So, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the miraculous:
Good part is that i finally have my MBP back.
However, Small Dog Electronics had my machine for over 3 weeks and three Technician cycles (only comes to the Rutland VT store on Thursdays).
I was told the second Thursday that my machine was still being tested over the Internet, and that it was a few minutes away from diagnosis. And that someone would be in touch shortly. Really...
No phone calls, no emails from Small Dog during this entire process. Their phone system is an elaborate labyrinth that almost always sends you exactly where you don't want to go even if you've hit the correct extension. So, a week ago Friday, July 10, I went back to the store to speak to a real person after having been given the run around by two different sales associates on multiple occasions. Turns out that my machine was technically "not able to participate" in the recall program, as it passed the standard GPU test, and needed to be sent to Apple for further diagnosis. And if Apple could fix it, there are two levels of repair, either just over $400 or around $1,000 if they determine that you doused the machine in coffee or other liquid. So, I asked if I could get an estimate from Apple, as I've never given my MBP a bath or dropped it hard enough to damage anything. Sure, they said, we'll be in touch after it gets to Apple.
Last Thursday, I actually get a call from someone at Small Dog that my MBP is ready. I call back that afternoon, got run around by the phone system again, got dumped trying to get to the Rutland store, I'm busy selling wine, I give up.
Friday, I finally get a sales associate at the Rutland Store first try. Yes the computer is ready. No, there is no charge. WOO-HOO!!!
So, I go up on Saturday morning and get the computer back. While at Apple, they took out my 2 8GB RAM sticks and put 2 Apple 4GB RAM DIMMS in, but they did send the 16 GB sticks back with the notation of (issues) next to each one. According to the sales associate, they always replace non-Apple RAM no matter what. To their credit, Small Dog put my 16 GB of RAM back in and gave me the 4 GB DIMMS that Apple had installed (for free...)
So now, I've got 16 GB of RAM I can put in my mother's 2011 27" iMac, as I've got 2 more 4 GB DIMMS that I had taken out of the MBP to put in the 16GB of RAM, so happy dance again!
And the best part, they didn't touch the HDD, so I've got everything back to normal.
What did they replace? The Logic Board. Apparently, over time, the heating and cooling apparently breaks down the lead free solder, and since it's a 2 stage graphics system, there's can be quite a bit of temperature variance. I think that the re-installation of Parallels and the associated overheating using the three cores that the Parallels tech set up probably ended in a fait complete. Since this is a refurb, I'm willing to bet that the GPU may have been replaced the first time.
And they replaced my broken little rubber foot on the front left side!
WHEW!!!!
Now I can go play with Parallels and Windows again.
So much fun, so little time...
Chris
