Is my MBP dying?

[TheCookie]

Symptoms:
--Keyboard and trackpad intermittently stop responding. Sleeping the machine briefly brings them back. (Unpredictable, has happened almost as long as I've had it)

--Built-in iSight camera is not recognized by any program that uses it. Green light never comes on, and PhotoBooth, etc. think no camera is attached. (Since Sunday)

--Magsafe power adapter is not charging the battery. No LED lights on the adapter, and the battery indicator in the toolbar says "(Not Charging)." It is, however, providing power to keep the machine going. (Since this morning)

My research indicates:
--The keyboard/trackpad issue should just require a new topcase.
--The camera issue could be a logic board problem or a frayed wire.
--The power issues could be a bad battery, or a logic board problem.

Conclusions?
Do you think I have a bad logic board?
Do you think I'll need to send it out to be repaired?

I'm a law student with exams starting in two weeks. I canNOT go even a few days without my computer right now. Any advice/etc. would be helpful.

I am going to the Apple Store this afternoon to get it looked at, but would like an idea of what I'm facing before I go. Thanks!

 

[mbpnewbie]

Symptoms:
--Keyboard and trackpad intermittently stop responding. Sleeping the machine briefly brings them back. (Unpredictable, has happened almost as long as I've had it)

--Built-in iSight camera is not recognized by any program that uses it. Green light never comes on, and PhotoBooth, etc. think no camera is attached. (Since Sunday)

--Magsafe power adapter is not charging the battery. No LED lights on the adapter, and the battery indicator in the toolbar says "(Not Charging)." It is, however, providing power to keep the machine going. (Since this morning)

My research indicates:
--The keyboard/trackpad issue should just require a new topcase.
--The camera issue could be a logic board problem or a frayed wire.
--The power issues could be a bad battery, or a logic board problem.

Conclusions?
Do you think I have a bad logic board?
Do you think I'll need to send it out to be repaired?

I'm a law student with exams starting in two weeks. I canNOT go even a few days without my computer right now. Any advice/etc. would be helpful.

I am going to the Apple Store this afternoon to get it looked at, but would like an idea of what I'm facing before I go. Thanks!

Hate to sound like a dick, but you WILL have to go without your computer while apple fixes the issues... either that or wait until exams are finished

 

[204353]

My old MacBook Pro was in the store for less that 24 hours for a logic board/casing replacement.

My current one has been in the shop nearly a week for a logic board replacement. In other words, you might get lucky and only be away from it for a day, or you could be stuffed for a week or more.

If you have can live with the problem, wait it out until exams are over.

 

[barkomatic]

I had the exact issue you described with the camera not being recognized. In my case, it turned out the logic board indeed had to be replaced and it took a week to get it back. Thank God it happened while I was still under Applecare.

 

[youssefm]

Have you tried resetting the SMC?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411

 

[Ibanez Strummer]

--Magsafe power adapter is not charging the battery. No LED lights on the adapter, and the battery indicator in the toolbar says "(Not Charging)." It is, however, providing power to keep the machine going. (Since this morning)

Hey, I had a similar problem with my macbook last year. If you check where the magsafe connects to the computer, there should be four pins all in line with each other. On mine, the two ends had receeded which gave it enough power to run off, but not charge. I rang up applecare and received a replacement in two days. If they are all in line and sticking out, then yours must have a different cause.

 

[TheCookie]

Hate to sound like a dick, but you WILL have to go without your computer while apple fixes the issues... either that or wait until exams are finished

I'm okay with that, but I can't do it right now. I was just trying to figure out whether that was likely, so I could sort out a plan to get by in the meantime.

I plan to wait until finals are over, but wasn't sure I'd have that option if failure was imminent.

So they gave me a new magsafe adapter, as it appears it was bad. They also said that the topcase would need to be replaced to fix the camera, but gave me no indication of what the cause of failure was. I'll need to send it away to do that, and will do so after finals.

They had no idea why my keyboard and trackpad fail, and since I haven't figured out when it happens yet, I couldn't replicate it. So they made a note to test the machine when it goes out to maybe diagnose the problem.

So I can live with it for a month or so, and then I'll give it up for a week. Not a terrible outcome, all things considered.

Thanks for the input, everybody!