Something You Should Know about OWC Upgrades....

[Macman123456]

Recently I brought my 2010 iMac in for for service with a graphics problem. A couple days later they called back and said to come pick it up and that Apple could not repair it because I had done a modification to it. The modification was to install the OWC (macsales) "Data Doubler" that replaced the optical drive with an SSD drive. The unit worked fine after I did the upgrade for months before the graphics problem. The manager said that a repair at the Apple store is a "holistic experience" and that because my Apple was no longer factory they couldn't touch it. Really....

I don't know who I'm more mad at Apple for being repair wimps or OWC for not telling me that any mods to my computer will preclude it from ever being able to be serviced at an Apple store, even out of warranty.

I know you're saying to have it serviced at a 3rd party service center. Two reasons I don't want to do that. First, I would prefer Apple to fix it since they built it and have all the correct stuff to repair it. Second I priced the part online and the price is a lot more expensive without the labor than what Apple will charge for the part and their labor as they originally quoted it to me.

So Apple hardware upgrades beware of this twist from Apple. I kicked the issue upstairs at Apple so we'll see what happens.

Flummoxed

 

[mystikjoe]

it's common knowledge that opening up your imac is going to void the warranty and apple can decide not to work on it. I'm performed the same upgrade myself on a 2010 imac to put an ssd in the place of the optical drive. what is it that your graphics card is doing currently?

 

[Macman123456]

Reply to you question.

I understand that if I performed the upgrade when it was under warranty that it would void the warranty. It was out of warranty by 4 years but by doing the upgrade Apple will now not touch it. I just wish OWC told me that I would no longer be eligible for any more Apple repairs in or out of warranty after performing the upgrade. That way I could decide and have more information whether I want to do the upgrade or not. I'm not expecting Apple to repair the CPU board in addition to the graphics board for the price of the graphics board repair. If it involves more than that I'm willing to pay the difference. It's the same thing is if you bring your car in for repair and it there's more to the repair than meets the eye you pay for the additional item. Besides there's only two boards in that thing the CPU and the graphics board. I just want Apple to repair it so I'll have a working computer once again. Now it's a $2500.00 paper weight.

Problem experiencing with the display is there's all sorts of little green blotchy blocks that randomly appear on the display. From what I've discovered in the forms it's a classic graphics board display problem.

The upgrade performed by the way really works well the iMac boots up superfast and anything that requires disk access such as working with music editing or whatever is super fast compared to using the mechanical hard drive.

Hope that answers all your questions.

 

[robgendreau]

I don't know that OWC was aware that Apple would refuse to repair something NOT under warranty and modified. Is that common for all Apple Store repairs? I wouldn't be surprised. On the one hand, I can understand that they don't wanna mess with tweaked computers since it's more time and effort sometimes to diagnose and repair the problem. But geez, can't they distinguish a display problem from a drive problem?

I've always suspected that the repair at Apple Stores is limited to just swapping in and out big components with little thought or diagnosis, basically the stuff any amateur could do.

There are Apple sanctioned repair faciilities that aren't gray market, and that have access to Apple parts. Perhaps those would be a good choice in your situation.

 

[Ray2]

If its anything like my Apple store in a large metropolitan area, all they do is send it to a local shop and it gets fixed there. I went to the shop to pick it up. Not an impressive experience. My garage is cleaner and better organized than that place. Though no issues with the fix.

 

[fastlanephil]

If its anything like my Apple store in a large metropolitan area, all they do is send it to a local shop and it gets fixed there. I went to the shop to pick it up. Not an impressive experience. My garage is cleaner and better organized than that place. Though no issues with the fix.

Apple Store techs use to just diagnose and swap out parts. I wonder if they even do that much anymore. It's probably a trip to the recycle bin.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If you read the fine print on everything you got with your iMac and everything from Apple on which you have clicked "Agree" you might find the guidelines they're using. There could also be a copy of "Mein Kampf" or "The Communist Manifesto" in there for all I know!

 

[eduardrw]

Go find an Apple Certified Repair shop. They will do the repair without the hassle of requiring the iMac to be in its original state.

 

[powerslave65]

Anything an Apple store can fix you can do yourself. Take out all the expensive stuff put it back to factory specs with used parts patch it up and sell it before it breaks again.

 

[Macman123456]

Complete iMac Graphics Problem Post Start To Finish

Recently I brought my 2010 iMac in for service to the Apple Store in Deer Park, Illinois with a graphics problem. A couple days later they called me back and told me to come pick it up. They said that Apple could not repair it because I had done a modification to it. The modification was to install the OWC (macsales) "Data Doubler" that replaced the optical drive with an SSD drive. The unit worked fine after I did the upgrade for months before the graphics problem. The problem I was experiencing with the display is there's all sorts of little green blotchy blocks that randomly appear on the display. From what I've discovered in the forms it's a classic graphics board display problem. The manager said that a repair at the Apple store is a "holistic experience" and that because my Apple had been modified and was no longer “factory” and they couldn't touch it. Really.... I understand that if I had performed the upgrade when it was under warranty that it would voided my warranty. It was out of warranty by 4 years!

I don't know who I'm more mad at Apple for being repair wimps or OWC for not telling me that any mods to my computer will preclude me from ever being able to have my Apple serviced at an Apple store, even out of warranty. I'm not expecting Apple to repair the CPU board in addition to the graphics board for the price of the graphics board repair. If it involves more than that I'm willing to pay the difference. It's the same thing is if you bring your car in for repair and it there's more to the repair than meets the eye you pay for the additional item. Besides there's only two boards in that thing the CPU and the graphics board. I just want Apple to repair it so I'll have a working computer once again.

I then found a great 3rd party computer repair service in the Chicagoland called Lapin Systems. These guys were great and in particular Peter. Unlike Apple they had the courage to do the repair. The repair cost more than the Apple Store had quoted me for the same work which seemed strange since usually with cars going to the manufacture costs more than the third party. Apple must subsidize the repairs since the labor rate at Apple was only $40 vs. $150 at Lapin. Regardless I was happy to get it repaired. Fortunately my iMac repair was cheaper since it has a separate graphics board unlike the newer iMacs that have the graphics integrated on the main board. From talking to others it seems many iMacs of my vintage and older are experiencing graphics failures. I was always concerned how hot my iMac was when I touched the top of it. I mentioned this to Apple many times and they said not to worry. I think they were wrong since in any electronic device, heat is the worst enemy. I have since found a great shareware utility called SMC fan control. Basically the program lets you manually control the fan speed of the 3 fans in the iMac. I don’t mind having the fans a bit louder to exhaust the extreme heat in the iMac resulting in a much cooler iMac. Hopefully my iMac will now run trouble free for many more years to come.