MacBook Pro :: Apple Won't Repair
Jan 13, 2011
I was just wondering if this has happened to anybody,
A couple weeks ago I closed my Macbook Pro because the battery was low and I needed to plug it in. So I plugged it in and opened it back up...Nothing. I pressed the power button and I could hear the SuperDrive move and the hard drive spin, but that's it. No chime, no gray screen, no POST, nothing. So I did some research and found out that the same thing had happened to a LOT of people with my model. So I assumed it was the whole NVIDIA issue.
So I took it into Apple and the Genius right away told me that the NVIDIA chip/card was the culprit but he still needed to test it with their NVIDIA test drive. He comes back and tells me that they were not able to test it because it cannot boot up that far. So he tells me that since they can't tell for sure if it is the NVIDIA, my computer doesn't qualify for the free replacement. And since my AppleCare is 211 days out of warranty, he can't do anything about it. I could have it shipped out and repaired for $360 (which is better than $1000+ in-house). (BTW.. I even had the logic board replaced a couple years ago for a different reason, so the logic board is newer than my MBP)
I understand where they're coming from, but my computer should be covered in the warranty because it has a faulty part on it, NO MATTER WHAT.
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Apr 2, 2010
I took my late 2007 macbook in because the case was cracked. I read that this was a known issue and they would repair for free.(I had no warranty) also my battery was expanding and bloated, so much that it will no longer fit in my comp.
When I took it in, the tech said that my bottom case was cracked and he said that wasn't part of the known issue. He said it was caused by accidental damage (it was cracked clean through, so much so that it could be physically separated from the comp.(I informed him that the comp had never been dropped or damaged in anyway, he apparently didn't believe me but said he would see what he could do.
Anyway, he said he could fix the top case ( but they would not fix the bottom case)and give me a new battery although he had never seen a battery with the problem that mine had. He said it was probably expanded cells. I agreed to that as something is better than nothing but then, I asked him if the battery expanding could have caused the bottom case to crack since it was cracked near the battery compartment but on the side of the comp. After he tinkered around for a bit with the battery and the cracked part, he said he wasn't sure but he would send it in for repairs and I would not be charged.
First he said he would quote me a repair price and I told him that I had no intentions of paying for anything. After several instances of him running to the back to talk to people, he agreed to send it in. On the repair form it is listed as tier 4 accidental damage and I know that the tier 4 comes with a hefty charge for repair. Anyway, I am out of town and my comp is scheduled to be returned to me today. I dropped it off at the apple store on the 30th, it was received by the repair center on the 1st, repaired today( the second) and shipped back to me today and scheduled to be delivered today as well.
I was trying to find out if they actually repaired the bottom case or not as I will not be home to receive my comp until next week sometime. The repair form also said call if additional repairs are needed to quote a price. I have not received any calls at this number and do not know if they left any messages on my home phone. The repair turnaround seems rather quick and I was just wondering if they actually repaired it or sent in back in the same condition.
Apple support has no details of the actual repair just the time it was received, repaired and sent back to me. Also will they just leave it outside because no one is home to receive it?
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Jan 19, 2009
After many MANY issues with My beloved 7 - 8 month Macbook black 2.4ghz, 2gm RAM, 250GB HDD I have decided its time to take it in for a repair
The issues are as follows
1) Cracked Keyboard, right palm rest area where the magnet touches the palmrest area, this has led to:
2) Due to there being the crack, the magnet actually fits neatly into the crack when the lid is closes, this has scratched the right maget and the LCD bezel
3) The LCD has a purple horizontol line going through it, cant see it all when on net where there is a white backround like in Macrumors forum however when watching a film where it is black the purple line is highly visible making film viewing difficult
4) On the left bottom side where the two screws are located there is a "Bulge" as in the plastic housing is loose, this affects the entire left side where the ports are more or less but in between the two screws and to some extent up to the headphone jack you can practically push it in around 2mm, when doing this it makes a really annoying squeaky sound. Due to the bulging, there is a small crack forming under one of the two screws
5) This Baby has major overheating issues, right now Ive just got back from College and had this thing on for about an hour, just with simple Safari Browsing the CPU has temp of 55 degrees celsius and airport card is a whopping 64 degrees celsius, this will easily rise to a temp of around 60 for the CPU and around 68 for the airport card in the next hour again with simple internet browsing such as looking at forums and news
6) The Hinge is very loose, If I pick up my macbook and sort of shake it like thurst it forward the Hinge will come move and I could technically close it like that but cant as it hits hard.
Ive found it really disgusting that paying a small fortune for this laptop (Im a student and this Mac really required some hard work to pay for it) It has this many problems, I was going to give it in earlier but as this is my primary computer I didnt have the time to give it in but now as Exams are over I think it needs a major repair, even an upgrade which Im sure I deserve
So as a newbie to this Apple repair process what happens, Ive booked a genius bar appointment for tomorrow (can change if needed) Do I simply walk up to the genius and tell him my problems, and what to Apple do, do they repair it in store or send it out as Ive read some pretty bad stories about how Apple take care of your product, ive got a small few scratches on the bottom base which are unavoidable and one small hairline one the back but other than that its in tip top condition
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May 30, 2012
I have a w7 dual-booted early 2010 macbook pro, and it has been exhibiting some really strange behavior for a while now. Basically, it crashes randomly. It doesn't give me the bluescreen in either mac or windows when this happens, it simply turns black, locks up, and often makes unpleasant sounds (anything from a clicking like a harddrive to bizzare sounding sound loops if I have been playing music). The weird thing is is that it doesn't seem to have a trigger. It can happen when I'm playing games, when I'm listening to music, or even when I have absolutely nothing running but Microsoft Word. It doesn't seem to have any dependancy on how long I have been using the computer, or even what time of day it is. It started out relatively infrequent--maybe once a month? But now it happens once a day, if not more.
I have still under my applecare agreement, and so I went ahead and sent it in to apple. They only had it for 24 hours before the sent it back with brand new memory... but this (maybe obviously?) didn't the problem at all--it crashed withen an hour of using it. I called apple back, and they said because sometimes it won't crash for many hours, they recommended I send it to an authorized repaire shop. I took it to the shop, and they wouldn't even look at it after I described my problem because, they said, "for problems like these, we never find solutions."
So now I'm stuck with a great laptop that runs BEAUTIFULLY.... except when it crashes. It's even still under applecare, but no one seems willing or capable of fixing it.
Does anyone have an advice? If apple can't find the problem, do I have grounds to ask for them to replace the whole MOBO, or even the whole computer? It's kind of a frustrating situation, because I bought applecare for this exact reason, but it doesn't seem to be doing me any good!
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4), dual-booted with w7
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Jun 20, 2009
Do the older macbook pro's like the Santa Rosa have liquid damage detection sensors? Or is just in the newer ones?
A year ago I spilled a tiny amount of beer on it and only a few drops got under 2 or 3 keys. I quickly popped them off, dried the area and everything was fine. My gpu failed recently due to the whole Nvidia thing and I had to ship it off to Apple. So I was wondering if they will be able to tell there was a spill and void my apple care warranty even though the failure was not caused by this?
I'm really worried because it was only a few drops and it did not leave any residue...
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Jan 16, 2010
I had an issue with the 9600m GT Graphics card a few weeks ago where the graphics card wouldn't display anything when plugged into an external monitor. The apple store checked it out and said the logic board was faulty and that it would need to be replaced under warranty. (Late 2008 15" macbook pro).
When I received the laptop back, they not only replaced the logic board, but they also replaced the SSD with a 250gb 5400rpm hard drive. I called in and, after being upgraded to the top level supervisor, he said that all of the hard drives being replaced were sent to be refurbished or recycled and that my hard drive had a fault in it so they replaced it. He says that they restore it to the apple original condition and originally they sold it with a 250gb hard drive in it so that's what they replaced it with. Their policy is that only if they replace aftermarket ram with apple ram will they return the aftermarket parts back to you. This repair was conducted yesterday, the 15th of January by apple Tech ID #612525.
I don't expect to get my data back, but if anyone has any idea on how I can get my hard drive back, I'd be willing to reward $100. A new Intel SSD X25-M G2 would be around 250 so I wouldn't want to do that.
I've been on the phone all day with the apple support so I am very frustrated right now.
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Jan 19, 2010
So, I screwed up a couple months ago and stuck my MBP in my backpack's padded laptop compartment within a SECOND case, only to pull it out at my destination and immediately notice this:
The way out of line upper case was like that before, but the bent optical slot was new. I guess I had too much in my bag, even though it was all clothing and, again, the laptop was inside TWO cases. Anyways, for about a month I got by getting discs in and out only when I really needed to, with various techniques to get the gap open just enough to let it slip out. More recently I opened the computer up to see what I could do. I removed the optical drive, but absolutely could not find a way to bend the aluminum back into shape. I thought it would be easy enough with some care, but there's a piece of steel, probably to support that very part of the case, glued to the case there - and it won't budge.
The situation right now is that I have a disc in the drive that I can't get out (it's gone past the point of tricking it into just barely making it), which would be okay except for a few points: (1) I can't use optical media any more, and while I don't usually do a lot of that, I do need to once or twice a month minimum. (2) The computer has to spin up the optical drive every few minutes while moving around the operating system, which takes a few annoying and unnecessary seconds. (3) I'll never be able to sell this machine in a year or so for what it's worth without this damage.
I've done about all the communication I can with Apple, including trying the sjobs@apple(..) route, which has worked in the past for other issues. I am covered by Apple Care, I'm about 6 months into the two years, the laptop is about 18 months old. I was told at the Genius Bar twice that it would not be covered, but I forgot both times to get an approximate cost, but I'm thinking expensive.
So I'm looking for a few tips...How much is the repair cost typically for a bottom case?
Where is the best place to find either a new bottom case (i.e. not used), or a used one that is in good cosmetic condition (i.e. not scratched and dented)?
If I do choose to do the repair myself (likely the plan if Apple is going to charge over $400), it seems like a very extensive and somewhat risky job. I know there are iFixIt guides to get me through it, but I have had big problems in the past with messing up screws (guess I just need a better set of small screwdrivers). I also can't seem to get a decent Torx T6/4 that can handle some of the more serious case screws - I've twisted the head right off one and malformed another pretty badly. Is doing the repair myself realistic? How would you rate the risk, and any suggestions for a kit that will let me do the job as best as possible?
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May 3, 2010
If I buy a MBP online (say Macmall) and it shows up with a problem (dead pixel, etc.) can I take it to an Apple store for repair/replacement? Or do I have to return it to where I bought it?
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Feb 24, 2012
So my MBP was really making horrible clicking noise and I figured out that my start up Lion OSX disk partition is corrupted. I have three partitions. One for Lion OS X, another for Documents and another for Movies and Downloads. When I run disk utility and verify other two partitions(documents and movies/downloads), they appear to be okay but when I do the same with Lion OS X then it says:
The volume Lion OS X was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.Error: This disk needs to be repaired....then use Disk Utility to repair this disk. Is my hard drive gonna die soon? Or will it be okay if I just format my 500gb hard drive completely and install the fresh copy of Lion OS X again? I don't have a recovery disc or what so ever provided by Apple anymore. I have a DMG installation file of Lion OS X and a USB flash drive(4 GB approx). How can I repair the disk partition without the recovery start up disc?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 2009 17 inches
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Mar 27, 2009
Not sure if this is the right topic area but :
I bought an iMac on March 9th.
Last Saturday (March 21st) it had a major system failure, would not boot and had vertical line across the screen, and I took it to the Apple store. They said it was either a HD, LED, or video card problem. The "genius" said I should have it back in 3-5 days.
So today is either day 5 (business days) or day 7 (calendar days) I called them yesterday and they said it was the video controller and no ETA on when it will be ready but they will call me when it is ready.
My question is : Is it me or is this a little ridiculous customer service for a 13 day old iMac? Would I be a little out of line going to the store and either demanding a "new" iMac or my iMac today ? A broken video card should take about a day or two to get back to the customer in my opinion...
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Apr 3, 2012
I bought a mid 2010 imac 27 inches beginning of 2011 and the screen already have some greyish color,it takes 300yrs to boot.Apple won't take some of the responsibilities n give a new imac or repair my imac,THEY SAY IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO REPAIR...
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 27 inches
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Apr 11, 2012
I have a 27" iMac that I recently took to the Apple Store to have the LCD replaced. When I got my machine back and started it up, the fans kicked on full speed and will not stop...this didn't happen prior to me taking it to repair...it ran nearly silent.My firmware and so forth is all up to date.... I downloaded SMC Fan Control to see what was going on... my computer is operating at 97 degrees farenheit. but my CPU fan is spinning at 4035 rpm. That's crazy over the top. Optical drive fan (with no disk in it) is spinning at 3736rpm...and my HD fan is at 1098rpm (which is probably about right.
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 27" i5 2.66 Ghz, 8 gb RAM
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Oct 9, 2009
My MBP recently had a bunch of problems with the logic board and speakers. I brought it into the Apple Store (on Monday) and they gave me the option of them sending it into a repair center, or them repairing it locally in store. I requested that they sent out just because I was curious to see how long it would take. To my surprise, my MBP arrived, fixed and as good as new on my doorstep today. That's amazingly fast for sending it out to a offsite repair center. The repair center is in Philadelphia. I live in Maine. You do the math. When I've had things repaired locally in the Apple Store it's taken weeks to repair instead of days because they need to order the parts.
Anyways, the point of this thread was to suggest to people that they choose the offsite repair option. It's amazingly fast, and it saved me a trip to the Apple Store (they shipped my MBP directly to my house).
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Dec 21, 2007
First the question, then the story:
Does anyone suspect that a dead hard drive in a 20" iMac G5 could somehow be related to the component failure described in the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program offered by Apple?
Although the article does not list hard drive failure as one of the symptoms caused by this component failure, I am still concerned that it could possibly be related, based on the fact that it was purchased during the date range specified, and the serial number falls within the range specified.
So here's the story: A short while back, the iMac suddenly stopped booting. It only got as far as a gray screen with a small folder image in the center, alternating between a question (?) mark and the Mac Finder face. After asking around and checking a few forums, the ultimate consensus was that it was unable to detect the hard drive. So I took it to a Genius Bar; the fellow who was helping me tested the startup, then took out the hard drive and put it in an enclosure to test it, and concluded that the hard drive is dead. He pointed out that, even in the enclosure, it had no power at all; the only solution would be to buy a new hard drive.
I did some more online searching after coming home, and found quite a few forums discussing the above warranty extension, several of which cited the logic board as the problem component referenced in the article from Apple, and that there were bad caps in these models that were overheating. Sadly, I don't really know what any of that means... But should I be hesitant to simply replace the hard drive, for fear that the same thing could happen again? And does the fact that the article references power issues, combined with the fact that the Mac Genius told me that there was no power in the hard drive, mean that it could perhaps be related? Do I have a case to try and pursue the extension repair?
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Feb 4, 2012
Every-time I repair permissions using the disk utility it says that the permissions are repaired, but then I click to verify permissions and it is all as it was before... What can I do?
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Jun 2, 2012
Disk Utility says there are a bunch of disk permissions that need repairing. I hit repair and disk utility says that it repaired those disk permissions. But when I verify, it says they still need to be repaired.
Info:
Mini 2.4Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Sep 29, 2008
My little brother threw a toy at my macbook and cracked the screen. Was wondering if any of yall knew a good place to have this repaired.
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May 19, 2009
A bit of background:
Back in January I slipped on some ice and regrettably the LCD on my Blackbook did not survive. I have been making due with my computer plugged into a video out (A real pain to do work on) but I really want to get the darn thing fixes. I was really stupid and did not get the Apple Care (which likely would not cover this repair anyway).
Upon taking the laptop to Apple they quoted 800 to replace the unit with a refurb since it was well out of warranty. Everything but the LCD works just fine so I was wondering about getting a replacement screen and doing the repair or sending it out to another company.. My question:
1) What is your opinion on doing this (I cannot replace the whole laptop and I have a 2.16 C2D), is it really worth it? Is this a big repair job?
2) What price should I be looking at. These guys have the screen for $150 but I don't know if they are any good nor do I know of anybody who will do this. Is it something that can be done on my own (i would have a friend assist me). I am not bound to one vendor, but I have never had to do out of warranty repairs on a mac before so I don;t know where to go.
3) Any advice on where I should get the screen at or do business?
4) Am I just wasting my time?
THe reason I ask is that I really cannot afford a new machine right now, but if I can fix the screen like new for around $200 that would be much better. Any advice would be grateful.
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Jun 26, 2009
So I just got my MacBook Air (rev A) back from AppleCare after my hinge (like many others', apparently) decided to randomly bust itself. I was very pleased that when I took my MBA to the Apple Store, they didn't bat an eye about replacing the hinge (I'd heard horror stories about Apple denying the part was defective and calling the damage a user error, even with computers covered under warranty). But I was shocked when my package arrived today and the letter inside detailed the parts replaced. Keep in mind, the only thing wrong with my computer (as far as I could tell) was a broken hinge. Here's what they replaced:
Antenna window
Video Display Panel
Camera
Bottom Case
Display Housing
Clutch
Clutch (two different part numbers)
Bezel
Top Case
Logic Board
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Aug 25, 2009
I have a Macbook Pro that is a few years old. It's been fine until recently - it shuts off - poof - when I try to play certain games on Facebook, or watch a video on Facebook. I can watch videos fine on a site like YouTube. I thought perhaps it was the browser I was using (Firefox) but it's not. I ran disk Utility and that didn't . Software Update says I'm up to date. I'm running OS 10.4.11
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Oct 18, 2009
I also had an issue with my MagSafe where the cable was coming out of the housing and there are wires exposed. Had to replace it myself as they said the issue on that was not covered. It also had a very dim green light (only notice it in a dark room), and the not charging message by the battery icon after the repair but I figured this was due to the MagSafe, however was only able to buy a new one yesterday.
So got the new charger home, plugged it in and same thing, so definitely not the MagSafe at fault. Took the MBP and new MagSafe back to the shop and same there. They then plugged the charger into one of their MacBooks, red light came on the charger fine. The weird bit was they then plugged it back into mine and the red light came on again.
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Apr 25, 2012
Took my dead MacBook Pro (purchased April 29, 2008) to the Genius Bar because it would not start-up. They sent it out for repairs and ended up replacing the Logic Board stating the symptom was "NVIDIA Video Issue (multiple issues)". They charged me $310 plus tax. Would this fall under the "MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues" from url...I tried calling Apple Corporate and they said the logic board had a loose wire. Hmmm seems weird to me since the graphic chip is soldered on to the logic board. The invoice said the reapir was covered and showed the amount owed to me was $0. When I went to pick up the fixed laptop the associate helping me had to speak to her manager and there was some back and forth as to whether I owed anything.
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008)
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Jun 4, 2012
I went today to get my macbook pro fixed in Genius Bar, cause the superdrive was scratching cds, and the display (hinges) made some noise when closing, due to the misplaced display. Well ! So, now the display is well placed, but still making a bit of noise (that's not that important), but my superdrive, now scratches more severely my cds ! Tried a cd, and it ejects scratched in form of L more or less. The superdrive is "brand new", and makes very strange noises when inserting the cd or turning on the laptop...
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.0.x)
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Aug 31, 2010
I just picked up my MBP yesterday from the Apple Store after the display was replaced. I've noticed it's been acting a little slower. For example when I scroll down it lags sometimes (when it never used to), and when I am deleting a word or something it might freeze or take a few seconds to delete. Also on occasion it goes into the spinning wheel which I rarely ever saw before.
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Sep 2, 2010
Model Name:MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name:Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors:1
Total Number Of Cores:2
L2 Cache:4 MB
Memory:2 GB
Bus Speed:800 MHz
Boot ROM Version:MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system):1.16f11
Serial Number (system):W87422DCYAM
Hardware UUID:00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B63A49B75
OS X 10.5.8
I am unable to use my OS X disks to boot from. The DVD drive tries to read and then ejects them. Blank DVD's can be formatted and written. The text below is what repair disk reports: ACL found but not expected on "Applications/Utilities". Permissions repair complete
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Dec 6, 2010
but when i start xp up the red light comes on from the headphone port and speaker doesnt work and when i put in the headphone it also doesnt work.
I've read pages and pages of solution , about the sticking 1001 tools in and wriggle it around and i did , none worked. the evil red light is still there and only on xp.
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Mar 27, 2009
I am attempting to use Archive and Install to repair my MacBook's OSX. It finished the DVD check and began installing, only to stop with an error saying some files could not be installed. I am making a second attempt, but if this does not work, should I contact Apple? I'm afraid the drive might be failing and there are important school documents I need to try and retrieve.
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May 14, 2009
I purchased a Macbook Air from Amazon. The display is excellent but i've been having this constant buzzing noise going. It's very irritating and I'm not sure what is causing it. I definitely didnt hear this noise in my rev A Macbook Air or in Macbook air sin the Apple store.
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Jun 9, 2009
To preface this, this is my friends macbook and I'm very unfamiliar with how they work. However, she had dropped her laptop off her bed (i'm not sure how bad of fall it was) , suffice it to say her screen broke and she asked me to fix it. This turned out to be a fairly routine job, save for the hinge that is a total pain to get back on.
On starting the macbook up, the screen/camera work fine but it is moving at a terribly slow rate. I timed it and it took 3 minutes to get to the login screen, 30 seconds to log in and another 2 minutes for her desktop to load. Once loaded, the applications take forever to start, lag terribly and some crash automatically (safari, ichat) despite being connected to network. On top of this, I have tried restarting/shutting down the computer but this freezes and will show the "thinking circle" for an infinite amount of time.
I have tried the disk utility, and it fails to verify the disk. I'm not sure what else to try, as I am unfamiliar with macs. I fear though, that she damaged her hard drive when it dropped, although once again I'm not sure.
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Jun 17, 2009
Oh well. I'll just ask what you guys think. So which macbook is least likely to need repair? I'm looking for a used macbook on ebay preferably with applecare. If it didn't have applecare--it would have to be the model that lasts the longest.
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