New iBook fails twice in a few months

[MikeCaine]

One of my work colleagues bought a 12" iBook just before Christmas

In January the hard disk failed and was repalced by a local service agent. The replacement disk failed last night. She phoned me up and I could hear the disk noise over the phone.

She's going to phone Apple when she finishes work this afternoon

Should she accept another replacement disk or insist on a whole new iBook?

How unlucky is she to have two hard drive failures in about 3 months?

Both times it failes she was using Delicious Library to catalogue her CDs and DVDs. I've told her that the software couldn't cause a disk failure, I presume that's right?

Regads

Mike

 

[Ric]

Hi Mike,

She sounds very unlucky...in all the years I have been using Macs I have never experienced anything like that. I still have 10 year old Mac's happily wizzing along with there original drives in !

Did the local service agent 'explain' what it was that actually happened ?

Two drive failures is very unusual. Delicious Library wouldn't cause drive failure, it 's just working the drive hard.

I take it there has been no accident's, dropping the iBook etc ?

I would definitely speak to Apple and explain the circumstances...it may be the Motherboard or the Power supply unit that is really at fault...and that in turn is damaging the drives ?

I'm not sure if they will do a swap out...it might be worth a try.

regards

Ric

 

[Ric]

...oh and either way.

Make sure she has the extended AppleCare protection.

Maybe try and get Apple to give it her for free, if they won't swap the iBook, due to it's problems !

regards

Ric

 

[MikeCaine]

Hi Ric

She's extremely carefull with her iBook. It still has the sheet between the keyboard and screen and she's bought a neoprene case for it. It was an expensive purchase for her and it's treated like it's her baby.

Good point about the Applecare, if she hasn't already phoned Apple I'll mention to to her

Youe experience with disk is similar to mine. Never had one fail like this in many years, never mind two in a matter on months in the same computer

Thanks

Mike

 

[Ric]

Hi Mike,

I treat them like babies to... but mine bounced the other day ;-)

A little dented but fully functional...fell on that corner 18" onto Carpet with a 1" deep rug on top...

I've had plenty of drives fail...but normally work ones, that have had a constant hammering 24/7 for 5 years +

regards

Ric

 

[MikeCaine]

She's stuck to her guns over not wanting a second repair and having to wait for four failures before Apple will replace the iBook.

After various emails, quoting various phrases from Trading Standards, Apple have finally agreed to replace the iBook.

Needless to say, she's well pleased with the outcome.

 

[Ric]

Well done !

Hopefully she'll be able to start enjoying it soon !

Feel free to point her here if she needs any help !

regards

Ric

 

[bluekatt]

She's stuck to her guns over not wanting a second repair and having to wait for four failures before Apple will replace the iBook.

After various emails, quoting various phrases from Trading Standards, Apple have finally agreed to replace the iBook.

Needless to say, she's well pleased with the outcome.

and let us know when she gets the new ibook hwo it performs and if the bugger plans to co operate this time around

 

[Kyomii]

I am so glad she got it sorted to her pleasure.

However, just one thing to look into perhaps, because as Ric says, two hard drive failures in such a short time is very unusual.

It could be that the socket she is using the power the ibook or recharge it is subjected to surge spikes, and in such a case, hard drives seem to take the brunt in most of the cases I have come accross (although motherboards and modems can also be affected.)

If she is not using a good surge protector, tell her to buy a decent one and this should prevent hard drive damage through spikes just in case that could be the cause of it.

 

[Ric]

...good idea !

Could well be a dodgy Power Socket that was the 'real' cause of the problem !

Very nice... ;-)

 

[MikeCaine]

Interesting idea.

I've just asked her and once it was plugged in in the living room and the other time it was in the recently rewired kitchen. Her husband's Dell laptop is often plugged into those power sockets and hasn't had any problems.

 

[MikeCaine]

Update - The replacement iBook has just had the logic board fail within a couple of months. It was replaced locally this time rather than having to go back to Apple in the UK.

Don't know how one person, who is very careful, can have so many hardware problems with an iBook

 

[Kyomii]

It is a bit late now, but if the ibook is under 6 months old, the owness is on the manufacturer to prove that it is not faulty - during this time you can insist on a replacement - providing you do not accept a repair. In other words, if you tell them it is faulty, they have to prove that it is not, and they would be hard pressed to do that considering the amount of repair it is had.

After 6 months, you have to prove the ibook is faulty since purchase and getting a replacement is harder.

If it fails again I would insiste they replace it - especially if it is less than 6 months old - accept no further repairs.

As for the Dell being used in the same sockets, it could still be a spike/surge problem causing premature failure especially if the hardware is faulty on the ibook.

 

[Ric]

Update - The replacement iBook has just had the logic board fail within a couple of months. It was replaced locally this time rather than having to go back to Apple in the UK.

Don't know how one person, who is very careful, can have so many hardware problems with an iBook

That's very bad luck ! How does she do in the lottery ?

I hope she's sticking with it !

regards

Ric

 

[MikeCaine]

It does sound like a common problem on iBooks for the logic board to fail

http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

http://www.petitiononline.com/ibook123/petition.html

 

[tgcujo]

Well at least you will get a new ibook. Maybe you could get them to give you a powerbook or maybe even a macbook pro. probably not though.
Well hopefully whatever replacement you get hopefully wont kick the bucket.

 

[bluekatt]

very very bad luck
but ibook G4's have a dubious rep for being a bit ...****
especially compared to their illustreous and robust G3 brethren
the keyboards are said to be **** paper thin and rub off easily

my ibook G3 600 mhz looked and behaved great til it kicked the bucket thansk to a trip and tumble down the stairs

and its replacement ( a G3 500 mhz ) is 5 years old and its keyboard stil looks gorgeous

does anybody know if the 12 inch powerbooks have this problem ?

 

[MikeCaine]

Another update - Last week the replacement logic board in the replacement iBook failed.

So that's two hard disks failures, Ibook replaced, and now two logic board failures. She was wirelesslessy surfing the 'net, on battery power only, when it failed the second time.

I just can't understand it

 

[Kyomii]

Another update - Last week the replacement logic board in the replacement iBook failed.

So that's two hard disks failures, Ibook replaced, and now two logic board failures. She was wirelesslessy surfing the 'net, on battery power only, when it failed the second time.

I just can't understand it

She must be electrostatically charged to a very high level

Kidding apart, the circumstances are very unusual - it could be an environment issue, or she could just be extremely, and I mean extremely unlucky

 

[MikeCaine]

She uses a Dell desktop at work all day and there's never been any problems. Her husband uses a Dell laptop at home and he hasn't had a problem.

Apparently when she plugs it in to charge it she doesn't use it and it isn't turned on and she's only used it when it's running on battery power, so that would seem to rule out mains surges, etc.

It's been about a week now, and last time I asked what Apple said she said that she hasn't phoned them yet as she's too depressed about it to go through it all again

I don't know what to tell her, it's way beyond my experience of computer / component failure.