# Apple iPhones intentionally bricked if repaired by non Apple technician



## editor (Feb 5, 2016)

Considered yourself warned. And just hope that there's an Apple technician around when your phone fucks up. 



> Thousands of iPhone 6 users claim they have been left holding almost worthless phones because Apple’s latest operating system permanently disables the handset if it detects that a repair has been carried out by a non-Apple technician.
> 
> Relatively few people outside the tech world are aware of the so-called “error 53” problem, but if it happens to you you’ll know about it. And according to one specialist journalist, it “will kill your iPhone”.
> 
> The issue appears to affect handsets where the home button, which has touch ID fingerprint recognition built-in, has been repaired by a “non-official” company or individual. It has also reportedly affected customers whose phone has been damaged but who have been able to carry on using it without the need for a repair.





> Tech experts claim Apple knows all about the problem but has done nothing to warn users that their phone will be “bricked” (ie, rendered as technologically useful as a brick) if they install the iOS upgrade.
> 
> Freelance photographer and self-confessed Apple addict Antonio Olmos says this happened to his phone a few weeks ago after he upgraded his software. Olmos had previously had his handset repaired while on an assignment for the Guardian in Macedonia. “I was in the Balkans covering the refugee crisis in September when I dropped my phone. Because I desperately needed it for work I got it fixed at a local shop, as there are no Apple stores in Macedonia. They repaired the screen and home button, and it worked perfectly.”
> 
> ...


‘Error 53’ fury mounts as Apple software update threatens to kill your iPhone 6


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## EastEnder (Feb 5, 2016)

Apple must really hate their customers. It's weird, because they really love money, just not the people they take it off.

Still, I'm sure all the iPhone 6 users diligently read all the T&Cs when they got their phone, which no doubt allow Apple to do whatever the hell they want, so I guess they can't really complain.


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## sim667 (Feb 5, 2016)

I can foresee even more court cases in apple's future.


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## kabbes (Feb 5, 2016)

I wonder what this means for the massively important global supply chain of reconditioning phones.  This is the way that insurers can control costs for mobile phone insurance -- without it, premiums would be multiple times as high.


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## editor (Feb 5, 2016)

More here:


> The issue appears to be limited to Apple’s most recent major software update, iOS 9. But it works retroactively, so that phones that have been repaired in the past could break as soon as they are updated to the new operating system.


It's going to fuck a lot of people up.
Apple error could completely shut down your phone forever, without warning

Summary from the Apple forums: 


> If it hasn't been serviced or tampered with by an unauthorized 3rd party, make an appointment at the genius bar.
> 
> If it has been... screen and/or home button replacements, etc, then throw it in the bin and buy a new phone. It's permanently borked.


iPhone restore error 53 - not listed anywhere, ... | Apple Support Communities


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## editor (Feb 5, 2016)

Elsewhere, they're still acting like total cunts: 


> Apple has just responded to Samsung's mid-December petition for writ of certiorari (request for Supreme Court review) regarding two legal questions concerning design patents and, in the same document, toamicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs from major industry players, many IP law professors and various public interest advocates, all of whom agree with Samsung that the top U.S. court should take a look at this matter.





> Looking at this from the angle of whether the case is worthy of a Supreme Court review (without getting defocused by arguments about the merits), I'm not overwhelmed by Apple's filing, but anything else would have been a major surprise. Honestly, this must have been one of the most difficult challenges ever for Apple's lawyers: to try to downplay the certworthiness of an issue after pretty much the entire ICT industry has made clear that it is profoundly concerned.
> 
> The hurdle for Apple to discourage the Supreme Court from taking the case is (although cert petitions are normally long shots) reasonably high here not only because of all the amici who support Samsung but also because the Supreme Court hasn't heard a design patent case in about 122 years. It's so obvious that a lot of things have changed during that period, and the role design patents play in connection with complex technology products really needs to be adjudicated again.


FOSS Patents: Apple to Supreme Court: Samsung litigation 'may be high-profile, [but] it is legally unexceptional'


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## sim667 (Feb 5, 2016)

I'm not really sure what the design patent court case has got to do with button problem..... you having a bad day and just fancy laying into apple for a bit?


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## mauvais (Feb 5, 2016)

If it's not an oversight that gets remedied sharpish, it must be anti-competitive and anti-consumer, and it ought to result in the same sort of thing as the Block Exemption Regulation, the thing that lets you take your car to any VAT-registered independent garage whilst retaining your warranty and all the rest. But noone is going to give a fuck about tin pot phone repairers, are they, so probably not.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 5, 2016)

More Apple knobery isn't it.

I had to get my iphone repaired the other day. I'd have been furious if doing so bricked it.


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## sim667 (Feb 5, 2016)

I can understand why it may improve security, it does stop circumvention of the security system, as I think fingerprint data is actually stored in the button chip itself.

But doing it retrospectively, not anouncing it, and the fact that they won't sell parts to non AASP companies, and AASP companies aren't allowed to repair iOS devices, is a total cunts trick imho.


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## EastEnder (Feb 5, 2016)

skyscraper101 said:


> More Apple knobery isn't it.
> 
> I had to get my iphone repaired the other day. I'd have been furious if doing so bricked it.


If it had - say you had an iPhone 6 - would you then buy another iPhone?


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 5, 2016)

EastEnder said:


> If it had - say you had an iPhone 6 - would you then buy another iPhone?



No I would not on principle.


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## Spymaster (Feb 5, 2016)

My i6 was water damaged in October and I got it repaired by a friend of a friend and it's been working perfectly since. 

I'm on iOS 9.2.1 and have had no issues.


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## PursuedByBears (Feb 5, 2016)

Wow, apple really do treat iPhone customers like shit don't they? I love my macbook but would never buy an iPhone.


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## EastEnder (Feb 5, 2016)

Spymaster said:


> My i6 was water damaged in October and I got it repaired by a friend of a friend and it's been working perfectly since.
> 
> I'm on iOS 9.2.1 and have had no issues.


It sounds like anything that interferes with the touch Id sensor thing is what causes all the grief, your repair presumably managed to avoid the kill switch.

Apple's explanation is sort of reasonable - that it's a safety thing to stop malcontents from circumventing the security. But the fact that it can totally destroy the phone, without even the option to take it into an Apple repairer to be fixed, is utterly outrageous. 

Can you imagine if Ford or Vauxhall did this? "Sorry Sir, you got your Focus repaired at an unauthorised garage, so now you'll need to buy a new car".... The company would be sued to hell & back.


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## two sheds (Feb 5, 2016)

Anyone know what the Apple contract says about having them repaired by an approved engineer?


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 5, 2016)

My touch ID no longer works because I apparently damaged it while trying to replace the fixed battery. Why can't they just make batteries easily replaceable without having to open the whole unit up. Its bullshit.


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## editor (Feb 5, 2016)

sim667 said:


> I'm not really sure what the design patent court case has got to do with button problem..... you having a bad day and just fancy laying into apple for a bit?


I put it out there as a timely reminder of what the company can be like, that's all


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## Zabo (Feb 7, 2016)

two sheds said:


> Anyone know what the Apple contract says about having them repaired by an approved engineer?



I know that vehicles are covered under EU Law if used by a qualified third party who use approved spares but as of yet I don't think phones are covered.


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## two sheds (Feb 7, 2016)

Would be interested to see what their T&Cs say. Mind you, they're only doing it to protect their customers. 

*



			Apple says iPhone 'Error 53' is to protect customers' security
		
Click to expand...

*


> Security measure is necessary to prevent use of fraudulent parts, says company, after thousands of users affected



by bricking the phone permanently. 

Apple says iPhone 'Error 53' is to protect customers' security


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## danny la rouge (Feb 7, 2016)

This verb people are using: to brick. Can I ask about it?

To me _to brick something means to hit it with a brick. Here it appears to mean something else. I assume from the context that is means "to render as a useless oblong object like a brick". Is this a widespread useage?_


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## two sheds (Feb 7, 2016)

I think I came across it on urban - I've sort of assumed that it's related to things like "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."


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## rich! (Feb 7, 2016)

It's an old IT term, basically descriptive of the fact that the device is now useful only as a brick-like thing, rather than as a piece of expensive gadgetry.


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## EastEnder (Feb 7, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> This verb people are using: to brick. Can I ask about it?
> 
> To me _to brick something means to hit it with a brick. Here it appears to mean something else. I assume from the context that is means "to render as a useless oblong object like a brick". Is this a widespread useage?_


I think that's pretty much it. Although arguably, a defunct iPhone is a poor brick substitute, being both excessively svelte & lacking the indentations necessary for the mortar to adequately adhere.

Something like an old Nokia 3310 would, imho, be a better brick than an iPhone.


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## keybored (Feb 7, 2016)

There are a couple of variants of the term too; "hard-bricked" meaning irreparable short of replacing a major component (like the motherboad) which often makes a repair not worthwhile. This is what "bricked" generally refers too.

Confusingly there is also "soft-bricked", meaning it's fucked but can be defucked with the right procedure (like a firmware re-flash). Real bricks are never soft ffs.


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## two sheds (Feb 7, 2016)

Rubber diving brick


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## keybored (Feb 7, 2016)

Oh bugger


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## Zabo (Feb 8, 2016)

"Apple is under pressure to scrap its controversial policy of permanently disabling repaired iPhone 6s when software is upgraded, following a global consumer backlashand claims the company could be acting illegally.

At least one firm of US lawyers has said it hopes to bring a class action against the technology giant on behalf of victims whose £500 phones have been rendered worthless by an Apple software upgrade.

In the UK, a barrister has told the Guardian that Apple’s “reckless” policy of effectively killing people’s iPhones following the software upgrade could potentially be viewed as an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. The act makes it an offence to intentionally destroy the possession of another"

Apple under pressure as lawyers pledge action over 'Error 53' codes


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## EastEnder (Feb 8, 2016)

Zabo said:


> "Apple is under pressure to scrap its controversial policy of permanently disabling repaired iPhone 6s when software is upgraded, following a global consumer backlashand claims the company could be acting illegally.
> 
> At least one firm of US lawyers has said it hopes to bring a class action against the technology giant on behalf of victims whose £500 phones have been rendered worthless by an Apple software upgrade.
> 
> ...


I imagine Apple will enthusiastically defend its position, even if it costs it millions in legal fees, not just because it doesn't like admitting when it's fucked up, but because it wants to defend its right to do whatever it wants to do. If it lost this case, it wouldn't be able to do this sort of thing again so easily in the future.


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## dervish (Feb 8, 2016)

I don't understand why they could not have just disabled touch id if they detect an unpaired component, it would satisfy the security needs and not fuck over their customers. But I don't suppose that was a consideration to them.


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## LeslieB (Feb 9, 2016)

Apple keeps treating it's customers like shit, but people keep giving them money.

I can just about understand it in the days of the Iphone 3 or 4, when they were genuinely the best out there, but there are so many alternatives these days.

They'll keep taking the piss as long as folk keep giving them money....


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## EastEnder (Feb 9, 2016)

Moths to a flame...


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## Chilli.s (Feb 9, 2016)

The idea that a stolen phone will become useless is great, a repair to a broken phone by its owner should not do the same. Especially when it costs so much.


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## sim667 (Feb 12, 2016)

Apple Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Error 53' iPhone 6 Bricking

Class action lawsuit brought over this in the US



> Seattle-based law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA) today followed through with plans to bring a class action lawsuit against Apple over the "Error 53" controversy that made headlines last week.


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## paolo (Feb 16, 2016)

For context - does anyone on this thread have an iPhone?


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## IC3D (Feb 16, 2016)

If people want security they shouldn't hand their phone to someone with no credentials, apple are just delivering a secure product that bypass's human idiosy. Customers who aren't dumb fucks have a fucking expensive secure phone that people can't fuck about with.


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## Supine (Feb 16, 2016)

I will be in the market for a new phone this summer. This could tip the balance when choosing. Apple are idiots sometimes.


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## sim667 (Feb 16, 2016)

paolo said:


> For context - does anyone on this thread have an iPhone?



I do.


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## EastEnder (Feb 16, 2016)

IC3D said:


> If people want security they shouldn't hand their phone to someone with no credentials, apple are just delivering a secure product that bypass's human idiosy. Customers who aren't dumb fucks have a fucking expensive secure phone that people can't fuck about with.


The phone is disabled by a _software_ update, therefore I'm sure it is not beyond the wit of the mighty Apple to undo the aforementioned update.

If I drop my phone & it breaks, I take it to my nearest highstreet phone repairer.
I live somewhere with no convenient Apple store, so innocently enough take it to a different, yet still legitimate repairer.
They repair it (yay!), then I get a _software_ update that renders the phone totally bricked.
In a state of panic I go out of my way to find an Apple store, thinking "They're Apple, they'll be able to undo this software update on my extremely expensive bricked phone".
The nice chaps in the Apple store then tell me "No, sorry it's permanently bricked by this software update. You'll have to shell out 2 weeks wages if you want a new one. But don't worry - it's a security feature".

Well, it's secure all right, secure as a brick....


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 16, 2016)

I reckon Apple will find a way to un-do this. It's getting not just bad PR but class action lawsuits now.

One massive reason for me switching from Android was the ease of fixing a broken iphone with a backstreet 3rd party repair place at a reasonable cost. Rather a cheaply repairable iphone than an expensive specialist having to order parts for a Samsung S6 curve or a Sony Z5 any of the other handsets which make small fractions of the Android market.

If Apple don't move on this, then I'm going to be royally pissed off.


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## sim667 (Feb 16, 2016)

skyscraper101 said:


> I reckon Apple will find a way to un-do this. It's getting not just bad PR but class action lawsuits now.
> 
> One massive reason for me switching from Android was the ease of fixing a broken iphone with a backstreet 3rd party repair place at a reasonable cost. Rather a cheaply repairable iphone than an expensive specialist having to order parts for a Samsung S6 curve or a Sony Z5 any of the other handsets which make small fractions of the Android market.
> 
> If Apple don't move on this, then I'm going to be royally pissed off.



There is a workaround if you haven't had the error now, but need to replace with a third party manufacturer. I don't even have much of an issue with it being introduced as it is a hardware security feature hack, but its the retrospective introduction that really is the issue.

I've been considering just taking fingerprint recognition off mine, after all its being used by the police to gain access to peoples phones now, but then I lose the ability to apple pay, which is really quite handy when I forget my wallet.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 16, 2016)

sim667 said:


> There is a workaround if you haven't had the error now, but need to replace with a third party manufacturer. I don't even have much of an issue with it being introduced as it is a hardware security feature hack, but its the retrospective introduction that really is the issue.
> 
> I've been considering just taking fingerprint recognition off mine, after all its being used by the police to gain access to peoples phones now, but then I lose the ability to apple pay, which is really quite handy when I forget my wallet.



I've taken mine off. Not actually by choice, but because I managed to damage the fingerprint ID reader while repairing the phone, so I have no choice but to use the passcode now. It's a 5S though, so not prone to these error messages.


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## Treacle Toes (Feb 17, 2016)

But they careeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee about their customers...really they do! 


* February 16, 2016 A Message to Our Customers *

The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand. 

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.


Customer Letter - Apple


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## ska invita (Feb 17, 2016)

Rutita1 said:


> But they careeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee about their customers...really they do!
> 
> 
> * February 16, 2016 A Message to Our Customers *
> ...


Hah yeah, thought the same, blatant attempt to change the media narrative... As if Apple don't roll over for the CIA and equivalents, just like the rest of them.

I know a few people who were the kind of annoying apple users who would bang on and on about their apple products and sneer at the rest... Speak to then now and its all grumbles about built in obsilesence, getting ripped off at the, lol, genius bar, updates breaking their machines etc etc. But they still can't give up on their addiction.

One graphic designer I know says he wants rid but Clients expect it. Chain of foolishness.


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## twentythreedom (Feb 17, 2016)

To try every pass code of a locked iPhone takes over 5 yrs, I read somewhere


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## Treacle Toes (Feb 17, 2016)

twentythreedom said:


> To try every pass code of a locked iPhone takes over 5 yrs, I read somewhere



You have been busy captain?


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## twentythreedom (Feb 17, 2016)

Rutita1 said:


> You have been busy captain?


Technically


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## ska invita (Feb 18, 2016)

Rutita1 said:


> But they careeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee about their customers...really they do!
> 
> 
> * February 16, 2016 A Message to Our Customers *
> ...



couldnt check it yesterday as was on a phone, but looking now, Apple of course were wide open when the NSA came knocking before  - in fact I dont think they even knocked, they just had the keys to the backdoor
Apple reportedly latest company to join US government's PRISM data mining program [ux2]


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## Kesher (Feb 18, 2016)

Google has supported Apple’s commitment not to hack into a terrorist’s phone


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## ska invita (Feb 18, 2016)

Kesher said:


> Google has supported Apple’s commitment not to hack into a terrorist’s phone


 ISIS are really backing Apple on this too www.islamicstate.com/apple-must-stand-strong-against-the-fbi.html


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 18, 2016)

Apple's just released a new version of iOS 9.2.1 to restore devices bricked by "Error 53" to working condition.

Apple Releases Updated Version of iOS 9.2.1 to Fix Devices Bricked by 'Error 53'


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## paolo (Feb 19, 2016)

Fixed.

Should never have happened of course.

Lots of massively angry Android users will have to rest - only for a moment though, there'll be something else to be raging about, on forums, along shortly.

Apple apologises over Error 53 and issues fix for bricked iPhones


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## paolo (Feb 19, 2016)

skyscraper101 said:


> I reckon Apple will find a way to un-do this. It's getting not just bad PR but class action lawsuits now.
> 
> One massive reason for me switching from Android was the ease of fixing a broken iphone with a backstreet 3rd party repair place at a reasonable cost. Rather a cheaply repairable iphone than an expensive specialist having to order parts for a Samsung S6 curve or a Sony Z5 any of the other handsets which make small fractions of the Android market.



Yep, same here. I'm the idiot who dragged - yes dragged, attached to headphones - his phone down a series of concrete steps. Twice.

Nice to know there's still a mass market in backstreet repairs for Apple stuff.


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## EastEnder (Feb 19, 2016)

paolo said:


> Lots of massively angry Android users will have to rest - only for a moment though, there'll be something else to be raging about, on forums, along shortly.


http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...for-fbi-but-they-could-if-they-wanted.342261/

Apple: The gift that keeps on giving.


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## paolo (Feb 19, 2016)

paolo said:


> Yep, same here. I'm the idiot who dragged - yes dragged, attached to headphones - his phone down a series of concrete steps. Twice.
> 
> Nice to know there's still a mass market in backstreet repairs for Apple stuff.





EastEnder said:


> http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...for-fbi-but-they-could-if-they-wanted.342261/
> 
> Apple: The gift that keeps on giving.



Not sure the FBI sees Apple as a gift.


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## sim667 (Feb 19, 2016)

LeslieB said:


> Apple keeps treating it's customers like shit, but people keep giving them money.



To be fair, I'm just having my second repair on my laptop free of charge, and its not even under warranty.

So I guess I'm being treated like shit yeah? Trying getting a free out of warranty repair with any other computer company, and then make that claim.


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## editor (Feb 19, 2016)

paolo said:


> Fixed.
> 
> Should never have happened of course.
> 
> ...


Love the way a security measure suddenly stops being a security measure because Apple say so.


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## pesh (Feb 19, 2016)

sim667 said:


> To be fair, I'm just having my second repair on my laptop free of charge, and its not even under warranty.


new logic boards?


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## sim667 (Feb 19, 2016)

editor said:


> Love the way a security measure suddenly stops being a security measure because Apple say so.



They're damned if they do, damned if they don't in this situation......


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## sim667 (Feb 19, 2016)

pesh said:


> new logic boards?



Graphics is playing up...

They replaced the logic board and graphics card so far, but it was still an issue.


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## dervish (Feb 19, 2016)

sim667 said:


> So I guess I'm being treated like shit yeah? Trying getting a free out of warranty repair with any other computer company, and then make that claim.



Toshiba have repaired two laptops of mine that were out of warranty repair, one just out, the other nearly a year out. Also did extra repairs that I added to a note not on the original RMA.


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## sim667 (Feb 19, 2016)

dervish said:


> Toshiba have repaired two laptops of mine that were out of warranty repair, one just out, the other nearly a year out. Also did extra repairs that I added to a note not on the original RMA.



Have you bought a lot from toshiba?

Im wondering with apple whether its because they can see I've bought a lot for both personal and work.


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## dervish (Feb 19, 2016)

Not really, and it was a few years ago, I had got one for me and one for wiskey. Hers had broke and I remember that when I rang them being so impressed with how helpful they made it and how easy it was.


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## pesh (Feb 19, 2016)

sim667 said:


> Graphics is playing up...
> 
> They replaced the logic board and graphics card so far, but it was still an issue.


yeah, they're replacing the faulty ones with more from the same batch.


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## pesh (Feb 19, 2016)

sim667 said:


> Have you bought a lot from toshiba?
> 
> Im wondering with apple whether its because they can see I've bought a lot for both personal and work.


no, it's because there's a world wide repair program in place, they've brought it in in attempt to see off a class action lawsuit from all the people who's graphics chips have fallen off.


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## sim667 (Feb 19, 2016)

pesh said:


> yeah, they're replacing the faulty ones with more from the same batch.





pesh said:


> no, it's because there's a world wide repair program in place, they've brought it in in attempt to see off a class action lawsuit from all the people who's graphics chips have fallen off.



Only the 15 inch model. I have the 13 inch model


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## pesh (Feb 19, 2016)

ahh ok


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