Macbook died, I cried, Zombified?

[Zaeyde]

I just got my brand new macbook in the mail today.
2.4 Ghz, 4g RAM, and 250g HDD.

I was excited.

I played around with it for about an hour, then decided to do bootcamp.

I killed it.
In two hours, I killed it.

I figured out how to boot from the disc, but when it came time to select a destination to install, there was no option.

I called applecare, crying.
The tech told me it was dead, to take it into a store.
I drove 45 minutes to the nearest store, still sniffling, and waited until it was my turn.

The staff there were very hospitable.
I told them my story, and as I recall, they didn't even look at the mac.
They told me they'd replace the hard drive, only they didn't have any in stock.
After a long phone conversation, it was decided that they would replace the laptop and were sending me shipping labels. I was getting weepy again. All I wanted was a working macbook!


I went home with my broken computer.
Got online.
Googled "Bootcamp broke my macbook."

Lo and behold, the first hit was a topic here with a user who was in an identical situation as me.

However, one of your users posted a response:
Your macbook isn't broken. Use disk utility.

I tried it.
Erased the disc.
And now I'm loading leopard on it again.
My only fear is that there's a 32 gig partition of the HDD that I won't be able to access now.
Is that true?

And have I fixed my macbook?
It's currently installing leopard.

 

[Zaeyde]

Well, I'm typing this reply from my zombified macbook!

The only thing I notice is that the hard drive shows only a 232 GB capacity with about 213 GB free.

Is that normal, or does the partition still exist?

 

[fleshman03]

Well, I'm typing this reply from my zombified macbook!

The only thing I notice is that the hard drive shows only a 232 GB capacity with about 213 GB free.

Is that normal, or does the partition still exist?

For a 250 gig hard drive, 232 gig is right. I have the same HD and that is normal.

If you are concerned with disk space, look in library->printers. Delete all the drivers for printers you never use. You can always reinstall drivers after the fact if you get a new printer with the printer's disks.

Another way to ensure more disk space is monolingual. It'll free up another 3 gigs by removing the ability of OSX to run in languages other than English. Not a bad option if all you use in English.

If you want to double check that vista is gone, run bootcamp again. If there is a windows partition on your hard drive, it'll give you an option to remove it.

 

[scienide09]

If Apple is still offering up the replacement, it can't hurt to take advantage.

Extra points for the rhyming thread title.

 

[izibo]

If Apple is still offering up the replacement, it can't hurt to take advantage.

Extra points for the rhyming thread title.

What? He has a perfectly functional MacBook and you think he should roll the dice on a refurb?

Keep what you have, it's perfect! This was a known bug and you found the solution. Case closed... it's just sad that Apple didn't even bother to check using a hardware test CD or by other means.

 

[izibo]

The only thing I notice is that the hard drive shows only a 232 GB capacity with about 213 GB free.

And, as another user posted, this is normal. This is because HD manufacturers use the definition of 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes while all operating systems operate under the definition of 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. If you ever want to check what the conversion should be, just google the following (google will automatically calculate it for you!):

250 billion bytes to gigabytes

It will tell you how many actual usable GB your computer will have based on the reported HD size (in this case, 250 GB). Note, this doesn't include the 20 GB or so that Mac OS X takes to install when you go for the full install.

 

[krye]

Repartition, reformat and reinstall.

 

[Zaeyde]

I wouldn't give it back now for a new one anyway; Ive affectionally named it Zombie and it already has sentimental vaalue. I just wish the tech guy on the phone had known the fix instead of telling me it was dead even though I begged and pleaded with him asking if there was anything he could try.

 

[James17]

I wouldn't give it back now for a new one anyway; Ive affectionally named it Zombie and it already has sentimental vaalue. I just wish the tech guy on the phone had known the fix instead of telling me it was dead even though I begged and pleaded with him asking if there was anything he could try.

Were you crying over the phone to someone from Applecare? )
And btw, you have the choice of refund or computer replacement within 14 days, offering you a new hard drive was sad.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Lucky you. Mine seem to have a death-clock that kills them at 13 months of age. Only way to prevent the death-clock I understand is to have an AppleCare code.

 

[Zaeyde]

Were you crying over the phone to someone from Applecare? )
And btw, you have the choice of refund or computer replacement within 14 days, offering you a new hard drive was sad.

Yes, yes I was. I'm not proud, but I was.

And at that point, I would have taken the hard drive just to get it home and working that day. The damn thing was 2 hours old, so a new one wouldn't have mattered. xD

 

[James17]

Yes, yes I was. I'm not proud, but I was.

And at that point, I would have taken the hard drive just to get it home and working that day. The damn thing was 2 hours old, so a new one wouldn't have mattered. xD

The only thing I can probably say is- I commend you and the reason why is if that happened to my brand new macbook I would either get a refund or replacement and not settle for any troubleshooting or new hard drives since it was only hours old and not supposed to behave like that. At least it's ok now and you can stop crying!