I hate it when things break and they're just out of warranty - My Mac Pro

[Feek]

I got home from work tonight and saw that my Mac Pro seemed to be awake, the light on the front wasn't pulsing but the screens were on standby. I don't have any screen saver/blanker in operation so that was a bit odd.

I tried to wake it up but failed so I did what I hate doing and that's to hit the power button. When it started I had horrible video corruption and although I could see the Apple logo, that's all I could see. Only one of my two monitors started and it stayed on the Apple logo. It was booting successfully, I could tell from the sound but the display didn't work.

I reset the SMC, reset the PRAM and tried again - The pattern had changed but it was still the same corruption.

So I took out the nvidia 8800GT and slapped the original ATI 2600 *shudder* in and it booted perfectly.

So it's the graphics card.

My Mac is 12 days out of warranty. I'm going to call Apple tomorrow and see what the score is because I had some warranty work done at the end of November and I don't know whether that work effectively extends the warranty on the system for three months because if it does then I'm covered. At least I do have a working system but it'd be good to have the 8800GT back in rather than this ATI card.

[Jingo]

Yeah definately give them a call - I've head apple support can often be very generous and efficient, but I'm not sure if that extends well out of warranty.

How many days was the item away for the original warranty work you mention? Is there any connection between the work that was done and this problem? Most work undertaken under warranty tends to have an extended period from it's point of return - but usually only covering the items that are worked on.

I hope something can be worked out - keep us updated :)

[Feek]

It was the optical drive which isn't really connected to the video card.

I wonder if the video card might be one of the ones with the nvidia fault that happened a couple of years ago, it's from the period when there were issues so it's really worth the call.

[Mark]

Express your opinion politely but forcefully and see what happens. SoGA doesn't explicitly put a time limit on how long you have a right to claim redress, beyond saying a 'reasonable' time. What is reasonable is very subjective so it's difficult to tell whether the length of time you've had the system is reasonable.

[karbon]

SoGA is for issues that are present at the time of sale though, which this is not.

from experience, i'd definitely contact them. i'm sure they'll be very pleasant and get you sorted if that's the time period in question.

[Davey_Pitch]

SoGA is for issues that are present at the time of sale though, which this is not.

Not true, the SoGA states that any items purchased should be expected to last a reasonable amount of time. It could very easily be argued I think that an expensive Mac Book Pro should last more than 3 months outside the warranty period.

[Feek]

Spoke to them today, first of all they didn't realise that I was only 12 days out of warranty even though I'd told them so they had to check my warranty status properly. Then once they realised that the graphics card wasn't the one shipped with the Mac Pro (not a Mac Book Pro, Davey, it's a big f-off tower system) they flatly refused to cover it. If had been the card that the system came with then he'd have swapped it for me but it's an aftermarket Apple card that I bought maybe six months after the system shipped.

So I have to take the whole system into an Apple Store and see if I can persuade them to do anything with it.

[Zico]

If you bought the card 6 months after the system as a separate purchase, shouldn't that have an individual 12 month warranty by itself?

[Lozza]

If had been the card that the system came with then he'd have swapped it for me but it's an aftermarket Apple card that I bought maybe six months after the system shipped.

So I have to take the whole system into an Apple Store and see if I can persuade them to do anything with it.

I'm not surprised really... but as zico says surely the card is still in waranty and if you got that from the apple store then i assume that they should sort that... if not from apple then the company you got it from or the manufacturer.... ?

(unless your mac had more than 12 months warranty)

[Mohinder]

Any joy, Feekles?