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alphaone

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2003
300
0
Ok guys, I'm having some issues with my macbook and am looking for some insight. Here's the story:
So I've had my macbook (black) since late may. It's been great, probably the best computer I've ever had, up until about 2 months ago. About 2 months ago the display hinge developed an extremely annoying screech whenever the screen was moved at all, not exactly something you want in a near silent classroom. I looked on apple's forums, and sure enough, other people were having the same problem. So I decided I would grin and bear it until I could get back home and take it to the apple store (I'm going to college in Arizona and the nearest apple store is in phoenix, a 2hr drive, and I didn't have access to a car). I have applecare so it shouldn't cost me anything.
Then about a month after that, it started shutting down with about 40% of the battery remaining. No warning or anything, the power is just cut. I tried recalibrating the battery, resetting the pmu, everything I could think of. I looked again on apple's forums, and again, sure enough, other people were having the same problem. Awesome.. As this problem severely cripples the battery life, it was obviously not acceptable.
So last week I get home for winter break and the first thing I do is take it into the apple store to talk to one of the geniuses about it. They told me that they would need to send it in to get fixed, so I give it to them to send in.
I got it back yesterday (not bad for sending it in on this past sunday) and the display hinge screech was gone. Sweet! I looked though the log of everything that they replaced which was a whole bunch of things (motherboard, battery board, battery connector, display assembly, the cpu, a bezel). So I'm thinking well it must be taken care of now; they replaced most of the computer. So I take it home, let it sit on battery power, and to my dismay, it gets to 43% battery and wham! shuts off. Great.. So I'm thinking maybe the battery calibration is off because of the things they replaced; so I recalibrate it again. I let it sit on battery power again this morning and again, it shuts off at ~45%. Just power off.
I'm highly disappointed by the power problems. I'll have to take it in again next week because it just turning off like that is not acceptable. I guess I'm not really looking for anything from you guys, just though I'd throw my story out there for reference.
 

alphaone

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2003
300
0
That's what I was thinking. The battery was one of the few major components that they didn't replace, and I can't figure out why they didn't. I hope they can give me a replacement in store.
 

Hockeypuck

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2006
102
0
Not sure if they keep them in stock. Apple has a tendency to "shotgun" repairs, but they usually hit the mark!

Good luck.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
I'm highly disappointed by the power problems. I'll have to take it in again next week because it just turning off like that is not acceptable. I guess I'm not really looking for anything from you guys, just though I'd throw my story out there for reference.
There was a pretty big issue (as in it affected a lot of MacBooks) going around a few months where MacBooks were randomly shutting down. The solution was to replace the heatsink, or the whole logicboard in some cases.

I wonder if when they got your MacBook in for repair and read that it shutdown unexpectedly, they just assumed it was that problem (and did all of the repairs necessary for that problem) and assume it was fixed.

Sorry that you're having so many problems with your MB, but they'll get it fixed for you!!!!!
 

alphaone

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2003
300
0
Well I just returned from the apple store with a new battery (currently charging up). We'll see if that fixes the problem... The tech said that he thought it was the only thing left that could be causing the problem, as they replaced nearly everything else.
 

alphaone

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2003
300
0
Update: The new battery seems to have fixed the problem. It no longer just decides to shut off. I'm quite pleased, and I got a nearly completely new computer out of it (with them replacing many of it's innards).
 
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