I feel like an Apple in a pigs mouth!

August 10, 2008 2:35 PM

How can I get Apple to REALLY fix my computer? (Previously)

A week ago today I was uograding my Macbook Pro to OSX 10.5.4 and it wouldn't boot up. Since then the following has happened and my computer is still very borked.

1. Called Applecare, used leopard install disk to reinstall, following Applecare e-mail, drag files from previous system to user. Restart, screen goes grey won't reboot.
2. call Applecare again, 2 techs tell me my hard drive is borked and it will cost me several $1000 to retrieve my data.
3. Go to Applestore. Genius cowboy works on computer for an hour, restores desktop. While waiting for trash to empty tells me he is going to lunch. His coworker gets me out of root user but doesn't reboot computer
4. On train to NYC, boot up computer, doesn't boot, get grey screen with flashing folder and ? Call Applecare. techs tell me my hard drive is borked will cost me several thousand dollars to retrieve data. Do repair hard drive fix permissions. Computer doesn't boot
5.Back to Apple store. Told by phone they will back-up data for $50 and that computer needs new hard drive.
6. Back to Apple store. Told computer is fixed, no charge.
7. Take computer home boot up. It looks like a burglar has trashed my house. My leopard is gone, I'm back in Tiger, Safari won't work. Half my dock items have ? and are missing. Half my pictures in lightroom are missing along with a catalogue. Mozilla won't download. Trash won't work.
8. Reinstall Leopard but nothing really works. Apple says they will give me one free hour of tech support at my local dealer, not store.

Help, I want to make these jokers fix my computer right. What should I be doing?

posted by Xurando to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Did they replace the HD? If so then you should create a new user. Log in as that user and transfer only your data files into that account. No preferences (bookmarks are OK). If after that things still don't work then I'd say you still have a problem. ? on the dock means it can't find the origonal item. If you are miising apps, then reinstall. If you are missing data that wasn't in your old profile, you may have lost it when they installed the new drive (did they?) and transferred your old data. Basically besides a "borked" HD I think your profile is corrupt, and that is a very difficult thing to fix.
posted by Gungho at 2:55 PM on August 10, 2008

Has your hard drive been replaced? If so, zero-out the disk, and re-install Leopard. Then load your user data from backup. If not, and if several techs have told you your hard drive is defective, I would start there.
posted by whiskeyspider at 2:55 PM on August 10, 2008

The one thing I would do differently from what I understand in your experience is boot the machine up and put it through its paces while still at the repair center / genius bar. Preferably in front of the person that did the final check. If anything is still wrong, you and he/she will see it immediately.
posted by michswiss at 3:06 PM on August 10, 2008

If you're tired of dealing with the guys at the Apple store, you might want to try Tekserve instead... http://www.tekserve.com/services/
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:44 PM on August 10, 2008

It sounds to me is that you've been told several times that your hard drive is done for, you should be focused on getting your data off the mac via the quickest and most thorough method possible and then turn the machine over for repair.
posted by iamabot at 5:10 PM on August 10, 2008

I've always had amazing experience from Apple Customer Care. I had an ageing (3 year-old) iMac G5 that just blew up on me one day. Literally. Apple reapired it a few times with no charge, and then decided it was best for them to replace it with a brand new Aluminium iMac!

Also, they completely replaced my MacBook when the SuperDrive failed, after they had fixed it and bent the case.

I think the best thing for you to do in this situation, is to politely tell them that you can no longer afford the time or money to keep travelling backwards and forwards to the Apple Stores, that it is costing you time and money for work (you do use your laptop for work, right?), and that you think the simplest option would be for them to replace the machine.

I'm pretty sure Apple has a policy that if your machine hasn't been fixed within 3 times of it going in for repair, that they will replace it for you for a new machine!

Try it out and let us know how you get on.
posted by mdavis1982 at 4:09 AM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

What iamabot and mdavis1982 said. And when you're done, backup your drive. It will save you a ton of misery if you ever have computer problems in the future. I recommend Super Duper.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 7:07 AM on August 11, 2008

Hard drives going bad can give really flakey results, which is why one tech might say its okay, as well as the corrupt files everywhere.

Just pop in a new hard drive and reinstall Leopard. Don't copy your whole home folder over, files are probably corrupt.
posted by wongcorgi at 11:21 AM on August 11, 2008