well it says 3 years after purchase. clearly i bought my mac pro over 3 years ago.
but mine was so bad that i already bought a replacement, and it seems i may be able to get a refund. luckily i still have the old one, and the serial does match
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Finally Acknowledges and Addresses ATI X1900 XT Issue
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
well it says 3 years after purchase. clearly i bought my mac pro over 3 years ago.
but mine was so bad that i already bought a replacement, and it seems i may be able to get a refund. luckily i still have the old one, and the serial does match
Great. My Radeon X1900 XT ceased to function about a year after I bought it. I kept the dead unit around for a few years, but eventually just threw it away. Replaced it with a GeForce 8800, which incidentally was also faulty and failed a few months ago. I was forced to replace this with an ATI Radeon 4870 which Apple charged me $200 more than the PC version would have cost, and the card isn't even fully supported on my Mac Pro.
I feel like Apple owes me some friggen money here.
That is some crappy luck. Are you using 2 PCI-e power cables? The replacement card I helped a customer get from eBay came with one, the seller claimed he'd been using it for a week in a MP tower then bought a new tower. This card has a MB of VRAM.
Can't find these 6 pin cables anywhere, only the molex to pci-e. The machine booted and worked but had a startup message about needing the second power connector. The graphics would decay if operating for very long.
Radeon was at first helpful and now the tech is claiming their stuff isn't supported on Macs unless acquired thru the Apple store. Apple removed the 4870 from stock right when we needed one.
Any ideas, anyone? Client does have the defective ATI 1900XT for now.
Went there today. Maybe I saw you there. I've been looking for a replacement for a while. I was about to put a bid on ebay and decided to make one last look online regarding the problems with the card. Came across this post at apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3420
Took my card and serial number in only to be told I had to bring the entire unit in so they could test it. Lugged the damn thing in and they didn't even hook it up. Said they would order a new card and would call. Called today. Brought the busted card in and they gave me a 8800 GX. I was happy till I saw the post saying there is a problem with it too?
The eligibility period has expired....
So, after years of me storing away my faulty, broken x1900 XT card, going in to get it fixed and being sent home multiple times with nothing being done -
I HAPPEN to miss this TINY window of opportunity (September - January 31 2011) to get my $400 reimbursed - and now I am screwed?
I scheduled an appointment at the local Apple store... "Sorry, nothing we can do -this opportunity has expired".
I speak with the manager and FIRMLY let him know that I am displeased about the situation.."Sorry nothing I can do."
I do not understand how Apple can acknowledge this issue -only to have them offer compensation for such a short period of time. How was anyone supposed to be aware of this offer - without searching through forums?? I used to spend days trying to figure a solution - but "OH NO" must have been right before this opportunity became available.
I was so excited to find that they were replacing these cards, but it seems I am yet again left in the dark.
I am surprised to have such horrible support like this, I expected more from Apple.
-Jon
So, after years of me storing away my faulty, broken x1900 XT card, going in to get it fixed and being sent home multiple times with nothing being done -
I HAPPEN to miss this TINY window of opportunity (September - January 31 2011) to get my $400 reimbursed - and now I am screwed?
I scheduled an appointment at the local Apple store... "Sorry, nothing we can do -this opportunity has expired".
I speak with the manager and FIRMLY let him know that I am displeased about the situation.."Sorry nothing I can do."
I do not understand how Apple can acknowledge this issue -only to have them offer compensation for such a short period of time. How was anyone supposed to be aware of this offer - without searching through forums?? I used to spend days trying to figure a solution - but "OH NO" must have been right before this opportunity became available.
I was so excited to find that they were replacing these cards, but it seems I am yet again left in the dark.
I am surprised to have such horrible support like this, I expected more from Apple.
-Jon
but...
...but you'll have excellent support for the *new* Apple that you buy to replace the defective one.
Apple's new thinking is that building long-lasting expandable computers is not the way to profit. In the "new think", profit comes from rapid turnover - whether it's by using defective or cheap components (like the X1900), or prematurely dropping software support (like Rosetta in 10.7).
The new boot/login sound on an Apple computer is "cha-ching!" - that's job 1.
...but you'll have excellent support for the *new* Apple that you buy to replace the defective one.
Apple's new thinking is that building long-lasting expandable computers is not the way to profit. In the "new think", profit comes from rapid turnover - whether it's by using defective or cheap components (like the X1900), or prematurely dropping software support (like Rosetta in 10.7).
The new boot/login sound on an Apple computer is "cha-ching!" - that's job 1.
Then the second sound they will be hearing will be the door slamming as smart customers leave in droves.
So it is apparently Apple's fault that you've been hiding under a rock for the last several months? don't you check on Macrumors daily along with checking the general news? damn, no wonder you're so far behind the curve.
Can you show me where Apple advertised this one, or notified owners? I have that era of a Mac Pro that I bought directly from them, and I didn't get a notice from Apple. You're chastising someone that maybe just missed a single news bit that came down on a web site. For this program, you just needed to forget to visit this site for a few days and that's it. I just don't think you have a fair standard here.
I don't think it makes sense to throw this in your argument unless you're trying to show you're being sarcastic. Apple phased out PPC in 2006, and that would have been three OS iterations prior, the Mac Pro originally included Tiger. That should have been plenty of time to get updated software. You're basically talking about supporting software that is pre-Universal Binary.
Last edited:
Yeah Apple did a horrible job of making this known to people who had those cards from that period.
I didn't even know about it until my MBP died, but I was still under the last month of my Applecare so I got everything taken care of, but I had never heard about any of this stuff up until then.
Apple certainly never tried to let anyone who had one of these cards in one of the affected time periods it was a problem.
I didn't even know about it until my MBP died, but I was still under the last month of my Applecare so I got everything taken care of, but I had never heard about any of this stuff up until then.
Apple certainly never tried to let anyone who had one of these cards in one of the affected time periods it was a problem.
Did you register your machine with Apple when you purchased it, giving them an email address at the time? If you did and they didn't notify you, then push them as you arguably have a strong case.
If you didn't then you're done for. Apple cannot leave offers like this open indefinately otherwise they have to provide for potential losses. Nor can they justify large advertising campaigns to make sure that all parties here of it. Nor would they want to.
As for the issue of them choosing the part and failing to acknowledge an issue for so long; that stinks.
Check the 10.7 threads, there are a fair number of people upset about dropping Rosetta. They have PPC software that they can't or don't want to upgrade.
Hey, it's Apple, that's the way they treat issues.
Like the government, remain in denial.
The fact that they're even doing anything at this late date is well, perhaps due to customer push back.
This is what Apple Tax buys us
Everything stayed covered up until Mr. Steve's MacPro start having problems and he called tech support. Steve Jobs getting the run around from Apple's phone support. Now would that be something?
No. I used to search the internet for hours at a time trying to find solutions - I would do this a few times every year just to see if Apple finally decided to do anything about it.
I have a MacRumors account, but only made an account in the past when searching for technical support. I didn't know that MAcRumors would post all this info - I just might check it more often now.
But no MrNomNom, I did not check it every day -for that I don't think it's fair to blame me for not being aware of the situation. Again, I happen to have missed a tiny window of opportunity, and for a typical reimbursement like this from Apple, it was way too short of a time.
@ JeffDM: Thank you for understanding.
@ jacobj: Yeah, I did register my Mac when I first purchased it. They were aware of this.
Apparently, after talking with the store manager -it seems to be an issue with ATI. They told me that it was a special offer by ATI that allowed Apple to bring in their customers to get these cards replaced for free, regardless of warranty.
I still questioned multiple times: "Tell me, how are loyal Apple customers supposed to be aware of these opportunities in the future? Because I never received a hint?"
I have been looking into getting a new computer as well -but that is besides the point.
Just a shame
-Jon