[Maciej]

Here in the states, I get a 2-day turnaround. One day for shipping, one day for repair and then after that shipping back.

I don't know where they send the PBs from the UK though...

[euain]

Originally Posted by Maciej Here in the states, I get a 2-day turnaround. One day for shipping, one day for repair and then after that shipping back. I don't know where they send the PBs from the UK though...

No idea either. The AppleCare representitive seemed to say 4-10 days. I am hoping that they are playing safe and it'll be back before then. I was hoping not to have to test the turn around.

By the way - anyone know if having Applecare makes any difference when it is under warranty? Without AppleCare, would I have to take it over to an Apple store myself or do they send out a box when it's under warranty?

Euain

[kretara]

This whole missing RAM in the lower slot of powerbooks issue has been known to Apple for a LONG time. There have been numerous threads about this issue deleted from the apple support forums. Frankly, I'm amazed that the threads mentioned above are still there. Apple seems to take the stance of ignore it and it will go away. I've told my Apple Higher Edu. Sales Rep. that we will not be purchasing ANY notebooks until Apple comes clean and fixes this problem.

Meanwhile, we are buying Dell notebooks and we have had quite a few problems. Do you know what Dell does when there is a problem? They just send us a NEW one if its something like a messed up motherboard or they next day us the parts if its something like a dead HD.

Apple really needs to get their shit together, quickly. The days of Apple being able to shit all over you because they were the only game in town are long gone.

[Maciej]

Nope no difference. From what I understand Apple Care is simply an extension of the original warranty.

[johnny5w]

Originally Posted by euain Hopefully, Apple won't hold onto it for too long!

Best of luck to you. It took them over a month to replace the logic board on my PB.

[euain]

Originally Posted by johnny5w Best of luck to you. It took them over a month to replace the logic board on my PB.

Fair play to Apple - I phoned them on the 7th, a man came with a box on the 8th, it arrived with Apple (or their agent) on the 9th and DHL attempted to deliver it back to me on the 10th. They replaced the MLB - which I assume is the main logic board.

By my reckoning, that is a pretty good turnaround.

Of course - it would be better if there wasn't the DIMM socket fault in the first place

[bostongeek]

Just wanted to say that my 15" PB is in the same boat. I noticed the issue within a month after my 1-year AppleCare expired. While diagnosing the problem (swapping in new sticks of RAM, etc), I was presented with a pretty ugly error screen:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinrego/45317011/

sigh

[SonOfSylvanus]

Bad luck man

Join the club...

[Maciej]

My powerbook is getting sent away, again... For this stupid latch now, this is the 4th time its been serviced....ack

[drewprops]

Thank God I saw the Engadget article though I have to admit I had a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the report come back "empty" for my 'book's lower slot. I just contacted my sales/repair service, hope it takes them less than a week to fix this thing. Fuzuck.

[thegelding]

with a laptop, always buy applecare


g

[drewprops]

Amen, glad that I have AppleCare.
I just posted a note on Apple's Discussion forum noting that the issue had made the "front page". Just re-registered on their boards and got a note saying that there'd be a delay between my submission and it being posted. Not sure if that's a n00b/troll screen or if they're policing that particular thread due to an increased volume of postings in that thread now that the word is spreading on such widely-viewed websites.

[JLG]

Coming from someone who is about to buy an apple in the upcoming weeks for the first time, I really don't like hearing about all the problems people have with their computers and what not. Are these just small isolated problems, or can you honestly expect something to go wrong with your computer or what not? I've used HP, Toshiba, and Sony for years and never had a problem with them even after 2+ years. The only reason I am getting out of the PC market is because I am sick of windows and love OSX.

[drewprops]

Machines are machines and every manufacturer has bad batches. I've heard every manufacturer's machines cursed by various people over the years. I've heard the same manufacturer's machines praised by others. Apple is no less likely to suffer quality problems than other computer makers, but it would be interesting to see how their quality compares to the other makers. I've had generally good luck with all of my machines and will continue to buy Apple products in the future. The best you can do (with ANY machine) is to keep abreast of the latest problems, updates, patches and recalls. Buy extended warranties on laptops.

Edit: I just heard back from the guys who'll repair my machine. It's fully covered and since I bought it from them I'll get a one-day turnaround on the replacement. These guys rock.

[JLG]

Originally Posted by drewprops Machines are machines and every manufacturer has bad batches. I've heard every manufacturer's machines cursed by various people over the years. I've heard the same manufacturer's machines praised by others. Apple is no less likely to suffer quality problems than other computer makers, but it would be interesting to see how their quality compares to the other makers. I've had generally good luck with all of my machines and will continue to buy Apple products in the future. The best you can do (with ANY machine) is to keep abreast of the latest problems, updates, patches and recalls. Buy extended warranties on laptops. Edit: I just heard back from the guys who'll repair my machine. It's fully covered and since I bought it from them I'll get a one-day turnaround on the replacement. These guys rock.

Yeah I guess you're right, but, after reading all of the problems people were having, I just got a little hesitant because I am a college student and I can't be having a problem with my computer when I have papers, etc, due. This also goes for those who need their computers for business and cannot afford to have it break on them when they are preparing a presentation and what not. I think you're right, though, about every manufacturer having people who have had problems and also those who are lucky (like I have been over the years) and never have had a problem with their computers, etc.

[Sargasm]

I guess I should count myself lucky that my logic board hasnt failed me yet.

[crock]

Doesn't the latest 15" revision have a slightly different mainboard to accomodate DDR2 memory? I wonder if this was done in part to address this problem. One of the big advantages of DDR2 is lower power - makes you wonder.

[argonaut]

My wife's 15" powerbook that she bought at the Regent Street store in March'05 has also developed this problem within the last couple of months.. I noticed it when I used it once recently. I swapped DIMMs and it made no difference - only the upper slot worked. It's still under warranty luckily.

Will they collect this or will we have to bring it in to the Apple Store?

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by argonaut Will they collect this or will we have to bring it in to the Apple Store?

You could probably do the repair either way. It is possible to phone apple (with the computer's serial number at hand) and they will send a shipping box to your home. Or you can take the laptop into the Apple Store, but I think this takes a little longer because you have to take it there, then they start the process. Instead of just starting it yourself now.

[stereo144]

I had the same problem. I called Apple on the 27th, the box got to my house on the 28th, PowerBook got to repair center on the 29th, and I got it back yesterday (30th). I would definitely do the mail-in repair.

[userinterface]

After 3 switched out powerbooks I became fed up, I pulled out the logic board, and over a couple of weeks My engineer friend (EE) and I looked over the board. The design appears to be flawed. There is two resistors and a capacitor and a transistor on the same circuit nearby. It appears for all purposes that the transistor is failing, because it's poorly made and too close to the amount of power it can handle.

[Bean]

Some of you might want to know that Apple has finally recalled some of these machines. Unfortunately for me, my machine is just outside of those being recalled. Hopefully this will help some of you, and hopefully Apple will recall all the machines affected.

[SonOfSylvanus]

Recognition, at last. But my PowerBook is a Rev A (don't laugh) from September 2003 (remember those halcyon days of aluminium PB15" excitement?)...

Sigh. I hope, too, that Apple recalls all of the machines affected. Thanks for the heads-up, Bean. I'm a little more optimistic now...

[squishles]

Thought I'd jump in with my disaster since I found this thread- it's old but so is my PB and it just died on me. I had kernel panic after kernel panic when I was using a browser, any browser. About every 5 minutes. I reset the PRAM, NVRAM, PMU, helped for a day, then it started again. At first I had the 12 languages kernel panic, then it switched to the one above with the lines of code. Then from the other room I hear this weird beeping noise.

Turns out the harddrive was then fried. I figured out it was probably the memory slot and it probably fried the harddrive so I run it to the Apple Store. They say they will replace the motherboard but the harddrive isn't under the extended warranty (no Apple Care) unless Apple happens to decide it was caused by the motherboard. I managed not to yell at the guy but asked him if he really thought it was a coincidence they failed within 36 hours of each other and he said yeah it could be. *rolls eyes* PB is away at Apple and 3 days later comes back with a new motherboard and harddrive, all for free. THIS is why I keep buying Apple products. I figured I was in for some nasty phone calls, but no, they just fixed it. Even sent me a new copy of Tiger.

But heads up, the warranty is for 2 years after the purchase date- I bought mine 1 year and 11 months ago and I use it a LOT every day. I bet there are more to fail. In case you're wondering, so installs of any kind around the failure, software or hardware. Just broke. :-(

[Wraven]

Originally Posted by squishles But heads up, the warranty is for 2 years after the purchase date- I bought mine 1 year and 11 months ago and I use it a LOT every day. I bet there are more to fail. In case you're wondering, so installs of any kind around the failure, software or hardware. Just broke. :-(

Last two sentences no verbs. ??

Seriously though, if you could explain what you mean in the last two sentences I would appreciate it (as I have a 1 year old PowerBook and am interested in this discussion). Thanks!

[Brad]

Originally Posted by squishles But heads up, the warranty is for 2 years after the purchase date

The standard warranty for all Apple machines is one full year from the original date of purchase.

If you buy AppleCare within that year, it extends the warranty by an additional two years, bringing coverage to a full three years from the original date of purchase.

FYI.

[SpecMode]

Originally Posted by Wraven Last two sentences no verbs. ?? Seriously though, if you could explain what you mean in the last two sentences I would appreciate it (as I have a 1 year old PowerBook and am interested in this discussion). Thanks!

I think he meant 'no installs', as in she hadn't made any hardware/software changes leading up to the problem.

[Wraven]

Originally Posted by SpecMode I think he meant 'no installs', as in she hadn't made any hardware/software changes leading up to the problem.

I think you're right. Thanks Spec!

[squishles]

Yeah sorry- no installs. And another update- got it home, ran through the Tiger install, started downloading installs off Software Update, didn't work at first but kept trying and it worked finally and then kernel panic. Restarted, redownloaded, kernel panic. Copied some backed up data over (no downloading this time), kernel panic. Ran Hardware test, same error as last time- lower memory slot is bad. It's been less than 24 hours since I got it back. Seriously...

Now all I have is the grey startup screen with the Apple on it and it goes to blue- Hardware test at least still sees the harddrive this time so that's not gone yet. Back to the Apple Store tonight.

Apparently it only works when they give it back to you if you don't touch it. :-\

Also- I don't have Apple Care- the warranty that is two years after the purchase date if for the Memory Slot Failure ONLY. Original warranty is one year, memory slots are extended to 2 years, Apple Care will extend you to three years on everything. Hope I cleared that up.

[drewprops]

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!
My Powerbook's lower RAM slot died again.... not sure how long it's been gone...

Just shot off a message to my authorized Apple repair guys and will find out where I stand on Monday. Naturally, I harbor the fanboy hope that Apple will just say "heeeeere, have a new Macbook Pro".... which is silly, but fun.

.