apple not gonna help unless you have proof of purchase and then even so they will try to get you to trade it in to buy a new one and give you pennies in return. as far as fixing it yourself I don't recommend unless you really have knowledge of electrical engineering and experience with removing and soldering ic chips. the easiest thing to do for a basic DIY do it yourself with some skill is to just swap out the motherboard with a clean unlocked one might cost you a few hundred but thats way better than ending up with a expensive doorstop i would estimate 300-400 tops with good local guy. don't even bother with apple all their boards seem to be 900-1000 when you ask them. Just another ploy to get you to buy a new one.