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NEW MBPr keeps shutting down on sleep, Not mounting Ext HD + AWESOME Apple Store Experience. :)

I've been using apple products for almost 10 years now (from iPods to iPhones and MBPs). I just got a BRAND NEW MBP Retina last December (2012), I was supposed to use it for school this January, because of it's claim for speed and graphics. I even had it customized!!! Thinking I'd get BETTER performance,I upgraded the Memory and the Processor!!! I wanted to do the HD too but it was too pricey (But of course, they dropped their prices recently. For the same amount I paid in December, I could have gotten better today. *censored curse words here*)


By the time I used the MBPr in January,THE THING KEPT SHUTTING DOWN ON ME!!! Whenever I'd put it to sleep, IT WOULDN'T COME BACK ON!!! I'dlose all the information and files I've been working on for hours! Not only would I have to do them again, the MBP would give me such a DIFFICULT time trying to switch it back on! And when it finally would, it would say something like "Your computer shut down unexpectedly. Would you like to open the programs that were on before it shut down?" Even if I'd click yes, none of my files were recovered.


In addition, 3 out of 10 times it wouldn't mount my External Hard Drive!!! And of course it has to be the times when I'm in a hurry to access important files. To me, this IS an issue. A BIG one. NOT fun, trust me. I know the problem isn't with my External HD because I still have my old MBP (late 2009) and it works fine there, I've repeatedly used it on my sister's and mom's MBP too and there's been no problem whatsoever. It's just with this supposedly "new" MBP Retina.


So I went to the Apple store on 5th Ave, and they scheduled me an appointment about an hour and a half later, which was alright, but for the first time (EVER) the lady who scheduled my appointment gave me some attitude. She set me up for an appointment at 1:45, so just to make sure, I repeated it to her "I can wait around. So that's 1:45?" And she looks at me and says "What? Did you want it LATER? Huh?" Power tripping much? First time I've encountered that kind of customer service, from an apple store, no less.

Anyway, the appointments are their form of "organized chaos", so I didn't mind waiting my turn. The place was pretty packed, as it always is, but I decided to wait it out. My appointment time came around so I checked in on the Apple Store App and again with one of those in blue shirts with an iPad, and he told me to wait for a chair to open and to grab it and someone will come check my MBP. It took a while before a seat was made available, but when one came, I took it. Fast forward, 15 minutes AFTER my appointment time, not a single Apple representative bothered to even make eye contact, ask what time my appointment was or if I needed any help at all. I tried talking to them/calling their attention, but it was as if I was invisible. Just perfect!


Someone FINALLY called my name.. Thirty minutes AFTER my appointment time. I didn't mind waiting an hour and a half for my appointment because I understand that's how the system works. But when my turn comes around, I expect them to keep their end of the bargain too. But I guess that was too much to ask. So anyway, this guy/genius checked my laptop and ran diagnostics on it, I think he used the loghog(?) and it was all there. It had the exact log of how many times the **** thing shut down on me!!!! He said they'd need to do further tests on the MBP, which seemed logical. But he went on to tell me that if they find anything wrong with the hardware, I'd have to be okay with them replacing it with REUSED parts of other laptops!!!! ***?!???? I bought that with hard earned money! Blood sweat and tears. I saved up for that for soooooo long to get something brand new, and here you are telling me, "It's out of the 14-day warranty period, so if we find something wrong with it, you'll have to be okay with us replacing it with USED PARTS!!!" (Non-verbatim, but yeah, he gave me some sugar-coated version of THAT!) I mean, WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!?? Is that what Apple has been reduced to now?!??? Like I said, I've been with them for almost 10 years, and I've influenced my family to use Apple products because PRIOR TO THIS, my experience with them has been EXCELLENT. They've always been superb. I've never had this kind of problem with them when it came to all my (our for that matter) apple merchandise. But now?! I can't believe it. Not only the quality of the laptop was unacceptable, now, even their service is too apparently!!


Way to go Apple Customer Sevice!


Have any of you had the same problems with your MBPr? How were you able to fix it? I paid hard earned money for this, and I really really would still want it to work. I called customer service and instead of apologizing for giving me a lemon, and unacceptable quality, the customer service rep, passed me on to a senior manager who told me exactly this:


Me: Ma'am, I bought this customized and BRAND NEW. I think the quality that you've given me is unacceptable, and I hope you understand that.

Senior Manager: Well, you know, it's a machine. It's like buying a car. It breaks.


Awesome, huh? In any case, my MBPr is with them and here's to hoping I at least get the MBPr life span than that I paid for, even if they do give me subpar quality and service. Has anyone had the same problems with their MBPr? Is this a common problem with them or was mine really just a lemon? Any input will help. Thank you!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 19, 2013 11:33 AM

Reply
37 replies

Feb 20, 2013 11:52 AM in response to thatssocrissy

No, a clone is an exact copy of a hard drive, in the same format as the hard drive. You can start from it and use your computer as if you were using the internal drive (albeit a tad slower). You can use it to restore any or all of your computer.


It is not a true backup system, it is a snapshot of your hard drive at a moment in time. You should always have a backup, any minute you don't could be the one where your Mac is stolen/broken/fails etc.


Dividing into two? why?

Feb 20, 2013 12:00 PM in response to Csound1

Csound1, so using Disk Utility is somewhat like copy-pasting, saving a copy of your files onto another space (an ext HD) minus the hassle? But it doesn't sync like Time Machine does? Is that correct? Of the two, which do you think is better?


I know it's OT, but I've been advised before that it's good to have an External HD divided (I'm not sure if that's the right tech term?) so that just in case it crashes or catches a virus, it only affects the data in that part of the HD.

Feb 20, 2013 12:04 PM in response to thatssocrissy

thatssocrissy wrote:


Csound1, so using Disk Utility is somewhat like copy-pasting, saving a copy of your files onto another space (an ext HD) minus the hassle? But it doesn't sync like Time Machine does? Is that correct? Of the two, which do you think is better?

They are complemetary but they do different things, you should have both. For this purpose I prefer a clone.

I know it's OT, but I've been advised before that it's good to have an External HD divided (I'm not sure if that's the right tech term?) so that just in case it crashes or catches a virus, it only affects the data in that part of the HD.

There are no Mac viruses, and partitioning wouldn't make any difference if there were and you caught one.

Feb 20, 2013 12:34 PM in response to Csound1

Got it! Thanks, Csound1!


On another note, would you by any chance know how to fix a problem with the screen? Whenever I use the MBP after sleep mode, it's all black and only shows the screen/graphics whenever/wherever the cursor goes and nothing else.. At least not until after I've logged on.. :| Is there a setting I can alter to fix that?

Feb 20, 2013 12:43 PM in response to thatssocrissy

thatssocrissy wrote:


Got it! Thanks, Csound1!


On another note, would you by any chance know how to fix a problem with the screen? Whenever I use the MBP after sleep mode, it's all black and only shows the screen/graphics whenever/wherever the cursor goes and nothing else.. At least not until after I've logged on.. :| Is there a setting I can alter to fix that?

It's not a setting, and it shouldn't be happening, let's try the basics first:


Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).

  1. Shut down the computer.
  2. Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
  3. On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
  4. Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
  5. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
    Note
    : The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

And


Resetting NVRAM / PRAM

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
  5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
  6. Release the keys.

After resetting NVRAM or PRAM, you may need to reconfigure your settings for speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and time zone information. If issues persist, your Mac's logic board battery (not a portable Mac's rechargeable battery) may need to be replaced. The logic board battery helps retain NVRAM/PRAM settings when your computer is shut down. You can take your Mac to a Mac Genius or Apple Authorized Service Provider to replace the battery on the logic board.

Do these one at a time and check to see if the problem is resolved after each one, if the SMC reset works there is no need for step 2.

Feb 20, 2013 1:32 PM in response to thatssocrissy

They didn't even look into the problem when I was there, I described the problem, they were busy and they said since I've only had it just under 3 weeks they would image the machine and let me get on my way. To top it off they refunded the difference from when I bought it to the new lower price ($428.00 refund). If they keep up this service I'll be a mac user for life.

Feb 20, 2013 2:07 PM in response to kljohnson

Automatically backs up your Mac, keeps previous versions of files etc.


A TM backup tends to hundreds of gigabytes in order to keep your complete machine and history, have you any idea what that would cost if you used DropBox, not to mention how long the upload to DropBox would take (days). And you would have to remember to upload every time something changed (and you won't know when that is). Overall that idea is hopeless


Research will help you understand the difference between clones, backups and online file storage (DropBox)

Feb 20, 2013 4:17 PM in response to Csound1

I know the difference between clones and backups. That's what I understood time machine to be. You should do some additional research on dropbox because your missing a few key elements of how it works. You are correct about the upload download times if you have a disaster but I have a decent connection, 5Mb upload and 30Mb download. It's only 100 bucks a year for 100 gigs of active data. It keeps previous versions of all files for a period of time and if you pay a little extra for the "pack rat" feature it will keep all previous versions; I'm cheap so I don't pay for that. You don't "upload" to Dropbox, it's automatic and very fast so you don't have to remember to do anything. The other bonus is being able to access your files from any device, anywhere, and sync your files with multiple devices. So I don't steer anyone wrong, it will not backup your applications or system files, it will only backup what is placed in the designated dropbox folder. In my opinion it's time machine for user files and much more. I agree it does not take the place of a disk image and if you have hundreds of GB or TB of data then it's not realistic. I'll clarify this with the following statement, "I say this as a home user I would never recommend this to a business".

Feb 20, 2013 4:24 PM in response to kljohnson

I have dropbox, wouldn't use it for anything important (awful security) but explain to me how dropbox 'automatically' keeps changes in all files on the mac, and keeps the earlier versions as well.


To handle an entire Mac 100G would not be enough (usually) 200G is more sensible and that is $199 per year, as opposed to $100 (one time) for 1000GB with an external drive and TM.

NEW MBPr keeps shutting down on sleep, Not mounting Ext HD + AWESOME Apple Store Experience. :)

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