trip to genius bar today, advice did not work, can anyone help?

[btwint1]

Ok so I started my macbook pro up this morning and it went to he Apple load screen and then a "tinted" screen comes down with a POP up window saying, "you must restart you computer." Lastnight it froze on me while none other than browsing fbook and I had to shut off. I didn't bother turning it back on lastnight so I got the problem this morning.

I took to genius bar and they ran a test and showed me that all my hardware is running fine and stated that it must be a software problem. Said I should do an archive and reinstall by booting while holding option key, I did that and it does go to the screen where u choose hard drive or cd, I choose cd and drive starts spinning and all looks good...then same tinted screen drops down with same message.

I also booted while holding command+s and did the manual fsck and then reboot. It did reboot and did the exact same thing. Is there anything else I can do to get it to boot off of my disc? Will I be able to boot with another MAC and back up files to a external hard drive? Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks a ton!

Chris

 

[Walrus666]

Hello,
You don't do an archive & install by booting while holding the option key. Here's how it's done.

 

[btwint1]

Yea I did that ready. The main problem is it wouldn't boot from disc for me. I can not get it to do anything. The start up chime happens then the Apple logo and spining wheel and then it kp's. I took it to the genius bar again today where they did more test and replaced the RAM and tried booting from their server all with no success. My genius suggested it could be a couple of things. First it could be the LB or maybe the HD. He said they could send it to repair facility for flat rate $315. Well only problem is I need some data off the HD and they can't recover it. Not sure what I was going to do I just asked if they could do anything to test the HD and he said they could change it out in store for $175 bit once they did it my old HD would be a core.

My question to him was if they changed it out and it didn't fix it then what. Well they would then send it in for repair on the MLB. I just didn't feel right so I took my MAC and went to my car. I googled the problem and stumbled across a lot of info about the 07 late 08 MBP's with the logic board problem. So I went to get a second opinion at an authorized Apple repair place and he ran one test to verify all hardware was ok and all seemed fine. He then ran another test to the graphics card which it failed. He seemed almost certain that it would fail and claims that he alone has changed about 1000 units with the exact same issue which apple is aware of and will replace at no cost.

Not sure why the geniuses couldn't do this test and help out the customer with a known problem. Instead they recommend sending in for repair when they should have checked the card and saw that it failed. Not sure if it was the geniuses not knowing about this or apple trying to hide this issue, either way I am unhappy with my local apple store and the geniuses that helped me. Board should be here tomorrow and installed will puck up after work and post the results. I guess its still possible for the HD to have a problem but very unlikely that both will fail at the same time.

Thanks for u comment and ill post a reply tomorrow.

 

[Walrus666]

Hopefully, everything works out.

 

[btwint1]

Just received a call from the repair place. MBP is ready for pickup. Wife will be picking it up and I will check it out tonight. What a missed opportunity from apple. They have to pay for it either way and if they would just own up to it in the stores it would show me they actually do believe in doing the right thing. Will still be using MAC for the obvious reasons but just puts a sour taste in my mouth this time around.

Chris