MacBook Pro Horror

[ajaishankar]

All

I bought a 15.4" MacBook Pro May 2010 (Intel Core i7 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive)

I am currently visiting India.

Three weeks back the battery started acting flaky and not holding charge so took it to an Apple authorized service center where they replaced the battery.

A week later the machine itselkf is not booting up, again another visit to the service center - where guess what, they do NOT have a Leopard DVD they can diagnose to see if it is a hardware issue or OS issue.

Since I left the original DVDs in Dallas, I call up Apple support. They do some boot key combination troubleshooting and ask for the original dvd. Offer to get a copy shipped from Singapore which apparently would take a month to arrive!

Now another rep says I can go and purchase a retail version of Snow Leopard ($50 here) which I do so. Sticking that into the drive, it is still not booting up! By now I am a startup key expert so am sure I am trying to get it to boot from DVD.

In the verbose mode it is hanging at "Loading System\Library\Caches\com.apple.kext.caches\Startup\Extensions.mkext

Can somebody help me please if this makes any sense.

I am absolutely disgusted with the purchase. Only saving grace is all this is happening within the 1 year warranty, but now I am pretty sure I have been scared into shelling out a lot of money for the apple care protection plan to extend the "warranty"

Holding on to a beautiful looking unibody aluminum brick right now...

Ajai

 

[c7aea]

All

I bought a 15.4" MacBook Pro May 2010 (Intel Core i7 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive)

I am currently visiting India.

Three weeks back the battery started acting flaky and not holding charge so took it to an Apple authorized service center where they replaced the battery.

A week later the machine itselkf is not booting up, again another visit to the service center - where guess what, they do NOT have a Leopard DVD they can diagnose to see if it is a hardware issue or OS issue.

Since I left the original DVDs in Dallas, I call up Apple support. They do some boot key combination troubleshooting and ask for the original dvd. Offer to get a copy shipped from Singapore which apparently would take a month to arrive!

Now another rep says I can go and purchase a retail version of Snow Leopard ($50 here) which I do so. Sticking that into the drive, it is still not booting up! By now I am a startup key expert so am sure I am trying to get it to boot from DVD.

In the verbose mode it is hanging at "Loading System\Library\Caches\com.apple.kext.caches\Startup\Extensions.mkext

Can somebody help me please if this makes any sense.

I am absolutely disgusted with the purchase. Only saving grace is all this is happening within the 1 year warranty, but now I am pretty sure I have been scared into shelling out a lot of money for the apple care protection plan to extend the "warranty"

Holding on to a beautiful looking unibody aluminum brick right now...

Ajai

From what I understand, and I might be wrong, is that you can not use a disk with a different version of SL on it then the version that originally came on your computer. Maybe that is the problem.
Im sure it is frustrating especially outside the US, but like you said its all still under warrantee and apple should take care of it if its a hardware problem.

 

[mehanika]

Deleted

 

[Mr. Chewbacca]

I cannot imagine not buying applecare, its kinda dumb for the low priced items like the ipod but for a laptop its a good deal.

It can also be transferred to a new owner if you sell it. Having the warrenty will increase the resale value a lot!

 

[blevins321]

From what I understand, and I might be wrong, is that you can not use a disk with a different version of SL on it then the version that originally came on your computer. Maybe that is the problem.
Im sure it is frustrating especially outside the US, but like you said its all still under warrantee and apple should take care of it if its a hardware problem.

You can, as long as it's a newer version than it came with. He's talking about not being able to use Leopard though, in which case any version of Snow Leopard would work fine; even 10.6.0.

 

[blevins321]

OK forget my last post - I didn't notice which laptop model you were on. The models from last summer take a minimum of 10.6.3 (mine did anyway). There are two versions of the Snow Leopard retail DVD (at least here in the US). There is the initial release of 10.6.0 (no special markings on the box). There is also a re-release version containing 10.6.3 that the only indicator is a sticker on the box saying what version it is.

If the 10.6.0 version is the only one sold in India, you might be in trouble unfortunately, because you won't be able to boot from it.

 

[ajaishankar]

@blevins321 - the retail DVD I have is Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (manufactured Mar 2011) think that should work. By the way, had double checked with Apple support over the phone about compatibility with my model before buying the retail DVD.

Anyway have given the machine again to the service center, they suspect some hardware issue and said will get it fixed in a week.

Thanks

Ajai