery and run > only on AC. Have you tried this? The reason I ask is that my understanding is that it's a logic board issue, not a battery issue. If that's really working for you, I'll try it myself and let you know if it works for me. But in the meantime the smcFanContol software was really saved my butt... Ken Ray Sons of Thunder Software, Inc. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/ ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
OK, back from the 'Geniuses' at Apple-- who claim this is an unusual problem... But, turns out my 1 yr warranty expires on Feb 2, so they'll send it in and "hopefully" it will get fixed and sent back. And, coincidently, they talked me into purchasing Applecare. Seeing how I'm so close to Feb 2 and not guaranteed a fixed unit, it seemed the prudent thing to do. Stephen, yes, you are correct-- I didn't purchase Applecare for a laptop-- it's not my primary machine and mostly justs sits in the corner turned off. I (incorrectly) surmised I wouldn't have problems. I did purchase 'insurance' for a previous laptop from CompUSA. When a hard drive failed, I took it in and they took well over 30 days to fix it. So long in fact I had to go out and purchase a new laptop-- so, I'm a bit off the whole insurance thing. My current Sony doesn't have it-- and after a couple years the display exhibited a bad column of pixels. I bought a new display online ($225) and Chris and I put it in ourselves. Much less than what the insurance would've cost. Now, all that said-- props out to Apple for even having a store with 'Geniuses' who can fix stuff. Sony, Dell, HP or anyone else doesn't have it. It does give one a bit more confidence, especially seeing how overly helpful the Geniuses tend to be-- I think they replace more than they need to. And-- Applecare isn't that expensive either-- $250 for my Laptop for 3 years. Not bad. Even thought Chris wants to know if I 'serve cheese with my wine', I'm hoping this turns out OK. ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Hey, Chipp, You'll be glad you did. You'll find Applecare to be the best 'warranty' in the business. They hustle and get your machine back before you remember you sent it. I've had two day round trip on some motherboard issues. Friends of mine who tried to save with cheapo warranties on their Macs were quite disappointed. Stephen, yes, you are correct-- I didn't purchase Applecare for a laptop-- it's not my primary machine and mostly justs sits in the corner turned off. I (incorrectly) surmised I wouldn't have problems. -- stephen barncard s a n f r a n c i s c o - - - - - - - - - - - - ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? J. ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I certainly do for all my cars. I used to do it for laptops, until I was burned by CompUSA, and didn't purchase one for my most recent Sony. I recommend it for laptops for my wife and kid, as they are really hard on 'stuff.' I don't for desktops. 3-year max seems to be the best deal here. On Jan 5, 2008 1:16 PM, j downs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? > > Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? > > ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
j downs wrote: you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? For laptops? Absolutely. They're the only things I buy extended care for, but manufacturers are reluctant to stand behind their products any more unless you pay them extra, and my laptop is the most critical part of my office. In fact, given how frequently I work on planes, trains, and automobiles, it often IS my office. -- Richard Gaskin Managing Editor, revJournal ___ Rev tips, tutorials and more: http://www.revJournal.com ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I certainly do for all my cars. I used to do it for laptops, until I was burned by CompUSA, and didn't purchase one for my most recent Sony. I recommend it for laptops for my wife and kid, as they are really hard on 'stuff.' I don't for desktops. 3-year max seems to be the best deal here. I suppose I've read a little too much like this: "When they sold you the warranty, 50% of what you paid was commission. Very little of it goes to cover car repair expenses. It’s always better to not buy extended warranties. Whatever the cost of the extended warranty is, set aside 50% of that and use it to pay for car repairs." Or this: "Extended warranties on appliances and electronic devices are a huge business. They're offered by retailers and third-party providers on everything from washing machines to Apple iPods. But what sounds like a great idea when you're in the store, experts and burned consumers warn, might not be worth the added cost. Consumer Reports has concluded that extended warranties are often a waste of money simply because many products tend not to break down during the first few years of service. And even when something does go wrong, you might have a tough time getting it fixed thanks to the small print on your contract or ... the hassle factor. "Since extended warranties are claimed so rarely, the profit margins on them run as high as 40% to 80%, says Marlys Harris, finance editor for Consumer Reports. That can pad a company's bottom line nicely. During 2004, in fact, nearly 100% of Circuit City Stores' and 50% of Best Buy's operating income came from extended warranties, say analysts." ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Hello Chipp, I have a story to tell about MacBooks and Random Shutdown Syndrome. This was a huge issue for macbooks and macbooks pro during their first revision. It's a defective motherboard. It overheats, the heat sensor fails to work as expected and some other sensor then is all alarmed and shutdowns the mobo before everything breaks. It happens mostly during boot (when the temp is higher) or during CPU intensive tasks when the heat rises. This can be fixed by replacing the motherboard and the heatsink and the heat sensor with new ones. This is all covered by applecare. Golden Rule #1: whoever got the gold, makes the rule. Always buy applecare, in the US, applecare users have special treatment, it's not just a warranty extension, it's a whole new service experience. Now, onto my story. I had this problem. I've identified it and went to the main authorized repair service in Rio de Janeiro, it's also the most famous apple shop in here. I've explained the problem to their technician who then proceeded to tell me that I did not understood well about computers and that they had professionals in there who would tell me what it really was. After weeks, they told me they were going to replace the heat sink. The computer stood at the repair shop for TWO MONTHS while the heat sink was imported. I got fed up, phoned apple hot line, shouted curse words in four languages, next day the machine was ready, it lasted three hours at my house. It came with an empty hard drive (they erased it) and they replaced the optical drive (why?! it was working when I left it there). The machine was not fixed and was shutting down randomly. I went back, they said they'd look into it. After some weeks, they said that they needed to replace the heat sensor and the mother board which is exactly what I said they needed do in the first place. The machine sat down there for TWO MORE MONTHS then they replaced the parts. So in the end what we learned, apple service in brazil is a joke! If I had not applecare, I would be in even worse position. If your macbook is one of the first revisions, you may have a bad motherboard, replacing it with a newer one will solve things. if you need more info google for: "random shutdown syndrome macbook" Use your applecare and demand a fix. Cheers andre ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Jan 5, 2008, at 11:40 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote: j downs wrote: you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? I once was burned really badly on an extended warranty purchase for a used car. It appeared to cover just about everything, and I scrutinized it carefully. Turns out, it was cleverly worded so that almost any necessary repair was excluded. I learned later that used car dealers pay about $25 each for these, in bulk, and charge "whatever the sucker will pay." Many extended warranties for appliances and electronic devices work the same way. The retailer buys them in bulk from a third party and resells them at a large profit. (Alternately, the retailer, or a subsidiary of the retailer, administers them.) The manufacturer bears no responsibility. The third party sells them cheap on the assumption that they will rarely be redeemed because the certificates get lost, receipts get lost, there are too many exceptions and exclusions, too many hassles and headaches, the warranties are pro-rated to the point that the amount reimbursed by the third party is usually very small, the product must be shipped to an "authorized service center," the repair delay is too long, and so forth. So, it depends. I would buy one from Apple, especially for a new laptop. That's because Apple administers the warranty and actually does the repairs. And Apple's business model depends on customer loyalty. Generally, I would avoid any extended warranty bought in bulk by the retailer or administered by anyone other than the manufacturer of the product. Hope this is helpful. Tim ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Applecare is different. Also it's 4 years with the 1 yr factory warranty. I found it to be essential in a MacBook purchase. A new motherboard alone costs $400. Stuff always happens and portables are vulnerable. I've done applecare on all my portables (6) since 1998. "Since extended warranties are claimed so rarely, the profit margins on them run as high as 40% to 80%, says Marlys Harris, finance editor for Consumer Reports. That can pad a company's bottom line nicely. During 2004, in fact, nearly 100% of Circuit City Stores' and 50% of Best Buy's operating income came from extended warranties, say analysts." -- stephen barncard s a n f r a n c i s c o - - - - - - - - - - - - ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I don't purchase AppleCare for my own Macs nor for the ones at the company I am IT Manager of. We use laptops almost exclusively from both Apple and Dell. My experience is that Macs are extremely reliable and the cost isn't worth it. I do purchase it for Mac servers because of the urgency of any failure. I also purchase spare parts kits for the XServes and I'm about to finally replace a hard drive in a 4 year old XServe out of the spare parts kit. This will be the first time I've had to do it. We use Dell computers at work and DO purchase extended warranties on them. They need it. Within 4 years almost all of them >90% of them end up using it. The only good thing is that Dell has figured out how to have this kind of crappy reliability and but good service (they almost never hassle any on-site repair) and still make money. Personally I'd rather have stuff that doesn't fail than stuff that fails a lot but is easy to fix. We have had some Macs that have problems and need service but the percentage is very low. We simply spend the money to repair out of warranty items ourselves on the small number of ones that need it and still come out ahead. Usually fundamental problems like logic boards fail under warranty anyway and other items like hard drives are so inexpensive we just replace them. It is funny that some users act really surprised when their computer stops working after they drop it and break the screen or spill coffee, hot chocolate, or soda into the laptop which are not covered by AppleCare. I might buy AppleCare if I was in situations that put the computer at risk and I depended on it or for the reasons you cite below. Bill Vlahos On Jan 5, 2008, at 11:36 AM, Chipp Walters wrote: I certainly do for all my cars. I used to do it for laptops, until I was burned by CompUSA, and didn't purchase one for my most recent Sony. I recommend it for laptops for my wife and kid, as they are really hard on 'stuff.' I don't for desktops. 3-year max seems to be the best deal here. On Jan 5, 2008 1:16 PM, j downs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
> It is funny that some users act really surprised when their computer > stops working after they drop it and break the screen or spill > coffee, hot chocolate, or soda into the laptop which are not covered > by AppleCare. Oh that is so true! "My keyboard just stopped working!" "My mouse is erratic." Coffee? - yes, most of the time. However it is amazing what you can recover from if you can disassemble the affected peripheral, wash it with de-ionized water and then let it dry really well before trying it again. Cheers, Sarah ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
RE: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
> Applecare is different. Also it's 4 years with the 1 yr > factory warranty. > I found it to be essential in a MacBook purchase. > > A new motherboard alone costs $400. Stuff always happens and > portables are vulnerable. I've done applecare on all my > portables (6) since 1998. Stephen, Have you ever had to make a claim? I havent had a Powerbook, but the desktops (Mac) Ive had have never pooped out. Don't get me started on my Dell laptop though ;-) Best regards, Lynn Fredricks President Paradigma Software http://www.paradigmasoft.com Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
RE: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I've made a claim in the UK when the hard disk on my G5 iMac packed up about a month before the end of the AppleCare warranty period. It was fixed fairly promptly (just over a week) by an authorised repairer, not Apple itself. The repairer complained that they were obliged to get the part from Apple whereas they could have sourced it more quickly elsewhere... OTOH, my son's new Intel iMac in Paris broke almost as soon as he got it, and there was considerable delay in making the diagnosis and then a delay of a few weeks in doing the repair (via a third party) apparently due to shortage of parts. Not as bad as Brazil, but not good enough IMHO. I spent a long time talking to Apple France about it myself, but it didn't speed things up. I was surprised that they didn't offer to give him a new machine, considering it was so new. So it seems the further away you are from the US, the worse it gets - or something like that. Graham On 6 Jan 2008, at 19:00, "Lynn Fredricks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] intl.com> wrote: Applecare is different. Also it's 4 years with the 1 yr factory warranty. I found it to be essential in a MacBook purchase. A new motherboard alone costs $400. Stuff always happens and portables are vulnerable. I've done applecare on all my portables (6) since 1998. Stephen, Have you ever had to make a claim? I havent had a Powerbook, but the desktops (Mac) Ive had have never pooped out. Don't get me started on my Dell laptop though ;-) Best regards, Lynn Fredricks President Paradigma Software http://www.paradigmasoft.com Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
RE: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Have you ever had to make a claim? I havent had a Powerbook, but the desktops (Mac) Ive had have never pooped out. Lynn Fredricks Yes. While I was in France, my Wall Street LCD screen started going intermittent, but it hadn't progressed to the point that it was unusable. I had moved to France for a while and taken it with me, but I knew the fine print and since I didn't buy the computer there, I was out of luck if it had completely failed. Upon returning to the USA, it got worse, so I sent it directly to an Apple Certified dealer (this was before Apple stores existed) and had it back in about 4 days. I got a G4 17" powerbook in 2003 and in 2005 (past the 1 year factory warranty) I had the Firewire ports go out. I bought a Firewire/USB2 drive, backed up my machine (thankfully the USB circuitry was not affected and the port on the G5 was USB2 -pretty fast) and gave it to the guy at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Stonestown mall in SF. It came back, perfect, within the same week. Apple is also very good about their refurb purchases. I bought two 23" refurbished cinema displays and both had arrived with bad power supplies. I was able to trade both of them in for working ones at my local Apple store, after about a day of waiting for them to get stocked. Applecare has variable rate pricing. The cost for a powerbook warranty is going to be a lot more because they are more vulnerable. Desktops and screens coverage aren't nearly as much. I like the way their tech people are recruited and trained. They don't treat you like an idiot if they see that the customer knows what he's talking about, and when you talk tech with them, you can tell that they know their subject well. I have a MacBook now, first generation dual Intel, inherited from my dad, who eagerly bought it with all the trimmings, but never got to use it. He could barely push the right keys, and it was sad. He had been a mac user for years.. So far the fan has roared up strangely a couple of times, but it hasn't done the shutdown thing. Yes, it has the full Applecare plan, too. Stephen, Have you ever had to make a claim? I havent had a Powerbook, but the desktops (Mac) Ive had have never pooped out. Don't get me started on my Dell laptop though ;-) Best regards, Lynn Fredricks -- stephen barncard s a n f r a n c i s c o - - - - - - - - - - - - ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I just had my third desktop dell in 6 years die. each died at almost exactly two years! almost feels like a timer is built in. all middle of the road dells with light use bought new directly from dell. this last time i did extend the warrantee to two years on a rebate deal, but I forgot about it. when i was diagnosing the problem with dell support and we finally determined it was a dead mother board they said it would be $500-600 to replace. i said forget it. I had forgotten about the extended care i had gotten. next week i get a letter asking if i want to re up the extended care for another year. the bums did not tell me when i was doing the diagnosis that i was eligible for free repair! This was all Dells direct stuff, not a third party. you would expect they would know what i had after all the info i had to have their tech support even look at the machine at almost two years in... I had just sent the machine off to the recycling center... bottom line is thats the last pc coming in here, decided to just upgrade to an intel mac pro and get both worlds in one. after some dozen odd apples over the years i have never had one die or even have any serious problems (even with having a cup of coffee run through my mac IIfx by a coworker). all the old machines have gone onto second and even third lives with others and all were retired due to just extreme old age and not to dying... Taught in a multimedia lab at a high school for a year and had 40 macs with about a 6 year life range and all trooped right along with only a few hard drives pooping out. the dell lab down the hall on the other hand always had 3 or 4 machines laid up and i think 3 of the 25 went back dead in the first year up... I use to just laugh when business folks would huff at the 10-30% premium for apples and look at me oddly when i started spouting ROI studies and experiences. i guess they slept through that part of biz school... I never went myself, but its a lesson i have learned big time in 15 years of dealing with scads of computers... cheers, Jeffrey Reynolds On Jan 6, 2008, at 6:09 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: We use Dell computers at work and DO purchase extended warranties on them. They need it. Within 4 years almost all of them >90% of them end up using it. The only good thing is that Dell has figured out how to have this kind of crappy reliability and but good service (they almost never hassle any on-site repair) and still make money. ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
On Jan 7, 2008 8:26 AM, Jeff Reynolds <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > all the old machines have gone onto second > and even third lives with others and all were retired due to just > extreme old age and not to dying... And I'd like to thank you for passing them on. My experience is that I do the same with hardware as software. I own OSX 10.5 but I won't install it until 10.5.2 arrives (although having said that it seems to be a very long time coming, maybe I'll try 10.5.1) I've owned umpteen Mac's over the years and only bought 2 brand new. The first, a PowerBook 540C, which broke within the first week, motherboard promptly replaced, worked the last time I cranked it up. The other a first generation G5 kept crashing - a very non-Mac experience, and although I had bought an extended AppleCare warranty, nothing could ever be found to be wrong with it, the crash was just too random. The problem eventually disappeared many many frustrating months later after firmware and OS upgrades. Having been a happy user of many many second hand Macs I've concluded there are two types of computers; Lemons and Workhorses. As far as the Lemons are concerned, if they are repaired under warranty, many turn into Workhorses. I let others go through the hassle of separating the Lemons from the Workhorses;-) As far as workhorses go the most miraculous to date is a Lombard PB I bought in 2001, it was 2 years old when I bought it. About 3 years into my ownership, just sitting typing into it a great cloud of smoke erupted from the keyboard, I immediately pulled the battery and a fast thinking colleague seated on the other side of the desk pulled the AC power cord. The office was full of the acrid smell of burning carbon. Just for curiosity, as it was now 5+ years old, I took it to Apple to see how much to fix (a new motherboard I figured). A week later they reported back $0, nothing! They said there was nothing wrong with it, they'd carried out all the hardware tests and it had passed. Clearly unable to believe this I went to pick it up and demanded the technician start it up for me and show it run. Sure enough it did. I explained what had happened, I even opened the thing up, pretty easy as all you needed to do was release the keyboard. There inside it was a smoker's fingers, the back side of the keyboard was all smoke stained as were parts of the frame, HD, RAM and motherboard! Anyway it worked, so away I went. Knowing full well that it's days were numbered I quickly bought a secondhand TiBook. The Lombard went to our very lysdexic son, his special needs teacher had some typing, spelling and other programs he could run on his own computer rather than wait for the schools limited resources to become available. I knew this was going to be brutal on the Lombard, especially the screen hinges which were the Achilles' heel of the model. Just by coincidence a coworker mentioned that he had an old Pismo (basically the same model except with firewire built in) lying around that he didn't use plus and old Lombard which had a broken screen. I purchased these two for $50. About a year after the Lombard smoked, it finally failed; I like to think because of the failure to follow my simple instruction to turn the computer off any time it was not in use - this was also just a good safe work practice because if the the Lombard ever smoked again, fire might follow. Anyway, sure enough the Lombard was left on overnight and in the morning it wouldn't wake up or turn on. Thankfully it hadn't burst into flames in the middle of the night. I simply swapped the screen off the smoked Lombard onto the Lombard with the broken screen. The Lombard (and the Pismo) still work today and are used almost daily. As to Sarah's mention of coffee and keyboards. My daughter rang from Uni to complain that the hand-me-down AlBook I'd given her was suddenly experiencing a screen failure. I got her to take it to an Apple store and have someone start it up in Target Disk mode and confirm all here data was safe - thankfully it was. I picked up a similar second hand AlBook, again figuring I could use the broken one for spares, and did a simple HD swap. Along the way I also discovered many of the keys didn't work. The cause of such a strange failure was all revealed when my wife happen to be reading my daughters FaceBook entries. Foolishly she had mentioned spilling coffee into the computer. Not happy!! I've since informed my daughter that it's the last laptop she'll be getting from me, from here on she can by her own electronic saucers. I will be giving the de-ionized water a go though, thanks for the tip Sarah. And lastly: I still run a IIci to print out on a Personal LaserWriter 300. The 300 has no drivers for System 8 or 9 so I have to use a System 7 computer :-) And someone was wondering why FutureBASIC may be of interest to me; although I think BackToTheFutureBASIC may be a more apt name ;-) ___ use-revolution mai
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
I don't with most things, but I do with many of my Apple purchases. Back when 21" CRTs were hugely expensive, for some reason my husband and I went out on a limb and bought one. Apple. Refurbished. Well into its extended warranty, it just inexplicably died. Got a new one courtesy of Apple Care. No questions asked. I'm a believer... Judy On Jan 5, 2008 11:16 AM, j downs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > you ... didn't ... buy... applecare? > > Do people really purchase extended warranties in this day and age? > > J. > > > ___ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Update on my MacBook. Took it in to the Apple store for an appointment at 6:40PM on Friday. Today (Tuesday morning) they sent it back vie FedEx. Can't argue about that turnaround timejust hope it's fixed. -Chipp ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
Re: OT: MacBook randomly shuts down..
Good luck! Judy On Jan 8, 2008 6:31 PM, Chipp Walters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Update on my MacBook. > > Took it in to the Apple store for an appointment at 6:40PM on Friday. Today > (Tuesday morning) they sent it back vie FedEx. Can't argue about that > turnaround timejust hope it's fixed. > > -Chipp > > ___ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > ___ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution