[Transcend]

This is partially so I remember what the hell is going on for my "genius" appointment, and partially for some advice...

It seems like the HDD on my macbook pro is failing, it is about 11 months old. I have an apt. tomorrow at the apple store to drop it off for repair, however, this is where things get odd.

It refused to boot, in verbose mode it would give me a disk0s2 I/O error (default boot volume on a MBP). In target mode no other machine would recognize it, but it would boot into target mode no problem. Disk Utility failed when trying to verify the disk. It would recognize the physical drive, but only periodically recognize the partition.

DiskWarrior 4.11 was able to resurrect 99% of the drive, but could not write back to it due to a disk error, and could not repair anything due to disk errors.

I pulled my data, and used the OS cd to re-partition and re-format the volume. Ironically, that went fine, as did the reinstall (although it took in excess of 90 mins, not the typical 40). I now have a fully functioning MBP again, and the SMART drive notice has been verified the entire time (even when busted).

I have exactly 1 months left of my warranty, and have my entire career on this machine for 9 months of the year. Luckily right now it had nothing but bookmarks and address book on it. I can not have this failing in south america, slovenia or south africa.

How hard am I going to have to argue with the 'tards at the "genius" counter to replace the drive, now that it seems to be functioning. It is failing. Even Disk Warrior had lots of massive red letter warnings to replace the HDD asap.

 

[Silver]

Hmm...

The chances of getting a genius that understands that is low, I'd say. If you run Diskwarrior now does it show the disk as having errors?

I'd also tell the guy that you've been hearing clicking sounds from the hard drive lately...

 

[Transcend]

Hmm...

The chances of getting a genius that understands that is low, I'd say. If you run Diskwarrior now does it show the disk as having errors?

I'd also tell the guy that you've been hearing clicking sounds from the hard drive lately...

I'd have to agree, unfortunately. They will definitely be hearing about all of the "odd noises from that area of the palmrest". Lots of clicking, buzzing, grinding noises...

The "geniuses", and I use the term loosely, better be cooperative or we'll have issues. Not impressed after 11 months, and dying at a job for the CP/AP no less. Luckily I was a 3 hour drive from home, so booted back here to file after another photographer allowed me to use his laptop to dump photos to my backup external drive from cards.

 

[RUFUS]

Since you're on the road a lot you need to buy a laptop for your work and one for your porn. Or at least cover you keys first, probably your reason for all of the clicking, buzzing, grinding noises.

I have the same creaking, odd noises from the palm rest as well. Very annoying with the laptop on your lap and you start typing. Sounds like you are in a 100 year old steel rocking chair while sitting next to an ocean. I have yet to tighten the screws which I am assuming is the problem but that is one of a few things.

My macbook pro is starting to fizzle a little as well. I have about 1 1/2 years on it. HDD is much slower but doesn't have any of your problems yet.

What apple store are you going to? If you are around VT in the Burlington area go to small dog electronics. Apple certified store. Their techs are the bees knees and pretty quick.

 

[Transcend]

Since you're on the road a lot you need to buy a laptop for your work and one for your porn. Or at least cover you keys first, probably your reason for all of the clicking, buzzing, grinding noises.

My macbook pro is starting to fizzle a little as well. I have about 1 1/2 years on it. HDD is much slower but doesn't have any of your problems yet.

What apple store are you going to? If you are around VT in the Burlington area go to small dog electronics. Apple certified store. Their techs are the bees knees and pretty quick.

I'm going to the apple store in montreal, their flagship Canadian store. I get to argue with "geniuses" in turtlenecks who probably haven't figured out how to use FSCK_HFS yet. ugh. Kill me now.

My G4 powerbook was a workhorse for 3 years+ and STILL gets used in my shop down in the basement to this day. Not a single problem. My only complaint with it was a relatively low powered wifi antenna.

 

[RUFUS]

I'm going to the apple store in montreal, their flagship Canadian store. I get to argue with "geniuses" in turtlenecks who probably haven't figured out how to use FSCK_HFS yet. ugh. Kill me now.

My G4 powerbook was a workhorse for 3 years+ and STILL gets used in my shop down in the basement to this day. Not a single problem. My only complaint with it was a relatively low powered wifi antenna.

My 4 year old G4 is still running as well but it looks like someone continually beat it with a stick.
I would buy the new macbook pro but I HATE glossy screens. Go back to matte.
Now after derailing you thread a little, back to your discussion.

 

[-dustin]

pretty unrelated, but I love the geniuses. i dropped my iPhone and cracked the screen 2wks after buying it. Genius Mike gave me a new one, and said "I don't want to know what happened. I've got you covered."

 

[RUFUS]

Oh by the way Fraser, I know some people and I have some email addy's of some top tier Apple folk so if you don't get your situation worked out before your warranty runs out, let me know. I don't think that Steve Jobs will see his email now that he is out for a few months but I know for a personal fact that his personal assistants do, quite quickly too.

 

[Silver]

pretty unrelated, but I love the geniuses. i dropped my iPhone and cracked the screen 2wks after buying it. Genius Mike gave me a new one, and said "I don't want to know what happened. I've got you covered."

Some are good, some aren't.

I almost went over the counter at the Apple store in Costa Mesa to strangle a genius who told me flat out that I'd have to leave my laptop for 3 days while they replaced a stick of faulty ram (which I had diagnosed correctly) instead of just popping another stick in.

He also lied flat out and told me that putting in memory myself would void the warranty...

I've also had a great experience with one guy in particular at the Brea store...the problem is you can't book appointments with specific people.

 

[Transcend]

At this point, Apple itself has always treated me very well, but I always have to fight my way past the frontline idiots first. They are pretty much level 1 tech support. If you have the slightest inkling of what you are talking about, they will not be able to help you.

Reboot. Reset the NVRAM and PRAM. Run disk Utility. Oh, you should do a fresh install.

What?? Idiots.

 

[Transcend]

HDD Update: it no passes all disk utility checks with no problems. Green light all the way. Booting off the DiskWarrior DVD now. Any idea what the chances are that it was purely a corrupt data issue? Seems to hard to believe when I was getting Disk I/O errors and it would not be recognized in Target mode??

 

[Transcend]

Whelp, my worrying was unfounded.

I got there early, Genius was free. This one actually knew what I was talking about, didn't even boot the machine up ad completely took me on my word. I described the entire process I went through to get it to a working state, and that if it died on the road, I was screwed completely. He agreed I shouldn't take the chance.

It also had a weird intermittent issue of the trackpad stopping working after it went to sleep, and had to be closed and opened to get working again. Not a showstopper, but annoying. I had a piece of cardboard behind the battery which fixed this.

Anyways he saw this, knew what the problem was and I am now getting a new HDD, new Keyboard, new TrackPad and new topcase; all under warranty. All this and 24hr turnaround.

Color me impressed.

 

[RUFUS]

Whelp, my worrying was unfounded.

I got there early, Genius was free. This one actually knew what I was talking about, didn't even boot the machine up ad completely took me on my word. I described the entire process I went through to get it to a working state, and that if it died on the road, I was screwed completely. He agreed I shouldn't take the chance.

It also had a weird intermittent issue of the trackpad stopping working after it went to sleep, and had to be closed and opened to get working again. Not a showstopper, but annoying. I had a piece of cardboard behind the battery which fixed this.

Anyways he saw this, knew what the problem was and I am now getting a new HDD, new Keyboard, new TrackPad and new topcase; all under warranty. All this and 24hr turnaround.

Color me impressed.

WOW
Very impressed, good for you Fraser.
Did you get an answer on the palm rest noises? Was it just the screws?
Did you get the name of the employee? Send his name and what store he works at to Apple to let them know how good of a job he did. Apple really appreciates that.