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Part Came Off My Logicboard...

HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
So I was installing some RAM in my powerbook when I noticed this funny dude had come off of wherever it was supposed to be attached:

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Close-up

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Next to finger for scale

What is exactly is it/does it do? It's magnetic and has some adhesive residue on it. My laptop still works, so it's obviously not critical. I know for a fact it was busted off by the idiot Apple-Authorized repair guy I took it to when my display backlight went screwy, but I don't want to bother with a logic board replacement if nothing will really happen, as my powerbook came back worse for wear than when I took it in. That and I know I'd end up with a refurb board. I've learned my lesson about making use of Applecare. Apple doesn't care.

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Hallucinogen on

Posts

  • DoomulonDoomulon Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    One of my friends is a circuitry guru and has fixed laptops, owns and has cracked open many kinds of Macs, etc. (The guy who could probably build a computer from all the little pieces like that, basically).

    He may or may not recognize the part. I'll ask him when I get home in about an hour.

    I will say this though, it wouldn't be the first time I've heard of incompetence with the Apple repair guy. My friend took his iMac in for repairs to a little shop in Roswell, NM. The first thing they say is: "Wow, haven't seen one of those before." As if that wasn't enough of a clue, he gets the computer back in a few weeks only to find out that they put it back together wrong and his internal Airport card was disconnected among other things.

    After a few more calls he gets a personal visit, and while he and the Apple repair guy are putting the iMac back together, the repair guy goes "Looks like we got everything..." which boggled my friend, who was still holding the LCD screen part in his hands. He also found out that the Roswell guys lost a few mounting screws for the LCD...

    So, yeah... Sometimes it depends on where you live when it comes to Apple service.

    Doomulon on
  • DoomulonDoomulon Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    OK, here's the update.

    According to my friend it's a shield cover for a crystal. It blocks interference and may or may not cause problems. "Most likely it won't" according to him. He wants to know if it's hollow on the underside. If it's hollow, then it's just a shield cover, if it has stuff under it, then you may be missing a component from your logic board.

    Doomulon on
  • corcorigancorcorigan Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    My friend took his iMac in for repairs to a little shop in Roswell, NM. The first thing they say is: "Wow, haven't seen one of those before."

    And he left it there? Either brave or silly...

    corcorigan on
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  • DoomulonDoomulon Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    corcorigan wrote: »
    My friend took his iMac in for repairs to a little shop in Roswell, NM. The first thing they say is: "Wow, haven't seen one of those before."

    And he left it there? Either brave or silly...

    We really didn't have much choice. The Mac in question was having some serious video issues and the card had to be replaced. There was no nearby Apple store and we were under a false impression that the only Apple certified repair store was hundreds of miles away and that they could not send a technician.

    Oh, we both looked at each other and said this wasn't a good idea, but we would be damned if we just drove over a hundred miles to not get a repair job. Needless to say, though we will not be doing business with that store again...

    Besides, I'm posting from the computer in question, so that story did have a happy ending.

    Doomulon on
  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    It's a completely solid piece of magnetic metal, with no hollow underside, or points of connection/contact. It doesn't have any remnant solder anywhere either. The only thing on it is some adhesive that's still slightly sticky. I'm thinking your friend is right and it's some sort of shield, so I don't think it'll be missed too much. I'm betting on my display dying before anything else. I still have one year left of Applecare, so if it becomes unusable between now and then I'll get my money's worth out of Apple for it.

    *Warning - Rant Ahead*

    After my Applecare runs out I'll be in need of an upgrade anyway, and in all honesty, I can't say I'll be getting a Mac. Not just because of the service, but the overpriced and frequently dodgy hardware. The RAM I was replacing? works fine in the top slot, but when it's in the lower slot my powerbook refuses to recognize it. This has happened to a large number of people. Apparently that slot of the powerbook only likes OEM Samsung RAM. But my biggest issue with Apple is the displays. It's like they scour the bargain bin for these things, of my entire class of 20 people, about 6 had faulty or sub-par displays on their MacBook Pros, including my powerbook. One guy had his replaced 4 times, each time the next one somehow managed to be even worse than the last. And Apple refused to help him directly. They insisted he stick with the authorized repair center, who damaged his case in the process of the repairs no less. Their response when he confronted them with it? *Shrug* What kind of response is that? He had to request several times before they replaced the obviously damaged bezel and lower case. Wtf. It's a repair center. And his latch will not close properly, ever.

    Hallucinogen on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DoomulonDoomulon Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Not to dissuade you, but I still am impressed with Apple's hardware. I have a MacBook Pro myself and it runs like a dream nearly two years later. Sometimes customer service isn't that great, sure. I would much rather deal with Apple than Dell or Gateway, though.

    I should note also that despite the horrors my friend experienced with his iMac, his next computer will be a Mac. When Apple found out about his horrible experience in Roswell, they practically bent over backwards to help him set things right again.

    Doomulon on
  • Vater5BVater5B Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Man, I have a nine year old iMac that is running 10.4.11 and functions perfectly well as an internet/email computer. Also, when my logic board fried itself in my Rev. A Macbook, AppleCare swooped in and had it fixed within a week. It seems like you just must have had bad luck with Apple, or I've just had really good luck.

    Vater5B on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Weird. Apple refuses to help me at all. I've called them several times to request that they handle the repair directly instead of making me go to the same repair centre that did a botched job. Each time I call they say they can't because I live in Canada, which is garbage, I know they can send a box and I can mail it to them. They did it about 4-5 years ago with my 2nd gen ipod. I might try calling again and politely insist on speaking with a supervisor or something and see where it gets me. I've only had the machine a little less than 2 years and the display starting dying just after 1 year.

    Also an update on my PB's condition. The day after I took the piece of metal out my PB won't connect to the internet at all(I can't recall ever trying to access anything the same day it was removed, though). It detects a connection and registers my IP, and diagnostics come up fine, but I can't load webpages, check email, or download new podcasts. The application sits for eternity trying to load/download and never gives me an error that a connection could be made/found. Obviously my computer knows there's an active network connection, but I'm thinking a hardware issue might be the issue because I've reinstalled the OS and still no luck. If that device was a shield, it's possible that whatever it was shielding has been disrupted by interference now.

    I've considered opening up my PB and just looking for where it goes and re-attaching it, but I don't really want to void my warranty, as I'll have to re-apply the thermal paste and re-seat the CPU. I still have 1yr on my applecare, so I'm going to see where I can get with Apple on this. There's no way in hell I'm going back to that repair center.

    Hallucinogen on
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  • DoomulonDoomulon Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    You are probably right about the interference. My friend mentioned that the shield is likely protecting from both incoming and outgoing interference, and could jam up your wireless.

    It seems to me you have had experience with some rather stubborn support personnel. What ultimately helped my friend get some action taken was when they realized he had been a steady Apple customer for the past 10+ years and they did not want to lose his patronage. If you have a similar circumstance, or maybe just say "hey, maybe next time I'll get a Dell..." they will be more responsive.

    Doomulon on
  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    I meant to mention I was trying to connect via ethernet. I never use wifi except at school. I tried accessing the internet on wifi to check whether both were affected, but none of my neighbors that don't use encryption had a strong enough signal. I might drop by my school to do a test sometime soon.
    It's an awfully small device, I'm not sure it's meant to deflect outside interference. I could be wrong, but I'd guess it's to block internal interference. Perhaps to protect against my PB's own wifi/BT signal, the electromagnetic energy of the powersupply, or whatever.

    I'm going to call Apple tonight, and maybe play the loyalty card, but usually that falls on deaf ears. I'll try 3 reps. If I don't get a solution by the third one then that's it for me, I'm dropping Apple at that point. I mean, I paid Apple extra for Applecare so I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of issue. I don't like getting jerked around on my dime.

    Hallucinogen on
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  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Weird. I reinstalled the OS again, but installed Leopard instead. I can connect now, but particular sites load slow as hell that I never had issues with before, downloads from those same sites are also unbearably slow. It took 20 minutes to download an 18mb file that normal would take less then 45sec. I know it's not the host/website because it loads fine from my work computer. I don't really understand why the issue would become site-specific. For shits and giggles i went back to Tiger and the exact same problem persists. I'm going to visit an Apple repair center with the little piece of metal to see if they can tell me what it's for. If they know right away, I'll be comfortable enough letting them do the repair(albeit only if it's a different repair guy than the last). If they don't I'm going to get Apple to deal with it.

    Hallucinogen on
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  • LovingFFXILovingFFXI Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Isn't the power cable held in by a magnet or two?

    LovingFFXI on
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  • Epyon9283Epyon9283 Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    My only experiences with Apple support have been favorable. Once the drive in my iBook was making a clicking noise that they determined to be the sudden motion sensor doing something odd. Issue went away. Drive is still running fine 2 years later.

    I bought one of the 20" aluminum iMacs the day they came out last August. The screen quality was terrible. They used the cheapest POS TN displays they could get for the 20". There was this incredibly annoying gradient on the screen. Everything on the bottom was lighter than the top. After a while (like 2 months) I got fed up with it and got an appointment for a genius at the local Apple store. They saw the issue and were just going to replace the display. The guy was really nice though and got his manager to let him just replace the machine. I asked instead of replacing it if I could just get a different model. He said sure and I went home with a Mac Pro (paid the difference). That was really awesome since it was so far out of the return period.

    Epyon9283 on
  • Satan.Satan. __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2008
    Epyon9283 wrote: »
    My only experiences with Apple support have been favorable. Once the drive in my iBook was making a clicking noise that they determined to be the sudden motion sensor doing something odd. Issue went away. Drive is still running fine 2 years later.

    I bought one of the 20" aluminum iMacs the day they came out last August. The screen quality was terrible. They used the cheapest POS TN displays they could get for the 20". There was this incredibly annoying gradient on the screen. Everything on the bottom was lighter than the top. After a while (like 2 months) I got fed up with it and got an appointment for a genius at the local Apple store. They saw the issue and were just going to replace the display. The guy was really nice though and got his manager to let him just replace the machine. I asked instead of replacing it if I could just get a different model. He said sure and I went home with a Mac Pro (paid the difference). That was really awesome since it was so far out of the return period.

    There is no consumer experience like going to the Genius Bar. Christ, they will drop to their knees and blow you if that's what will make you happy.

    I've considered a Mac Pro as my next machine. Kick me a PM and let me know how you like it compared to that 20" you had.

    Satan. on
  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    That's exactly my problem, the only Apple store in Canada is on the other coast in Toronto. All the authorized resellers in my area don't seem to care once they've sold you the machine. And Apple seems unconcerned about it. Unfortunately for them this attitude has lost them a once loyal customer. My next computer is most definitely going to be a self-built PC, that way I get to choose only the parts I want, for a much less exorbitant price.

    For the most part I've resolved the issue with the piece of metal. I've had 3 people now suggest that it's the sleep magnet, the last guy I talked to seemed fairly certain. It makes sense, my computer seems to be working fine now and I'm able to connect to all sites I've tried so far, including ones that didn't want to work previously. So either it was a coincidence, or(I'm taking a stab in the dark here) being that there's two sleep magnets, one on the back of the rear display bezel, and one in the latch, the one that I took out may be the one that controls the system sleep. If the system thinks it's asleep, it ignores attempts to make network connections, but because the display's sleep magnet wasn't triggered it stayed on. Just a guess.

    My only concern with this is that if I close my computer, the display will shut off, but the system will still run full tilt and get rather hot, not to mention eat the battery. Then again, I've found leaving my computer on rather than putting it to sleep helps the battery last longer. I've had instances where I put it to sleep with 60% and came back 10 minutes later and it died as soon as I woke it up, but usually I just leave it awake and it lasts at least 30-40mins at that battery level. Weird, and counter-intuitive.

    Hallucinogen on
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  • Cameron_TalleyCameron_Talley Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    LovingFFXI wrote: »
    Isn't the power cable held in by a magnet or two?

    Only on Macbook Pros, Macbooks, and the Macbook Air (All Apple portables after the introduction of the Macbook Pro). NOT on older powerbooks.

    Cameron_Talley on
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  • HAKdragonHAKdragon Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Quick question. Does the powerbook still go to sleep when you close the lid? When I installed a new hard drive into my iBook (huge pain in the ass), I had a similar part fall off. Everything seemed work fine except the unit would no longer go into sleep mode when I closed the lid. Just for kicks, I slide the magnet up the right-front side of the screen and BAM, the unit went to sleep mode. Placing the part back into the little tray from which it feel fixed my sleep issue.

    HAKdragon on
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  • HallucinogenHallucinogen Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    I've figured out where it goes, actually. It's the sleep magnet that rests below the trackpad. My display goes to sleep when I close the lid, but the system doesn't, because system sleep is controlled by the magnet under the trackpad, but display sleep is controlled by the magnet attached to the rear display bezel(on the powerbook at least, don't know about the ibook). Anyway, because of where the moron repair guy left it, I'll have to remove the logic board to retrieve it, which means I'll have to reapply the thermal paste when I reseat the CPU and GPU. I'm not keen on doing that, and I'm not taking it back to that repair place either, if they're dumb enough to do something like that, god-knows what else they might fuck up. I'm going to take it to a different place when I have time, I'd do it myself, but if I screw up I'm hooped. I still have 1yr on my Applecare plan, so I'd rather they screw up rather than me.

    Thanks for the help, though.

    Hallucinogen on
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