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News Archive for: Wednesday July 21, 2010 Goto Current News Page
Macs | CPU Upgrades | Video | Storage | Audio | Apps/OS/Networking | FAQ | Contact
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| Mailbag/Backlog (Mac Pro/eSATA/BC, G5 Leak repairs, MBP 8600M failures, MBP Drive upgrades) |
I've been unable to work much of the last 2 weeks and behind on many things. (I've been unable to catch up/reply to every mail and it may seem like I've forgotten or don't care. I care, just having the most difficult times of my life.) Here's a few quick notes.
- Regarding last week's post about a 2009 Mac Pro owner being unable to boot to windows/bootcamp drives (ref: July 15th news) with any of 4 eSATA cards installed, I've posted a separate page on this with system/config details of my setup (no problems here) and info from a reader that had problems w/4 different eSATA cards. One difference I noticed is my Mac Pro has bootrom (ending in) B07 vs B08 in his. (But I've not gotten details yet from the reader that said he had seen the problem intermittently.)
- G5 Leaks/Repairs: A mail last week from a G5 owner w/leak damage asked if anyone that had free repairs (or new machine replacement) would provide him (privately) with their case number. The apple support rep he talked to asked for an example case number. (This is why I've wished for years apple would issue at least a bulletin to support personnel as it seems to be a roll of the dice as far as awareness/uniform policy on this.) The request for case numbers has come up before, but I've been hesitant to ask readers for their Case number, even though it would not be posted publicly. However If anyone is willing to provide it, use the contact link above and I'll pass it along. (Will not be added to reports page.)
While on the subject, apologies to Bill for still not converting his Word Doc on DIY Leak repairs (expanding on his earlier article here.)
Update: On Thursday I posted his article. Due to the number of images (over 40) its 6 pages. Page 1 is here, links to other pages at bottom of each page.
- MacBook Pro 8600M GT Failures/Repairs: Recd another case where the MBP will not boot and therefore cannot have the USB drive diagnostics/qualifying test run. I don't know what else to suggest other than the old tip on the reports page of letting the MBP sit for while with power on to see if it will eventually boot. (A couple owners have said that worked, but didn't for everyone. Theory is heat eventually results in some open ckt being closed.) Also had one reader from china say his repair was refused because he had previously had a repair done by a 3rd party. (I'm assuming a repair similar to someone else noted earlier on the reports page.) I wish I had an apple contact/way to help owners with these problems (MBP and G5) but I don't... (I don't know what to suggest in these cases other than trying again at another location. That has worked in -some- cases, but not all. Nothing is a sure thing it seems as far as response or treatment in these cases.)
- Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (w/EFI update) HD problems: This was a hot topic last year (mid-2009 MacBook Pros with EFI update having HD/HD upgrade problems - BBOD, pausing, etc - original thread in apple's forums became so long they closed it and started another.) Recently had another mail from someone with one of these asking for a 'troublefree' HD upgrade suggestion. I think the best thing is to post a request in the Apple MBP forums asking for updated feedback as even in the past IIRC some readers had problems with the same drive/firmware that others did not. (And the thread had several tips some said helped, but not for everyone as I recall.) I assume he had seen those threads/tips and if the drives he tried had a built-in shock sensor that he disabled apple's SMS. (Ref: Apple Portables: Advanced tips for Sudden Motion Sensor)
- Mercury Pro SSD: OWC agreed to extend the loaner period on the 240GB SSD, as I've not been able to work with it much in the last 2 weeks. As expected, performance has been excellent and no problems seen in any tests so far. A firmware update to unlock IOs/increase 4K performance was done a couple weeks ago and it definitely blows my M225 256GB out of the water in SSD benchmark 4K tests. (Nothing like these in OS X unfortunately so I downloaded a couple free SSD benchmarks to test in Bootcamp/Windows 7.) I originally had my M225 sold, but a reader backed out so I've used it for some comparisons.
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