I was in an apple store a while ago, with a hardware problem (my cd burner won't burn sparatically) the apple *genius* downloaded a new program and burned a cd it worked once. He said the problem was the software before and would not listen to me that it was a hardware problem. Since then I have made my macbook single boot linux, the other day I went to burn some cds one worked one didn't. At this point I am positive it's a hardware issue, can I take it in to be fixed running linux only?
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does the applestore what OS you use?
- Thread starter chris200x9
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It shouldn't matter, since they deal with non-functional computers all the time, but they'll probably reject it without a second glance.
OS X is Unix based so i dont see why you have some hardware that only works on a version of Linux?
I'm not asking them to I'm asking them to fix a HARDWARE problem while I'm on my 3 years applecare.
I don't understand what you are saying, can you please clarify? Also it was broken on OS X before I changed to linux....I just never got around to taking it in
Like I say, it shouldn't matter, but it probably will. They'll want to do all the software testing anyway.
I think you're wasting your time if you don't have OS X on your computer when you take it in.
Apple requires their staff to verify the problem you're having and if you don't have OS X installed, they aren't going to able to do that. Being able to show them you're having this problem when using Linux really isn't going to be useful to anyone since they only support the computer hardware for use with OS X.
Apple requires their staff to verify the problem you're having and if you don't have OS X installed, they aren't going to able to do that. Being able to show them you're having this problem when using Linux really isn't going to be useful to anyone since they only support the computer hardware for use with OS X.
that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard so I have to back up all my data reinstall os x from scratch (have a mbr partition table) get it fixed wipe os x redo my mbr partition table reinstall linux....all because someone failed to fix my problem to begin with?
edit: if you can't support the HARDWARE don't sell hardware.....
Yes.
If I were the tech, I would require you to install OS X also. Simply going to them and announcing that you have a hardware problem isn't going to get you very far.
If I were the tech, I would require you to install OS X also. Simply going to them and announcing that you have a hardware problem isn't going to get you very far.
Most PC manufacturers' support are going to have no idea how to support you without the original OS being on the computer for trouble-shooting. They are most likely going to go through canned steps to test, and the steps won't work with a different OS.
If, once the steps indicate a problem, they can try to help you, but since the burner works some of the time, that would indicate that the hardware does, in fact, work.
Let's try the car analogy: you buy a car, but replace the engine with one that runs on methane. Why should the mechanic know how to fix it?
The same thing would happen if you had bought a windows PC from Dell and installed Linux in place of Windows; Dell won't help you over the phone and probably not at all.
let mac os x come up with a liveCD :O problem solved, anyway I think it is hardware because half the time it *finishes* burning half the time it quits halfway through but all of the time the cd is screwed up. If it was software why would various software on mac not work and various software on linux not work? Also your car anology is not even close it's like working on a car putting a new engine in then your cd player stops working put the tech insits on you restoring the car to manufacturer settings to *verify* your cd player is broken.
edit: can we let this die, I don't want to start just trolling.
Sure, because my analogy was perfect, as all car analogies are
.You may be correct that it is hardware, however, I'll stand by the fact that the Apple folks have no reason to try to trouble-shoot a Linux installation. Your options remain your own. Good luck!
Come with no, but I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to burn a bootable copy of OS X in the past. It runs fine from a DVD.
However, you might have trouble testing disk burning while running from a DVD.
You are an arrogant person. Apple's hardware and software test methods are based on OS X. They can not repeat can not verify the problem software or hardware without running the tests on OS X first.
Their testing is absolutely their problem. You bought hardware and it's under warranty. They don't prevent or prohibit you from installing Windows/Linux on the laptop.
To make it into a car analogy - it's like buying a car, putting ice tires with steel studs on it and then taking the car into repair when the engine fails. Why should you care they can't test it on their polygon with your ice tires on it? You have a warranty on your engine and you have every right to swap tires on your car. From there on it's their problem.
To make it into a car analogy - it's like buying a car, putting ice tires with steel studs on it and then taking the car into repair when the engine fails. Why should you care they can't test it on their polygon with your ice tires on it? You have a warranty on your engine and you have every right to swap tires on your car. From there on it's their problem.
Both of the car analogies are awful. Installing alternate operating systems will not void your warranty, but computer techs always assume problems are software-related until they are able to test and determine that this is not the case. They are not in the business of supporting operating systems other than Mac OS X. Why should Apple techs provide support for an operating system they do not make? You expect them to do a fresh install of OS X themselves just to test it out?
You may go to them and say it's a hardware problem, but they will still test it first because many apparent hardware problems are actually software-based.
You may go to them and say it's a hardware problem, but they will still test it first because many apparent hardware problems are actually software-based.
The combination is what is supported, not the individual parts. They have the documented right to refuse you service if you're not running OS X.
To use an APPLE analogy, because cars have NOTHING to do with this and Apple is the ONLY thing that matters here, it's like when the Bluetooth chip in your iPhone is defective, but they deny you service because you're jailbroken.
They couldn't care less about the hardware on its own.
Nobody is asking them to support Linux. If I call their support and say I have trouble sending emails, of course they won't troubleshoot the issue if I'm using Ubuntu, because it has nothing to do with their products. But if I say that my enter key doesn't work or that my fan is very loud, the OS shouldn't matter.
I'm quite sure that even with users who have OS X installed, they don't use the installation on the machine to install their diagnostic software and do the testing. What if the machine doesn't have enough space? What if it's password-protected? What if it has some kind of software that's incompatible with their diagnostic tools?
Most bigger tech-support departments are well prepared for these situations and simply swap your hard drive or boot from an external harddrive/CD with pre-prepared software to do their testing the proper way. They can do that regardless of the OS you're currently using.
No, that's different. Yes, they are selling the combination of hardware and software, but they allow you to change some things and disallow you to change others. Adding RAM or installing a different OS on your laptop is allowed, as is installing apps and getting new earbuds for your iPhone.
Jailbreaking the iPhone means touching it the way they don't want it to be touched, you void your warranty and they won't replace it. Similarly you can void your warranty if you flash the firmware of your DVD drive, in which case they wouldn't replace it.
Installing Linux on your laptop, however, does not void the warranty. It falls into the first category, along with getting new earbuds for your iPhone. Using your analogy, they support the combination, not the parts, so by that logic they won't replace your defective iPhone if you replaced your earbuds.
Actually, yes it should. Both problems can be caused by software issues. The fan is usually hardware, but I have seen cases where fan issues are software-based as well.
How sure? Why do you think they ask for your admin password when you take it in?
Like Linux, for example?
Yes, because they're set up to support multiple operating systems.
Of course it is. All of the analogies in this thread are terrible. We are talking about computers here, not cars or iPhones.
You're being extreme, in 99% cases it would be a purely hardware issue. But regardless, think of something that is definitely a hardware issue, like a flickering screen. It would be unreasonable to deny repairs of such an issue only because the user installed a different OS. Our situation is quite similar - the user is technically capable and has determined that his issue is caused by hardware. Because it is under warranty, it should be replaced/repaired. If the tech support disagrees, they can check their theory and if it turns out to be because of software, they can deny the repair. What they shouldn't do is deny it just because of the fact he has Linux installed, because this isn't disallowed in any agreement.
Wait, what? I haven't been asked for a password by any tech support (although we don't have Apple stores in my country, so I only dealed with authorised resellers so far). What you're basically saying is that if I have touchy data on my laptop, I can't take it in for repair without letting other people access that data. Seems highly unlikely, this would mean businesses could never take their machines for repair anywhere without replacing/cleaning the drives first.
Twisting my words to avoid the answer? Tell me, what would they do if I didn't have enough space? If I had a certain app that would mess with their tools? Would they delete my files to do what they need to do? Change my configurations?
No, because they mostly solve hardware issues and need to optimize their process as much as possible.
So you just decided your own analogy is invalid, which means you canceled the argument that supported your opinion.
You need OSX to install firmware updates.
You do know OSX is UNIX? Linux is a generic UNIX-LIKE system.
If you can replicate it in OSX in store they'll replace it.
Best bet is in OSX, if you have the problem, take a screenshot and google the error #.
You do know OSX is UNIX? Linux is a generic UNIX-LIKE system.
If you can replicate it in OSX in store they'll replace it.
Best bet is in OSX, if you have the problem, take a screenshot and google the error #.