Macbook won't start up

Borneo Fnctn

Okay, I've got a white macbook 2.2ghz on 10.5.6.

A few weeks ago I tried to turn it on from sleep and it wouldn't boot up. The backlight on the screen didn't even light up. The light in the bottom corner was flashing and a violent beep came from the speakers. It's a single beep every 2 seconds or so.

I held down the power button and it turned off. When I turned it back on again, it worked. This would happen from time to time. Then it happened and no amount of turning it off would solve it. I thought it might be the ram so I opened it up and reseated the modules. This worked and I had no problems for a week or so.

Now it happened again. Tried to reseat the ram again. Didn't work. I even borrowed a stick of ram from another laptop and this didn't work. I'm starting to think it may be the ram slots. It's out of warranty by a month now.

Has anybody heard of this happening? How much would a repair cost? Any help would be very much appreciated.

~Rebel~

Call Apple and explain that its been happening for a few weeks. You might just get lucky and have an exception made. If they say no can do, ask to speak to customer relations and see if they'll at least meet you halfway on costs or something if it needs a repair. Good chance they'll agree to the logic that, even though the warranty is only a year, the machine should really be lasting longer for that price. If needs be, you can always mention that Irish Consumer law overwrites any company's policies, and that by that, you're still waaay in coverage. Odds are, they'll be more likely to help if you suggested persuing that side of things further. Main thing is be nice and reasonable, to get them on your side, as noone can logically argue that its ok for it to fail after 13months.

Usually, Apple's support are better then most for going that little bit extra to help customers.

Rb

~Rebel~ wrote: »

If needs be, you can always mention that Irish Consumer law overwrites any company's policies, and that by that, you're still waaay in coverage..

Does this actually work, out of interest?

I've a macbook which is certainly still under the manufacturers "12 month warranty", but am fully aware that according to the law brought in by the EU not so long ago, we're entitled for it to be covered by warranty for a period that you'd expect it to last on average. Given that we pay more for a better quality product (essentially), ours should be expected to last way longer than the average laptop so therefore should be at least 24-36 months, right?

Has anyone had any luck using the above?

Apple Care is supposed to be fantastic but was way out of my budget when picking the macbook up, unfortunately, so would love to know it's safe to turn around after the year is up and be able to get it sorted without costing a bomb.

Sad Professor

OP, I know this sounds stupid, but are you sure the RAM is installed correctly? It's just it's amazing how often people don't push it in fully. It has to click into place and you have to push it very hard. Don't use the levers to do this.

Re: the warranty above. It is important to differentiate between the manufacturer and the seller. The manufacturer has no obligation to help you after the 12 month warranty (or extended warranty) expires. However, if the product is faulty you are perfectly within your rights to go after the seller up to at least 2 years (possibly longer) after purchase.

Retailers will try and tell you otherwise. Irish consumer law is very murky so it's easy for them to do so.

In the case that Apple is also the seller, then you need to make this very clear to them. Applecare is still preferable imo.

Elessar

Rb wrote: »

Does this actually work, out of interest?

I've a macbook which is certainly still under the manufacturers "12 month warranty", but am fully aware that according to the law brought in by the EU not so long ago, we're entitled for it to be covered by warranty for a period that you'd expect it to last on average. Given that we pay more for a better quality product (essentially), ours should be expected to last way longer than the average laptop so therefore should be at least 24-36 months, right?

Has anyone had any luck using the above?

Apple Care is supposed to be fantastic but was way out of my budget when picking the macbook up, unfortunately, so would love to know it's safe to turn around after the year is up and be able to get it sorted without costing a bomb.

Yes, it works. And it's not an EU law, it's an Irish one. We've always had it, it's just that many people don't know enough about it.

I'd be tempted to call anyone who buys an extended warranty for electronics in this country a fool, but I can't, because I bought Applecare myself

Every case in the Small Claims Court is heard on it's own merits. If you have a reasonable expectation for a product to last longer than it did, then you have a pretty good chance of success. One member on here rang the SCC about a €1400 macbook that Apple refused to repair because it was one year out of warranty and the registrar mentioned that for that money, he would expect the laptop to last at least five years. It's really up to a judge though.

However I read that 90% of claims that go to the SCC are settled before they ever reach court. Too much hassle/cost for the company concerned. In fact, the registrar will act as a mediator and attempt to settle a dispute before it ever reaches a courtroom.

It's a shame that so many companies don't understand consumer law in this country. I can guarantee you that if you ring Apple, or Sony or anyone about a product that broke outside their guarantee they would refuse to fix it, regardless of you quoting laws to them. That's when you need to use the SCC to get their attention. Just make sure that you paid €2000 or less for it

Extended Warranties are big profit streams for companies. The margins are huge. Generally speaking, in Ireland, they are also meaningless wastes of money. Unless you get a great 5-10 year deal or similar, there is no need for them at all.

~Rebel~

Rb wrote: »

Does this actually work, out of interest?

I've a macbook which is certainly still under the manufacturers "12 month warranty", but am fully aware that according to the law brought in by the EU not so long ago, we're entitled for it to be covered by warranty for a period that you'd expect it to last on average. Given that we pay more for a better quality product (essentially), ours should be expected to last way longer than the average laptop so therefore should be at least 24-36 months, right?

Has anyone had any luck using the above?

Apple Care is supposed to be fantastic but was way out of my budget when picking the macbook up, unfortunately, so would love to know it's safe to turn around after the year is up and be able to get it sorted without costing a bomb.

Irish Consumer law actually says as long as 5 years, but in a realistic sense this sides with the customer early on in the machines life, and sways towards the manufacturer as time passes and the expectation of machine failure rises. But in something like being up to about 6 months out of warranty, the threat of legal action would usually have you get your way, as obviously a professional machine should definately be lasting for a min of 18months. After this for another year or so, you'd probably be able to wrangle either some discounts for compensation, or splitting th cost or something. One of the most important things when calling though is being reasonable and nice, though forceful in your opinion that it should be performing better. If you get the agent on your side and agreeing with your point of view, things would definitely go smoother.


Edit> Got stuck on a call during posting, but just a quick note on the above post about calling apple and quoting consumer law that they'd refuse to help. this isn't strictly true, they'll put you right through to Customer relations and at the very least keep a dialogue open to come up with a compromise. Now, if you ring and DONT mention consumer law, they'll keep schtum about it, but once it comes up they'll deal with it. To be fair to them on that side of things they can be quite good.

Borneo Fnctn

Update

I went on the apple website and typed on my serial number to check the warranty. As it turned out, it's covered for another 6 days. Brought it to mactivate today. They're sorting it out for me. I also asked them to sort out the hairline cracks. Might get given a new one considering there are 2 faults.

@ Sad Professor, thanks for the advice about the ram but it was actually a faulty logic board.

For anybody interested, a logic board costs 700 to replace. Parts + labour.

Thanks for the info regarding Irish consumer law. It's very good for anybody to be familiar with this legislation because electronics in general just aren't built to last.

Elessar

Good to hear.

Rb

Thanks a lot for the above advice!

Elessar, regarding the extended warranties offered by retailers. Unfortunately part of my current role is to flog these to people and you're absolutely right, the margin on them is enormous and is one of the key products the company I work for relies on to bring in revenue.

whiterebel

A couple of things:

1) Always ring Apple and register a case as soon as things like this happens. You have a fault registered and you find out your warranty situation. If they ask the purchase date, and its not from the AppleStore, don't be afraid to add a month or so on to it.....:rolleyes:

2) No point talking to Apple Tech support about Consumer Law, they aren't told anything about it. The people on the Customer Services phones wilt in the face of it too. I hada barrister on to me one day quoting it out the ying-yang. I tranfered him though to CS and listened in while he taught the agent, then supervisor, then manager a lesson. Got his 2 year old PowerBook replaced too. Took him about an hour though:P