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15inch PowerBook Display Issues?

Originally posted by Icekey
I knew there wasn't a solution at the time so I just told the technician that I knew the situation and that I wanted this machine to be recommended as DOA, but won't accept a replacement until a permanent fix has been clearly found and announced by Apple.
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I wish I'd been as forthright, too english i suppose. 😉

I'm really irritated about Amsys really. The Apple guy told me it would be repaired, the Amsys people wouldn't confirm the DOA until they had examined the machine, which meant they had to collect it. then once they had, 3 days later, they told me it would be replaced and was being sent back to Apple! So I'm left with no recourse. I don''t want my money back, just a Alu 15" 1.25 PB without white spots!
 
Nah seriously, get yourself a refund and order another one. In theory, a DOA is supposed to get pushed up to the very front of the queue, but from the sounds of it it's not. If your DOA replacement gets all screwy and stuff, you might get shafted with this Abyss company or whatever. DOA can only be applied within 10 days, but if it's in transit or sitting at the store during that time, it doesn't give you enough time to find out about it. Plus, you should have been the one who gave the final decision to hand it back to Apple or not. Once it's declared DOA, the users are given an option. In your case you weren't. Try dealing with Apple directly or force that company that you're dealing with to work for you.
 
Well I've just sent an email to amsys and apple explaining exactly what's happened, and asking them to either give me a date, or give me my powerbook back until they have a new one.

I'm not hopeful, but there you go.

If I don't get a repsonse by lunchtime tommorrow, I'll ring Apple and see what they say. I must admit though, I'm very disapointed with AppleCare service. I've never needed any kind of support before, just goes to show, you can only judge a company once you've had a problem and seen how they respond. They're risking invalidating years of good will with this. Not to mention the umpteen friends, colleagues and family that have bought Apple because of my foolish evangelism.
 
It's pretty obvious to me that the white spots are from spacers behind the LCD panel. If you (gently) flex the display, the white spots get more intense.

When I come back from Singapore and Japan, I will be having my AlBook 15" repaired.

(Yes, I am going to the Apple store in Japan on December 1st!)
 
got mine back

I called Monday night. Empty shipping box was waiting for me on Tuesday when I got home from work. Dropped it off at Airborne that night. Airborne dropped the repaired Powerbook off this morning was without it for only about 36 hours. The woman at AppleCare said it might take 3 or 4 days since they've ramped up their mail-in service facilities. Mine was repaired in Houston.

New display doesn't have the blotches or dead pixels. Although I'm not going to jack with it, initial poking on the back of the display does not show ripples in the areas where they did the before. Perhaps they've changed the supports between the diplay and the case.

I'm so happy to have my Powerbook back!!
 
mine's really screwed up now

My AlBook has added a large dark area on the right side of the screen and mysterious green flashes while in sleep mode to its list of woes.

I'm glad to hear that they were able to make such a prompt repair. I'll send mine in as soon as I can. Or as soon as it finally gives up and the screen disappears in a shower of sparks.

Of course, my very terribly bad screen doesn't do anything weird when I poke on the back of it or flex it. Beyond its typical state, that is.
 
Right, my machine took longer than two weeks to show the blotches, so it isn't going to be a DOA.

What do I do now? Is there a fix? Or should I wait a bit before trying to get in touch with Apple?
 
Apple already has a fix for this problem so it's safe to go ahead and contact Apple Care. Since you're under your 1 year warranty, the least they'll do is replace the screen for you.

My DOA Alubook is going to get replaced early next week. Called up the guy at Apple Centre and he said Apple's found a fix. They've already got the new replacement screens here in Australia. The guy is just trying to confirm that the replacement powerbook will have the newer screens or not. It looks all good to me
 
Originally posted by Icekey
Apple already has a fix for this problem so it's safe to go ahead and contact Apple Care. Since you're under your 1 year warranty, the least they'll do is replace the screen for you.

My DOA Alubook is going to get replaced early next week. Called up the guy at Apple Centre and he said Apple's found a fix. They've already got the new replacement screens here in Australia. The guy is just trying to confirm that the replacement powerbook will have the newer screens or not. It looks all good to me
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Where'd you get THAT information? If it was from an Apple Tech I wouldn't take too much stock in it because they seem to tell everyone what they want to hear like their the freaking Oracle. They made an announcement regarding the issue and until they make another regarding a solution, I highly doubt they have one.
 
Apple will repair this under warranty and replace the screen (my experience - Original spots appeared after 1 week.). Screens are in limited supply so it may take 10+ business days. So far (after 2 weeks) no problems with the new screen. No dead pixels either.
 
UPDATE:

Well it's now been 1 week exactly since they picked up my spotty PowerBook. I just rang Apple as advised and spoke to a nice woman who, although very friendly, wasn't massively helpful.

She checked for me, and all she could determine was that the "order" was present, and looked like it may complete it's time at the factory today. however, it then goes to Apple HQ (whatever that means, maybe for quality checking?), before it is shipped to me.

So she said the best thing I could do is that if I haven't recieved anything by the end of next week then ring again. (which is actually what amsys told me originally, wait 2 weeks then if no PB ring again)

So at this point I'm hopeful I'll get it sometime next week, but still have no real way of knowing either way.

My laptop bag arrived today (Crumpler Base Toucher), makes me sad to look at it sitting there with nothing to put in it. 🙁
 
Originally posted by zync
Where'd you get THAT information? If it was from an Apple Tech I wouldn't take too much stock in it because they seem to tell everyone what they want to hear like their the freaking Oracle. They made an announcement regarding the issue and until they make another regarding a solution, I highly doubt they have one.
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Apple Centre technician. He doesn't work for Apple. He won't tell me that the problem is fixed unless it was. My machine is already a DOA and I'm keepng it until they find a solution. Don't be too much of a pessimist mate. Don't know how Apple works over there, but every lcd that they replace which is faulty is costing them money. There is no sending in the machine crap either. They'll tell you if the replacement lcd is in, and you take it in, and hopefully they'll give it back to you the next day. I see no reason why I would doubt him telling me that there is a fix unless you can come up with one. Cheers
 
Originally posted by Icekey
Apple Centre technician. He doesn't work for Apple. He won't tell me that the problem is fixed unless it was. My machine is already a DOA and I'm keepng it until they find a solution. Don't be too much of a pessimist mate. Don't know how Apple works over there, but every lcd that they replace which is faulty is costing them money. There is no sending in the machine crap either. They'll tell you if the replacement lcd is in, and you take it in, and hopefully they'll give it back to you the next day. I see no reason why I would doubt him telling me that there is a fix unless you can come up with one. Cheers
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I'm not a pessimist, I'm a cynic 😀 anyway....I only have one reason...Apple released a statement regarding the problem, most assuredly they'd also release a statement regarding a known fix because it'd be good PR....I also posted about the cost of these replacements screens elsewhere 🙂 it's amazing how much this could affect the costs of new apple products...considering displays can cost half as much as the computer itself, and they can't reuse them in new products even if they could fix them...
 
Beware of Ebay

Search "powerbook 15" or "powerbook 17" and you will see an obvious band of robbers lined up to steal you blind. Ridiculously low prices from people with no or little feedback, all demanding that you pay with Western Union or Paypal. My advice: no matter where they are, offer to meet them in person with cash. Not one of the illigitimate ones will respond positively to this. It's the perfect test. Buyer beware never has meant as much as when you shop for a powerbook on ebay. Why they feel mac people are perfect suckers, I have no idea. Maybe we are?
 
Re: Beware of Ebay

Originally posted by filmpro
Search "powerbook 15" or "powerbook 17" and you will see an obvious band of robbers lined up to steal you blind. Ridiculously low prices from people with no or little feedback, all demanding that you pay with Western Union or Paypal. My advice: no matter where they are, offer to meet them in person with cash. Not one of the illigitimate ones will respond positively to this. It's the perfect test. Buyer beware never has meant as much as when you shop for a powerbook on ebay. Why they feel mac people are perfect suckers, I have no idea. Maybe we are?
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Yeah, ebay is rife with fraud, so if it seems to good to be true, let it slide. you are NOT going to get a working powerbook under any circumstances for half of the list price. it just does not happen. worst of all is ebay is either unwilling or unable to police any of this so buyer beware.

Anyway, back to the laptop screen issue: Anyone else send their laptop back to apple and get back a nice new working one with no screen flaws? I've got the airborne express box sitting here and i wanna know whether or not to send my machine back. it would really burn me to have to wait 3 weeks to get it back and find out it was still jacked up.
 
Yeah i sent my PB early in October like the 17th i think, and i didnt get it back until Nov. 3, probably b/c they had to get a new batch of screens. My screen is perfect and flawless.... and i hope it will stay that way. Wish it hadnt taken so long but it was worth it. My advise is to wait until they get caught up a bit and they will replace the screens faster. (Typically takes like a week)
 
By now Apple is probably fixing all the Rev. A models but they're probably swamped.

I placed my order after they stopped 15" production, however, so I will have to wait the full three weeks until delivery while Apple builds the brand new Rev. B models :/

This, still after I changed my order from a 5400 RPM drive to a 4200 RPM.

Patience, patience...

-Craig
 
Originally posted by YakkerGuy
By now Apple is probably fixing all the Rev. A models but they're probably swamped.
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With reliable sources of information like this, it's amazing not everyone gets their news from rumour sites...
 
I was really thinking about ordering one today till. Till I heard this, do you think its safe to order one now and get one without spots?
 
Somehow I thought opening a line of discussion regarding the matter might help find a real answer. I guess I was wrong. Thank you, Odin, for so bluntly pointing out my foolish way.
 
tliptak,

There is no sure safety with 15" Powerbooks right now. It's all speculation as to what's going on with the delays.

I have mine on order and I have hope that I'll receive a pristine machine. I hope I am not proven wrong.
 
Okay so if the spacers are causing my white spots, then what is causing the dark area on the bottom center of my screen? I thought I was hallucinating at first, but it's there.

Also I think I remember seeing that the issue with non-latching lids was somehow related to bad screens. Don't see how this is so, but my screen will not latch down without a pretty solid wack, in sharp contrast with the models I've seen at the Apple store.
 
Originally posted by YakkerGuy
tliptak,

There is no sure safety with 15" Powerbooks right now. It's all speculation as to what's going on with the delays.

I have mine on order and I have hope that I'll receive a pristine machine. I hope I am not proven wrong.
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Good luck with your machine... I guess I will order mine too!
 
Originally posted by YakkerGuy
tliptak,

There is no sure safety with 15" Powerbooks right now. It's all speculation as to what's going on with the delays.

I have mine on order and I have hope that I'll receive a pristine machine. I hope I am not proven wrong.
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My was pristine lol....look Yakker, they know there's a problem so obviously they're going to fix it...when is the question....

Originally posted by quixotic
Okay so if the spacers are causing my white spots, then what is causing the dark area on the bottom center of my screen? I thought I was hallucinating at first, but it's there.

Also I think I remember seeing that the issue with non-latching lids was somehow related to bad screens. Don't see how this is so, but my screen will not latch down without a pretty solid wack, in sharp contrast with the models I've seen at the Apple store.
Click to expand...

Many of ours on this thread seem slightly black there....also there's no correlation between the latch issue and the spots as I've had no problems with my latch since day one yet after week one I noticed the spots....
 
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