Apple Starts Logic Board Repair Program

QuantumSpritz writes "In response to issues with iBook logic boards flaking out, Apple has posted an FAQ detailing the problems and what to do if you're affected. iBooks purchased in the last 3 years are eligible, and you may be reimbursed if you've already had to pay for repairs."

Re:"Logic Board"

[Trillan]

Macintoshes don't have motherboards, they have logic boards.

The reason is largely historical -- there used to be two "motherboards" in each unit. They were called the analog and digital (or logic) board.

I think the iBook has a single motherboard, however. More's the pity -- when a headphone jack breaks, the CPU gets replaced as well.

A small but meaningful correction

[LippyTheLip]

According to the FAQ, it is not that iBooks purchased in the last three years are eligible, but rather that some iBooks are eligible for three years after purchase.

Directly from the FAQ:

How long is the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program available?

The program covers affected iBooks for three years after the first retail sale of the unit. Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed.

For which computers is the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program available?
The program is available for iBooks with serial numbers in the following range(s):
UV220XXXXXX to UV318XXXXXX
iBooks with the serial numbers listed above may be referred to as:
iBook (16 VRAM),
iBook (14.1 LCD 16 VRAM)
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
iBook (32 VRAM)
iBook (14.1 LCD 32 VRAM)

Moreover, according to this article from Reuters [yahoo.com], these models were manufactured between May 2002 and April 2003.

it's not ibooks purchased in the last three years

[godawful]

its The iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program is a worldwide program covering repair or replacement of the logic board in specific iBook models manufactured between May 2002 and April 2003

any of those models, are insured for 3 years from their purchase date..

Re:I love this place

[nathanh]

The story about the Linux geek who got burnt by a fault that affects less than 0.2% of units shipped hits the front page, letting him complain about "hardware lock in". The vendor response about replacing the faulty part, and reimbursing people who've paid to get it fixed, makes only the apple.slashdot pages (ie buried in the paper).

Uhhh... I only ever read the slashdot.org front page and I'm seeing this story. What are you doing wrong?

Re:I love this place

[Anonymous Coward]

The story about the Linux geek who got burnt by a fault that affects less than 0.2% of units shipped hits the front page, letting him complain about "hardware lock in".

0.2% is the percentage that signed up for the petition for a class action suit, not the percentage of users affected by the problem. There are many people affected by the problem who did not sign the petition (because they never heard of the petition, because it was repaired under warantee, because the suite is probably a US-only thing,...). I bet the actual percentage is much higher. According to Reuters, Apple declined to comment on the number of units affected. If it was only 0.2%, I bet they would have stated it. Also in their latest SEC filing, they noted an unexpected high number of warantee claims on the ibook.

Re:Figures ...

[babbage]

Does anyone know a way to find out your iBook serial number via ssh connection? :-)

Try this:

/usr/sbin/system_profiler --help

A while back I did a run of that -- I forget what flags I used, something like system_profiler -detailLevel 1 -xml -- and saved it to a .plist file in my home directory for later reference (generating the report takes a while; grepping the report output is very fast). One of the keys I've got in my report file is serial_number, and the value given does match what I get if I go to the Apple Menu and click About This Mac....

So, yeah, you can get this info via ssh using system_profiler. It's basically a CLI version of the GUI Apple System Profiler, so you can get acceess to any system data that the graphical ASP program can show.

Re:Figures ...

[EricWright]

I cannot confirm this, as my ibook seems to be unreachable (the wife probably closed it), but a friend suggested

ioreg -bls | grep -i serialnumber

May work, may not; may work super-fast, may grind for ages...

Re:Figures ...

[GORDOOM]

Actually, batteries are explicitly not covered under AppleCare - which makes sense when you think about it, as batteries are the one part that one would expect to have a limited life. (Of course, if your battery dies a month after you get the computer or something, Apple will replace it for you, as that battery is clearly defective.)

You can get a refund for unused Apple Care

[physicsnerd]

One of the cool things about Apple Care is that you can chage your mind at anytime and get at least get a partial refund. If you've bought it within the past 30 days you can get a full refund.

From the terms and conditions at http://www.apple.com/support/products/proplan_term s.html [apple.com]

7. Cancellation
You may cancel this Plan at any time for any reason. If you purchased the Plan in the United States or Canada, cancel by sending written notice to AppleCare Administration, P.O. Box 149125, Austin, TX 78714-9125, U.S. Your notice must be accompanied by a copy of your proof of purchase of the Plan. Unless state law provides otherwise, if you cancel within 30 days of your Plan purchase, or receipt of these Terms and Conditions, whichever occurs later, you will receive a full refund less the value of any service provided under the Plan; if you cancel more than 30 days after your receipt of this Plan, you will receive a pro-rata refund of the Plan's original purchase price, less (i) a cancellation fee of U.S. $25 or 10 percent of the pro-rata amount, whichever is less, and (ii) the value of any service provided to you under the Plan. Unless state law provides otherwise, Apple may cancel this Plan if service parts for the Covered Equipment become unavailable, upon 30 days' written notice. If Apple cancels this Plan, you will receive a pro-rata refund for the Plan's unexpired term. For Plans purchased and enrolled/activated outside the U.S. or Canada, please contact the regional Apple subsidiary for the country of purchase.

Some info from a tech

[jeffasselin]

I work as an Apple Tech in a Mac shop.

We've had many of those iBooks come in. One customer who had bought about 40 of them had 12 of them with the issue - about a 33% repair rate, which is definitely abnormal. We know at that point that there was an issue.

But we've had almost no repeat repairs for this issue. We had maybe one or two which came back for slightly different problems (one was overheating, the other had a keyboard issue) for which we had to replace the logic board but was unrelated to the original issue.

Apple, a few months ago, issued a program to add to those iBooks a small plastic holder around the video chip on the backside of the logic boards. Most boards coming in for replacement already have those, and we've been instructed to install them as a preventative measure on any unit we open and on any new logic board which doesn't have them yet. I suspect (although Apple have not confirmed) that this measure is related to the logic board issue, as most symptoms are related to video. So far all iBooks which have shown the video issue did NOT have this little plastic parts installed.

So I can confidently affirm that repeat failures should not occur if the technician follows the Apple procedures.

yes you can

[godawful]

as stated here [apple.com] and in an above post. you can return apple care