hi I recently bought a macbook trough craigslist.. paid 900 for a macbook pro 13" 2.53 processor 4 gig memory and 500 hard drive.. only thing is the serail number on the bottom cover is different from the about this mac.... I went to apple store they said they usually go by the about this mac serial number,, what i'm worried about is this.. what if for example the hard drive thats in the macbook right now belong to another computer and was install into mines so that it woul read all the specs that i paid for.. is that possible?? according to apple store they said the serail number on the bottom belong to a much slower computer.. a 2.4 processor 250 gig hd and 2 gig memory,,, also the hard drive was corrupt.. and as you know it i didnt get the restore cds.. called apple used the bottom serial number and they send them to me however when i tried to restore from cd it didnt let me .. had to buy a new copy of snow leopard.. once it was restored i tried installing the restore cds i got a message saying i couldn access it from that drive?? who knows ,, so how can i tell whats in my computer and is there another serail number inside rather then the bottom cover??? i want to know because i need to put extended warranty, and both serial numbers are valid for additional extended warranty.. thanks in advance.. right now computer is working perfectly,,
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macbook with two serial numbers???
- Thread starter badsilver999
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I agree with the poster that said that the bottom case was probably replaced. Go with the Serial # in "about this mac". Also, while it is possible to fake system profiler information, I think it's kinda unlikely. Once you do a fresh install of the OS any faked system profiler info would be wiped out as well, so you'll know for sure then.
Yeah I tries using the restored CDs but it wouldn't let me boot from them ,, when I called apple I used the bottom serial number,, is that the reason ??? From what I understand each computer comes with a restore cd specially
MAde for them , is that true?? Does that mean I order the wrong CDs?? Or can a restore cd be used for all MacBook pro 13" regarding the specs and year ?? The CDs I received says MacBook pro 13" Mac os ,, but besides that I bought snow leopard and did a clean install ,, if there was any system fake profiler Info would that have done the trick or can only the restore CDs wipe a fake profiler info ??? Thanks in advance I would be lost without your help,,,
MAde for them , is that true?? Does that mean I order the wrong CDs?? Or can a restore cd be used for all MacBook pro 13" regarding the specs and year ?? The CDs I received says MacBook pro 13" Mac os ,, but besides that I bought snow leopard and did a clean install ,, if there was any system fake profiler Info would that have done the trick or can only the restore CDs wipe a fake profiler info ??? Thanks in advance I would be lost without your help,,,
about this Mac should be the proper serial # ... the guy probably changed the bottom case for some reason
or maybe the exact opposite.
Yes, the restore CD's are specific to each machine. You ordered the wrong ones most likely.
Don't worry. You bought a used machine that had some damage done to the bottom panel, so the seller switched it out. The serial number / hardware ids don't stay with the hard drive but the ones reported by OSX are the real ones and the only ones you should use for ordering/warranty purpose.
It is very common in the ipod/iphone scene to order replacement casings for damaged ones. Sometimes the replacement cases have no serial number sometimes they do (when they came from over dead iphones/ipods).
It is very common in the ipod/iphone scene to order replacement casings for damaged ones. Sometimes the replacement cases have no serial number sometimes they do (when they came from over dead iphones/ipods).
about this Mac should be the proper serial # ... the guy probably changed the bottom case for some reason
Yep.
I changed the top case on my 2007 Macbook so now the top case has a different serial number. But the about this mac would have the proper serial number.
Oh, and the hard drive is changed too (but you wouldn't want the original. It crashed which is why it has a new one and it crashed a month after the warranty expired so having the serial number match wouldn't have helped anyways. The new one is bigger anyways).
the whole obseccion with the serial number is that the warranty is about to expired ,, the one one baout this mas that is ,, and before i extend it i want to make sure i added it to the correct one .. thing is that sometimes it goes to sleep while im using it,, i went to apple store ,, they say all hardware issues are ok ,, it must be software related so that means i need to order correct cds again.. well thankyou all for your help and advice..