I brought my macbook (white 13 inch bought in early 2008) to a repair shop I had used in the past in order to have the screen replaced since the the inverter board was failing. My screen is nice and spiffy however... First the repair person could not get my computer to boot and claimed that my hard drive was failing. When I turned over my computer to them, it was booted up and I've had no issues that would hint the hard drive was failing. So the guy wipes the hard drive and reinstalls snow leopard (Don't worry--I use time machine). Now my airport card isn't working properly. I can only connect to the wireless when I'm standing two feet from my router, but the wireless works fine with my iPhone. The repair guys is claiming that everything on my computer is just failing at once. I'm not a hardware person so I'm having a hard time telling if this guy is full of crap and if so how to tell him that. Advice please?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Weird repairs
- Thread starter thegeekyone
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well, for someone really dense, a failed backlight could look like the machine isn't booting, and then they could jump to the conclusion that it's the hard drive. Additionally, only someone ignorant of hard drives would install an OS on a failing hard drive and consider it fixed. You do also have to disconnect the airport antenna cables in order to replace the inverter, so they may not have been reconnected correctly.
There's no telling what happened here. Even reputable repair shops have new people who don't know what they're doing, and sometimes, something slips out the door. Also, sometimes, hard drives that look fine to the user really are bad, just not in a way that's obvious quite yet. Even if this were the case, though, the fix is to replace the hard drive--not reinstall the OS. I do a facepalm every time I see someone on here recommend zeroing a drive, since that attempts to remap bad sectors on a failing drive, and if it works you need a new hard drive.
There's no telling what happened here. Even reputable repair shops have new people who don't know what they're doing, and sometimes, something slips out the door. Also, sometimes, hard drives that look fine to the user really are bad, just not in a way that's obvious quite yet. Even if this were the case, though, the fix is to replace the hard drive--not reinstall the OS. I do a facepalm every time I see someone on here recommend zeroing a drive, since that attempts to remap bad sectors on a failing drive, and if it works you need a new hard drive.
Your Airport issue sounds exactly like disconnected antennae to me. They likely need to just reconnect them. The HDD going bad could easily happen. HDDs can go bad gradually or all at once, and there's really no way to predict.
I've had the drive fail right after turning the machine back on after a screen repair.
If he turns it back off improperly because he can't see the shut down button, that's on him.
If it fails for no reason after a properly performed repair, it's not on him.
I require customers watch what I do so they can't accuse me of any misconduct towards their machine. I understand both sides.
On one hand, the customer brings in a machine that didn't have that problem, yet it has it after a screen replacement. What did I do to their machine?
On the other hand, I've done 6-15 screen replacements a day for many years, and this problem has occurred twice to my memory. So that's a couple of thousand of repairs, and two have this problem. Yes, to me, it is utter coincidence when it occurs. I have made the mistake on my own personal machines of getting hasty with shutting them down when something is malfunctioning that limits my ability to see the screen, which caused the OS install to become corrupt. I'm impatient with my own things, like the mechanic that never has a working car or plumber whose toilet never flushes. However, the statistical probability of a drive randomly failing is close if not equal to the amount of machines that have had this problem/the amount of machines I've worked on.
There's no way to tell unless you saw exactly what he did. Most techs without the experience to not break something also lack the poker face to hide from you that they broke something! If he didn't remove the top case, there's little chance he destroyed the airport card. If he followed the iBreakit.com guide, then there's a chance he did, as these guides instruct you to remove portions of the machine unnecessary to get to the LCD. Is it no networks show up, or that the card is actually dead? He could have just pinched the airport antenna wires which ride up the LCD's frame on your machine.
My theory as to why Apple charges so much for these repairs is because they expect extra trouble. LCDs don't just break. They break because people are rough on their machines, so if the LCD has sustained shock or damage, typically, everything else has as well, and is now at a premature risk of failing. I keep that in mind when I work on the machines which is why I always encourage people to take a minimalistic approach to taking the machine apart to replace or repair something, as the entire machine has seen shock & damage to get to the point of requiring a repair.
I hope this sheds some light on your situation.
If he turns it back off improperly because he can't see the shut down button, that's on him.
If it fails for no reason after a properly performed repair, it's not on him.
I require customers watch what I do so they can't accuse me of any misconduct towards their machine. I understand both sides.
On one hand, the customer brings in a machine that didn't have that problem, yet it has it after a screen replacement. What did I do to their machine?
On the other hand, I've done 6-15 screen replacements a day for many years, and this problem has occurred twice to my memory. So that's a couple of thousand of repairs, and two have this problem. Yes, to me, it is utter coincidence when it occurs. I have made the mistake on my own personal machines of getting hasty with shutting them down when something is malfunctioning that limits my ability to see the screen, which caused the OS install to become corrupt. I'm impatient with my own things, like the mechanic that never has a working car or plumber whose toilet never flushes. However, the statistical probability of a drive randomly failing is close if not equal to the amount of machines that have had this problem/the amount of machines I've worked on.
There's no way to tell unless you saw exactly what he did. Most techs without the experience to not break something also lack the poker face to hide from you that they broke something! If he didn't remove the top case, there's little chance he destroyed the airport card. If he followed the iBreakit.com guide, then there's a chance he did, as these guides instruct you to remove portions of the machine unnecessary to get to the LCD. Is it no networks show up, or that the card is actually dead? He could have just pinched the airport antenna wires which ride up the LCD's frame on your machine.
My theory as to why Apple charges so much for these repairs is because they expect extra trouble. LCDs don't just break. They break because people are rough on their machines, so if the LCD has sustained shock or damage, typically, everything else has as well, and is now at a premature risk of failing. I keep that in mind when I work on the machines which is why I always encourage people to take a minimalistic approach to taking the machine apart to replace or repair something, as the entire machine has seen shock & damage to get to the point of requiring a repair.
I hope this sheds some light on your situation.