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gwelmarten

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 17, 2011
476
0
England!
Hi There

I use a retina MacBook Pro at University on a daily basis. For the last 3 months, I've been suffering from the relatively well documented issue where the screen connected via HDMI may flicker off an on.

What I've noticied this morning is that since Wednesday, this damage has occurred around the HDMI port. Notice, the ruckeling on top and the black chips around the port. Since it's stayed on a clear desk for almost all of that time, with one trip out in laptop backpack where it didn't come out, I just can't think the damage was done physically as there was no opportunity when that side of the laptop would come into contact with anything hard. Last night I was rendering a very large video which got my computer very hot for about 20 minutes in iMovie. Is it possible that the heat generated from the CPU could have caused this ruckeling or that anything else caused the damage?

Thanks
 

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justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,553
9,745
I'm a rolling stone.
Someone physically moved the HDMI connector downwards, or you did which I doubt or someone else (On purpose) while you were not there, you can clearly see the bulge on top, the connecter has been forcely moved down when it was inside the socket, that's why it's also damaged under the socket.
 

cookiesnfooty

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2009
422
11
Harrogate
Someone physically moved the HDMI connector downwards, or you did which I doubt or someone else (On purpose) while you were not there, you can clearly see the bulge on top, the connecter has been forcely moved down when it was inside the socket, that's why it's also damaged under the socket.

That's what I was thinking :(
 

gwelmarten

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 17, 2011
476
0
England!
Someone physically moved the HDMI connector downwards, or you did which I doubt or someone else (On purpose) while you were not there, you can clearly see the bulge on top, the connecter has been forcely moved down when it was inside the socket, that's why it's also damaged under the socket.

Hi - Good idea, but the only starts at the edge of the HDMI socket and maxes out about 2cm from the HDMI socket. Also, the cable has a round thick bit behind the plug, so when I just tried that the cable doesn't actually go down more than a fraction of a mm, because the screen is on a desk so it's only plugged in via HDMI on the desk. So the cable can't actually go enough to cause damage.

----------

That's what I was thinking :(

Also, how could this have caused the black damage beneath? Isn't it solid aluminium? Why would there be black on the surface?
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,553
9,745
I'm a rolling stone.
Or maybe someone flipped it of the desk while you were away.

Btw, your screen shots are too big for me to have a better look, I am on a limited internet connection(capped) so better make them smaller next time, 200 kb is more than enough.
 

gwelmarten

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 17, 2011
476
0
England!
Or maybe someone flipped it of the desk while you were away.

I do appreciate it could have been malicious (or even me, without knowing), but as it's kept in a locked room when I'm not there, it happeneded within the last 2 days so I know I didn't leave it out somewhere and that I don't use it off the desk with the cable plugged in, I'm really thinking about if any hardware could have gone wrong. But it seems not from posts so far!
 

gwelmarten

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 17, 2011
476
0
England!
Or maybe someone flipped it of the desk while you were away.

Btw, your screen shots are too big for me to have a better look, I am on a limited internet connection(capped) so better make them smaller next time, 200 kb is more than enough.

Sorry - here are some smaller ones.
 

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justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,553
9,745
I'm a rolling stone.
I do appreciate it could have been malicious (or even me, without knowing), but as it's kept in a locked room when I'm not there, it happeneded within the last 2 days so I know I didn't leave it out somewhere and that I don't use it off the desk with the cable plugged in, I'm really thinking about if any hardware could have gone wrong. But it seems not from posts so far!

Aluminium won't bend like this without force.
 

LachlanH

macrumors regular
Oct 5, 2011
158
7
at first I thought the black marks were from scorching, like the port/cable was sparking and causing heat.

But the physical mark at the top looks to be exactly that, a physical mark. IE, as suggested, it has been dropped/bent.

Looks bad :(
 

switon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
RE: take off the back cover...

Hi gwelmartin,

I think you need to take the back plate off and take a look inside at the HDMI plug. This should tell you if the plug itself is scorched and if the blackening is extensive and related to a short in the plug or if it is related to physical damage. It is hard to image heat alone doing the physical damage to the top surface of the laptop, as aluminum is such a good heat conductor. In other words, heating the aluminum should not have caused it to bend like this. More likely either some internal component has "expanded" from heat and thus bent the upper surface or the HDMI plug was forcefully moved bending the upper surface.

Good luck,
Switon
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,553
9,745
I'm a rolling stone.
Hi gwelmartin,

I think you need to take the back plate off and take a look inside at the HDMI plug. This should tell you if the plug itself is scorched and if the blackening is extensive and related to a short in the plug or if it is related to physical damage. It is hard to image heat alone doing the physical damage to the top surface of the laptop, as aluminum is such a good heat conductor. In other words, heating the aluminum should not have caused it to bend like this. More likely either some internal component has "expanded" from heat and thus bent the upper surface or the HDMI plug was forcefully moved bending the upper surface.

Good luck,
Switon

Hi Switon.

If a short was the problem there is much more heat needed to give such a bulge on the top and if this was the case I think the Laptop would be damaged beyond repair.

I think it fell of the desk and then it got a short inside the connector, there is just no way a normal short(as in time) short circuit would give this result.
 

switon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
RE: short shorts...

Hi Switon.

If a short was the problem there is much more heat needed to give such a bulge on the top and if this was the case I think the Laptop would be damaged beyond repair.

I think it fell of the desk and then it got a short inside the connector, there is just no way a normal short(as in time) short circuit would give this result.

Hi justperry,

I agree that normal heat, such as rendering an iMovie for 20 minutes as the OP suggests, would never bend the upper surface of the laptop, especially since aluminum is such a good heat conductor and would disperse the heat faster than it could build up enough to cause the bend. So I agree that there most likely was some physical event that caused the upper surface to bend. My only question is whether the physical force came from physically moving the HDMI plug or if it came from some internal component "expanding" and bending the upper surface. The component's expansion most like would be caused by a short circuit. Short circuits do not necessarily have to be "short", in time that is...they can last for a longer interval. From personal experience, just a month ago, a short circuit in the dashboard of a vehicle caused a fire that burnt the entire dashboard and interior of the car and completely drained the car battery.

I would like to also have a photo of the HDMI cable's male plug end, just like the photo of the laptop's HDMI female plug. Is the "black" from the HDMI cable's plug, or is it from scorching? Does the cable's plug show the same type of damage as the laptop? I was especially curious about the small black smudge at the left-hand side below the HDMI plug that appears to be disconnected from the HDMI plug's hole and also appears to be associated with the joint between the laptop's upper case and its back panel. Is this damage from the "inside" leaking out, or damage on the "outside". Therefore I suggest that the laptop be opened in order to determine the extent of internal damage.

Regards,
Switon
 

Brian Y

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2012
3,776
1,064
It's been dropped - you can see that the metal to the right of the HDMI socket is *chipped* not bent. And if you look closely, the bottom of the USB port is bent too.

As for the top bend, that's normal for this construction - the thicker edge will physically bend, which will "crease" the top bit.
 

duervo

macrumors 68020
Feb 5, 2011
2,465
1,232
I'd have to agree that it was dropped. It's what looks like a chipped section on right edge of the HDMI port that leads me to believe this.

I believe it was dropped while an HDMI cable was plugged into it (trip over the HDMI cable, maybe?)

System falls on floor, and the resulting damage causes a short circuit in the I/O board, in turn causing the magic smoke marks on the bottom part of the HDMI port.
 

dma550

macrumors 6502
Sep 3, 2009
267
4
CT
seems like something either a fat cat or a kid fooling around might do :( sorry for your ruckle!
 
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