Third hard drive cable failure

[cubeeggs]

Hello,

My girlfriend has the 2010 13" MacBook Pro. In November, the computer stopped recognizing the hard drive so she took it to our university’s computer store and they replaced the hard drive cable. Several months later (February?), the hard drive started encountering errors, so I backed everything up (with great difficulty) and replaced the hard drive, but eventually figured out the cable was going bad so we took the computer back and they replaced it for free under Apple’s 90-day repair policy.

She took her computer in again this week because it was taking 40 minutes to boot and she just found out the hard drive cable is bad again. It’s $66.20 to repair; I think she should argue with the repair place that she already paid them to fix the problem and it’s probably still not really fixed since this is the third cable that’s failed, but I don’t know how much leeway Apple-authorized repair centers have with things like this. There is an Apple Store not too far away I tried to convince her to go to instead, but the university place already did the repair and sent her the bill. Is it possible to get Apple to comp the repair and/or replace the computer? It has one other problem that may or may not be related: one of the RAM slots doesn’t work. We put a 4 GB stick in the working slot to get back up to the original amount.

Thanks!

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Hello,

My girlfriend has the 2010 13" MacBook Pro. In November, the computer stopped recognizing the hard drive so she took it to our university’s computer store and they replaced the hard drive cable. Several months later (February?), the hard drive started encountering errors, so I backed everything up (with great difficulty) and replaced the hard drive, but eventually figured out the cable was going bad so we took the computer back and they replaced it for free under Apple’s 90-day repair policy.

She took her computer in again this week because it was taking 40 minutes to boot and she just found out the hard drive cable is bad again. It’s $66.20 to repair; I think she should argue with the repair place that she already paid them to fix the problem and it’s probably still not really fixed since this is the third cable that’s failed, but I don’t know how much leeway Apple-authorized repair centers have with things like this. There is an Apple Store not too far away I tried to convince her to go to instead, but the university place already did the repair and sent her the bill. Is it possible to get Apple to comp the repair and/or replace the computer? It has one other problem that may or may not be related: one of the RAM slots doesn’t work. We put a 4 GB stick in the working slot to get back up to the original amount.

Thanks!

Sounds like similar issues to what I've had with my 2009 MBP. I stopped dealing with my university Apple people when they couldn't find anything wrong with my computer when a sleep issue wouldn't replicate. I took it in to the Apple store not long after when it couldn't find my HDD. Then I took it to an authorized service provider a few times for hd cable replacements and a new HDD. That store recently closed, so I went back to the Apple store a month ago. They replaced yet another hd cable (I think this is #4) and the HDD. Luckily they didn't charge me anything even though I'm a year out of warranty.

If your girlfriend's machine is still under AppleCare, then she shouldn't have to pay anything. Even if she's not, the 90 day repair guarantee should cover it. Unfortunately arguing with any authorized service provider can be a pain. Bring in record of the repairs if you have them and ask to speak with the manager.

If another cable needs to be replaced, it's possible you can get lucky with Apple like I did and not have to pay. Unfortunately I was the exception, not the rule.

----------

As for the RAM issue, there's a really useful forum here: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17373732#post17373732

 

[cubeeggs]

Unfortunately, she didn’t get AppleCare, and it’s probably at about the point it would’ve expired anyway. It’s been over 90 days since the last repair so I think we either have to pay for the repair or convince someone at Apple to cover it. I think they have a policy about repairing the same issue multiple times, but I don’t know if it applies to computers not under AppleCare. It’s not a terribly expensive part but it’s kind of a serious issue since it can cause data corruption. I try to stay away from the Apple Authorized Service Providers since they’re more limited in what they can do but I don’t think my girlfriend’s learned that from experience yet. The worst story I‘ve heard is a repair shop that got robbed and gave people a really hard time about replacing their computers (but I think eventually did), apparently since the store wasn’t carrying the insurance Apple requires them to have.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Unfortunately, she didn’t get AppleCare, and it’s probably at about the point it would’ve expired anyway. It’s been over 90 days since the last repair so I think we either have to pay for the repair or convince someone at Apple to cover it. I think they have a policy about repairing the same issue multiple times, but I don’t know if it applies to computers not under AppleCare. It’s not a terribly expensive part but it’s kind of a serious issue since it can cause data corruption. I try to stay away from the Apple Authorized Service Providers since they’re more limited in what they can do but I don’t think my girlfriend’s learned that from experience yet. The worst story I‘ve heard is a repair shop that got robbed and gave people a really hard time about replacing their computers (but I think eventually did), apparently since the store wasn’t carrying the insurance Apple requires them to have.

Yeah sounds like she'll probably have to pay for the repair.

If it happens again, take it to your Apple Store. I think I fell under the multiple repairs thing and most of mine were at an authorized service provider.

Good luck! Hope she's learned her lesson about university repair shops! They're awesome for buying, but definitely not for service!

 

[cubeeggs]

Thank you for the link to the RAM thread (I just saw it). I might try loosening the screws; I know the slot worked intermittently when I first started trying to reseat the RAM but it hasn’t worked in a while, so that might be the issue.