Repair or get new machine?

[whistler222]

They're offering me the option?

i installed vista/osx ,and everything worked.. then it all died. blue screen, grey screen, etc.
i put in my own ram, and sold the stock ram. also a 2nd harddrive.. that's dead.

my 2nd harddrive has been replaced by Newegg.
However, optical drive still won't hold a disc to reinstall osX. Apple store says it's the optical drive that's broken!?

anyhow, the part is in, and i'm given two options.

1. repair optical drive - today OR
2. get a new machine (1.5 weeks). swap ram

what should i do?

 

[Mattww]

They're offering me the option?

i installed vista/osx ,and everything worked.. then it all died. blue screen, grey screen, etc.
i put in my own ram, and sold the stock ram. also a 2nd harddrive.. that's dead.

my 2nd harddrive has been replaced by Newegg.
However, optical drive still won't hold a disc to reinstall osX. Apple store says it's the optical drive that's broken!?

anyhow, the part is in, and i'm given two options.

1. repair optical drive - today OR
2. get a new machine (1.5 weeks). swap ram

what should i do?

If you are confident it is just the optical drive I'd go for that personally rather than have to wait for another machine. Optical drives, hard disks and Ram are almost like consumables on a Mac Pro. If it was the logic board or something more major I might wait.

 

[student_trap]

They're offering me the option?

i installed vista/osx ,and everything worked.. then it all died. blue screen, grey screen, etc.
i put in my own ram, and sold the stock ram. also a 2nd harddrive.. that's dead.

my 2nd harddrive has been replaced by Newegg.
However, optical drive still won't hold a disc to reinstall osX. Apple store says it's the optical drive that's broken!?

anyhow, the part is in, and i'm given two options.

1. repair optical drive - today OR
2. get a new machine (1.5 weeks). swap ram

what should i do?

if it is the optical drive that is broken, then id just get that repaired, and ask for compensation of some sort. However there are other factors too, such as how far away from a authorised apple repairs place you are etc etc

 

[jasonvp]

i installed vista/osx ,and everything worked.. then it all died. blue screen, grey screen, etc.

The part I emphasized would lead me to believe that it's NOT the optical drive. The optical drive should not, in any way, cause the problems you're listing here. It's an attached peripheral that's only read from/written to when you tell the OS to do so. If it's bad, the OS should say something like, "Bad Device" or somesuch. Not crash.

My suspicion, just based on these symptoms, is that you have a bad logic board, bad RAM, or perhaps a bad CPU.

I'd send it back. :-(

jas

 

[whistler222]

The part I emphasized would lead me to believe that it's NOT the optical drive. The optical drive should not, in any way, cause the problems you're listing here. It's an attached peripheral that's only read from/written to when you tell the OS to do so. If it's bad, the OS should say something like, "Bad Device" or somesuch. Not crash.

My suspicion, just based on these symptoms, is that you have a bad logic board, bad RAM, or perhaps a bad CPU.

I'd send it back. :-(

jas

good point actually. but like i said, my harddrive ALSO died, and newegg has repaired that. is it possible to get blue screen etc b/c of a bad/ticking hard drive?

i asked them to install the optical drive. and install osx.
if all is working ,i'll pick it up today.

i told them i want to reserve the right to swap a new machine.
cross finger and hope i guess

 

[jasonvp]

good point actually. but like i said, my harddrive ALSO died, and newegg has repaired that. is it possible to get blue screen etc b/c of a bad/ticking hard drive?

Absolutely. So it could have been a combination of failures, if I'm reading you correctly. Your HD dies, then your optical drive dies. Since the optical is dead, you can't reinstall OS X on a new HD.

jas

 

[whistler222]

Absolutely. So it could have been a combination of failures, if I'm reading you correctly. Your HD dies, then your optical drive dies. Since the optical is dead, you can't reinstall OS X on a new HD.

jas

yah exactly.. so i couldn't reinstall osx on the stock drive. to see if it's logic board or just HD.
combo of problems.hope it's just the optical drive and HD.
i didni't know OPTICAL drives can break?!?!

 

[miniConvert]

I'd send it back... I don't mess around with new stuff that doesn't work properly.

 

[jasonvp]

i didni't know OPTICAL drives can break?!?!

Oh sure they can. My first MacBook Pro (the original generation of Core Duos) came with a completely FUBAR'd DVD-ROM drive. I boxed it up and returned it to Apple the very first day I had it. That was certainly frustrating...

jas

 

[whistler222]

Oh sure they can. My first MacBook Pro (the original generation of Core Duos) came with a completely FUBAR'd DVD-ROM drive. I boxed it up and returned it to Apple the very first day I had it. That was certainly frustrating...

jas

OH really? that's great to hear (that it's possible, not that yours broke haha).

so now i just hope..

 

[Banacek]

SEND IT BACK!!!!!!! If there is a major problem and you do not send it back when they give you that option, they will never let you send it back past that. So if it does turn out to be the logic board, you might get a replaced logic board, but never a new machine. You spent way too much money to take that risk.


SEND IT BACK!

I know, from experience.