First time to Genius Bar

[AE86Racer2K4]

So Ive had my Macbook Pro for a little over a year now and recently these problems have begun appearing:

• A small bright spot on the screen that appears to slowly be growing
• The SuperDrive refuses to accept my blank CDs and refuses to read them if I burn them on another computer
• The battery is not holding a charge. The battery will hit 50%ish of power remaining and the computer will just turn off. No safesleep

The first one isnt too big of a deal but Id like to get fixed. The second issue may be related to the problems people have been having after Apple released a bad Superdrive firmware update. The third issue is the biggest since I think it may be one of the issues that was supposed to be solved by Battery Update 1.2.

So Im taking my system to the Genius Bar on saturday. I guess the question is...what do you guys think they will do and what should I do to prepare for it? Ive never been to the genius bar before with any major issues so this is the first time for me.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[marykay9507]

make sure to make an appointment...especially on a saturday and then show up at your scheduled time!

 

[benmrii]

1) without seeing a picture I'm not sure what this is, although be prepared for it either to be a pixel anomaly (which should be replaced under warranty if it is significantly large) or for an out-of-warranty repair if it has been caused by pressure. the difference is obvious, although your description could be either.

2) probably be replacing your superdrive, although I have seen this issue caused by software problems. try repairing your permissions in Disk Utility and/or creating a new user and see if either of those things take care of the issue. if not, they should try net-booting your computer or booting it from an external drive to rule out software.

3) a battery that discharges quickly is a consumable part that is past its prime. a battery that quits while showing a relatively significant charge is faulty and, regardless of age or cycles, should be replaced if still under warranty. the only key here is to be sure you've installed the most recent updates, especially the battery updates. since you know about them, i'm assuming you have.

Aside from that the most important tip is to make an appointment through your Apple store's website and show up 5-10 minutes early. Imperative. Also, be polite. MG's deal with a lot of crap all day, and regardless of how that really loud, obnoxious @$$ seems to be getting extra help, trust me, ultimately the polite person will have the best service.

 

[AE86Racer2K4]

Ive got an Applecare extended warranty. I actually just activated it two weeks ago =D

The SuperDrive issue appears on all the user accounts and even on the XP partition of the system So Im fairly certain its the drive.

 

[benmrii]

Ive got an Applecare extended warranty. I actually just activated it two weeks ago =D

The SuperDrive issue appears on all the user accounts and even on the XP partition of the system So Im fairly certain its the drive.

sounds like it

 

[OllyW]

I guess the question is...what do you guys think they will do and what should I do to prepare for it?

I've found when taking things back, especially when you have multiple problems like you have, it is best to write the details of the faults down.

If you do this you won't forget any important details and it makes it a lot easier for the genius if everything is listed on a piece of paper.

The battery in my MBP was playing up a few weeks ago, not holding it's charge and just shutting down with no warning, so I took a few screen shots of the battery condition in System Profiler and noted how it was performing. The genius took one look at the pictures, read through my notes and fitted a new battery straight away.

 

[AE86Racer2K4]

Hmm. Would logging it using the pmset -g work as well? I have some previous experience in UNIX so Ive been piping the output to a file as a sort of "log".

Also should I drain the battery down the point where it's cutting out so that they can see what it's doing?

 

[Reflow]

I don't know about your store but Saturdays/weekend are the worst. I would try if you can take it in during the week. Usually not that busy and I think you get more one on one time. Aren’t you sure you are glad you bought apple care for all your problems.