Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook Pro Latch

Aperture

Aperture

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 19, 2006
1,876
0
PA
For a while now, my (well I just traded with a relative but it did it for them too) Macbook Pro has been not shutting right. It was purchased from the Apple Refurb store and is still under AppleCare. I have an appointment for Friday @ the Genius Bar but I wanted your advice first.

It has never been dropped and basically it won't stay shut. You can shut it but it will not keep. It just pops back open. If you do get it to stay shut (every 1 in 5 tries) it pops right open when you try to pick it up. Has anyone experienced this?

& of course, a video of my MBP's latch on YouTube.
 
Aperture said:
For a while now, my (well I just traded with a relative but it did it for them too) Macbook Pro has been not shutting right. It was purchased from the Apple Refurb store and is still under AppleCare. I have an appointment for Friday @ the Genius Bar but I wanted your advice first.

It has never been dropped and basically it won't stay shut. You can shut it but it will not keep. It just pops back open. If you do get it to stay shut (every 1 in 5 tries) it pops right open when you try to pick it up. Has anyone experienced this?

& of course, a video of my MBP's latch on YouTube.
Click to expand...

The Alum Powerbooks had this problem a lot. I have not noticed the slightly different (two catches instead of one) MBP lid have any issues on mine or the 3 others within our office.
 
Try closing a bit more briskly, from a couple of inches open. The latches probably aren't extending all the way. There's a magnet in the top cover that pulls the latches out of the lid in time for the latch to catch them. When you close it too slowly, they haven't fully extended.

FYI (and perhaps to give you a bit of confidence in the design): I've had 3 PowerBooks (including the original 500MHz TiBook) and 1 MBP and they've all worked fine. We still have my 667Mhz TiBook - still solidly latched. I know of 6 others (combinations of PB's and MBP's), all fine.

edit: two of my PB's were single latch 15" models, one PB and the MBP are 2 latch, 17" models

edit: I do know of a couple of TiBooks that have some trouble, but the lids are slightly mis-aligned (who knows how). An observation of mine is if you do close them in a way where the latches aren't fully deployed and don't fully catch, it can eventually round off the latch, causing them not to fully catch which wears the latch.... and so on.
 
gr8tfly said:
Try closing a bit more briskly, from a couple of inches open. The latches probably aren't extending all the way. There's a magnet in the top cover that pulls the latches out of the lid in time for the latch to catch them. When you close it too slowly, they haven't fully extended.

FYI (and perhaps to give you a bit of confidence in the design): I've had 3 PowerBooks (including the original 500MHz TiBook) and 1 MBP and they've all worked fine. We still have my 667Mhz TiBook - still solidly latched. I know of 6 others (combinations of PB's and MBP's), all fine.

edit: two of my PB's were single latch 15" models, one PB and the MBP are 2 latch, 17" models
Click to expand...

it sounds like you're saying his macbook pro's latch isn't faulty at all. just because all your previous notebooks haven't had faulty latches doesn't mean the op's latch is perfectly fine. look at the video again, there's no reason for the laptop to be opening up by pushing to the sides of the latch. it isn't right, and it isn't fine. to the op, get that thing fixed. good luck.
 
gr8tfly said:
Try closing a bit more briskly, from a couple of inches open. The latches probably aren't extending all the way. There's a magnet in the top cover that pulls the latches out of the lid in time for the latch to catch them. When you close it too slowly, they haven't fully extended.

FYI (and perhaps to give you a bit of confidence in the design): I've had 3 PowerBooks (including the original 500MHz TiBook) and 1 MBP and they've all worked fine. We still have my 667Mhz TiBook - still solidly latched. I know of 6 others (combinations of PB's and MBP's), all fine.

edit: two of my PB's were single latch 15" models, one PB and the MBP are 2 latch, 17" models
Click to expand...

I tried it and it does close but when you go to pick it up it just snaps open.
 
ugh. my mbp latch won't close when i have moshi palm guards on, but it works perfectly fine when i take them off. it sounds like yours just doesn't want to work at all though. gl @ the store
 
They should be able to very easily fix your latch, but I would imagine that it will have to be shipped out. From the video (thank you very helpful) it seems that the spring for the latch is loose. They will probably need to open the case to replace it.
 
synth3tik said:
They should be able to very easily fix your latch, but I would imagine that it will have to be shipped out. From the video (thank you very helpful) it seems that the spring for the latch is loose. They will probably need to open the case to replace it.
Click to expand...

I called AppleCare earlier today and they offered to send out a box for a repair. They also mentioned it could be fixed on site at the Apple Store. The earliest I can get out to the Apple Store is Friday and since it isn't actually affecting the performance, I told her I'd rather just have it fixed at the Apple Store because it can be fixed on site. (or so she told me) (& I therefore wouldn't be without a computer for more than a few hours)

I hope they don't have to send it out otherwise I'd have done it already!

Thank you for all the replies!
 
Most likely the magnetic latch is bent. Mine was of a little bit, but with oposite results. I would have to press the sleep button and use my other hand to "pop" it open.

I didn't want to bother with all the shipping and waiting so I lived with it for about 2 months. Then the problem just went away on its own- probably all the shutting and opening aligned the latch back to normal.
 
From your video, it looks like the latches aren't fully extending. It seems as if they come out at first, but then retreat for some reason. Maybe the magnet has worn or they've been bent somehow (probably the previous owner or damage during handling). The Genius should be able to fix it or give you a new one. Tell us how it goes.
 
Hold it closed with one hand and give it a smart hit with a rubber mallet - that usually works for me. The same technique can be performed repeatedly to straighten out the lid so the sides don't gap after you finally get the latch to close.
 
Wipeout said:
Hold it closed with one hand and give it a smart hit with a rubber mallet - that usually works for me. The same technique can be performed repeatedly to straighten out the lid so the sides don't gap after you finally get the latch to close.
Click to expand...

Riiight...

:eek:
 
I had the same problem with my PB G4. The latch was actually barely hitting (misaligned) the top case and was not actually going into the latch slot. It was not off by much so sometimes it would catch, but most the time not and if it did, it would pop open when moving it. I found a lot of people on the 'net that had the same problem. From reading I found that if you pulled the latch out (while the display is open) and barely bend the latch downwards, it would fix it. I did that and never had any problems with it after. I am guessing you are having the same problem. You can try to fix it by bending the latch downwards so the latch is not hitting the topcase. You don't have to bend it much.
 
Jestered said:
I had the same problem with my PB G4. The latch was actually barely hitting (misaligned) the top case and was not actually going into the latch slot. It was not off by much so sometimes it would catch, but most the time not and if it did, it would pop open when moving it. I found a lot of people on the 'net that had the same problem. From reading I found that if you pulled the latch out (while the display is open) and barely bend the latch downwards, it would fix it. I did that and never had any problems with it after. I am guessing you are having the same problem. You can try to fix it by bending the latch downwards so the latch is not hitting the topcase. You don't have to bend it much.
Click to expand...

Yup, had to do this with my 17" PB. No Apple Care left, so I bent the hinges TOWARDS the keyboard. Works, ok... Tho I may have to bend slightly more in my 4yo PB's case.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I just got back from the Apple Store after fighting for ~24 hours to get an appointment. I noticed another problem, too, just a few days ago. It seems when the display is at non full brightness it makes a high pitched buzzing noise coming from the top right side of the keyboard.

Maybe I was being picky but I thought I might as well have the guy look at it while I was there.

At first, he checked the latch and it seemed to be working correctly. He opened and closed it a few times and it worked fine. A few more tries, though, and he saw that the latches weren't fully extending and it was defective.

Then he took it into the back to check out the buzzing noise and he did hear it, the way I described it. If it was just the latch he may have been able to fix it in store but because of the buzzing he had to send it away to Apple.

The repair form he filled out said for Apple to check the latch, display inverter, and the logic board. (The last two for buzzing)

'Said I'd have it back in about a week, so all is good. While I was there I played with the new iMacs and a Mac Pro hooked up to a 30'' display. The new iMacs look way better in person. (Just for the record :))

Anyway, thanks again for all your help, everyone!

Edit: Got it back and it works great!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back