Mac laptops forum: Reviving a dead early-2008 MacBook Pro..

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user MusicianMBA

That actually

by Jimmy Greystone - 4/23/12 5:55 AM

In Reply to: Reviving a dead early-2008 MacBook Pro.. by MusicianMBA

That actually sounds about right price wise. The reason MLBs are so expensive, is Apple solders the CPU right to the board, they don't use a ZIF socket like virtually everyone else. So every MLB has the CPU attached to it, which makes it that much more valuable a component. Not that it stops other vendors from grossly overcharging for that part too, but anyway.

If you are able to take a couple days vacation to say Hawaii, then you could probably get the thing repaired under Apple's flat rate system for $300 and change. You'd need to be able to stick around for a few days, because they'll ship it to a facility run by Flextronics (Shhhh.... That's supposed to be a secret. Apple wants people to think they run their own repair depots, not outsource operations to a third party) in I want to think Kentucky or maybe Virginia. So it gets shipped overnight there, but it being Hawaii it might add an extra day on either side. If you could take like a week long vacation in Hawaii, then you could probably get it fixed for less than half the price.

The one thing to be careful about, is the Flextronics people are under strict orders from Apple to be real ********* about "non-Apple" hardware inside units. Basically they're not allowed to do "partial" repairs, meaning only fix the MLB even if there is something else wrong that you don't care about, like say the ODD is bad. So if they decide your RAM is bad or something, since it's almost a guarantee you added it third party, they will either requote the repair as a Tier 4 which is like $1200 something, or send the thing back. You will want to make sure that the rest of the hardware is good, or replace the factory stuff if you still have it. Not that a week long vacation to Hawaii would ever likely be a complete bust, but one of the reasons for going there would end up being a bust.

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More questions..

by MusicianMBA - 4/23/12 6:14 AM

In Reply to: That actually by Jimmy Greystone

Thanks for the quick reply!

While I am working in Asia now, I do go back home to the US once a year, my next trip being late summer. So, even though Hawaii sounds good, living in South-East Asia kind of takes care of my longing for nice beaches..
I never heard of the flat-rate repairs done by Apple, this would be a great way to get this thing fixed!

May I ask you, how would I request the repair, or schedule the repair, maybe right before my trip, so that I could send it in the moment I arrive? Is there a specific website or number to call?

Also, I have all original parts, hard disk and RAM. I will probably reinstall those before the repair, thanks for the heads-up on that.

So, in your opinion, a dead motherboard would be fully replaced under the flat-rate system?

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Nope

by Jimmy Greystone - 4/23/12 8:42 AM

In Reply to: More questions.. by MusicianMBA

Nope, all you need to do is just walk into any AASP or Apple Store, and they can set it all up. They'll create the repair probably that day, figure one or two days for a box to get from the fulfillment warehouse to get to the store, then another day or two for the box to get to the depot, they usually turn units around inside a single day (because Apple forces them to stock a huge inventory of parts, but everyone else is expected to use a JIT methodology), then another day or two to make it back... So that's why I figure you plan on about a week. If possible, you can go in on like a Sunday, so that the repair is processed first thing Monday. Then it shouldn't be an issue getting it back by the following Friday. Just tell wherever it is you go that you want to do a flat rate mail-in repair, and put back the original hardware if you've got it before you check it in.

And yes, there are cases where the MLB (in North America anyway) is only available via flat rate repairs. Apple's BS excuse for this is to ensure quick turn around times, which makes no sense when you think about it. I've been told by a nameless source inside Apple, that at least in the case of the 2010 Air's, there's an issue with the MLB that can be difficult to diagnose, since sometimes it also affects the I/O board. This didn't come to light until shortly after the new model Air launched, and then they very quickly yanked that part from availability for NA AASPs. At least if the issue has to do with not powering on or not booting. So basically they just don't want to cop to there being a defect that would probably warrant a recall if it were more widely known.

But the flat rate repair basically covers anything and everything. However, parts are divided up into different tiers based on cost. So like Tier 2 parts would be RAM, HDD, ODD, etc. Tier 3 is like specific display clamshells and like the MLB for Air's. Then Tier 4 covers everything else. They can declare a unit uneconomical to repair if it needs more than about 3 parts in total. I never could get anyone to give me a straight answer as to whether that is 3 parts in a given tier, or just in total, so I assumed in total. Any time Apple's people started getting squirrely with me, I figured I was treading on ground that they're not supposed to talk about. Anyway, if all you have wrong is a bum MLB, you should be fine.

I'm sure Apple wouldn't be happy my giving out that level of detail, but they have annoyed me sufficiently that they can kiss my arse.

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Thank you again

by MusicianMBA - 4/23/12 6:19 PM

In Reply to: Nope by Jimmy Greystone

Thank you, this info has been extremely helpful.

Best regards

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