Multiple Problems with 5.5 month old MacBook

Question

Okay. I've had my MacBook since March 3rd of this year. I have a few problems with it. It's the 2GHz model with a "SuperDrive", 1GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD I added myself. I added it in May, well after my problems had begun.
My first problem is that the keyboard squeaks. This started about a week after I bought it. The spacebar and "Enter" keys begin to squeak after about 20 minutes or so of use.
The second problem is that the palm rest has been showing some discoloration, but not very noticeable.
Now for the real hardware problems.
First up, this problem is very random, sometimes the system will not boot right away. I mean, I'll press the power button and the screen will flicker. The little sleep/power light will come on and then nothing will happen for about 20 or 30 seconds. After that, the screen will light up and the sound will play and everything will work fine. Sometimes I will press the power button and nothing will happen. I have tried everything suggested in the help topics at this site and nothing has helped.
The second problem is that, occasionally, my iPods will act as if they are connecting to nothing. It only happened with my 80GB iPod. But tonight it happened with my 2G 4GB iPod mini. Both using different cables. This started tonight after experiencing the problem I mentioned above. The last time I had an iPod act like it was connected to nothing was right before the motherboard in that particular computer died.
So those two problems right there make me believe I have a faulty motherboard.
My third problem is with the "SuperDrive". Lately it has been having problems reading discs. Randomly, I will insert a disc and it will spin it.. then spit it back out. Again, randomly, it will sometimes take 3 or 4 tries before it will finally read the disc. I can try that same disc again a few days later and I will read it no problem. This happens with professionally pressed (store bought) discs and burned discs as well. Which leads me to the next issue with the optical drive. It can write CDs fine. But DVDs are another story. Any brand of disc from any manufacturer has the same result. This happens in Windows and OS X with a variety of software, including OS X's built-in software. I cannot burn a disc successfully over 2x. If I try to burn a disc over 2x, even at 4x, it fails. What happens is that, when the burn starts, it will spin the disc at 2x while burning for about the first 10% or so. Then it will spin up to full speed. If the disc is a video, after that point (which usually translates into about 15 minutes in with a 2 hour video), the movie will skip and stutter randomly on every DVD player I try to play the disc on. If it is data, more often than not, the disc will not successfully pass the verification process. If it does pass, only the "SuperDrive" will be able to read it and nothing else will. And usually when it does pass, if I am present for the entire verification process, I can hear the disc being spun up and down at varying speeds so it can read it.
The last time I had that happen was with a bad drive that failed at around the 6 month mark. My first DVD writer, so I didn't know then that it was the sign of a dead/dying/bad device.
The final problem has to do with the hinge on the screen. I'm sure anyone reading this is aware of how the MacBook opens. Well, on the rounded plastic on the hinge, that goes directly into the path of the exhaust fan when the screen is open.... the plastic is starting to slightly bubble and come part. It has also slightly changed color.
Now I really don't know what to do. I don't have a credit card, so if I call Apple Care I will have to argue with them to listen to my problems because they are not software related and, based on what I've read, they require a CC number to proceed with any help.
And the closest Apple Store is a 75 mile round trip away, so it is not reasonable to drive there. I also cannot drive there and leave the system there because I have no other computer until the middle of next week.
So, any advice would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

I'm definitely going to call.
However, its definitely not the hard drive causing the issues. The problems began before the drive upgrade and continued afterwards.
Besides, the discoloring plastic, iPods acting as if they're connected to nothing, and the DVD burner not being able to burn discs have nothing to do with the installed hard drive.
Neither would the random booting issues. If the hard drive was causing an issue, the system simply wouldn't boot.
I built many PCs before buying my Mac and had a couple of Windows laptops as well. I know enough about hardware to know that the problems I'm having now are completely unrelated to the drive upgrade.
I also live in California and I'm very aware of the consumer protection laws here as I had to research them and bring them up against HP when the motherboard in my HP system died. So I'm the last person they will be able to push around