Macbook Random Shutdown

Well just over a year ago I started this site about the Macbook’s random shutdown ‘feature’ – it’s been a great site and thanks to everything for their contributions. Well last weekend, we accidentally dropped our beloved Macbook on the corner of the coffee table – the screen landed face down and here is what we ended up with:

After calling Apple, they said that Applecare woud do us no good and it was going to be right at $1,000 USD to fix the LCD panel. A good friend of mine suggested EBay, so last Sunday I ordered for $150 a replace screen from this guy on EBay – it arrived yesterday and last night. After following these awesome macbook lcd replacement instructions and just over an hour of my time, I have a perfectly working Macbook again. Saved myself over $800 from what Apple wanted to charge me – just wanted to put it out there that it can be fixed pretty easily yourself – so if you Macbook gets a cracked LCD, it’s fixable and definitely worth doing yourself – Cheers! Matthew

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About 1 month ago my ibook’s logicboard broke. This was the 4th time. I decided to give apple a call and talked to a customer relations rep. She worked out a deal to replace my ibook with a macbook. Unfortunately it has begun randomly shutting down. I’ve had it for a week and its shut down maybe 4-5 times unexpectantly
O, well! i got a free macbook! well a crapbook at least…

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Yesterday (12/09/07) I experienced rapid shutdown on my White 1.83GHz 11 times in the space of 5 minutes. I can only imagine that my bluetooth mouse kept trying to reconnect as it was rebooting each time. My google searches have uncovered bluetooth as a factor in these shutdowns. It began to click off within seconds of powering up. When I finally got the desktop up I switched BT off and it seems to be a lot happier. So, when a bluetooth device is idle and loses its connection one can experience problems trying to bring it back. I don’t quite know whether this is “kernel panic” (which sounds like a phobia of fast-food chicken) since there is no log produced by the driver failure. Nevertheless, panic is what I did which is why I’m here. As an aside I think this overheating issue is a big failure on Apple’s part. Here is a computer company that has always been progressive, intellectual and seemingly able to transcend the grubbiness associated with IT. They need to realize that their success is due to unparalleled customer loyalty. If they blow that they’ll lose their real product.

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I got my Mac Pro on February 2007. Early September 2007 I open the computer but it would just not work/start. Only a gray background and a blinking folder with a question mark appeared on the screen. I spoke on the phone with customer support, they suggested take the computer to a retail store and have a Mac Genius check it. After an hour’s wait, and several unsuccessful attempts to reboot the computer with an external hd, the Mac Genius decidedly told me (while rubbing a dent on the computer with his fingers), that there was nothing else they could do for the computer had an accident damage which is not covered by the 1 year warranty policy. I was outraged when the Mac Genius took a righteous defense on Apple’s warranty policy, suggesting the dent had just occurred and it was cause of the damage on the hard drive and potentially on the logic board. They sent me home with a death computer. Actually, the dent on the computer happened on March 2007, a month after the purchase, but it actually continued functioning perfectly fine until that morning of September. The Mac Genius gave me the analogy that it’s like a broken window that with time the problem gets bigger. I told them a car’s engine doesn’t necessarily stops functioning because it has a dent on the body. They said a computer is more fragile than a car. I said there is a probability that Apple doesn’t create perfect technologies with cero margin of error. I have a very good woman friend who, by the way, is Anglo-American, and who got her computer fixed even after the 1-year warranty. I am not sexy like she is neither. I am a dark-skinned Native/Indian man with long hair. She is willing to testify on my behalf. Am I being dismissed too easily by Apple? I am puzzled by Apple’s poor customer service and support. I request advice from critical thinkers.

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My random shutdown was slightly more permanent .

13 months after purchase in May 2006, one morning my Macbook wouldn’t switch on. It was dead. Genius Bar at the nearest store diagnosed a faulty logic board, which needed replacing. In the UK this is a very expensive repair – about $1000, Apple didn’t offer any help and therefore I have lost heart with Apple despite having invested in 3 systems, Airport software etc. over the past few years.

Has anyone else had this problem or am I a one off. Is there anything I can use when talking to customer services to see if they will change their mind ?.

Bill

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