Sad news. I had to ship my new sexy thing off to Apple Repair today.
A couple of weeks ago, it started shutting down abruptly when on battery. First time it happened I assumed the battery was low, but then it did it with the battery well over half – might have even been over 75%.
My first thought was that it might be software-related because both times I was actively using a chat program called AdiumX at the moment it shut down. So a weekend or two ago, I backed up, wiped ‘er clean and reinstalled the OS and only those programs I absolutely needed.
But in the last couple of days it’s done it three times. One time yesterday just before I was going to see a new client. Um, oops. I poked around some online forums and they all suggested I send it off to Apple. It’s still under warranty and some thought it might be a problem with the battery that’s supposedly a silent recall.
I made an appointment at the Apple Store Pioneer Place Genius Bar, and today I talked to Brent. He poked around, reset the PMU/PRAM, and while trying to look at the system logs – it shut down on him. Total time at Genius Bar: 4 minutes, tops, and less than 2 minutes after restarting it. I did a happy dance, because, seriously, how often does it happen that the intermittent problem shows up when you’re showing it to the tech?
Brent said it’s the main logic board, not the battery. Me sad. But I knew when I bought this that I was getting a version 1.0 product and it might have some problems. It’s not like I didn’t know that in advance.
So it’s off to repair depot (I think that’s still in Austin but I could be wrong) and I’m without my laptop for a few days. Hopefully there aren’t any parts backorders or anything. Brent said typical times are 5 days (not business days but actual days) but I know they can do it faster if everything’s in alignment.
My apartment seems a colder place without my MBP here.
Literally, colder. The thing ran at 150° F under normal load…