Black MacBook hard-drive problems...

[mini-charlie011]

I don't know how many of you have had this problem with your macbooks but I figured I would ask and see what you guys think...

I got my black macbook two years ago (in 2007) at my university's bookstore (because of the obvious discount) and was in love the second I turned it on. I didn't have any problems with it until about 6 months later when I was uploading pictures and it froze. I shut it down and restarted it only to find a blank screen with an image of a folder with a ? on it. I took it to the Apple Store and they replaced the hard drive. Ever since, the hard drive has crashed on me every 6-8 months. I'm considering just giving up and getting a whole new MacBook but I wanted to figure out why this keeps happening in hopes that I might be able to stop it from happening for a 5th time 🙁

Any ideas, comments, suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[jav6454]

I don't know how many of you have had this problem with your macbooks but I figured I would ask and see what you guys think...

I got my black macbook two years ago (in 2007) at my university's bookstore (because of the obvious discount) and was in love the second I turned it on. I didn't have any problems with it until about 6 months later when I was uploading pictures and it froze. I shut it down and restarted it only to find a blank screen with an image of a folder with a ? on it. I took it to the Apple Store and they replaced the hard drive. Ever since, the hard drive has crashed on me every 6-8 months. I'm considering just giving up and getting a whole new MacBook but I wanted to figure out why this keeps happening in hopes that I might be able to stop it from happening for a 5th time 🙁

Any ideas, comments, suggestions?

Thanks!

Call Apple Care (don't go to the Apple Store). State with them your case and tell them how hard it is for you to have this problem continuously when you know of Apple's great costumer service.

They will most likely mail you a box so that they can fix it or most likely a whole new HDD.

You see Apple Care is much more effective than an Apple Store due to the fact of shipping back and forth, so they tend to make things right the first time. Apple Stores rely on the fact that if you come in, it means you live nearby and can always come in if you have a problem, hence sometimes they have a higher screw up or repeat or problem rate.

Hope this helps

 

[iLog.Genius]

I don't know. The chances of you getting two faulty drives is pretty rare. Also, the folder w/ question mark doesn't necessarily mean it's a dead HDD, it could be corrupted file and the computer can't boot into OS X which results in that startup icon. I would try to do an Archive/Install or a fresh install and see what happens.

 

[175170]

I don't know. The chances of you getting two faulty drives is pretty rare. Also, the folder w/ question mark doesn't necessarily mean it's a dead HDD, it could be corrupted file and the computer can't boot into OS X which results in that startup icon. I would try to do an Archive/Install or a fresh install and see what happens.

I don't think the Archive and Install would help much, considering that the HD has been replaced already.
Good luck fixing it!

 

[jav6454]

I don't know. The chances of you getting two faulty drives is pretty rare. Also, the folder w/ question mark doesn't necessarily mean it's a dead HDD, it could be corrupted file and the computer can't boot into OS X which results in that startup icon. I would try to do an Archive/Install or a fresh install and see what happens.

I thought of this also, but then I read the recurrence every 6-8 months. That means its the HDD corrupting data. That or the chipset itself is sending the wrong data to write which is very unlikely thing.

 

[iLog.Genius]

I thought of this also, but then I read the recurrence every 6-8 months. That means its the HDD corrupting data. That or the chipset itself is sending the wrong data to write which is very unlikely thing.

True, in the odd occasion you have to look at user habits. I know failing HDD is more likely, but what is the user doing with the MacBook? Is it constantly mobile moving here and there? Stuff like that. Obviously having the HDD would be the simplest way to correct the problem but I just wanted to throw it out there.

 

[jav6454]

True, in the odd occasion you have to look at user habits. I know failing HDD is more likely, but what is the user doing with the MacBook? Is it constantly mobile moving here and there? Stuff like that. Obviously having the HDD would be the simplest way to correct the problem but I just wanted to throw it out there.

Touche

 

[mini-charlie011]

I thought of this also, but then I read the recurrence every 6-8 months. That means its the HDD corrupting data. That or the chipset itself is sending the wrong data to write which is very unlikely thing.

Yeah that's what I thought after the second hard drive change was exactly 6 months from the first one. I've been looking this up and it seems to be a problem with some macbooks but most people I know don't have this problem.

Also, I looked into that folder question mark thing and I know its corrupted files or missing files and when I insert the installation disk to recover these files, I will follow the start up instructions and, if I am lucky, I'll get a load screen which will usually freeze up.

The last guy who fixed my hard drive said that parts had melted on it and that it might have something to do with my fans but if thats the case, wouldn't my computer "die" more often?

 

[mini-charlie011]

True, in the odd occasion you have to look at user habits. I know failing HDD is more likely, but what is the user doing with the MacBook? Is it constantly mobile moving here and there? Stuff like that. Obviously having the HDD would be the simplest way to correct the problem but I just wanted to throw it out there.

I do use my computer a lot but I know that a benefit of having a Mac is that you can leave it on for several days at a time without having to worry about it. I usually shut it down after 5 days. I used to take my macbook to class but quickly stopped doing this and now the most movement it gets is every few months when I travel and even then it isn't getting that much abuse.