I had an iBook HDD fail, but not a PB HDD.

my PB has been at Apple for about 3 weeks now ... HD and screen repair. i hope all is well when i get it back!

Mine just failed and I had forked over the $300+ for the warranty 2 years ago so I still have 1 year left but they said it was my fault and that they wouldn't cover it. I do not recommend Apple any more to friends...

Why did they say that it was your fault?

new:

1. display
2. hard drive
3. keyboard

my APP paid for itself! it's like i have a brand new computer! now i just need to upgrade to a 7200rpm drive!

anyone know how i can tell what make/model my display is? and (although i doubt it) if it might be of the higher resolution displays found in the newer powerbooks? if so, i wonder if i can hack the higher resolution in ... or does anyone know if the display resolution is tied to the powerbook model or display type?

powermac g4
 

Hi,

I've had a powermac g4 for a couple of years. Until recently, with no problems. But a few months ago, my hard drive failed. Some sectors were broken, and I decided to replace it. I bought a new hitachi 80GB 5200RPM 9.5mm disk wich I installed. Everything seemed to be all right for a few weeks and then som clunky sounds appeared. I returned the drive to the manufacturer and got a replacement drive. And then again after a few weeks the same thing happens.

Does the drive brand matter? The original drive was fujitsu and the replacements were hitachi.

What can possibly be wrong? I read somewhere on the web about a insulating sheet wich is supposed to be placed under the drive. I could not find the sheet in my powerbook. Could this be the explanation?

sorry for bad English writing.

thanks in advance for all help!

Drive brand shouldn't matter. I suppose it's possible both drives came from a flaky lot, but I don't know how likely.

When I bought my last laptop HD, I got a 7200 RPM Hitachi TravelStar from OWC - one of the best investments I've ever made for a computer. Cut my boot time by more than half and made it snappier all the way around. I highly recommend it.

I had mine crash about two months ago, but Apple eventually had to replace the mainboard of the PB. I think something was wrong with the cooling system. My mom's crashed just over a week ago.

It's something that happens. ALWAYS keep a backup somewhere. I have an USB casing for a laptop 60 GB HD that I use for backup. I have it partitioned half NTFS, half MacOS. I use it for both of my computers. Since I only use it for backup, I don't have a fear of it dying when my computer does.

Absolutely *babied* 12" PowerBook G4 died in 6 months
 

I purchased a 12" PowerBook G4 in early July 2005. Yesterday, when I turned it on, I got the spinning wheel and the system would not load. I followed Apple's Support documents online until I was starting up in Single-User Mode. The computer returned this error, the subject of which has another thread dedicated to it: "IOATAController device blocking bus".

I took it to the University Village Apple Store in Seattle the next day, jumped through all the hoops. [It’s a bit like going to the airport. You have to check in early in the morning the day you want service.] The serviceman noted casually (and a tad off-handedly) before I left that if they opened it up and found evidence of accidental damage, it would not be covered by the limited warranty. Alarm bells are still going off. I wanted to say, "Do you mean to tell me, that I am just handing over my relatively brand-new, ass-expensive piece of hardware to a trendy, niche-market company's repair staff and giving them unlimited discretion through a loophole like that?”

A nice laptop like this should not fail in 6 months, not with me. I am completely anal retentive and responsible. The way I treat my technology, it should have lasted 3 years. But that assumes a quality product. For example, I'm using a Motorola T722i I bought in June of 2003. I've left it on almost all the time, only charge it when the battery gets low, and still get 3-4 days use per charge. I built an XP Pro machine summer of 2004, it’s never had a virus, spyware, adware, or malware. That includes the semester I left it at home with my folks while I used my shiny new Mac at school.

I swear, if Apple puts me through the spanking machine, I’ll raise hell. And I’ll tell everyone I know never to “Switch”. I’ll certainly never buy another notebook from Apple.

Better consumer thinking
 

I disagree substantially. Apple has complete control over their hardware and operating system. That ought to be part of the high price tag, greater stability than in the PC market. Similar thinking appears occasionally throughout this thread, espoused by contented Mac users.

Your phrasing (highlighted) makes it seem that you are predisposed to find fault. And it's only normal for any warranty service facility to warn you about what is and what isn't covered by the warranty.

Hardware fails. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who uses it or who manufactured it. There are always some lemons in any manufacturing run.

The HD on my iBook G4 failed after 18 months. I replaced it through MacResQ. The logic board failed after 21 months. Apple replaced the logic board, top case, optical cable and a missing foot for their base price. My iBook is well-traveled, but "abuse" was never an issue. Apple turned the machine around in 2 days (sent in by Apple Authorized Repairer).

Brief retort
 

The important word was "discretion". After reading through forums, it seems as if Apple support has little oversight. Are they just looking for the slightest sign of accidental damage to relieve themselves of any real liability? I don't even have enough money to pay the labor fee if they tried to force it on me. I'm just trying to make tuition for next semester.

I've never had a lemon before, ever. My dad's 350MHz G4 still works like it used to. (Although it never did play DVDs.) Our 1GB Apple branded external hard drive still works. Lemons are for the old American car industry. It's a good thing I back up my data on an external hard drive before I travel.

to nickade:

I think you may be overreacting bit. I had to replace the keyboard on my PB G4. In doing so, I removed the little "tamper-evident" stickers from under the keyboard. (I ordered the keyboard from somewhere else and performed the replacement myself.)

When my HD crashed, Apple repaired the computer, no questions asked. I think even though they have that written in their policy, a lot of times they are pretty lenient about it. Or perhaps I just got a technician having a good day.

PowerBook HDD replaced under warranty, but wrong OS
 

I got my PowerBook back, they repaired it under warranty. It would have been a very smooth repair only they replaced my hard drive with one with Panther instead of Tiger, which it came with. My OS discs are back at school, and I need to write cover letters for internships, so I've had to update and configure OS X 10.3 to 10.3.9, and install Microsoft Office knowing I'll have to erase the whole hard drive and re-install OS X 10.4 in less than a week. Otherwise I am satisfied with the warranty service I've received.

Wow! Looks like you were pretty lucky coz you got some formal warnings before the HD failure. The only warning I got on my iBook was a slight change in the tone of the clicking noise. Then the HD wouldn't even boot and instead of getting the usual Apple logo, I got the Smiley face/Question mark.

The funny thing was that Apple called me the week before asking me if I want to purchase Apple Care. Good thing I told them that I would need some time to think about it. The week after the warranty expired, my iBook crashed. Called them up and managed to fit in with the Apple Care even though I was a week past the warranty. Sent the iBook back, got myself a new HD and even got the bright patches on my screen fitted. Consider myself lucky coz as well as the new screen and HD for £150, I still have another two years of AC coverage. :)

my hard drive failed.

after just over a year.

on a 12" powerbook 1.33

Too bad powerbook (and ibook for that matter) HDs are not modular with an access panel. So many PC laptops do this, and apple makes their HDs hard to get to for no good reason. Other than maybe forcing the end user to go to an AASP and spend labor dollars to get it replaced.

If they made the drive more accessible you could just unscrew one screw, pull out the the modular bay. Take the HD out, replace it, put it back in and then load your OS.

I for one am all for apple making their laptops more field user replaceable.


Other than that, always back up your data b/c hard drives crash all the time:D

I suspect the reason is that Apple laptops are optimized for (small) size and weight, and for appearance, not for maintenance. Most people won't need to replace their hard drives in the life of their laptop - they usually replace the laptop with a newer model before the drive fails. What we are seeing reported in this thread are reports from those unlucky few whose drives failed unusually early for whatever reason.

I will disagree with this since we have a variety of business class laptops from HP/Compaq/Apple/Gateway/IBM, and most of those you can access ram, mini pci slot, and HD from an access panel. They are also similiar in size and weight.

The wallstreet G3 laptop was much like what I listed above. I think Apple could make them more accessible if they wanted to. It would not be impossible to design them that way.

Not that it matters to the end user, they don't replace anything hardware wise usually. This opinion is mine becuase when anything of mine breaks, I will take it apart and fix it. My ibook has gone through a HD and I replaced it myself. In a way it is fun because it is more challenging and it is something entirely different. However, after like the third time it becomes more annoying.