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$8000 Mac DOA...Valentines Day Massacre

MrPDaddyHimself

MrPDaddyHimself

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 8, 2008
137
0
Ughh...My 3.2 arrived yesterday after being shipped on Valentines Day. I could actually feel the love. Set it up, went to start up the bad boy and bam, wouldn't boot up. Flashing Question Mark. It didn't see any drives at first. Unplugged the power and cables in order to reset SMC. Still wouldn't boot. Booted off system disc only to find it wasn't seeing Bay 1 at all. Swapped out drives in Bay 2 with Bay 1 and the OS started up. So, evidently there is a hardware issue. Could possibly be RAID I guess but everything points to a problem with the Bay itself. Apple is sending me FedEx labels. I get to send it back and wait some more for another shot at my dream machine. I'm exhausted from waiting only to be disappointed by a machine that was clearly faulty and could have been determined before it shipped. Oh yeah...the 8800 was covered in dust. As if it had been sitting in there for months. I am optimistic about my second one. I believe this one is being shipped to the Apple Engineers for dissection. Let's hope my donation to science helps better those of you who intend on purchasing future machines. Arghhhh....more watching mac forum threads for weeks on end. But I still love Apple and their products despite this experience. No, I'm not dumb.

3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
Ughh...My 3.2 arrived yesterday after being shipped on Valentines Day. I could actually feel the love. Set it up, went to start up the bad boy and bam, wouldn't boot up. Flashing Question Mark. It didn't see any drives at first. Unplugged the power and cables in order to reset SMC. Still wouldn't boot. Booted off system disc only to find it wasn't seeing Bay 1 at all. Swapped out drives in Bay 2 with Bay 1 and the OS started up. So, evidently there is a hardware issue. Could possibly be RAID I guess but everything points to a problem with the Bay itself. Apple is sending me FedEx labels. I get to send it back and wait some more for another shot at my dream machine. I'm exhausted from waiting only to be disappointed by a machine that was clearly faulty and could have been determined before it shipped. Oh yeah...the 8800 was covered in dust. As if it had been sitting in there for months. I am optimistic about my second one. I believe this one is being shipped to the Apple Engineers for dissection. Let's hope my donation to science helps better those of you who intend on purchasing future machines. Arghhhh....more watching mac forum threads for weeks on end. But I still love Apple and their products despite this experience. No, I'm not dumb.

3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

Dude, I'd effin flip! To wait that long to only be teased. Sorry to hear that man.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
Ughh...My 3.2 arrived yesterday after being shipped on Valentines Day. I could actually feel the love. Set it up, went to start up the bad boy and bam, wouldn't boot up. Flashing Question Mark. It didn't see any drives at first. Unplugged the power and cables in order to reset SMC. Still wouldn't boot. Booted off system disc only to find it wasn't seeing Bay 1 at all. Swapped out drives in Bay 2 with Bay 1 and the OS started up. So, evidently there is a hardware issue. Could possibly be RAID I guess but everything points to a problem with the Bay itself. Apple is sending me FedEx labels. I get to send it back and wait some more for another shot at my dream machine. I'm exhausted from waiting only to be disappointed by a machine that was clearly faulty and could have been determined before it shipped. Oh yeah...the 8800 was covered in dust. As if it had been sitting in there for months. I am optimistic about my second one. I believe this one is being shipped to the Apple Engineers for dissection. Let's hope my donation to science helps better those of you who intend on purchasing future machines. Arghhhh....more watching mac forum threads for weeks on end. But I still love Apple and their products despite this experience. No, I'm not dumb.

3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

4 1TB drives? wow... thats like 4TB's... (Or 2TB... depending how you decide to RAID them)

but still... Im jealous... *looks at my macbook harddrive* "74Gb, 33.2Gb free" *sigh*
 
Shipping is cruel to hardware.

Having seen how our local post office handles packages, I am surprised so few arrive damaged ;)
 
maybe because so many ordered apple emsemblers are rushing to get more machines out the door faster resulting in more doa's
 
my box came from FedEx in great shape. I even commented to myself about how good it looked after shipment. Cursed myself I guess.....time to cry in many a beer.
 
Apple's quality control is apparently non-existent. That's what happens when you shift all of your resources over to the stupid iPhone.

FIX YOUR NON-EXISTENT QUALITY CONTROL, APPLE.

"It Just Works..................maybe"
 
tothelimit said:
jealous of that setup man! hope round 2 goes better. best of luck :D
Click to expand...

Thanks. Round 2 should go better. I think Apple Engineers will be giving my machine the once over before it ships so I shouldn't have problems. I'm just hating the waiting game part. You can't rush perfection though. I kind of feel like Apple announced these machines a bit early due to pressure. Obviously there are still issues that need to be worked out. I also think they're concentrating too much on the IPhone these days.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
Ughh...My 3.2 arrived yesterday after being shipped on Valentines Day. I could actually feel the love. Set it up, went to start up the bad boy and bam, wouldn't boot up. Flashing Question Mark. It didn't see any drives at first. Unplugged the power and cables in order to reset SMC. Still wouldn't boot. Booted off system disc only to find it wasn't seeing Bay 1 at all. Swapped out drives in Bay 2 with Bay 1 and the OS started up. So, evidently there is a hardware issue. Could possibly be RAID I guess but everything points to a problem with the Bay itself. Apple is sending me FedEx labels. I get to send it back and wait some more for another shot at my dream machine. I'm exhausted from waiting only to be disappointed by a machine that was clearly faulty and could have been determined before it shipped. Oh yeah...the 8800 was covered in dust. As if it had been sitting in there for months. I am optimistic about my second one. I believe this one is being shipped to the Apple Engineers for dissection. Let's hope my donation to science helps better those of you who intend on purchasing future machines. Arghhhh....more watching mac forum threads for weeks on end. But I still love Apple and their products despite this experience. No, I'm not dumb.

3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

You would think that every Mac Pro is tested to make sure it at least boots before leaving the factory. I really wonder how many Mac Pros that arrive DOA or with other problems got that way because of what they went through in the shipping process.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

My condolences - hopefully the turnaround will be quick and you'll get a new machine with no problems...

Wild-Bill said:
Apple's quality control is apparently non-existent. That's what happens when you shift all of your resources over to the stupid iPhone.

FIX YOUR NON-EXISTENT QUALITY CONTROL, APPLE.
Click to expand...

Nonsense. Apple's QC is better then average - which means it still isn't perfect. They shipped over 5 million computers last year, so assuming a 0.5% hardware failure rate (made that number up) that's still twenty-five thousand dead computers.

What do you want from them? According to most complaint threads around here, Macs should be cheaper than PCs, have the same feature content but with characteristic Apple design - and never break. Yeah, whatever. A bit unrealistic, eh?

There's nothing wrong with being upset about getting a DOA Mac - but if you blame Apple's QC you'd have to point the finger at every electronics maker out there as well...
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Apple's QC is better then average - which means it still isn't perfect. They shipped over 5 million computers last year, so assuming a 0.5% hardware failure rate (made that number up) that's still twenty-five thousand dead computers.
Click to expand...

Thanks - for me, I need this kind of perspective from time to time. I start to get all nervous (especially since my Mac Pro has yet to arrive) and when I hear of someone's who I've been waiting right along with crapping out on them I start to lose perspective. I can only imagine how disappointed Banacek is, and I'm hoping it is a small bump in the road for him and not a harbinger for all. I gotta remember, too, that for every "my MP cacked" story there are many many more that are running just fine. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself! :eek:
 
Pressure said:
Shipping is cruel to hardware.

Having seen how our local post office handles packages, I am surprised so few arrive damaged ;)
Click to expand...

True, part of my old delivery job was going into areas back where everything was sorted to carriers...I remember seeing a "fragile" box get tossed through the air. It amazes me that anything works when people get it.
 
Pressure said:
Shipping is cruel to hardware.

Having seen how our local post office handles packages, I am surprised so few arrive damaged ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a good thing they package the MP so well. When mine arrived there was a huge gouge taken out of the side of the box. No damage to the machine, though!
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
Ughh...My 3.2 arrived yesterday after being shipped on Valentines Day. I could actually feel the love. Set it up, went to start up the bad boy and bam, wouldn't boot up. Flashing Question Mark. It didn't see any drives at first. Unplugged the power and cables in order to reset SMC. Still wouldn't boot. Booted off system disc only to find it wasn't seeing Bay 1 at all. Swapped out drives in Bay 2 with Bay 1 and the OS started up. So, evidently there is a hardware issue. Could possibly be RAID I guess but everything points to a problem with the Bay itself. Apple is sending me FedEx labels. I get to send it back and wait some more for another shot at my dream machine. I'm exhausted from waiting only to be disappointed by a machine that was clearly faulty and could have been determined before it shipped. Oh yeah...the 8800 was covered in dust. As if it had been sitting in there for months. I am optimistic about my second one. I believe this one is being shipped to the Apple Engineers for dissection. Let's hope my donation to science helps better those of you who intend on purchasing future machines. Arghhhh....more watching mac forum threads for weeks on end. But I still love Apple and their products despite this experience. No, I'm not dumb.

3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

Jeez dude, you paid Apple $550 per drive when you can get them for $269 from Newegg?

I wonder, how much RAM did you pay for them to stick in there for you?
 
Are you kidding me?

MrPDaddyHimself said:
3.2 8core, 8800 Dusty GT, WiFi, RAID card, 4 1-TB drives packed and ready to Fedex back to Apple.
Click to expand...

You bought a Mac Pro with 4 TB of disk space? at $550 a pop? When you can get them from NewEgg for $250? Especially when the HD hardware is so easy to use?

Why on earth would you buy the disks from an Apple Store?
 
Standard 2GB of RAM ordered. No, that was a no brainer. The HDDs on the other hand were ordered from Apple. Why? Because I was ordering 4 1-TB drives along with Apple's RAID card. So far, its a good thing I did. I might not have been able to determine the problem otherwise. To me, an additional $800 was worth it for drives that I know will work along side their RAID card and have been tested. I've read several posts about other people having problems with their new MPs recognizing certain drives. And with TB drives, I was a little weary. Yes I know it cost me $800 to do so. But in the long run, for warranty and peace of mind, I think it was the right choice. For the record, mine shipped with Hitachi TB drives. And yes, the drives themselves seemed to be fine although I had to reset the SMC for the MP to see them through the RAID utility.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
SAnd yes, the drives themselves seemed to be fine although I had to reset the SMC for the MP to see them through the RAID utility.
Click to expand...

I may be naive, but doesn't it seem odd that you'd have to do that for something Apple installed? I mean, I can see that if I'd installed the drives myself and all, but aren't they checking for things like this before they ship? Or is having to reset the SMC (systems management control, yes?) on a brand new computer not too unreasonable?
 
tivoli2 said:
I may be naive, but doesn't it seem odd that you'd have to do that for something Apple installed? I mean, I can see that if I'd installed the drives myself and all, but aren't they checking for things like this before they ship? Or is having to reset the SMC (systems management control, yes?) on a brand new computer not too unreasonable?
Click to expand...

I personally think its unreasonable considering what I spent. I suppose something could have happened while in route forcing me to do so. I'll probably never know. You would think they are checking these out in QC before they leave but then again, my 8800 was covered in dust which makes me wonder if they even looked inside it since January 22nd when disc utility told me the machine was last updated.
 
MrPDaddyHimself said:
my box came from FedEx in great shape. I even commented to myself about how good it looked after shipment. Cursed myself I guess.....time to cry in many a beer.
Click to expand...

Man, I feel your pain.

My box came in bad shape, but the MP seems fine. Haven't used it a lot yet, but it did boot, got the new ram and hd in, updates, etc..

I know your next one will be perfect.
 
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