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I'm going to leave my rMBP with Genius Bar for a day, anything I should do?

S

StuMcBill

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 11, 2011
654
82
Aberdeen, Scotland
My Retina Macbook Pro has a recurring issue, when I connect a USB device, the Keyboard and Trackpad sometimes stops responding for up to 5 seconds.

I took it to the Genius Bar today, and the initial tests revealed nothing wrong, but he said they could take it in for a more thorough test, and it would take about 24 hours.

So I am going to backup my Mac with Time Machine (on an external Hard Drive). Is there anything else I should do before dropping it off? I might remove the Mavericks .dmg that is in my downloads! :D

Thanks

Stewart
 
I would just make sure you have everything backed up before you give it to the Genius. They may have to replace it so just make sure everything is backed up properly and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
 
I don't like Time Machine as a sole backup choice, I've seen too many botched restores. I prefer a testable, bootable clone PLUS Time Machine.
 
I am running Carbon Copy Cloner as I type......however, I think I have just solved the problem.

Seems to have been caused by Android File Transfer! :mad:
 
Given some of the reported privacy abuses that have been happening at Apple Stores when people turn over their laptops, I would make sure you have a clean and functional back up AND do a clean reinstall without any of your data after a 1 pass secure erase on your HD.


___
 
StuMcBill said:
I am running Carbon Copy Cloner as I type......however, I think I have just solved the problem.

Seems to have been caused by Android File Transfer! :mad:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that info! I have also been noticing that my trackpad doesn't respond for a few seconds after I connect a USB device. I also have Android File Transfer installed, but I never would have made the connection.

I notice that even when I'm not running the app, there is an "Android File Transfer Agent" process running. Sure enough, killing that process cured my problem! Did you solve your problem by completely removing the app, or by just removing that agent from the System Preferences/Users & Groups/"Login Items"?
 
KevinC867 said:
Thanks for that info! I have also been noticing that my trackpad doesn't respond for a few seconds after I connect a USB device. I also have Android File Transfer installed, but I never would have made the connection.

I notice that even when I'm not running the app, there is an "Android File Transfer Agent" process running. Sure enough, killing that process cured my problem! Did you solve your problem by completely removing the app, or by just removing that agent from the System Preferences/Users & Groups/"Login Items"?
Click to expand...

Wow! I also found that killing the Android agent solved another chronic problem I have been having. I always ran into some kind of conflict when I connected my USB 3.0 to gigabit Ethernet adapter. Now it works like a charm.

Thanks again!
 
StuMcBill said:
My Retina Macbook Pro has a recurring issue, when I connect a USB device, the Keyboard and Trackpad sometimes stops responding for up to 5 seconds.

I took it to the Genius Bar today, and the initial tests revealed nothing wrong, but he said they could take it in for a more thorough test, and it would take about 24 hours.

So I am going to backup my Mac with Time Machine (on an external Hard Drive). Is there anything else I should do before dropping it off? I might remove the Mavericks .dmg that is in my downloads! :D

Thanks

Stewart
Click to expand...

Hmmm, maybe my problem is same with u.
btw, when I'm using a USB mouse and computer going to sleep and then I'm using again, the usb always idle, must be "plug in" again. anybody same problem? huahaha.

I dont know, the problem is USB Mouse or my retina MBP :(

FYI : USB mouse wireless
 
NewishMacGuy said:
Given some of the reported privacy abuses that have been happening at Apple Stores when people turn over their laptops, I would make sure you have a clean and functional back up AND do a clean reinstall without any of your data after a 1 pass secure erase on your HD.


___
Click to expand...

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but didn't want to make a new one. Those Gizmodo articles were an awesome read. Aside from breaking stuff, I was not surprised by the other stuff. If you're a Genius servicing an attractive girls computer, of course you're going to scour the hard drive for NSFW content.

Anyways, is your approach the best/most convenient method of protecting your private data when getting your computer serviced by Apple?

Would it be feasible to just create a new dummy admin account and just let them access that? Or will they be able to access the regular account anyways?
 
tgi said:
Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but didn't want to make a new one. Those Gizmodo articles were an awesome read. Aside from breaking stuff, I was not surprised by the other stuff. If you're a Genius servicing an attractive girls computer, of course you're going to scour the hard drive for NSFW content.

Anyways, is your approach the best/most convenient method of protecting your private data when getting your computer serviced by Apple?

Would it be feasible to just create a new dummy admin account and just let them access that? Or will they be able to access the regular account anyways?
Click to expand...

Once someone has physical access to your computer, they can pretty much do what they want. If they need to boot the computer to do tests, secure wipe and reinstall is the best way.
 
tgi said:
Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but didn't want to make a new one. Those Gizmodo articles were an awesome read. Aside from breaking stuff, I was not surprised by the other stuff. If you're a Genius servicing an attractive girls computer, of course you're going to scour the hard drive for NSFW content.

Anyways, is your approach the best/most convenient method of protecting your private data when getting your computer serviced by Apple?

Would it be feasible to just create a new dummy admin account and just let them access that? Or will they be able to access the regular account anyways?
Click to expand...

With the newer machines having the recovery partition, it takes about 30 seconds to reset your admin PW from recovery. If you have sensitive data on there, I would wipe it and restore from a Time Machine backup when you get the machine back.
 
Time machine backup as well as a bootable clone, either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper.

I would hardly call these people Genius's though. They only follow a script and half of them don't know what they are doing half the time. Apple should just call them Junior Technicians!
 
tgi said:
Anyways, is your approach the best/most convenient method of protecting your private data when getting your computer serviced by Apple?
Click to expand...

Under the circumstances, yes.

In the future though, I would recommend enabling FileVault on your system. Not only does this help secure your information should your laptop ever get stolen, but if you ever have to bring your macbook in for service to anyone, all that would be needed is to boot into recovery mode, a quick format, and reinstall the base OS without FileVault enabled. Without the decryption keys, they can scour the drive's free space all they want and find only gibberish.


Would it be feasible to just create a new dummy admin account and just let them access that? Or will they be able to access the regular account anyways?
Click to expand...

All they need is a boot disk, or to boot from recovery and enable the root password, and then they can get into any files they want on an unencrypted filesystem. So no, the dummy account wouldn't be enough.
 
NewishMacGuy said:
Given some of the reported privacy abuses that have been happening at Apple Stores when people turn over their laptops, I would make sure you have a clean and functional back up AND do a clean reinstall without any of your data after a 1 pass secure erase on your HD.


___
Click to expand...

just clicked on ur link. Holy ****...

i certainly hope that gizmodo was exaggerating a bit. but the apple store where i get repairs done are very nice people...
 
NewishMacGuy said:
Given some of the reported privacy abuses that have been happening at Apple Stores when people turn over their laptops, I would make sure you have a clean and functional back up AND do a clean reinstall without any of your data after a 1 pass secure erase on your HD.


___
Click to expand...

To keep them happy and save everyone some time, hand them photocopies of your credit cards, checking & other banking info, along with your social security number. It's faster for them that way. :eek:
 
CHMK said:
just clicked on ur link. Holy ****...

i certainly hope that gizmodo was exaggerating a bit. but the apple store where i get repairs done are very nice people...
Click to expand...

I doubt there was any exaggerating unless it was coming directly from the former Apple employees. A lot of that stuff isn't surprising though. You can never be too sure nowadays.
 
tgi said:
I doubt there was any exaggerating unless it was coming directly from the former Apple employees. A lot of that stuff isn't surprising though. You can never be too sure nowadays.
Click to expand...

it WAS coming directly from former employees...
 
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