OS X 10.5.3 murdered my Macbook Pro!
Machinery breaks down, it’s a fact of life, but it was Apple’s latest update to OS X (10.5.3) that murdered my Macbook Pro. I tried asking for help from the official forums several days ago, but the prairie winds can still be heard blowing through the support request topic I created. Not one response.
I checked through other ‘Macbook Pro dark screen/black screen/died after software update’ posts, not all but a fair few coming after people had attempted 10.5.3 updates, and tried some of the solutions offered by other Apple customers. I could find no acknowledgement from Apple that it’s screwed up with its own hardware and software interactions—again—or when to expect a solution. Of course, Apple can’t promise a solution until it owns up to the bloody problem in the first place.
It seems to be the case that after installing 10.5.3, the video card at boot is misreported as the wrong type so the display can’t start up. What this means is most likely that a coder inserted the wrong video card information into the update for those Macbook Pros that are affected.
After a 46 minute call to Apple’s technical support, during which I had to run through every single test I’d already done countless times, the support technician finally agreed that my Macbook Pro does need repair. Yes, that’s because it’s useless right now. It isn’t hard to ascertain that if nothing you try works, and you have a dead screen, then yes, the machine does need to be repaired. Then I had to really push for the laptop to be collected from my home, because the guy wanted me to take it into either an Apple Store or an authorised Apple repair shop. He made it clear he really, really wanted me to take the machine in. But I insisted: I have an extended three-year warranty, and home collection and return is one of the benefits you pay for.
Presumably Apple wants us all to buy into the extended warranty service, but doesn’t want to provide it in the event of things going wrong. It’s much cheaper to persuade customers to do the leg work. No way. Besides, the nearest Apple Store is in Manchester, over an hour’s train journey away, and the nearest authorised repair shops centres are in Leeds or Bradford. Leeds is again about an hour away, and Bradford, while marginally, closer, is so depressing a city that even a five-second exposure to its grime and misery can have a paralysing effect. I jest. Maybe. But neither my partner or I ever go anywhere via Bradford. We make a point of bypassing the city even if it increases journey times. It’s that bad as far as we’re concerned. Ugh.
But wait. There was more dumbness to come from Apple. I asked if the courier would arrive with a special protective box, as they do when iPods go in for repair, and the guy I was speaking to went away for ten minutes to check. He came back and told me they don’t know, the courier may or may not have a box. So I said, well, what am I supposed to do as I don’t have the original box—the laptop was, after all, bought last August—and I don’t want the casing to be damaged any more than I want the insides mangled. I was advised to find a suitably-sized cardboard box and stuff it with paper shreddings.
My Macbook Pro is normally encased in a protective clear shell made by Speck, so it’s in pristine, scratch-free condition. I’m not particularly anal about keeping my Macbook Pro in good nick, but I bought the shell casing precisely because I didn’t want to see the external appearance of the machine decline over time. It was expensive and nice-looking, and I wanted it to stay nice-looking. And the shell has done a great job. Now, the shell can’t go to Apple, it has to stay at home along with my software discs, laptop bag, and so on—and I really don’t like the idea of sticking my unprotected Macbook Pro into a cardboard box surrounded by newspaper! What a way to treat hardware that cost just short of three grand! If it comes back to me, presumably repaired and working—but we can’t count on that, can we?–with so much as a single scratch on it, it’s going back with a bollocking.
I asked when the courier would be coming to collect. Answer: maybe two to three days, at any time during office hours. Right, so that’s okay, I don’t mind staying indoors for three days. After all, I’ve nothing better to do, who has? I asked, how long will the laptop be away, a rough estimate please, because obviously it depends what’s wrong with it? Answer: no idea, but you might want to call us in a week or two if it hasn’t come back. Lovely. Nice to see Apple is so frickin’ organised, eh?
Impressed? No. Not in the slightest. Would you be? At least I was able to hook the Macbook Pro up to the iMac and save all my documents except my emails, which have all gone bye-bye. Still, my actual mail account settings, bookmarks and other minutae will all be easily transferred back from the iMac to the laptop when it’s returned to me. It’s an easy process which is denied to Windows users—who have to pray, do a little dance, sacrifice a lamb, and cross their fingers when it comes to backups and reinstalls—and I recall Microsoft’s telephone support as being much, much worse. Certainly a whole lot more patronising. But that’s not saying much. It’s like comparing the Black Death with Avian Influenza, really. And who’d want either of those, hmm?
And what am I supposed to do when I get the laptop back, and the automated software update kindly informs me 10.5.3 is available to download and install? I guess if I reinstall the update, and the same disaster strikes again, if it happens enough times I might get a brand new machine. Eventually. If I ask my Windows friends for tips on how to sacrifice those lambs, that is…
tags: 10.5.3, Apple, AppleCare, extended warranty, hardware, Leopard, Microsoft, OS X, software, telephone support, video display errors
1 comment on “OS X 10.5.3 murdered my Macbook Pro!”
June 24th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Well, the laptop went off by courier yesterday–my bad, I hadn’t got round to calling the courier to collect and, to its credit, a courier arrived less than an hour after I made the call. So I’m fingers crossed I get the laptop back in a week or so.
You’d think, with a shiny huge iMac in the house, I’d not particularly miss the MacBook Pro. But I do miss it’s portability, and it brings a certain intimacy that a writer appreciates when compared to sitting in front of a big screen. Besides, the iMac keyboard, while funky, still feels a little odd. It’s rather bouncy! x
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