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Odd video problem at boot?

post #1 of 35
8/9/06 at 1:12am
Thread Starter 
when i turn my MB on lately, i get this weird video problem. the screen starts off all black, no chime. a portion goes to bright white, while the rest is all vertical multcolored lines.

the battery failed a week ago, now this is problem #2. im a little pissed.

help?!?!?!?!!




i have yet to see it on ac power, but never use ac really
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post #2 of 35
8/9/06 at 1:15am
Ooh...isn't that one of the problems DarthCheney had?

Call Apple, now.
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post #3 of 35
8/9/06 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
im going to call them in the morning. how would you describe the issue to them? i would like an in store replacement from them. since ive had two problems in a matter of one week, what are my chances? i had bootcamp installed, it is now off the laptop.
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post #4 of 35
8/9/06 at 2:01am
you're BSODing pretty bad and you're under warranty....Bootcamp is official apple software so it doesn't void your warranty. you should get a replacement without getting any beef
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post #5 of 35
8/9/06 at 2:32am
That is the *exact* problem I had on both Macbooks....each time they had to replace the machine.

Some say it's because of 10.4.7, but I think it's the logic board.... you can reset the PRAM and it'll let you in until you reboot the next time.
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post #6 of 35
8/9/06 at 2:36am
Bootcamp isn't going to do that...that's definitely a hardware problem there.
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post #7 of 35
8/9/06 at 8:50am
Thread Starter 
yea, the PRAM reset always works. but shit, im not doing that!

darth cheney, best method of attack? call or store? i dont want to be without a laptop. im afraid if i call them, and get them an email with attachment sent that theyll ask me to send the laptop in for a look, then ill have to wait a week to get another back?!?!!?!?
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post #8 of 35
8/9/06 at 4:55pm
If you have a store within reasonable distance, go there first.
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post #9 of 35
8/9/06 at 6:44pm
Thread Starter 
i called the phone# today for apple care. since the store is 50 miles from me, i thought to start there.

i was connected with a very nice lady, who was explained to the problems. she had me on hold for about 30 min total. i was then transfered to someone who immediately disconnected me, ill assume on accident. At this point i was still very calm and cool, no bad tones were used.

i call back and someone else reads over my situation, and connects me with sales over phone. the sales (3rd person) guy tells me there isnt anything he can do for me because i bought it in a store, itll have to be dealt with in a store. he also told me to re-explain the problems, since he "couldnt" find any log of it.

at this point i was transfered to the store, where i was told i could make an appointment to see someone. the man at the store would not say anything to me but a script, yada yada yada. i told him i was frustrated and he started talking to me as a customer! finally. he then goes on to say, id have to leave the laptop in the store, and they may have to send it out.

this is absurb for a product that is this old and has had this many problems in the matter of a week. i was also told by the first two techs today that if apple wanted to, they could issue me a replacement, OVER THE PHONE. i was told by the third rep that my laptop wasnt supported by applecare on the phone, id have to take it 50 miles.

suffice to say, i will get this fixed one day. apple however will NOT get anymore warranty money out of me, or purchases. They have chased a future customer away today, and will not get me back.

total time on apple care wasted: 2hrs 25min
getting told your two month old laptop with a one year warranty isnt supported: Revolting.

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post #10 of 35
8/9/06 at 7:40pm
Chevy PMed me this post so I'm going to post my reply to him here:

You're never going to buy a Mac again because of this? Seriously...you can potentially have the same problems with any other company out there making computers; Apple is not unique.

You have to keep calling and you have to lie. Tell them you need your computer for work and that you cannot be without it. Tell them you need to leave the country unexpectedly for some important business. Make sure you speak to the manager of the Apple store. Also, tell them you know a few other people who have had the same problem and their laptops were replaced.

It sucks you have to do it, but you have to pretty much do it with any company. It's a crap shoot whether you get good service on your first call or not. Just be glad Apple's support is based in the USA and you can actually understand what they're telling you.

Apple is stonewalling on this issue because it's probably becoming a common one and they don't want to do anything that would acknowledge that it's their fault until the last minute possible.

This is also why I am very glad I do not have the money to buy a new computer right now as I don't want to be a guinea pig for first revision products.

Seriously though, don't let this stupid incident ruin you to Apple...they were good about replacing your harddrive weren't they?
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post #11 of 35
8/9/06 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
battery was a 5 min issue. and yes, this is common with a lot of companies.

i have not, however, been bounced around like i was today on the phone, FOR NO REASON.

the reason im mad is because of support, not because of the actual machine. ive had dells, hp's, and even a toshiba, none of which was that big of a deal to "deal with"
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post #12 of 35
8/9/06 at 8:43pm
If you pay Nordstrom prices, you should get Nordstrom service.
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post #13 of 35
8/9/06 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 
nordstrom prices? hu? i paid 1100$, i should get that worth of service

ill take it in on monday when i have time. hopefully theyll take one look at it, listen to my side, and just let me walk with a new MB
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post #14 of 35
8/9/06 at 9:34pm
kakaze...i don't believe chevy has to do any of those things to get some service. Apple built their reputation on solidly built machines (when Asus still used to make the powerbook) and friendly user experiences (with local stores and phone support not based in india). When chevy needed some of that much famed service, it failed to come through, so Apple failed to live up to its reputation and it gives more than enough reason not to buy another apple.

Many of my friends swore off dell forever because of poor customer service experience, I don't really care if they give dell another chance or not, but so far I have been very happy with my 2 desktops and 1 pda from dell.

When I called HP/Compaq about my HPNA setup and got much of a royal screw-job like chevy did today (figure nearly 3 hours of NOTHING) i swore off buying an HP/Compaq, though some of my friends swear by HP...

What I am trying to say is yes, bad experience happen with any company....but so what. If they don't deliver the service that YOU paid for, they don't deserve your business again.
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post #15 of 35
8/9/06 at 9:45pm
Good luck Chevy... if you can get through the whole ordeal as calm as you are now, let me know

If I were you, go straight to a manager, don't mess w/ the Genius'... I've always gotten better results w/ management intervention.

If you've had it 2mo already, they will probably tell you to repair it--I'd take the repair but insist they note your concerns accurately, always look over anything you sign. This is common sense, of course, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to overlook things like this if you're angry/upset/etc.

Good luck!
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post #16 of 35
8/9/06 at 10:10pm
Thread Starter 
is there a complaint # i can call and file a complaint.

i just thought i was lied to a few times today, and the whole ordeal needs to be looked at.
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post #17 of 35
8/9/06 at 11:10pm
Apple Customer Relations (800) 767-2775

I wonder why I had this number so handy :-\

Good luck man...let us know how it goes
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post #18 of 35
8/10/06 at 1:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by abf
kakaze...i don't believe chevy has to do any of those things to get some service. Apple built their reputation on solidly built machines (when Asus still used to make the powerbook) and friendly user experiences (with local stores and phone support not based in india). When chevy needed some of that much famed service, it failed to come through, so Apple failed to live up to its reputation and it gives more than enough reason not to buy another apple.

Many of my friends swore off dell forever because of poor customer service experience, I don't really care if they give dell another chance or not, but so far I have been very happy with my 2 desktops and 1 pda from dell.

When I called HP/Compaq about my HPNA setup and got much of a royal screw-job like chevy did today (figure nearly 3 hours of NOTHING) i swore off buying an HP/Compaq, though some of my friends swear by HP...

What I am trying to say is yes, bad experience happen with any company....but so what. If they don't deliver the service that YOU paid for, they don't deserve your business again.


For one incident of bad service or even two, you don't say you'll never buy from the company again. When it's repeatedly bad or when you go through several replacements like DC went through, then I could see saying that you'll never buy again.

But as I said, Apple is going to do whatever they can to stonewall on this issue because they don't want to admit that it's a problem until they have to. But they're not doing anything any other company wouldn't do.

It's a shame but that's business...companies just don't care about their customers anymore. Regardless of whether or not you've paid for service. For every person like Chevy and DC, there are many other people who will take their place as customers, so there's no reason for Apple or for any other company to care whether or not they lose one or two customers when they'll gain three, four, even five more in their stead.
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post #19 of 35
8/10/06 at 1:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by abf
kakaze...i don't believe chevy has to do any of those things to get some service. Apple built their reputation on solidly built machines (when Asus still used to make the powerbook) and friendly user experiences (with local stores and phone support not based in india). When chevy needed some of that much famed service, it failed to come through, so Apple failed to live up to its reputation and it gives more than enough reason not to buy another apple.

Many of my friends swore off dell forever because of poor customer service experience, I don't really care if they give dell another chance or not, but so far I have been very happy with my 2 desktops and 1 pda from dell.

When I called HP/Compaq about my HPNA setup and got much of a royal screw-job like chevy did today (figure nearly 3 hours of NOTHING) i swore off buying an HP/Compaq, though some of my friends swear by HP...

What I am trying to say is yes, bad experience happen with any company....but so what. If they don't deliver the service that YOU paid for, they don't deserve your business again.

i get where both of u r coming from. basically yes, some people would say that if u have a bad product experience, it justifies boycotting a company's products. which to me is about as thought through as saying that i would never buy a dell product (as i'm not a huge fan of their computers for all the repairs i've done on their systems), when i know that their monitors are well reviewed by basically everyone. in fact their monitors would be a keen example of what's at hand in this discussion. the move from the 2405 to the 2407 brought a stream of problems for their 1st gen issues w/ the new panel and design. it's now fixed, and i'd heartily recommend the 2407 to anyone. but to say i wouldn't recommend another product from the same brand would be silly if my point of view didn't assess the likelihood that different products may yield different issues, in this case a different model may be less problematic than another (MBPs seemingly having most of their early issues being ironed out while the MBs are still in growing pains). within a model, much like dell's 2407 monitor, what was a don't-buy-it-till-the-bugs-r-worked-out product, is now much like the 2405, highly recommended by all i've read.

so yeh, ppl can be dissillusioned to a brand given a poor product or customer service experience, and they're certainly entitled to go where they may in light of it, but that doesn't speak to the overall quality of services and products a company supplies.
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post #20 of 35
8/10/06 at 2:17am
Thread Starter 
by simply choosing not to buy a brand because of poor customer service is exactly what every GOOD consumer should do. if every didnt just put up with a companies BS, the business world would be a lot different than it is today.

i agree somewhat with you tri, i love my macbook. but one of the main reasons in purchasing a laptop is for warranty support, which to say the least, WAS A JOKE TODAY. I think i handled it rather well, if not beter than most people would have.
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