Apple says "liquid killed my 8600m GPU",

Q

quasinormal

macrumors 6502a
I need some advice regarding Apple's repair policy. Apple says my 8600M failure was due to liquid damage, but i really think they meant my 2007 MBP with a failed GPU had signs of water damage.

About 10 days ago i was trying to get directions, via Google Maps using street view. The machine was stuttering on the flash and the keyboard stopped responding, so i did a hard power down. It restarted with a blank screen. I have flashblocker and smsfancontroll installed. I was unable to back up some recent work as it soon failed to boot at all. It had five days left on the apple care agreement.

When i picked it up from the Apple store yesterday the repair docket said it had been "declined". The apple person made a phone call who relayed the diagnosis that my gpu failure was due to moisture damage. I cannot remember spilling anything on it, except for an incident about nine months ago, when a small amount of rain water hit the bottom right of the keyboard. This stopped a couple of arrow keys working. Apart from the this, the machine performed faultlessly since that incident. Would apple reject a repair because it showed any sign of liquid damage, even if that damage unrelated to the actual problem?

I'm not really concerned about not getting my macbook repaired, but am a little offended that apple was so abrupt in their explanation. I have a new 2.2ghz MBP with glossy HR screen on order and i'm happy with getting 3 years out of a laptop. I live on a boat and the laptop spent most of its life aboard, so salt build up could also be a factor. It would be nice to know.

Should i contact apple for a further explanation or should i just forget it?
 
quasinormal said:
Would apple reject a repair because it showed any sign of liquid damage, even if that damage unrelated to the actual problem?
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Yes, they certainly can, if the moisture sensors show contact with liquid. It's difficult to prove that moisture wasn't the cause of problems.

Apple Limited Warranty
This warranty does not apply:
(d) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, liquid contact, fire, earthquake or other external causes;
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AppleCare Protection Plan
b. Limitations. The Plan does not cover:
(ii) Damage to the Covered Equipment caused by accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider), unauthorized modification, extreme environment (including extreme temperature or humidity), extreme physical or electrical stress or interference, fluctuation or surges of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, acts of God or other external causes;
Click to expand...
About liquid contact indicators (LCI) on portable and desktop computers
Damage due to liquid exposure is not covered by the Apple one (1) year limited warranty or the AppleCare Protection Plan (APP).
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
is this a blanket policy -- water damaged detected, warranty on all parts void -- or limited to the components that might've actually been damaged by the liquid? i spilled about an ounce of something on my keyboard last May some of the backlight went permanently dim. a few months later my trackpad started having issues and a few months after that, my optical drive started having issues ejecting discs. i would assume the latter two issues are unrelated because of how long they took to appear, but am i just screwed out of the rest of my hardware coverage no matter what?
 
mmrbl pismo said:
is this a blanket policy -- water damaged detected, warranty on all parts void -- or limited to the components that might've actually been damaged by the liquid? i spilled about an ounce of something on my keyboard last May some of the backlight went permanently dim. a few months later my trackpad started having issues and a few months after that, my optical drive started having issues ejecting discs. i would assume the latter two issues are unrelated because of how long they took to appear, but am i just screwed out of the rest of my hardware coverage no matter what?
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water damage voids the warranty
 
Note that their policies all say DAMAGE CAUSED BY LIQUID... so one would assume by their own wording that if there was no sign of liquid damage on a broken part then it would be covered. Then again, this is Apple we are talking about (guess that goes both ways though).
 
GGJstudios said:
Then assert your rights and force Apple to repair your computer.
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The issue here is that i am offended by Apple abrupt and absurb explanation. The implication is that i deliberately and knowingly submitted a liquid damaged machine for repair. In other words, i misrepresented my position and am and am guilty of fraud for financial benefit.

I hope Apple covered themselves by fully documenting the aborted repair. I suspect they haven't. Either way, it is not a good look for Apple.
 
quasinormal said:
The issue here is that i am offended by Apple abrupt and absurb explanation. The implication is that i deliberately and knowingly submitted a liquid damaged machine for repair. In other words, i misrepresented my position and am and am guilty of fraud for financial benefit.

I hope Apple covered themselves by fully documenting the aborted repair. I suspect they haven't. Either way, it is not a good look for Apple.
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They have it documented for sure ... even 1 small raindrop of water can void your warranty.
 
That's odd; in my experience, the genii go out of their way to give you the benefit of the doubt in most situations, unless I suppose you're just really unlikeable ;)
 
Apple OC said:
They have it documented for sure ... even 1 small raindrop of water can void your warranty.
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Sorry mate, but you have no idea. My old Powerbook had a huge coffee stain on the screen. When the firewire ports died on it it was accepted with the proviso that it would only be repaired if that liquid damage was unrelated to the issue. I begged the store to give me an ipod touch and they could keep the powerbook. they said no and replaced the motherboard. I got it back and it had a different issue. The motherboard was replaced again. It worked, but it came back with top case separated from the bottom.

This is really no different from end user hard drive upgrades.
 
quasinormal said:
Sorry mate, but you have no idea. My old Powerbook had a huge coffee stain on the screen. When the firewire ports died on it it was accepted with the proviso that it would only be repaired if that liquid damage was unrelated to the issue. I begged the store to give me an ipod touch and they could keep the powerbook. they said no and replaced the motherboard. I got it back and it had a different issue. The motherboard was replaced again. It worked, but it came back with top case separated from the bottom.

This is really no different from end user hard drive upgrades.
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Sorry Mate ... times have changed since your Powerbook days. Your huge coffee stain on your screen today would most likely void your AppleCare and any chance of a new logic board.

sincerely though ... good luck.
 
Call Apple and keep going up the ladder at customer support. One day they're going to collect a class action lawsuit for this kind of thing. There far too many denials on the pretense of "water or moisture damage". They use this excuse all the time on iPhones that are close to being out of warranty.
 
I had a similar story (US though); I spilled a small amount of liquid on my screen (pre-unibody MB), which caused a bright spot in my monitor. Later, I sent it to Apple to get the screen bezel fixed and the cracking top case, and they refused to do it unless I also paid $9xx (although they said they'd settle for $6xx) to get the screen fixed.
 
eaf7s said:
That's odd; in my experience, the genii go out of their way to give you the benefit of the doubt in most situations, unless I suppose you're just really unlikeable ;)
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Thanks.
I've been treated really well by Apple staff over the years. I suspect some repair dude had a bad day. I recently started smoking again so maybe it smelt of smoke.

I'll ring Apple customer relations tomorrow. I'd be wasting my time dealing with some backroom repair nerd.

What can i do? It is not as if i can tell Apple where to go and then buy a Windows machine. No thanks. I'm a slave to the normally benevolent dictatorship that is Apple.
 
Contact your homeowners, renters, or boat insurance provider. Tell them that you want to add an all perils item to your policy, and give them a value for your mac. My Renter's insurance, for which I pay about $200 a year, added a policy for my new MBP for only $20 a year. 0 deductible on the item, covers all problems excluding warranty. And that is what AppleCare is for.
 
The 8600 is known faulty... However, we'd need pictures of this to be sure (and you should ask for pictures.) The fact that this laptop lived on a boat does not bode well, especially if the boat was on salt water. Significant time around salt water can cause corrosion even without water contact.
 
quasinormal said:
There are no moisture sensors on the 2007 MBP.

The lack of a plausable expanation is unacceptable, regardless of Apple policy. My rights as an Australian consumer are not overruled by Apple policy.
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Evidence of water damage can be seen, even if there are no sensors.
Honestly, did you spill anything on your laptop?


Considering the 8600GT is prone to fail, it sounds like Apple is just giving reasons not to repair it. But only you know what you do with your laptop. maybe they are right. maybe not.
 
wordoflife said:
Evidence of water damage can be seen, even if there are no sensors.
Honestly, did you spill anything on your laptop?

Considering the 8600GT is prone to fail, it sounds like Apple is just giving reasons not to repair it. But only you know what you do with your laptop. maybe they are right. maybe not.
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IMHO, the evidence needs to confirm that water was the cause of the failure. I would ask for clarification and would be as annoyed as the OP given the lack of explanation so far. The 8600 series MAcBook Pro was the biggest POS in terms of reliability. Every single one we had at our agency failed, some of them several times.
 
Apple OC said:
Sorry Mate ... times have changed since your Powerbook days. Your huge coffee stain on your screen today would most likely void your AppleCare and any chance of a new logic board.

sincerely though ... good luck.
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Thanks for the wishes. The powerbook was repaired about 15 months ago. It was only a little over a year older than the MBP. It was bought as a brand new superceded machine.

I actually have another machine exactly the same model that has a faulty 8600m and a smashed screen and presumably no water damage, that was found in the rubbish (i collect garbage for a living). i also have another where the top case has been manhandled to remove the hard drive but the motherboard seems intact, albiet with a presumably faulty 8600m.
 
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