On Tuesday this week, my early (Santa Rosa) 2008 MBPro became terminal.
The only sign of life was the glowing light on the front, no beachball, no screen, no bongs. I took it to my local Mac place (not the Apple Store) and they took it over night and ran the Nvidia graphics test. At least they would have, if the machine could have turned on. It wouldn't of course, so they told me that it could not be the Nvidia 8600M that was at fault because they could not run the Apple approved, Nvidia supplied test, which would have returned a "code" that indeed the card had failed. This is a known issue and Apple extended the warranty to 4 years from date of purchase to cover its failure.
The Mac place wanted me to pay $385 to send it in and get the requisite motherboard replacement. I declined and asked for the number to call Apple, which I did. I spoke to a lovely lady there who listened carefully as I explained the situation and she called my local Apple Store and asked what I should do. She made a next day appointment for me and I brought my MBPro in. The extremely pleasant and helpful young man at the Apple Store, listened and looked at my computer and realising that it could not fully start told me that Apple's policy was that if the Nvidia test could not be run then the 8600M was not at fault and Apple would not fulfill the extended warranty on the card. But, he also said that he was human and actually owned the same Mac himself and that it "sounded" like the graphic card was at fault and sent it in for a FREE replacement!!

So, 3 days later, I now have a fully functioning MacBook Pro in my hands again, and after replacing my 500GB hard drive and the 4GB of ram that I'd taken out when I sent it in, I am rolling!

Moral of the story, be patient and calm, have the facts printed out in front of you and hope that you get a human at the help desk and not an automaton!
Wheee!

I have a similar story.
Last week this fish was laying on his side and not moving for several days. I had to cue myself to check for him every day so I could get the body out quickly.
Today he's eating.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

(It's an Easter miracle I tells ya!)

We've had two of that era MBPs had their mother board replaced by Apple after the AC ran out.

Glad it worked out for you!

(fish, too!)

Wow! This is great news! Like Black, I also have a problem with a family pet who we'll just call "Timmy". Last night there was a terrible accident and "Timmy" slipped and fell into a 325 degree oven for 1.75 hours along with some potatoes, carrots and onions lightly seasoned. Well, try as we might to save him it's not looking good for the Timster. Here's a picture of him hooked up to life support...



Please help me with any tips or ideas on how to save him because I don't know how much longer I can look at this without doing something...




Hhmmm...has anyone seen the horseradish???

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- Jack D.




New tasteless sig coming soon!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2012 08:30AM by Jack D..

Timmy's protein can live again through the magic of digestion.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

I had a resurrection miracle last night.

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Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.

Western Massachusetts

Jack D: Best post of the year!

We're going to need another Timmy Youtube

Quote
blooz
I had a resurrection miracle last night.

Pics or it didn't happen.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

Quote
chopper
Jack D: Best post of the year!

I don't get excited about Jack D's posts much anymore, because you know he'll just top it with the next one.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

Quote
Black

Quote
blooz
I had a resurrection miracle last night.

Pics or it didn't happen.

No, no—you really don't want pictures.

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Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.

Western Massachusetts

I think that in such a dire emergency Timmy needs to be transported to my house for immediate treatment....no charge.

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"So be proud to be a decent American instead of just a w'anker whipping up fear!" - Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland