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What's your worst technical problem with your MBP?

J

jhamerphoto

macrumors regular
Original poster
Not to discourage others from purchasing a MBP or any mac, I was wondering (for novelty purposes) what the worst problem(s) you have encountered with your MBP is/are?

Myself, I was just told at the Apple store yesterday that my Logic board needs to be replaced on my 14 month-old MBP. Running at least $1600, I decided to just wait it out for the update, and buy new.

How about you!
 
I bought my MBP first generation, and I have fixed:
Superdrive replaced 2x, new logic board, new fans, new bottom case, and new CPU. Thank god I just paid for a depot repair and all of that (minus one superdrive fix) cost me $300.
 
Worst - probably the sudden shutdowns without warning at around 30% when running on battery. Mostly when running Windows, but also occurs in OSX. Calibrating the battery doesn't help. It just means I never use it on battery, for any length of time.

Dishonorable mentions: Bulging battery. Random shutdowns (both fixed by battery replacement). Power adaptor melting through cable. Replacement adaptor cable coming loose. Crash and corrupting of PRAM when I try and adjust the brightness in Boot Camp.
 
left side of the lid doesnt close completely

Uhhh, its too fast? I dont get 10 hours battery life? Max brightness is a little too bright.
 
I made quite a long listing here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/474594/

But the two that I love the most are:

1. Dark stripes on screen. They are kind enough to appear only occasionally.

2. Very low quality of the displays.
I have had an AUO one: yellowish. Hard to use in photography, especially for b/w. The second one was likely a Samsung. Less yellowish, but weird lighting in the bottom part. Now I am waiting for the third one. The two displays were a shame, especially because they are considered one of the key features.

thistle
 
When I first got my :apple:BP, the Bluetooth functionality died in the first 24 hours. They replaced it and I've not had a single problem of any kind since then (not counting user errors/mistakes/ignorance/brain cramps!)
 
Had a graphic glitch with my SR MBP purchased in Feb 2008.

So...

.. checked it in with a 'big name' Apple certified service centre/retailer. One week passed and nothing had been done other than being left sitting on shelf. 11 days after I checked it in then it's finally ready for pick up. Upon receiving it, a list of faults are discovered:

1. Sticky latch (gone after several retries)​
2. Left a gap between the lower and top case (the part just above the SuperDrive slot)​
3. Damaged one of the screws, so it doesn't fit in properly. Screw hole seems to be worn out too.​
4. Right fan stopped working​

Brought it back for them to rectify it.. then..

5. (They) claimed the fan was working when they opened it (both iStat and Apple hardware test reported right fan had zero rpm before I bought it in).​
6. Left a 2 inch scratch on my LCD lid. 😡​
7. Graphics glitch came back​

... <insert various words when you're frustrated>... <pulls hair out>.. <bleep>..

[Incident 1-7 all happened within 24 hours upon receiving the machine!]

Gave Apple customer relations a call, brought it in an alternative Apple service centre to let them verify my claim. Took them less than 3 days to get it verified.. now waiting for a new MBP from Apple..

Will surely not be going back to that specific service centre ever again for f*ucking my machine up..😡
 
Well, the most annoying problem with mine is the keyboard. I don't care what anyone says - the MBP keyboard is not good, the MBA keyboard is much better. What really bothers me is my space bar. It used to squeak, so I had the keyboard replaced. The new one squeaked as well, so it had to be taken off and put back on again. Now it isn't level and has poor travel. Plus the left side of the machine creaks when I put my wrist on it from the first keyboard replacement 🙄
 
I have some problems when coming back from sleep. Occasionally it just won't come back. More often it seems to run slow after, and my internet connection becomes very spotty even if I haven't moved the computer.

Also the standard problem of weird striping in Safari after coming back from sleep.

And on occasion, when I clamshell it doesn't sleep. Pulled it out of my neoprene sleeve once recently and it almost burned my hand because it hadn't gone to sleep and had just been baking.

Otherwise? No complaints.
 
I have a MBP 2.4 SR. My keyboard and trackpad would occasionally stop working but come back after a few minutes. One day, they stopped working completely. I had the logic board and top case replaced, which fixed the problem, but then the keyboard backlight didn't work, which is weird since the backlight was working before even with a non-functional keyboard. They replaced the keyboard, which fixed the backlighting.

Then, a few months later, I couldn't successfully burn a DVD even with Verbatim media, so I had the optical drive replaced. I also got the battery replaced, since the MBP was shutting down with no warning.

My 1 year warranty is up at the end of the month, so I decided it was a good idea to order AppleCare, which should be here next week.

I'm almost tempted to call Apple to see if I qualify for a replacement. I've known people to get replacements after at least 3 repairs.
 
My superdrive stopped burning DVDs, but still burns CD's. I don't know whether it's toast or I need to try different brand discs. I had screen replacement twice and both had stuck pixels. I miss my original screen, it was almost perfect.
I had some bad repair experiences w/ Apple, so I wont be going to them unless something really bad happens.
 
gr8bob said:
Had a graphic glitch with my SR MBP purchased in Feb 2008.

6. Left a 2 inch scratch on my LCD lid. 😡​
:
Click to expand...

I also was left with a huge scratch on my lid after I had my MBP repaired. 😱
I didn't bother on going back, because I live 30 minutes away and it's not worth my gas.
 
paola105 said:
I also was left with a huge scratch on my lid after I had my MBP repaired. 😱
I didn't bother on going back, because I live 30 minutes way and it's not worth my gas.
Click to expand...
Well, if you can live with it, might as well get on with it then. Who knows they might end up messing up other parts of the system in the process of replacing the lid since it takes quite some steps to reach to that part.. 🙄

I was just about to apply my BSE skin after the repair.. lo and behold.. the scratch (or should I say the Apple techs) beat me to it..

But I'm happy.. Apple's sending me a new MBP after all those fiasco that I went through..😉
 
Because you said you didn't want to discourage anyone, I'll step in and say that I've had not a single hardware problem on my MPB.

I do hate that WoW runs so much better in XP than in OS X, but that's another issue...😉
 
The worst problem is that i'm on my 3rd replacement MBP and I'm still having to live with a crappy screen with yellow tint at the bottom and hiss, static and noises on the audio out

I finally just gave up and kept this last unit (even though we shouldn't have to settle for poor hardware on a computer this price) because:

- i think it's difficult to find a problem-free MBP right now suitable for doing pro work.

- i have a life, work, and family that are all infinitely more important than any computer. i don't have the time to sort through any more bad hardware issues with apple. I realized i could eat up my summer swapping and testing shoddy MBPs and it's simply not worth it. Peace and joy come first.
 
Newbie

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums and I'm not sure about where to post a question like this, But hopefully some of you could help.
I recently purchased a MBP from another student at my University. About a month later there was a posting in the school newspaper about some MBPs that came up missing from their editing offices and if anyone had any information to please come forth with it. Im almost positive that i bought stolen property considering I paid half of the retail price on a practically new computer. He also seemed to have a couple of these on hand at the time. I'm starting school again in the fall and I'm anxious about putting my Mac to good use but I'm afraid of getting caught with stolen property while connecting to the schools wireless network. Would changing my MAC address be a way around this? If not does anyone have any suggestions? Appreciate the help.
SS
 
soundsleeper said:
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums and I'm not sure about where to post a question like this, But hopefully some of you could help.
I recently purchased a MBP from another student at my University. About a month later there was a posting in the school newspaper about some MBPs that came up missing from their editing offices and if anyone had any information to please come forth with it. Im almost positive that i bought stolen property considering I paid half of the retail price on a practically new computer. He also seemed to have a couple of these on hand at the time. I'm starting school again in the fall and I'm anxious about putting my Mac to good use but I'm afraid of getting caught with stolen property while connecting to the schools wireless network. Would changing my MAC address be a way around this? If not does anyone have any suggestions? Appreciate the help.
SS
Click to expand...

You know what to do, do the right thing...
 
soundsleeper said:
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums and I'm not sure about where to post a question like this, But hopefully some of you could help.
I recently purchased a MBP from another student at my University. About a month later there was a posting in the school newspaper about some MBPs that came up missing from their editing offices and if anyone had any information to please come forth with it. Im almost positive that i bought stolen property considering I paid half of the retail price on a practically new computer. He also seemed to have a couple of these on hand at the time. I'm starting school again in the fall and I'm anxious about putting my Mac to good use but I'm afraid of getting caught with stolen property while connecting to the schools wireless network. Would changing my MAC address be a way around this? If not does anyone have any suggestions? Appreciate the help.
SS
Click to expand...


That's a problem alright!

u confess, and the owner gets it, u get a year long lawsuit with the seller, over 'does he owe u the money or not'

u don't, u get caught, and they think u just stole it (i imagine the seller gave no receipt)

or u don't do anything, and eventually the contiousness eats u alive:apple:

i'm sorry
 
With my old 2.33 which I sold:
1. Screen had to be replaced: backlight brusing.
2. Buyer called me back about the superdrive not burning...probably got that replaced too (in warranty).

The 2.4 SR I bought from the funds:
1. uneven backlight- bright hotspot in the lower center of the screen, deemed to distracting. exchanged it for a near perfect one. No problems to report.
 
The only serious problem I had was with Spaces which occurred last night. I had assigned System Preferences to Space 15 (I maxed the Spaces to 16) and then decided to reduce the spaces which OS X should have reassigned the spaces automatically. Well, it didn't for System Preferences so every time I opened System Preferences I couldn't see the window and make adjustments. After working on the issue for an hour or so I finally found a roundabout way to turn off Spaces but if I ever turned it back on I would have had the same issue again. I therefore had to do a System Restore (thank goodness for my Time Machine and Time Capsule) and now everything is back to running smoothly.
 
Above the button to open the lid the metal is popping out. It's so lame. Everytime i try and fix it with a quick knock it pops back out a day later. Of course dropping 300 bucks on applecare didn't help. They don't cover cosmetic issues even tho this is an obvious defect.
 
dissdnt said:
Above the button to open the lid the metal is popping out. It's so lame. Everytime i try and fix it with a quick knock it pops back out a day later. Of course dropping 300 bucks on applecare didn't help. They don't cover cosmetic issues even tho this is an obvious defect.
Click to expand...

I have that also! 🙁

Have you ever had yours opened (I have)? Or did it just develop over time? 😕
 
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