September 13th, 2006
Farewell, MacBook – I hope
I’ve had it.
Since I got my MacBook back from LAN Master, I’ve had to zap the PRAM almost every single time I boot it, in order to boot it correctly. This is how it goes:
1. I boot the computer.
2. It gives me a hazy screen and nothing else.
3. I press the power-button until it shuts down.
4. I press Cmd+Alt+P+R and the power-button; it zaps the PRAM, I release the buttons and it starts correctly, i.e. displays a non-hazy screen during the boot, plays the Apple boot-up sound and gives me the login-screen.
I was thinking of contacting LAN Master about this today to have this fixed, but this very morning, something else happened: the computer would not boot despite performing the above procedure. I tried to PMU it. Didn’t work.
I called inLife, the retailer from where I bought the MacBook, and was patched through to a person who heard me say I wanted to annul my purchase. He told me I had to contact Apple on why, first, but I said that’s not the case; according to the The Swedish Consumer Agency I can ask to annul any purchase within reasonable time if the product or service displays an essential flaw. If the flaw is essential or not is up to me, and I seriously doubt anybody would say my claim is ludicrous.
I was connected to another person at the support department at inLife, who was quite service-minded. He told me that Apple, “a couple of days ago”, have upgraded “the version of the logic” (which I guess means that they have either upgraded the software for the motherboard or upgraded the motherboard itself) which “should solve all of your issues”, he told me. Both he and I agreed that Apple have not posted any information whatsoever, saying this problem would, in fact, solve my issues, and he stated he had a strong “gut feeling” my problems would be solved by this.
No disrespect to the nice person’s gut, but I’d rather fling myself at a pitchfork rather than wait for Apple to correct this. I cannot believe the arrogance they’re displaying about this matter; being silent is saying “we don’t give a toss about you”, foremost to the customer, but also to their own people, i.e. the front-line at AppleCare who cannot say more than “we don’t know” about the matter. Apple has to lose their air of secrecy if they wish to gain respect and not lose it.
My contact with inLife ended with the support-person telling me he would further my case to one of his colleagues, who would probably call me today. I hope this matter can be swiftly and promptly handled by inLife. Should that be the case, well, I will most definitely keep them in mind if I ever return to purchasing a product made by Apple.
September 14th, 2006 at 10:53
Ouch, sounds like you’ll be sticking to your old beloved machine in the future then and it feels like I’ll be sticking with my Powerbook G4 for as long as it lasts me, I have no desire to be making the kind of calls you’ve been making or go through that kind of crap! Then again as far as I know Henkas machine works just fine, maybe you got your hands on a “måndags exemplar” as we say in Swedish! Anyway the arrogance and silence from the bastards responsable is unforgivable! Later Niklas, I know we have to get those beers in soon but right now we’re in “creative mode” so it’ll have to wait yet a while longer! Wörd/Zak
September 14th, 2006 at 12:37
Well, 7.5-12.5% of all MacBooks have, according to the biggest (and only, as far as I know) study ever made on problems that have hit the entire MacBook-line, courtesy of Macintouch.com, been hit by this problem. Peter, a mate, has also been hit with this problem and has written about it in Swedish here.
Also, do note that a forum thread at Apple’s support site went on for over 800 posts – until Apple closed the thread, i.e. made further commenting impossible. And they won’t say anything about it.
I was just phoned by a person at The Swedish Consumer Agency, who told me I had enough reasons for inLife to annul my purchase. I’m still waiting for their call.
Do yer creativism more! I wanna hear the tracks, so go get more productive and I’ll catch you on the flipside!
September 14th, 2006 at 12:47
Ok so let’s just say it’s a bad product then, fine with me as I have no intentions of buying a new machine within the next couple of years anyway and by then they’ll either have fixed the problem or become even bigger bastards! Creative we will be, fear not, I’ll holla at ya when da beertummy screams for some yummy yummy, it won’t be long!:D