2006 Macbook Pro 17"- Power and battery problems in the last few months...

[deijmaster]

2006 Macbook Pro 17 inch - Weird power problems in the last months...

For the past 34 months (since 2006) I’ve been the owner of a Macbook Pro 17 inch (2.16ghz, 2 gig’s or RAM, 7200 RPM disk, etc.) laptop covered under Applecare from the get go.

Up to month 24, most of my experience has been very acceptable. OK, Leopard hasn’t been without it’s glitches (not as stable as 10.4 in my mind), but generally both hardware and software has been good.

Just to make things clear right from the start, my Macbook is a working machine. It is a machine which I use day in day out as a security expert. This laptop has never seen the ground, is in perfect condition and has always been taken car of; maybe more than my wife.. ; )

On this note, I’ve been living weird power problems (battery, usage and charge related) since the last 10 months, for which I, the Apple Store neer my home and Apple still have no explanation.

• Batterie not being seen in the OS;
• Batterie not charging;
• Charging times ranging from ten’s of minutes to hours;
• Overheating of the laptop;
• And more...

Simply put, in the last 9 to 10 months I’ve went through 3 batteries, a new logic-board, a new 85 watt power adapter and a bunch of kernel panics (maybe leopard related?).

To my greatest surprise, my last call to Applecare (last night) resulted in another, yes another visit to the Apple Store still with no clear solution onsite, just another batterie swap??? I may be not a electronic specialist, an engineer or a rocket scientist, but this can’t be real, right?

After an hour discussion with Apple’s client relation (adding another call to Apple Care this afternoon), they still believe that the problem is battery related... Please keep in mind that my applecare ends this may and that at this point I’m going trough a battery every 5 to 6 weeks in the past 5 months; crazy.

Can anyone help me in understanding this situation, especially that Apple Customer Relation was of no help in trying to solve my problem. I’m not Steve Jobs, but still this original purchase of a flagship product ran me more than 3600 hundred bucks... Adding to that a bunch of other apple products purchased ranging from imac’s, iphone’s, macbook’s and more?

Has Apple lost touch with it’s core clients? Should I even consider buying another Apple product to replace this overvalued macbook pro?

Anyone?

 

[iLog.Genius]

That's unfortunate. I'm surprised they even sent you 5 batteries. First one you get, defective fine, but getting another one after that and then 3 more? They should've stopped after 2 or 3 and gone through other troubleshooting procedures obviously at this point it isn't a battery problem.

From what you describe, it just might be the logic board that has become defective.

Even with you nearing the end of your third year, I'm surprised Apple hasn't offered you a replacement.

I'd keep calling back and bugging them about it because it is near the end of AppleCare and you need to get whatever the problem is fix ASAP before it becomes costly.

 

[deijmaster]

Calling back and back and back...

Your are totally on the money, I have been calling and will call again, after a couple of hours I still have a not charging battery...

So counting all in all this is my 5th batterie in less than 5 months. I guess I will use a Dell laptop for now (work related intervention tonight).

I just hate to have to deal with a Windows Vista (or 7) laptop to do my job. Life without a terminal and capability to SSH and more on the fly is just not the same.

Thanks for the advice, will be bugging applecare once more... Let's see the result, will comeback with whatever happens in the next few days. In your mind, would apple give me a refurbished unit or a new mackbook pro 17 (just curious)?

Thanks again.

 

[deijmaster]

Macbook pro left at the Apple Store.

Well things aren't going good today, afte another visit to the apple store, they told me that they can't help me at the moment and will need to take a closer look at the machine.

Here's the twist, because it is a CTO custom order from the apple site, they can't swap the machine in store so they will have to send directly to an Apple center to either get it fixed or to get it replaced.

Wow, after all this time, they finally seem to want a swap but can't go through with it... insane. I feel my IQ has fell dramatically today. Good thing I have at least 30, I still have a couple of days before turning into a vegetable.

; )