My slew of MBP problems. Advice?

[jhamerphoto]

So I've had my MBP for a little over a year, and over the past 6 months i've had one problem after another. It's a 2.16 dual core, 2gb ram.

Let's start with the heating issue. My CPU rarely sees temps below 60, enclosure base never below 30. That's not on my lap, just on a wooden desk. If I close it while it's warm, it doesn't wake up. Then I have to shut it down manually, and it takes at least 15 minutes to start back up.

I'm also pretty sure my firewire ports are loose, or something is wrong with them. Whenever I connect my firewire compactflash reader, i have to wiggle it around for it to be recognized. Same with my LaCie 1TB external on FW800. USB devices work just fine.

There's also spots inside my screen, as well as a small hair (eyelash?) trapped in the screen.

Being over a year old, nothing is covered by warranty, and taking it to the mac store will only run me up a bill of at least a thousand dollars. Nothing a student can afford. What can i do?!

 

[PDE]

If you bought it with a credit card, chances are your warranty is doubled through your cc xompany and they'll cover it. Call them to check!

 

[m85476585]

You could probably fix the heat issue yourself. It sounds like it needs the thermal grease reapplied.

 

[aquajet]

Firstly, reset your SMC. Click here for instructions.

If you still have wake from sleep problems, trying taking out one of your RAM modules and retest. Do the same with the other chip as well. I've seen a similar problem as this with an iMac which was due to a flakey RAM chip that seemed to work well otherwise.

Have you tried a different Firewire cable yet? Try that if you haven't.

Don't know what to tell you about the hair in your screen.

 

[jhamerphoto]

Thanks guys, I'll try some of those in the morning and let you know how they turn out.

 

[squeeks]

and use your experiences to encourage people to buy apple care, always a good idea for notebooks you plan on keeping over a year, not easy to replace parts like a desktop

 

[jhamerphoto]

Firstly, reset your SMC. Click here for instructions.

If you still have wake from sleep problems, trying taking out one of your RAM modules and retest. Do the same with the other chip as well. I've seen a similar problem as this with an iMac which was due to a flakey RAM chip that seemed to work well otherwise.

Have you tried a different Firewire cable yet? Try that if you haven't.

Don't know what to tell you about the hair in your screen.

I tried different FW cables, same problem occurs. I plugged it in via USB, and it works perfectly fine (or as great as USB can haha). Have any ideas on what to do with failing FW ports, and possibly the expense of such actions?

 

[jhamerphoto]

Well I made an appointment at an apple store for tomorrow, hopefully they can give me an affordable estimate on replacing the FW ports. As for heating, I'll look into fixing that myself.

 

[PDE]

So you didn't buy it with a credit card? If you did, they usually automatically double the manufacturer's warranty for FREE and you'd be covered. Applecare is great, but the CC companies' extended warranty is FREE for one year and cheaper than Applecare if you want to extend it beyond the second year. You don't get the phone support, but you can send it to apple for repair and VISA/MC/AMEX will pay for the repairs. IT can also be extended for a total of 4 years for much less money than applecare.

 

[jhamerphoto]

So you didn't buy it with a credit card? If you did, they usually automatically double the manufacturer's warranty for FREE and you'd be covered. Applecare is great, but the CC companies' extended warranty is FREE for one year and cheaper than Applecare if you want to extend it beyond the second year. You don't get the phone support, but you can send it to apple for repair and VISA/MC/AMEX will pay for the repairs. IT can also be extended for a total of 4 years for much less money than applecare.

only a small portion of it was paid on visa, the rest was cash/debit.

 

[jhamerphoto]

well I took it to the apple store this morning.
turns out they need to replace the whole logic board, running a minimum of $1500.
Screw that, I'm just going to get a new MBP.