The Macbook Pro has returned yet again…


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Yesterday afternoon DHL delivered the Macbook Pro for the 4th time. I opened it up and found a list that stated at another 4 things had been replaced in the machine (I didn’t realize that the inside of the Macbook Pro had this many parts that could be replaced). It also said that the “3rd party memory” was removed because it was “causing an issue”.

Now, that memory is brand new. I bought it the day before I shipped it back last time to see if adding a decent amount of memory to the machine would make it useable – because with only 1 Gb of Ram inside it was slower than my Mac Mini. My first generation Mac Mini. Seriously.

So, I bought a new 2 Gb stick and popped it in. I even ran an Apple Hardware Test on it – and it was fine. It still is fine. Apple removed it anyway. It’s not a big deal, just slightly annoying. This seems to be standard Apple policy every time you send a machine in. I would advise you to pop your memory out if it did not come directly from Apple and replace it with the memory that shipped with the machine. It might save you an entire repair trip. It would have for me.

I popped the “3rd Party Memory” back into the machine as soon as I got it. There’s no reason not to – again – it is not broken.

So, after that I restored the machine to its previous state before I sent it off and started testing out the recording functions with Garageband. Keep in mind, the last time I sent it back was because it came back to me with a trackpad that wouldn’t act right and a speaker that no longer worked…and the original problem of the USB Mic not recording properly was still present when plugged into the left-hand side of the machine.

After running Garageband for over an hour, recoding myself, and several other sources with the USB Mic I have no problems to report. Everything is running smoothly, and the system has functioned very, very well.

Hopefully this will continue. If things start crashing I will, of course, remove the “3rd Party Memory” and see if that helps before calling Apple again – but hopefully this is end of this little adventure, and the machine will finally be fixed.

All in all, I have to stress again that – even though this entire situation has been very frustrating due to the amount of times Apple had to repair it – they did not have to do anything for me. I am very appreciative that they took the time and effort to fix this machine, and I appreciate all the help that I’ve been given. I know that the issues surrounding the problem with this Macbook Pro was very rare, and that caused some problems getting it fixed.

I honestly don’t think they really understood what I was talking about the first two times they looked at the machine – and that could have been a communication issue on my part. Luckily, after taking to a Genius in Austin and showing them what was going on, they had a better understanding.

I highly recommend that if you have an Apple Store in driving distance and you’re dealing with an uncommon problem, that you take the time to drive there and meet them in person. It will move things along much faster for you.

So – is it over? Only time will tell…but I sure hope so.


Kossi Adzo

Kossi Adzo is a technology enthusiast and digital strategist with a fervent passion for Apple products and the innovative technologies that orbit them. With a background in computer science and a decade of experience in app development and digital marketing, Kossi brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the Apple Gazette team.

3 Comments

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  1. @Nick

    Yeah, but I’ll be happy if I don’t have to mess with it anymore. I don’t want to have to pack it back up and go through anymore of this mess.

    Hopefully this is it.