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Sorry - I can't help, Gabriel, but here's an associated tale. My fp iMac had to have a new motherboard about 6 months after I purchased it brand new. That was a couple of years ago now. I had already taken out the AppleCare Plan. Late last year I had occasion to phone for AppleCare help, and gave the Serial Number to the tech upon request. Kawasaki mule 4010 vin location.
I found it exactly where you'd expect to find it - Blue Apple, About This Mac etc. Guessed what's coming next? He asked me to repeat it, and seemed a bit perplexed that it didn't coincide with the one he had on my record. He said the Serial Number I quoted belonged to a Mac registered in France! So I assume my replacement motherboard was a refurb from a case in France. Well, it's always worked fine so 'tant pis', I'm not bothered.
I’ll leave the fine, critical-theory, detail for later, and until I can be persuaded that, in an advert, a jetty is more than just a jetty. Judith williamson decoding advertisements.
Wonder where my original is now? Nov 24, 2005 4:26 AM. Hi Gabriel, Yes, there is a way to show it again in 'About This Mac'. (Posted: 28-Oct-2005) If somebody could now point which file to modify, to show it also in System Profiler. And the 'Sales Order Number', if you find it, too ( thanks a lot in advance!). I think Rod's tale shows why the technicians don't bother adding it themselves: The only serial number you can trust is the one you registered the very first time you used your computer. Any other number can be because of a mistake (French or not), a wrong sticker at the back of a machine, or a more doubtful 'tale'.
HTH Axl Nov 24, 2005 4:52 AM. ' Apple does not simply modify strings via NetInfo when they assign serial numbers to new logic boards' Well, obviously no, and Rod's 'tale' says it clearly: In his case the techs found the French serial number and copied it to the 'About This Mac' window. They should have looked for the original serial number, but then a sticker at the back of a machine, again can be wrong. IMO, the only right SN is the one we registered the very first time. But since techs are not themselves given (allowed) too much information, my feeling is that some of them do things in a different way, depending on how they understand it. I think the only 'right' SN is the very first registered one.
BTW do you have an idea, about the System Profiler ones? Nov 24, 2005 5:18 AM. But since techs are not themselves given (allowed) too much information, my feeling is that some of them do things in a different way, depending on how they understand it.
AASPs and Specialists do not alter serial number information in any way whatsoever, including transfer or assignment of serial number to new components. They are not given the proper tools to do it, and thus aren't supposed to hop into NetInfo or a text editor and change language project strings. The French serial number assigned erroneously to that fellow's board got there because it was a refurbished board whose original serial number had never been wiped or Apple themselves assigned the wrong number, not because an inattentive service tech did anything wrong.
Now, if some service tech DID decide to take it upon himself or herself to hack a serial number there, you still need to contact Apple, 'cause that isn't supposed to happen, and you still don't have a proper serial attached to the board. Believe me on this one. Nov 24, 2005 5:26 AM. 'You' in the general sense. (Yeah, him.) Whoops. Yeah, for units that don't go to Apple, the information will be absent. If a tech applies one, that's a newspaper-to-nose scenario, right there.
However, I've never, ever seen that happen: it's always an oversight on Apple's part. I guess, in the end, it's no biggie.
(I hope I didn't just send some first-tier rep a crappy Thanksgiving call.) I really wish it were feasible to ship boards to AASPs and Specialists with the users' serial numbers. Would make lots of users sleep better at night.
Logistical nightmare, though. Nov 24, 2005 6:04 AM.
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There is no way to restore serial number in the new logic board replacement because by default apple erase serial number to all logic board replacement. As service technician there is no sutility to write serial number in the firmware section as of today. Don't know in the future if Apple/intel release the utility. I've change many logic boards and all of them the serial number is blank in the system profiler. But basically you still have serial number in physical unit which located inside battery bay when you take the battery out you will see the serial number and that's what I use usually to confirm the serial number of the unit. So if you have macbook make sure that when you get top case replaced the technician move your serial number to new top case.
Hope this help Flippo Posted on Jul 24, 2006 10:40 PM. There is no way to restore serial number in the new logic board replacement because by default apple erase serial number to all logic board replacement. As service technician there is no sutility to write serial number in the firmware section as of today. Don't know in the future if Apple/intel release the utility. I've change many logic boards and all of them the serial number is blank in the system profiler. But basically you still have serial number in physical unit which located inside battery bay when you take the battery out you will see the serial number and that's what I use usually to confirm the serial number of the unit.
So if you have macbook make sure that when you get top case replaced the technician move your serial number to new top case. Hope this help Flippo Jul 24, 2006 10:40 PM. It is never safe to provide any information on eBay. Providing serial numbers, SSNs, etc.
Will potentially compromise you. What reason would an eBayer need your computer's serial number? Have you already concluded a sale to this person? If not, then consider the request illegitimate even if it isn't. EBay is a haven of 'scum and villainy.' I've had two accounts 'pilfered' on eBay despite best efforts by me and eBay to thwart it. And in the end eBay management will do little to help except remove your old accounts so you can create a new one.
Although I'm sure most participants on eBay are honest people, there still are many looking for any opportunity to benefit at your expense. Mar 17, 2007 8:55 AM. Apple Footer This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site.
All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the.
I recently had the Logic Board in my Retina MBP 15″ 2012 replaced under a warranty extension program and Apple paid for it. I've reinstalled OS X several times and feel things aren't running properly. Also, I also couldn't find a way to merge my Time Machine old backups with new one. The problem I have is confirming that I actually got a new board installed. I have not found a way to confirm this. My Mac help isn't helpful and Google is even less helpful. Why is it so hard to confirm that new hardware is really installed after this repair?
You can compare the serial number on the bottom of the laptop casing to the serial number shown in System Report by going to Apple Menu - About This Mac. When I worked at Apple, it was known that replacement logic boards would carry the new SN (naturally) and that cases from the old SN would link to the new one. The serial on the laptop itself is the original SN it shipped with (unless the bottom case has also been replaced) and can be found in very small print near the display hinge. On the Mac, check for an SN that diverges or is not present, as that indicates repair.
You can't easily tell from software that you have a new board unless the technician failed to properly deserialize the part that was 'allegedly' put in. However, the Time Machine change makes me conclude you have a new board. You could try dumping the hardware identity from the Time Machine backup directory: xattr -p com.apple.backupd.BackupMachineAddress /Volumes/yourBackupDrive/Backups.backupdb/yourMacName Since you paid for the repair, Apple should walk you though re-joining the Time Machine over the phone or via internet chat for free post repair.
Did you have it serviced via mail in or at an authorized service provider or at a genius bar? The steps to get repair details can change a little - but you could start by calling AppleCare and asking them to read the technician notes that were left by the repair tech. There should be time stamps when it started repair - possibly a list of parts used, probably some test results they ran, etc. Usually a logic board has it's own internal serialization, but you need to open the hardware to see that or have knowledge of revisions on the boards. If the board was improved after it was made or someone checked the serial number on the board that was fitted in the factory initially, you could know that the one in there wasn't original. Unless you took a photo of the board that was installed or marked it before the repair, it's unlikely you can differentiate things from software. Basically, the evidence you can gather is mostly circumstantial unless you are in the forensics trade or work on machines as a trained repair technician that works on that model routinely.
Also - I jest with the 'allegedly' - there's absolutely no incentive for an employee to not replace the board. Apple collects each bad board so the technician would then have to send back the same part or another part - both of which is likely to get caught and get them and their immediate employer extra attention by Apple. They take their repair programs very seriously and have high standards for certified technicians. Without Apple's certification, you're an out of work tech. – Nov 28 '15 at 0:17. Because of an repair with an old macbook pro (2007) the repair service forgot to set the serial number of the new motherboard. Because of this I had several problems with iCloud.
For letting to correct this problem by this SP about 1800km/1118miles away I would have to drive/fly this long way. Therefore I searched if I could fix this problem myself because a different SP would cost perhaps. Then I found an image you can burn on CD/DVD (or anything else from what the macbook can boot). Then with this image anyone can set the serial number once. Perhaps then no one can change the serial number again but I do not know this for sure.
For more information: But it seems the AASP is advised to change the serial number and not to set the old serial number. It is sad you can not be really sure the new motherboard does not have the bug of the early systems and perhaps the motherboard has been produced with this bug. But I trust Apple they sent a fixed new motherboard to the SP or AASP.
That is why it is sadly wrong that in info under mac os x you can get the not falsified serial number. What I did not look: If you open you Mac(book) completely perhaps on motherboard is a number printed which says when and where the motherboard has been produced (as you can see in model number of an iOS device).
I did not see if mac os x displays the model number of the motherboard or any device. But I do not recommend it if you have any guaranty yet else you might loose this guaranty by opening the Mac. = It is therefore absolutely wrong to trust a MAC address or motherboard serial number is unique. Theoretically a MAC address shall be unique but practically on some network card or usb network devices one may change the MAC address. I know this because I am a bit informed about network security.
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Messages recently stopped working on my iMac. Suddenly it said that it could not connect. More specifically, I could not use Apple's iMessage service. I could use AIM or Google Talk, but iMessage was the service that I wanted to use. (Note: When I refer to 'Messages' I mean the actual application on my Mac. When I refer to 'iMessage' I mean the service which Apple provides which lets you send instant messages to Macs and iOS devices.) I tried a few things that I could think of: I checked to make sure that my proxy wasn't blocking anything that could be relevant; I made sure there was nothing in /etc/hosts that could be interfering; I created a new user account on my iMac. Nothing made any difference.
At the same time, other iCloud services were working just fine, including calendar and contact syncing, so I assumed that it wasn't iCloud related. I could use the same Wi-Fi network to connect to iMessage using my MacBook Air. It seemed like it had to be something connected to my iMac specifically.but what? I decided to reinstall OS X on my iMac for other reasons not related to this problem, and the first thing I tried was connecting to iMessage.
So if it wasn't related to my Wi-Fi network and it wasn't related to my installation of OS X. What else was left? The idea that the problem could be hardware-related seemed odd to me, but I had done my best to eliminate all other factors, so the one which remained must be the truth. It was then that I remembered an odd little detail about my iMac: it has no serial number. No, my iMac didn't 'fall off the back of a truck.'
I bought it directly from Apple, and even bought AppleCare for it, which was a good thing because I had to have the hard drive and the logic board replaced. Some time after the logic board was replaced, I realized that the serial number was listed as 'Not Available' in the System Information (which used to be called 'System Profiler' in earlier versions of OS X.) I did some checking and found that this was something which was supposed to be done by the guy who installed the new logic board, but he had apparently forgotten to do it. I was also told that there was nothing that I could do to fix it. It never caused any problems, so I had never worried about it before. In fact, I had been able to use iMessage through the Messages on my iMac until recently. It seemed improbable, but I was out of guesses as to what else might be the cause. I asked on Twitter and got a few suggestions, but none of them panned out.
Apple Logic Board Problem
Someone else even said that they had been able to use Messages on a Mac without a serial number, but it had been awhile since they had done it. With no other options available, I had no other choice but to check with an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Fortunately, since I still have my original box, he was able to find the original serial number. After running some sort of 'Apple Authorized Service Provider'-only software on it, my iMac had its old serial number back. Neither one of us had much hope that this would make a difference, but after rebooting the iMac and logging in, Messages was immediately able to connect to the iMessage service, and it works perfectly.
Don't ask me why. The facts are these: My iMac was able to use iMessages, and then it wasn't. I tried everything I could over several weeks to fix it, and nothing did. When the serial number was restored, iMessages immediately started working again.
I can think of some possible reasons why this happened, but none of them are anything more than guessing. Is this a new 'feature' of the iMessage protocol or the Messages.app that it will only work on Macs with serial numbers?. If so, is this Apple's way of cracking down on OS X installations on non-Apple hardware?.
Is it possible that iMessage was never supposed to work on Macs without a valid number and they've just started enforcing it now? All of those seem unlikely to me. After all, why would Apple allow me use the rest of iCloud except for iMessage? If they were making such a check, I would hope that they would have made it more clear, showing an error message that was more descriptive than 'Couldn't connect.' . Is this a bug? Did I hit some sort of an edge-case that Apple had not tested for?
That seems possible. I would not be surprised if Apple made some change on the server side of the iMessage service which triggered this, or Apple fixed an unrelated bug and had this side effect. In any case, iMessage did not work, and now it does. It seems clear that the fix was getting the serial number restored. I share this information because while there may not be many Mac users out there who found themselves with Macs without serial numbers, we are out there. Even just mentioning this on Twitter led me to discover someone in the same situation. If you're one of them, getting this fixed will mean finding an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Store who can fix it for you.
Apple Logic Board Recall
Be sure to bring whatever paperwork to show ownership, and any repair receipts you might have. (Apple Stores should be able to pull up your service record for repairs done under AppleCare.).
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