Edited. In my experience any 3 major part replacements is usually enough. You just have to push them as you said

2 cpu's and 1 logic board later saw me with a new Quad G5

sure quite simply because it's had a logic board replacement & case replacement oh yes and a processor replacement all this before it got to me. now if i had dodgy coolant

I've had computers with about 7 parts and it still takes me about a month and a half to get it replaced...grr Apple...

An issue with a mainboard and cpu are generally related though, for instance: someone has a fauly fan and then a faulty hdd then maybe a faulty optical drive or something, they will not be given a replacement machine.


The worst part is that with current technology failure rates on components are low, to get a few in a row is very unlucky,

Mine were all in the one Go. They didn't know what the problem was, since it came up as a CPU failure, they got a new one sent, no go, a second one sent (being a dual processor) no go, logic board replaced no go... new machine

Yeah in that case i would've done the same for you, sounds like the machine was
A) Possessed
B) A lemon.

Could've also just been a PSU problem, happens on PC's all the time :P

Good to see you got a new machine though.

Hey, let's face it: regardless of policy, one's success in getting a replacement is largely dependent on getting the right person on the phone. At least, that's the way it was in my situation. Apple has an "acceptable time frame" within which a Mac should be repaired. One supervisor told me it was ten business days. Still, after ten business days passed and more, I couldn't get any supervisors to agree to replace my G5 within a certain time frame.

Finally, I reached one supervisor who was rather sympathetic and initially offerred me gift certificates and such to at least compensate me for the wait. The tech at compUSA where I'm having the G5 serviced had already replaced the logicboard, processors and PSU and the G5 still didn't power up and this was after two weeks in the shop.

I presented my case to this one supervisor and she was very good about calling me back and checking in with compUSA's tech for status reports. Basically, I put it to her that it was simply not right to just keep postponing the length of acceptable time that the Mac could remain in for repairs and she agreed that if it's not repaired by wednesday (tomorrow my time,) and after 17 days in the shop, then I'll get that Mac Pro equally specced as my G5 is.

I also have a bit of an edge as I'm a small business customer of Apple and have a long history of buying rather expensive Macs such as my two Xserves. Beyond that, I'm an ACN member and hold an Apple certification. Not that this stuff necessarily helps, but it may have. Who knows. And yes, it took tons of persistance on my part, putting on my most charming voice, not losing my cool and insisting that I talk with decision makers.

From what I gather, the general policy is three major repairs and not necessarily related. Also, the amount of time the Mac spends in service is an influencing factor. And of course, things may be a tad different for me dealing with Apple in the US.

Anyhow, again, I suggest liquid cooled G5 owners watch for certain signs such as I mentioned before, as if the problem is caught early enough, repairs may not be so extensive as they were with mine.

Dave

Adding to the above, if you have AppleCare, they are much friendlier when considering replacements.

Definitely all about who you get on the phone...

With all those parts replaced i can only question the skill of the techs involved,

Like did they even consider uplugging peripherals such as cards and HDD's etc to leave just the logic board, ram, cpu and psu?

I find Apple Technicians... interesting at times, one of my mates is one yet he aint too bright.

And yes, I have AppleCare which should be obvious as I mentioned that this issue occurred after about 18 months. (Er, I think I mentioned that!)

Also, as one of my arguments, I mentioned that I have AppleCare on both Xserves (which costs around $900 USD apiece) which I've never used as well as unused AppleCare on other Apple products.

Still, there's a bit of an irony in that Apple says they deal with such cases on a case by case basis, yet, I really doubt they took much of these arguments of mine into account. The real deciding factor was simply the length of time in for service and extent of repairs conducted so far.

Dave

Hey, my impression was that this tech was not exactly the best in his field by a longshot. However, I have no way of knowing exactly what he did other than his description to me which may/may not have been accurate.

when I first took the G5 in, I explained that I suspected it was a coolant leak issue. Yet, the tech ran a hardware test (as he claimed the G5 fired up for him though it didn't for me...) and the test said there was a logicboard issue so that's the first thing he replaced. Only after that did he determine that there was a coolant leak. CompUSa wasn't even my first choice of places to take the G5. I'd have preferred to take it to Bay Street Apple, a real Apple store nearby. However, the police had blocked off the block they're on and I would have had to walk around 200 metres carrying the G5, so i said what the hell and took it to compUSA where I could easily park. Still, for all I know, the techs at Bay Street Apple are no better. They have a really high employee turnover.

Anyhow....these things are often luck of the draw.

Dave

My PM 2.7 recently had both processors, the logic board, power supply and fans all replaced for this problem. Just before the 24 month mark. All fixed under Apple Care, but it makes me think strongly about upgrading to an Intel Mac this year while I'm still a student.

You're lucky you have a real apple store!

I always get treated like crap from the jerks here because they know i can't go elsewhere..

I'm a service tech / phone support technician for a PC Manufacturer and troubleshooting is fundementally the same, i often see some weird stuff when apple techs order parts though, i sometimes wonder where they find them.

Aaaanyway, at least the issue got fixed, and i bet apple has learnt that anything that requires liquid cooling is not a good idea.

I just spoke with a product specialist. It's confirmed: I get the Mac Pro replacement. It's going to be a quad-core 3.0 with 8 GB RAM provided I can produce receipts for the extra RAM I added.

An agent is supposed to phone me back within 4 hours to arrange final details.

Yay!!!!

Dave