To the Genius Bar I go on Thursday: Screen Flicker

[MacHeadCase]

Wow! That was fast!

I hope it is going to work flawlessly from now on, MO.

 

[mathogre]

Thanks MHC!

I'm up and running, and doing this from my MacBook with its normal hard drive. Everything looks good so far, but it's only been a few minutes. Still, I downloaded some photos from my camera to the Mac and burned a CD of the photos. With luck I'll declare victory in about a week. ^_^

 

[kkelly122]

congrats hope it keeps working well for you

 

[mathogre]

Final update. My MacBook is working very well since its repair. I'm happy.

End of chapter.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

The Geniuses have never let me down! I'm extremely impressed with the service.

SLC

 

[mathogre]

​

Tomorrow I return to the Genius Bar with my MacBook. We're into flicker mode again. It's been 3 1/2 months since the inverter was replaced. The good news is that it is happening almost all of the time, so the likelihood of it performing for a genius is reasonably good.

I'm more than a little concerned over what happens in another 3 1/2 months if/when it goes blinking mad again, and it's out of warranty. I've been considering Apple Care, which is becoming a real option. I'll probably do it, assuming they can make this right.

I hate when machines don't work right.

​

 

[MacHeadCase]

MO how many times have you taken it back?

I think that I read that if Apple tries unsuccessfully to repair the same problem three times, you can ask for a brand new replacement. I think you can bring that up when you take it back and see if a reasonable Apple employee can accommodate you.

 

[mathogre]

Hi MHC! This will only be the 2nd time for me. Hmmm... "only" and "2nd time." I will certainly ask them what they intend to do to fix it, as obviously their prior fix didn't work. I'm not pleased. My appointment is at 1:00PM tomorrow (1800UTC), so I'll post after I return to work.

Fwiw, the first incident required two trips, which was fine. The first was to the genius bar to determine what to do and order the part, and the second was to replace it.

 

[cwa107]

​

Tomorrow I return to the Genius Bar with my MacBook. We're into flicker mode again. It's been 3 1/2 months since the inverter was replaced. The good news is that it is happening almost all of the time, so the likelihood of it performing for a genius is reasonably good.

I'm more than a little concerned over what happens in another 3 1/2 months if/when it goes blinking mad again, and it's out of warranty. I've been considering Apple Care, which is becoming a real option. I'll probably do it, assuming they can make this right.

I hate when machines don't work right.

​

MO, insist that the entire screen assembly, including the inverter, be replaced this time. In my experience, a damaged inverter can cause damage to the CCFL tube that backlights the screen (essentially, the inverter acts like a step-up transformer, supplying the CCFL tube with the power it needs to backlight the screen at the requested level).

If I were doing this dance with Dell, that would be my next step and I'm sure they wouldn't blink (I'm a Dell certified tech).

 

[MacHeadCase]

Doesn't matter some have had a free replacement for a lot less aggravation. Remember a certain water spill thread? ;D

This is not your fault (unlike a water spill accident which is the user's fault), you paid for a product that never worked correctly from the start.

I think that if you can talk calmly with a Genius with a good head on his/her shoulders, I'm sure he/she could see your point of view. And tell the Genius you don't have only this to do in life, taking back a MacBook for the same repair.

 

[mathogre]

Doesn't matter some have had a free replacement for a lot less aggravation. Remember a certain water spill thread? ;D

This is not your fault (unlike a water spill accident which is the user's fault), you paid for a product that never worked correctly from the start.

I think that if you can talk calmly with a Genius with a good head on his/her shoulders, I'm sure he/she could see your point of view. And tell the Genius you don't have only this to do in life, taking back a MacBook for the same repair.

Thank you! You're right. I just don't want to appear as one who is asking for everything. This week has been one loaded with personal challenges, so I'm being especially careful to remain reasonable.

 

[MacHeadCase]

Well man I hope you get a good Genius.

You have the right to a good working computer. Your money was good for Apple, it didn't crash the Apple Store's bank deposits that day you bought your MacBook: you should expect a good working product for your hard earned money. ;D

 

[cwa107]

Thank you! You're right. I just don't want to appear as one who is asking for everything. This week has been one loaded with personal challenges, so I'm being especially careful to remain reasonable.

The intent in suggesting that you request a complete screen replacement was to prevent the problem from recurring due to other parts that might have been damaged by the original defect. The way I see it, the likelihood of a solid state part failing on one occasion is very low, the likelihood of the exact same part failing is lower still - so replacing associated parts is probably the best course of action.

 

[mathogre]

The intent in suggesting that you request a complete screen replacement was to prevent the problem from recurring due to other parts that might have been damaged by the original defect. The way I see it, the likelihood of a solid state part failing on one occasion is very low, the likelihood of the exact same part failing is lower still - so replacing associated parts is probably the best course of action.

Actually I think she was talking about a complete replacement of the MacBook itself.

While I'd agree that, all things being equal, the likelihood of a solid state part failing twice should be extraordinarily low, the fact that it has now failed twice tells me there's some other flaw in the machine. Whether it's power supply or systemboard related I don't know, but something seems to be frying it. Quite frankly I'm not amused, and visions of "other computing options" have danced through my head more than once lately. Still, I like my MacBook, I like OS X, I love iLife, and I'm willing to exercise some patience in getting this resolved. My patience isn't infinite however (especially this week).

 

[MacHeadCase]

Oh absolutely! A complete unit replacement.



I want to apologize to this unit, making it go to a trash bin somewhere...

 

[mathogre]

I went to the Genius Bar today at lunch. My MacBook didn't flicker. For a half hour everything worked just fine.

The genius did notice something in one of the system logs. There was a widget that seemed to be causing constant problems with Java. While I have lots of widgets running on my dashboard, I knew which one it was. The genius suggested it could be causing system conflicts that were related to the flicker, though he also knew it was probably a stretch. Given there was nothing else he could do (since he couldn't make the screen flicker), I figured this was better than leaving the store without having accomplished anything.

Fwiw, the flicker started around the time I installed Leopard, which was also when I added the problemmatic widget. Its counterpart only ran in Tiger, so I looked for one that ran in Leopard.

I hold little hope my machine will work any better now, but if it does then that's great! If it doesn't, then I have some other options. Suffice it to say that when I suggested to my wife I could go back to a PC, she was adamant she liked my improved mood with the Mac. I don't swear as much anymore, at least around computers.

 

[cwa107]

I hold little hope my machine will work any better now, but if it does then that's great! If it doesn't, then I have some other options. Suffice it to say that when I suggested to my wife I could go back to a PC, she was adamant she liked my improved mood with the Mac. I don't swear as much anymore, at least around computers.

Ugh. I was hoping you were going to say that since the problem wouldn't surface, they just decided to replace the machine altogether. I'm not holding my breath either.

I know you said you had little tolerance for problematic hardware, but would you really consider switching back to Windows, of all things? I can't imagine going back - it's such a drag to have to administer a Windows network at work. If I had to abandon OS X, I'm not sure what I'd do - Linux in all of the incarnations I've played with just doesn't do it for me.

 

[Gish]

Just imagine your first virus after going back to Windows...

 

[mathogre]

I had a post all ready to go, and I deleted it. Here's its reconstruction.

Ugh. I was hoping you were going to say that since the problem wouldn't surface, they just decided to replace the machine altogether. I'm not holding my breath either.

I know you said you had little tolerance for problematic hardware, but would you really consider switching back to Windows, of all things? I can't imagine going back - it's such a drag to have to administer a Windows network at work. If I had to abandon OS X, I'm not sure what I'd do - Linux in all of the incarnations I've played with just doesn't do it for me.

I just woke my MacBook a little while ago and it went into its flicker mode. I was tempted to stop its flickering forever, but it finally stopped. (I may have spoken too soon.)

If I went away from the Mac, it would be back to Linux. We actually still have 2 Windows machines, a Dell XPS400 and an IBM ThinkPad. I simply figured my wife wouldn't be open to the idea of another MacBook. Truth is that late this afternoon she gave me the go-ahead to replace this with another MacBook. If I do, I'll sell this one at a price reflective of its value.

Just imagine your first virus after going back to Windows...

And my first annoyance. And my first lockup. And, and, and... Aaaargh!!!!!!

 

[mathogre]

The decision has been made, the deed is done. My current MacBook is all but a gonner.

My NEW MacBook however, is on order. (Whew.)