Got used Mac, couple of problems

[Guest]

Hi, I've bought a 2006 MacBook from my friend for ?100 BARGAIN! I'm pretty happy with this things performance still, it's a shame Lion is unsupported but I am happy to be using os x at all again!

So, the problems:

1st: This thing looks dirty! It seems to be one of the MacBook batches that had the plastic defect, nothing I try seems to budge the slight yellowing and my friend was too lazy to ever get it sorted out by Apple. I very much doubt they will even look at it now without an extortionate charge so does anyone know how I might get it white and pretty again?

2nd: App store apps don't seem to install. I get the following message but can't find any solution to it via google:

The application could not be downloaded.

NSInternalInconsistencyException

I've connected to the net via tethering my phone at the moment, I don't know if that's causing the problem with some weird port issue or something.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your help in advance!

[Haggis Veteran]

same problem on this thread seems to be because of the phone connection

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3190578?start=0&tstart=0

[REM2000]

I would ask Apple, one of the geniuses not over the phone. I see your from Derbyshire so I'm not sure where your local apple store is, i would take it to an official apple store and see if they will do something about it for free. Apple are pretty good. I once took my white MacBook in for a defective charger and they replaced the charger and found the case/trackpad was worn so they replaced that as well free of charge.

Not sure on your second problem, you could try the usual i.e. repair/check permissions.

[richardsim7]

1) Your nearest Apple Store is probably Meadowhall, Sheffield. Take it along, they might clean it for free, you'd be surprised :)

2) Yeah that sounds like a firewall issue. Like you said, connected to the net via tethering, this is most likely the issue

[Guest]

Yeah, I came across that on google, it's a bit ambiguous and isn't really a solution. I'm stuck with 3g at the moment because Sky broadband are taking forever to activate it in my new build house.

[Guest]

I would ask Apple, one of the geniuses not over the phone. I see your from Derbyshire so I'm not sure where your local apple store is, i would take it to an official apple store and see if they will do something about it for free. Apple are pretty good. I once took my white MacBook in for a defective charger and they replaced the charger and found the case/trackpad was worn so they replaced that as well free of charge.

Not sure on your second problem, you could try the usual i.e. repair/check permissions.

Do you really think they'd do it for a *2006* macbook that has obviously seen better days? I only ask because it's quite a trip to the closest Apple store.

I've seen a lot of people praise those Mr Clean Magic Erasers but they seem fairly hard to come by in the UK. Is there an alternative brand name here that I might be able to pick up in a local shop?

[richardsim7]

You can actually mix an anti-yellowing solution yourself using some bleach etc ;)

[Guest]

You can actually mix an anti-yellowing solution yourself using some bleach etc ;)

Just bleach and water?

Stupid as it may sound, I've actually already tried toilet gel, I though "how much worse could it look?". It didn't actually make it look any different, although I don't think it had any bleach in it. Needless to say, it was toilet fresh for a couple of days.

[threesixtyflip]

Do you really think they'd do it for a *2006* macbook that has obviously seen better days? I only ask because it's quite a trip to the closest Apple store.

I've seen a lot of people praise those Mr Clean Magic Erasers but they seem fairly hard to come by in the UK. Is there an alternative brand name here that I might be able to pick up in a local shop?

Well last week they just replaced all of my plastics of my 2008 model for free.

You cant knock Apple's customer service.

Just give it a go really, I mean once they even replaced my battery for free even though it was out of warranty.

[Noxa12]

Just looked on ebay and ?100 for a 2006 Macbook is definitely a good deal, alot of them are going for the ?300 mark.

I bet the toilet gel cleaning solution can't have left it spelling too bonny.

[Guest]

Not sure about this bleach idea, there's a few threads on other sites advising that it may actually cause even worse coloration but no one seems to have been willing to try it so it may work... or make it worse...

I'll probably end up getting a magic eraser on amazon or something in the end, I'd have to get a friend to take me to the Apple store especially.

I guess in the end it doesn't even matter, it's just an aesthetic thing but it makes it feel more crappy than it really is. The outer casing is hardly << racial epithet >>-and-span, it's got micro scratches all over it. Just want it to not look like I never wash my hands though!

[migo]

Took me a few seconds to reverse engineer that "racial epithet"- s p i c.

[Guest]

Took me a few seconds to reverse engineer that "racial epithet"- s p i c.

Lol yeah, when I posted that, I was like... wha?

Never even realised that it was a racial epithet, it's a rather common phrase.

[REM2000]

As others have said it's worth a try, my MacBook is a 2006 version and they done those repairs in 2010, they told me in store if i ever have the problem again with either the charger or the case i can take it back to them as it's covered for life.

Perhaps you could make a day of it, do something else as it would be annoying going all the way there for nothing.

I know what you mean by the micro scratches sometimes in a certain light it looks like ive been cleaning mine with a brillo pad! If you want to clean it manually it will take a lot of time and effort as the plastic is a little absorbent if it hasn't been taken care off.

Good bargin though! Would recommend maxing out the ram if not already done so, mine supports up to 2GB officially i dont think you can push it higher, it's quite cheap on crucial.com/uk

[protocol7]

You can run Lion on a 2006 MacBook. I still have Snow on mine though.

[butilikethecookie]

I have a white late 2006 mac aswell. It is running lion. Please try to install lion. It suggest...errr...borrowing a friends .dmg, mount it and burn with to a dvd with disk utility. Reboot. Hold the apple key down until u hear the chime and wait for it to boot. Be patient it takes a while to come up! Format the disk, Rename it,etc. and install. The system lags a VERY tiney little bit but it is very stable. If you can't, try to reinstall snow leopard, and do all the updates. Try the app store again.

Take it to the apple store at tell them you think this is the defect. They replaced all my caseing for free! Really-they will check your serial number and if it is, they will replace it. If not, It cost you 130 bucks. Not too bad, really.

[Guest]

This is an early 2006 model with just a core duo unfortunately, thus no 64 bit support :/

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Yeah if you take it into an Apple Store for anything they're likely to replace the casing if it looks scuffed/dirty and clean it too. They did this for a friend of mine when the hard drive failed in hers.

[Lunfai]

This is an early 2006 model with just a core duo unfortunately, thus no 64 bit support :/

Meadowhall, Apple Store is really friendly (like most of them), they might offer a cleaning solution that can really work that yellow off, they might use the same solution that they use to clean the iPhone's before applying the screen protectors. Traditionally, I've heard of cleaning solution pens that are used to get rid of yellow and dirt off the keyboard.

Oh and you can install Lion on your laptop, you'll just need to bypass the Intel Core 2 Duo, i5, i7 blah blah screen. Hit up Macrumors for a guide, there's one similar on there right now which is quite popular because it's used to get Mountain Lion Developer Previews on the older hardware.

Also, chasethebase I love your deviantArt ;-)

[Guest]

One more odd thing actually. This Macbook seems to emit an odd high pitch sound when, and only when you're not moving the cursor, or typing something.

I know it sounds crazy but it's true! I have no idea what could cause this. It's not the sound of typing that masks the sound either, you can just hold a button down and it still stops it. Let go and there it is back again.

[9]

One more odd thing actually. This Macbook seems to emit an odd high pitch sound when, and only when you're not moving the cursor, or typing something.

I know it sounds crazy but it's true! I have no idea what could cause this. It's not the sound of typing that masks the sound either, you can just hold a button down and it still stops it. Let go and there it is back again.

I believe key making contact creates a small electrical current.

is it possible to adjust the key "repeat" frequency? increase the repeat time a lot. then hold down one of the repeating keys (most of them).

Changing the power draw of the display (such as dimming) might change electrical current.

I'm just guessing at a experiments.

[cooky560 Veteran]

If it's emitting an odd noise when a key isn't pressed, it's likely there's something shorting somewhere, that might be worth getting looked at.

[AltecXP]

If i remember right a Mr Clean Magic eraser works great to clean a white macbook.