Mac Pro nightmare....

[imacintel]

DOA mens Dead on Arrival. No fees, just new mac.

 

[dokebi]

so..if i declare DOA...should i do it on the phone with apple or should i tell them at genius bar?...if i can do it over the phone..then there is really no reason for me to go to the genius bar right?...

 

[tyr2]

so..if i declare DOA...should i do it on the phone with apple or should i tell them at genius bar?...if i can do it over the phone..then there is really no reason for me to go to the genius bar right?...

Personally I'd ring apple care. Tell the about the uncorrectable memory error you had (has this reocurred) and follow their advice. Advise them you can take it to an Apple store if necessary.

 

[FFTT]

Apple Care should just send you a new machine with a pre-paid return label.

You can of course take your machine in to the store to have the Genius confirm
DOA status, but I would insist on return not repair if it's anything more than a defective RAM DIMM.

 

[dokebi]

DOA sounds really nice to me right as of now...but how easy will i get the DOA staus and get a new one?...i mean...i have owned 3 apples including this mac pro...

my first mac was ibook G3...bought this when i was in college in my freshman year....the first day i got it..it had a problem with the dvd rom...the problem was that some dvd plays and some dont...i had this tutorial dvd that came with the book i bought for the class and that dvd wont play on it, but it played on every other macs....

so i called the apple told them what happened..i asked them for switching with the new ibook or give me a new drive for it because its not working...but the apple people told me since only that dvd doesnt work on my ibook and other dvds work, they cant refund, exchange, change my drive...and they were telling me the dvd i bought must have something wrong with it....BUT I TOLD THEM MILLION TIMES THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DVD!!!BECAUSE IT PLAYS ON EVERY OTHER MACS BUT MINE!!!

after hours and hours of talking with like 5 different people over the phone i just gave up on getting refund, exhange or changing the drive under warranty...

so this being said....how easy will i be getting that DOA status on my mac pro?...you guys make it sound so easy...just call them and they will give me a new mac pro...but have anybody actually got DOA status and got a new mac? i seriously want to call apple and talk to them but i cant stay on the phone too long..have an deadline to make...so my best chance will be bring it to genius bar and have them look at it...but i am sure i wont get DOA status....even tho i want to...but will ask them...


ps- my 2nd apple was G5 dual 2.0...that was very nice...i still have it...and i wouldnt trade for anything...

 

[IlluminatedSage]

bring it in, return it for a new one out of the box and hope you dont have any more problems.

 

[bearbo]

First of all, I'd like to say i'm very sorry for your unfortunate incident, I hope it gets solved promptly

i'm sorry, but i felt the urge to point out to the OP that CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. the tower is NOT called the CPU, you cannot just bring the CPU in because it doesn't make sense (well, it does, but i doubt you can see the CPU without taking the tower too much apart).

Please distinct between the two. I'm not sure about other member of this forum, but at least for me it bothers me when ppl call the computer tower CPU, especially if you have a great machine such as Mac Pro, you should know better.

 

[dokebi]

First of all, I'd like to say i'm very sorry for your unfortunate incident, I hope it gets solved promptly

i'm sorry, but i felt the urge to point out to the OP that CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. the tower is NOT called the CPU, you cannot just bring the CPU in because it doesn't make sense (well, it does, but i doubt you can see the CPU without taking the tower too much apart).

Please distinct between the two. I'm not sure about other member of this forum, but at least for me it bothers me when ppl call the computer tower CPU, especially if you have a great machine such as Mac Pro, you should know better.

wow...ok i guess i have to apologize to the some of the members or just you. I AM SO SORRY I CALLED THIS GREAT MACHINE such as MAC PRO...cpu..

anyways...i can't wait to bring my mac pro to genius bar tonight....wonder what they are going to say or find...hopefully its an easy fix...

oh also, anyone know what they are going to do when i bring my mac pro there? what would they do? will they turn it on right there? or will they just tell me they will call me after they look into it?

 

[phantasm10]

OMFG. Just call Apple Customer Service or your Apple store and quit asking questions here.

They will tell you exactly what they will do for you. Answers from people here are mostly speculation. What we think they might or should do is different than what they will do.

 

[dokebi]

OMFG. Just call Apple Customer Service or your Apple store and quit asking questions here.

They will tell you exactly what they will do for you. Answers from people here are mostly speculation. What we think they might or should do is different than what they will do.

sorry phantasm10 for asking so much questions on the mac pro FORUM.
was i taking so much space making few posts on a thread i created? i mean if you dont want to read it then dont...why bother putting words like "omfg?"

personally i am here to gather informations...there is a problem with my brand new mac pro that's why i am here and asking questions. Isn't that what forums are about? Like you said, most comments i will get are speculations...but that's what i am looking for...speculations...i rather have more knowledge of what could be wrong and telling genius bar people than, not knowing anything and bringing the mac pro there....if you know what i mean...i am here to learn about what could be wrong with my mac pro from members who have more experience than me.

i dont see why you are frustrated about me asking questions on the thread i created really...unless i made 5 different threads like this one...

 

[damienvfx]

Hey that's my Apple store!

I don't know where you guys live, but in the Century City, CA store which is near MGM offices and Fox movie studios and HQ (the building blown up in the original Diehard is, in fact, the Fox HQ building and they REALLY blew up the top floors while it was under construction. None of the explosion stuff was Shake...and the neighbors can vouch for that).

Anyway, that store is a freakin' dream. Super fast people. Solid problem solvers and with such a finicky audience, they deliver time and again.

Maybe because it's in a financial district which neighbors with lots of movie companies that the expertise is so much greater than I've heard about in other parts of the country or other countries.

Still, while I hope I never have to take ANYTHING in for repair, the Century City store is sweet.

Greasy marks? I simply can't imagine...

Hehe, wonder if we've ever been there at the same time? Anyhow, can't wait to buy a Merom Mackbook Pro there next Tuesday, 9.29

 

[phantasm10]

sorry phantasm10 for asking so much questions on the mac pro FORUM.
was i taking so much space making few posts on a thread i created? i mean if you dont want to read it then dont...why bother putting words like "omfg?"

personally i am here to gather informations...there is a problem with my brand new mac pro that's why i am here and asking questions. Isn't that what forums are about? Like you said, most comments i will get are speculations...but that's what i am looking for...speculations...i rather have more knowledge of what could be wrong and telling genius bar people than, not knowing anything and bringing the mac pro there....if you know what i mean...i am here to learn about what could be wrong with my mac pro from members who have more experience than me.

i dont see why you are frustrated about me asking questions on the thread i created really...unless i made 5 different threads like this one...

I could and should just ignore the thread, but some morbid curiousity has kept me coming back to read it over and over.

I fail to see what the issue is. To me its cut and dry. You bought a new Mac that's essentially DOA. You take it back to the store (or call a phone number) and get a replacement. Plain and simple. That is my experience with pretty much any product I've ever bought.

I bought an open box G5 at Fry's one time that was defective. They took it back and gave me a new one that was factory sealed. I didn't expect that since the open box was significately discounted.

Unless it fell of a truck, I don't understand why you haven't exchanged it yet. I believe Apple's site even says they'll overnight a replacement unit if its judged to be DOA.

 

[sejanus]

I agree man. Phantasm is way out of line, he clearly doesn't know what he is talking about.

I think it'd be far more productive to sit around endlessly rehashing your question on a forum, reinstalling OS X a few dozen times - basically doing anything but actually get the thing fixed.

Rock on!

sorry phantasm10 for asking so much questions on the mac pro FORUM.
was i taking so much space making few posts on a thread i created? i mean if you dont want to read it then dont...why bother putting words like "omfg?"

 

[Krevnik]

I agree man. Phantasm is way out of line, he clearly doesn't know what he is talking about.

I think it'd be far more productive to sit around endlessly rehashing your question on a forum, reinstalling OS X a few dozen times - basically doing anything but actually get the thing fixed.

Rock on!

Agreed... This problem is very likely one of the RAM DIMMs, and not very likely to be anything else.

If he had taken this in 2 days ago, he probably would have a fixed machine by now, as the Apple Stores usually have RAM DIMMs in stock and at worst he would have had to wait overnight for it. Waiting two days to have a bunch of arm-chair engineers (face it, that is all most of us are) analyze your problem without even being able to see the machine doesn't get you a working Mac Pro any faster. Taking it to a repair center to get it repaired gets you a working Mac Pro faster.

 

[dokebi]

I agree man. Phantasm is way out of line, he clearly doesn't know what he is talking about.

I think it'd be far more productive to sit around endlessly rehashing your question on a forum, reinstalling OS X a few dozen times - basically doing anything but actually get the thing fixed.

Rock on!

sigh...did you even read the post i made earlier? i dont know about you...but i have job like i said post before...before you even write anything you should read the posts i made...i clearly said i get home too late for to bring it to the apple store because by the time i get home the apple store close...so only time i have is today which is friday....geez......please read before bash...

ok anyways..here is the update....i came back from the apple store...
the genius guy told me it could be my hard drive...when he was browsing through my mac pro..the mac pro crashed on him..which is good i think so he knows something is wrong with it....so he plugged his external hard drive and booted the mac pro with it...it didnt crash what so ever while he was testing.....so he zero out the hard drive...he said my RAMs are in perfect condition and my ATI card is in perfect condition also...

so right now i am installing osx....and i am gonna leave it on for while to see if it really fixed the problem....if it still crashes......i will call apple and make it DOA.....

fingers crossed!!!!!!!

 

[FFTT]

So did he give you a new hard drive or just zero out the one that it came with?

It may have just been a loose connection, but if it happens again, it's probably
something more serious.

While it's up, you can also check the System Profiler and Activity Monitor in Utilities.

It may also help to save the logs of what happens.

 

[dokebi]

Thanx for the info FFTT.
yea he just zero out the one that came with it.

so far so good...didnt get that curtain of doom yet....and mac pro been on for few hours. That is a good sign so far.....going to leave the mac pro whole night...so tomorrow morning is the judgement day for my mac pro....

If mac pro is fine until tomorrow morning.....guess it means it's all good i guess....still praying.....

 

[dokebi]

ok guys....kernel again.....
it didnt fix it.....my mac pro is DOA....
i called the apple but they are not 24 hours service......they are closed...
so i am going to call them up tomorrow and declare as DOA....

This really hurts......
thanx everyone who helped me....i will update again tomorrow after chat with apple....

ps- by the way, the apple store i went to tonight, i asked them if i can DOA right there...but he said no because i didnt buy it from them...so i need to call the apple to get a new one...sigh....

 

[FFTT]

It's funny they can repair it or send it out for repair under warranty, but they can't
replace it or even help you arrange for pick-up and replacement.

I guess it's kinda like car dealers who are authorized to sell and repair under warranty, but you're dealing with the factory on a replacement.

As frustrating as all of this must be, at least it all happened now when there's no question of warranty status.

You're also better off DOA than you are with an endless repair situation.

Just a note on hard drives.

My stock 160 HD crapped out on me early even though I got it up and running again.

Apple was using Maxtor drives most recently.

I went ahead and bought a 250GB Seagate SATA and haven't had a problem since then.

Best $109.00 I could have spent after RAM.

 

[dokebi]

another update guys...
so this morning as soon as i got up, i called the apple...
they transfer me to tech support for declaring DOA on my mac pro...
I guess they wanted tech support to see if it's really DOA.

ok so i was talking to a tech support, i told my nightmare ever since i got my mac pro this passed monday...and told him about bringing the mac pro to the apple store yesterday...long story short, he told me kernel panic could be a RAM problem and he can't declare my mac pro as DOA...but he will talk to the product manager about this and he put me on hold for few minutes...at this point, i was little upset because god knows if it is really my RAM problem...if it's not a RAM problem that means i have to call the apple again, wait another 30 minutes to an hour on the line just to speak with someone...bleh bleh bleh...and this could take even longer..i just wanted to declare my mac pro as DOA today so i can get the new one as soon as possible...

so tech support came back and told me the goooood news!!!! he told me that he talked to the product manager and kernel panic is a very serious problem when it's freshly out of the box...and i made a trip to a apple store also and they couldnt fix it. So he said he will declare my mac pro to be DOA.
So now..i am one happy guy...i mean it's bad that i got the DOA after month of wait...but thank god i can get a new one.



So here are the tips guys....
if you guys have a same kernel problem like me, dont call the apple...you will lose hours of your time just being on hold....all they will do is tell you to bring it to the apple store to check it since it's a hardware problem not a software.

also you must tell genius bar people to write a case for what they did try to fix your computer. For me they didnt made any record of what they did...because they were super busy...there were so many people....but good thing i had brought my mac pro card board box because they scanned one of the bar code that were attached to my mac pro card board box. so apple knows i came here to try to fix the problem.

also make sure they replace the RAMs for you or they test your RAMs and make a record saying RAMs are working fine.The common thing apple tech will tell you is your RAMs are defective...so unless you have changed the RAMs...it will be little difficult to declare your computer DOA.

well, i will keep updating. It will be happy saturday for me...

i guess.......but another wait.....

 

[RichP]

glad to hear you FINALLY took care of it. Its a new product, like any other product. If its broken out of the box, get a new one.

I purchased a G5 a few years back from the store, the Digital Audio out didnt work after waking from sleep. Reinstalled the OS, same problem. I put it right back in the box and got a new one.

 

[FFTT]

I can not overstate the importance of keeping good records.

While your experience has clearly been unfortunate, at least Apple is
taking care of you.

All along, I've been thinking about machine Karma.

Your machine will end up making someone else very happy as a refurb and
hopefully your next machine will serve you well for the long haul.

Glad it's working out after all.

 

[phantasm10]

I'm glad your getting taken care of. Your experience going to the Apple store and calling Apple technical support is valuable information.

When going to the Apple store, I'll certainly make sure the tech documents what was done to the machine so thing go more smoothly if I need to use Apple phone support, or another Apple store visit, later.

 

[nihilisticmonk]

another update guys...
so this morning as soon as i got up, i called the apple...
they transfer me to tech support for declaring DOA on my mac pro...
I guess they wanted tech support to see if it's really DOA.

ok so i was talking to a tech support, i told my nightmare ever since i got my mac pro this passed monday...and told him about bringing the mac pro to the apple store yesterday...long story short, he told me kernel panic could be a RAM problem and he can't declare my mac pro as DOA...but he will talk to the product manager about this and he put me on hold for few minutes...at this point, i was little upset because god knows if it is really my RAM problem...if it's not a RAM problem that means i have to call the apple again, wait another 30 minutes to an hour on the line just to speak with someone...bleh bleh bleh...and this could take even longer..i just wanted to declare my mac pro as DOA today so i can get the new one as soon as possible...

so...many...dramatic...pauses...in...your...post...Captain...Kirk...would...be...proud...

Seriously though, you've had a faulty product, you've took it back, and the problem has been sorted out. Problem solved. You have to do the troubleshooting apple suggests, get call references for every call etc. No different than any other tech companies troubleshooting policy. Yeh, sometimes it can be a pain, but that's because there's a tonne of timewasters out there, to DOA a machine isn't a small thing. You take it to the experts, and you wait for them to resolve your issue.

 

[Trekkie]

i also heard a lot of horror story at genius bar....like your cpu returns to you all beat up and stuff....like your case is all scratched ,pen marks, etc....takes like months to fix....

I've been to the genius bar in Durham, NC about 5 times in the last two years with iPod, iMac, and other issues.

They've been professional, prompt, and took care of my problem with no issues or any sort of damage/markings to my machine.