PB 15" AlBook Broken optical drive... what's next?

cosmocosmo
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
First white spots (fixed with new screen). Now the combo drive in my 1ghz AlBook has given up.



I am not a happy camper. Actually i'm raging. That is to say i am filled with rage. Very angry. I will call apple monday.



Here is my story for those who care. I was given a new external firewire HD for christmas and i decided to use it to backup my system and do a clean install of 10.3. I figured it would do away with some of the junk that has accumulated on my computer over the past few months. So i booted from the 10.3 disk, erased the internal drive (after cloning it to the FW drive) and began the installation process. All was going well and it finished disk one, ejected it and asked for disk two.

I tried to insert disk two, but it would not go in. I can get the disk in all the way, but the drive won't grab it and suck it in. If jsut springs back out. I can feel the spring loading up as i push the disk in.



So any suggestions? I have put everything back and tried pressing the ejecct button, used differetn CDs, etc.

Nothing works. Seems to be a mechanical problem.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    trebuchettrebuchet Posts: 176member
    This is common. My 12" PB's slot loader died after 4 CD's. Apple replaced my computer with a 20 gig bump in my hard drive. I think my PB was useable for about 30 minutes when I bought it.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    very interesting

    my plan was to request a new machine, but i figured such a request would be in vain.

    do you think they will give me a whole new machine?

    that would make my day
  • Reply 3 of 10
    trebuchettrebuchet Posts: 176member
    I am not sure, as I have heard conflicting reports on Apple's replacement policy. I believe standard procedure is to replace a machine on its 3rd repair. If it has to go in a 3rd time, they replace it. What they did for me was they took my credit card number, sent me the replacement and gave me 30 days to transfer data (I had put some stuff on there, but not much. Their call. It was mostly saving pref's, etc.).

    I guess it depends on how many times your machine has been in and who you talk to.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    well now that i have the external drive, i don't need to have both machines to transfer data

    only problem is some parts (3 pronged power cable, etc) are still at school and i'm home for the holidays, so i wouldn't be able to send everything back to them until january



    did they send you a new book in box and all (including power cables, cds, etc) or just the book itself w/out accessories?
  • Reply 5 of 10
    trebuchettrebuchet Posts: 176member
    They'll just want the 'book, thats it. I kept all of my old cables, but like a dummy, sent back the extra power supply. I have 2 of almost everything for travel now.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    moving to general discussion.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    c5jc5j Posts: 25member
    Yup. Mine is also borken. My optical combo.... D**n shit apple!

    First the white spots and now this!!! I only had it for a few months and treated it like the baby it is..
  • Reply 8 of 10
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    The worst part is that i have 2 take it into a service providers because my 90 days of phone support is up and i cannot afford applecare at this time (i will buy it before the 1 year warranty expires). All i wanted was to tell them the problem and have them send ma box to ship the PB back to apple. I didn't realize that they won't even do that if you are out of phone support time.



    This bothers me because if something under warranty breaks, you take it back to where you bought it, and i ordered my PB over the phone but they will not help me. I'm just lucky that there is an apple service provider on campus, so i can take my machine in as soon as i get back to school.



    o well i guess i'll have to buy applecare sooner or later
  • Reply 9 of 10
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    if it is a hardware problem you don't have to pay for telephone support...
  • Reply 10 of 10
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    if it is a hardware problem you don't have to pay for telephone support...



    really?

    well the lady on the phone sure didn't want to help

    maybe i'll call back agin tomorrow and i'll be a little less submissive (i was in a rush last time)
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