Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Rusting Issue

E

Emulsion

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 27, 2007
334
0
Hello. I recently have moved into my brother's room across the hall, after he's moved out. For some reason I'm having a rusting problem with my electronics lately. I bought a wireless mouse for my macbook pro, and within 32 months the usb plug is all rusted (see image). As you can imagine I'm freaked out. I'm terrified to plug it into my macbook pro, in fear of the rust spreading. I looked around the room for similar rust and my printer has some pre rusting spots. I'm not sure what's causing all this. I'm terrified to leave my macbook in the room in fear of it rusting. Am I just paranoid or is this something I need to address?

Emulsion.
 

Attachments

  • P8200083.JPG
    P8200083.JPG
    763.6 KB · Views: 361
  • P8200085.JPG
    P8200085.JPG
    870.4 KB · Views: 387
take some steel wool to it and the rust should come off. I don't know why its happening, but keep an eye on things. If it doesn't return then you should be fine.
 
That looks like rust due to corrosion. I would recommend against cleaning it at all, you should just buy another cable. Especially since it's just a cable don't try cleaning it up, you never know how far the corrosion or rust has gone through the cable, you could easily damage your Macbook over a cheap cable.
 
You sure your brother isn't infected with some strange form of VD likely to be found only on the X-Files.

See if home depot or lowes has a moisture content meter for cheap, could be a pipe leak or a leak in the roof.

The moisture meter will likely allow you to pinpoint if there is a high moisture wall/molding/etc.

If you know somebody that does home inspections, they may have a meter they could bring over.
 
Wow, that is NOT normal.

I have actually seen rust like that before, but only in a semi-marine environment--a small building near the ocean in a VERY humid area that (due to combustible gas release) has a constant flow of air from the outside. Actually rusted a Mac IIfx to death a while back.

But if you're getting that kind of rust after less than 3 years, you either have one hell of a moisture problem, there's salt all over the place, or your cat has been peeing on your electronics.

I agree that using it isn't a good idea--you'll risk shorting something and causing damage, and even if you don't the roughness of the plug could scratch the finish off of internal parts and speed their rusting.
 
You live in a basement or something?

I agree - humidity is likely the culprit.

Huge temperature swings too - say you live in a room that has an overpowering heat source - air warms up quickly - and metallic things get moisture condensing on them.

Extremely unlikely - but having a DC bias on your electronics (say you have a printer power supply that is keeping your hardware at a positive voltage potential from earth ground - via electrolysis the moisture may be attacking your hardware) FYI - this is also why all cars now use a Negative chassis ground instead of a Positive chassis.

A fix - at least for exterior metal items - could be hitting the Fishing / Gun counter of (whatever store) and getting a Silicon Impregnated Gun / Reel rag. Wipe things down from time to time - to form a barrier that protects exposed metal. (yet won't affect operation of your connectors)

Better fix, obviously - is to get a desiccant or dehumidifier for your room.
 
Wow, thank you guys so much. I'm thinking there def. has to be a leak in the pipes because all of the symptoms you suggested are happening. My dad recently replaced the shower head in my bathroom which is on the other side of the wall. And I keep telling him that something happened because the water pressure has gone to crap. My Brother is like really allergic to mold, and gets sick a lot, but we used to think it was his old mattress. I think we're going to check it out. THank you guys so much.

You don't think its from leaving the windows open do you? We leave in Florida... Thats my families argument.

Emulsion.
 
Emulsion said:
Wow, thank you guys so much. I'm thinking there def. has to be a leak in the pipes because all of the symptoms you suggested are happening. My dad recently replaced the shower head in my bathroom which is on the other side of the wall. And I keep telling him that something happened because the water pressure has gone to crap. My Brother is like really allergic to mold, and gets sick a lot, but we used to think it was his old mattress. I think we're going to check it out. THank you guys so much.

You don't think its from leaving the windows open do you? We leave in Florida... Thats my families argument.

Emulsion.
Click to expand...
If you're relatively near a large body of water (e.g. salt water) it's a possible cause.
 
Update:

Sadly.... yes, the rusting has spread to the latch button on my macbook pro. Its not very severe but its inside the latch button. I'm really concerned now on wether or not there is rusting inside the case itself. Im probably going to go to the apple store and see if my warranty will cover something... I've also been experiencing an issue with it randomly turning off too. I'm not sure why its doing that either. What do you think I should do?

Emolsion
 
Ha, no. My brother moved out already, and I'm only 17. And I'm leaving for college next year.
 
does applecare cover rust, it's not like you threw it into a pool of water. if the rust happened under normal operation applecare (or standard warranty) might cover rust not sure though.
 
Rusting Issue

DO you live in a house with an evaporative cooler. If you do, there is a good chance that there is a lot of calcium deposits on the pads for the cooler which could be accelerating the corrosion process.
 
I'm sure the original poster's rust hasn't magically disappeared, but if you look the thread is from back in December, so it's a little late to be offering advice.

Or not, if you actually hit on something that helps, since it is a long-term issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back