My MacBook Pro Return From Death

Shortly after Steve Jobs died, my beloved Macbook Pro kicked the bucket too!

It happened when I was getting rid of OS-X Lion and just reinstalled Snow Leopard.

The MBP booted up with its startup chime, but there was nothing on the screen!

Like a good Apple user I reset the PRAM and the NVRAM, no go; I then connect the MBP to another screen, still nothing!

A search in Google confirmed the fault most likely was caused by the Nvidia fiasco!

According to Apple:

"In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect.

At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected.

However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected.

If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty."

Happier time... my MBP driving the Viewsonic VP2250wb 21"

To tell you the truth, I was worried! Why?  Because my MBP was bought in San Francisco Apple store way back in 2007 and it just pass the 4 years entitlement!

A quick search told me there are only TWO authorised Apple repairer in Wellington...

Service Plus which will courier my sick MBP to Hamilton, 500 Km from Wellington!  I don't think so ;)

And, there is YOOBEE in town! YOOBEE? Eh?

Then I found out YOOBEE is the new MagnumMac, a re-branding by Apple distributors Renaissance (who bought MagnumMac) etc etc...

Whatever!

Since my previous experience with MagnumMac was not encouraging, I was a bit skeptical when I took my MBP to YOOBEE!

Imaging my surprise the NEXT DAY, when I received a text message on my mobile phone:

Regarding YOOBEE repair xxxxx :

Hi C.Y, Your repair is now in progress. We will be in touch with you shortly with an update. Any queries call 08004966233. Thanks

I was IMPRESSED!!

Another text message the next day got me calling YOOBEE and I was told that they confirmed the fault is due to the Nvidia graphic chip, to fix the problem a new logic board (motherboard) costing $1,200 is needed!  And that is not including labour charges which I estimated to be another $400!

With that amount I can get a NEW MBP in San Francisco!

I told them since it is the Nvidia chip, I feel Apple should fix it FOC; they say I have to talk to Apple myself and I was patched to Apple in Australia, who then patched me to Apple South Asia Pte Ltd at Ang Mo Kio; Singapore!

I was most impressed by the Support Advisor who handle my case!

She told me she will get back to me the next day, she did and I was told Apple will replace the logic board, FOC!  Thank you for your excellent service Cherrie!

On the same day YOOBEE txt me that they are waiting for the part (logic board), ETA 2 days and sure enough I got back my MBP 2 days later!

I am sure YOOBEE, Apple has gone into great pain to give this kind of A1 service; how can I not love Apple products?  :)

Oh... the day my MBP died, I went and bought a new 21.5" 2.5GHz iMac for $1,999.00  This model still come with Snow Leopard! Yeepee!!

My revived MacBook Pro with my new iMac driving the Viewsonic on Thunderbolt.

Famous Last Words:

I was hooked on Apple way back in 1992 when I was working for the Singapore Chinese Newspaper Group.  I was amazed all the reporters were typing their stories (in Chinese) on tiny Apple Macintosh!

In the same year I convinced my boss, Mr Loy, the Group Editor; who has the vision to approve the purchase of a Quadra 950 which cost a whopping S$30,000 to form my first electronic picture desk.

Four months later, with the help of interest free company loan I bought myself a Quadra 840AV costing S$8,700.  My wife think I am going mad ;)

From left, the floppy disk only Macintosh; the Quadra 840 AV and the 950.

In the same year I had my 840 AV, I also bought a PC with a 486 chip. It was during that time I found out the advantage of the Mac over the PC, which; crashed so often I forgot to count ;)

The Mac?

Ken Rockwell have this to say why he use Mac and I quote...

"Why do we use Mac? Simple: It just works.

We get more done in less time without any aggravation.

It's not just how fast it runs benchmarks. It's mostly because it just runs without the viruses, spam, crashes and constant need for support, reboots, upgrades, defrags and maintenance without which Windows simply stops working after a few weeks. I only have to reboot my desktop Mac when I return from a trip during which I turned it off! It runs smoothly for months at a time!"

Through the years I also owned G3, G4 and at work I use G5.

Thank you Steve Jobs for your vision and created user-friendly computing. I hope Apple continue to innovate and create the future that you envisioned!

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