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Beer damage on rMBP

J

J3ffry

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
46
0
So last night I was DJing at a small venue. They reorganized the interieur and the DJbooth is more next to the crowd. Unfortunately a little too close since someone's beer flied straight into my MacBook. Because it was in the heat of the moment I did nothing about it and kept on going. I thought it wasn't that much beer, till in about half an hour my trackpad stopped functioning properly. The cursor moved random on the screen. Somewhat later also the keyboard stopped. It this moment what happened really hit me and I pulled the plug.

1 What do you guys think is going to happen? Will the damage become more sereve, or will everything be okay again after it has dried?
2 The laptop has insurance, but I am still worried about my warranty being voided. Let's say I bring the computer to the Apple Store and let them check for damage and do the repairs. Will this bring back my warranty? Because this will be covered by insurance because it's the result of an accident but what if for instance my videocard has a manufacturing fault and it stops in about half a year? Insurance isn't gonna pay for that... Is my whole warranty gone because of this / Apple Care rendered useless?

Greets,
Jeffrey
 
I suggest cleaning the spill up asap and disconnect the battery to prevent further corrosion. But pretty much all warranty has been voided i hope that answers your question.
 
How anyone could spill anything on their laptop and go "Meh, let's carry on" :eek:

I would have shutdown within seconds and pulled all power to the laptop.
 
Tander said:
How anyone could spill anything on their laptop and go "Meh, let's carry on" :eek:

I would have shutdown within seconds and pulled all power to the laptop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and not get paid.

OP, try and claim through the venue if you can, as it was damaged by one of their customers while you were working for them. If they refuse and you can't be bothered to fight them over it then use your insurance.
 
J3ffry said:
2 The laptop has insurance, but I am still worried about my warranty being voided.
Click to expand...
Your warranty is voided. The insurance will cover the repair costs (or replacement) and that in of itself will have a warranty, though I'm unsure of how long that will be. The best thing that could happen is the insurance provides you with a replacement so that you don't have to worry about anything else failing
 
The majority of insurance claims I've seen have basically sent the person a check for whatever repairs Apple deems necessary, which 9 times out of 10 will be a tier 4 depot repair for accidental damage in the neighborhood of $800-1100. During the tier 4 repair the technicians will replace any affected components (whether it's failed or just has evidence of liquid contact) and run the Mac through the standard series of Apple diagnostics. In the odd chance that they find more than 3 or 4 major components (logic board, display, hard drive, etc) are affected they may re-quote the repair as "BER", beyond economical repair, at which time they could facilitate a quote for your insurance to replace your Mac. Once the tier 4 repair is performed your Mac is brought back into proper warranty status with Apple for either 90 days or the remainder of your AppleCare, whichever is longer.

If your insurance provider insists on anything other than this I would argue against it, citing that a repair through Apple is the only way to ensure this damage doesn't interfere with AppleCare down the road.
 
Mr Rabbit said:
The majority of insurance claims I've seen have basically sent the person a check for whatever repairs Apple deems necessary, which 9 times out of 10 will be a tier 4 depot repair for accidental damage in the neighborhood of $800-1100. During the tier 4 repair the technicians will replace any affected components (whether it's failed or just has evidence of liquid contact) and run the Mac through the standard series of Apple diagnostics. In the odd chance that they find more than 3 or 4 major components (logic board, display, hard drive, etc) are affected they may re-quote the repair as "BER", beyond economical repair, at which time they could facilitate a quote for your insurance to replace your Mac. Once the tier 4 repair is performed your Mac is brought back into proper warranty status with Apple for either 90 days or the remainder of your AppleCare, whichever is longer.

If your insurance provider insists on anything other than this I would argue against it, citing that a repair through Apple is the only way to ensure this damage doesn't interfere with AppleCare down the road.
Click to expand...

This is sound advice.
 
Thnx for all your replies especially Mr. Rabbit! Will turn it on sunday, let's hope everything works fine, or at least it's possible to make a backup. The warranty (+ Apple Care) being voided forever was my biggest concern! Nice to know that after a full (thank god paid for by insurance) reperation the status is as it used to be.

Ps. It would be a possibility to get it trough organization I was working for but stupid me was way to relaxed about it when it happened and immidiately responded "aah hell it's insured anyway" playing it cool I guess. But if insurance gives me a hard time i'll get back to them haha.

Greets,
Jeffrey
 
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Warranty is voided, no doubt and the Mac is damaged at this point. How much? Well, I'd say the keyboard, logic board and trackpad (possibly battery). All of which can be really expensive once you factor in labor costs.

That said, I am still at odds why you kept on playing instead of taking care of your Mac? How on Earth are you going to DJ if your main instrument is damaged?
 
If the DJ software you like is available on Windows, buy a Lenovo next time.

Lenovo have got laptops with an irrigation system that protects against Water (and also) beer damage. Since you are working professionally in such conditions where stuff like this is not unlikely to happen, get a proper professional laptop :)
 
scbond said:
OP, try and claim through the venue if you can, as it was damaged by one of their customers while you were working for them.
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Lot of luck. Most venues exempt themselves from this sort of thing and require you to be insured and bonded. (They aren't stupid).
 
Who insures the MBP?
When you played on, did you only have 30 minutes left of the gig? Curious what someone does after their DJ equipment is hosed.
 
I'm insured at a dutch bank, ABN AMRO (I live in Amsterdam). Already checked with them. Also called with Apple and said what happened, the guy told me that after a full repair new hardware failures not related to this matter would fell under warranty. Excactly, the reason I didn't do anything the moment it happened was because I was more worried about doing a proper set for the people there. After my keyboard failed I put away my laptop though and filled the last half hour with the Spotify on my phone. Better than nothing :)
 
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Well turned it on today after 80 hours of drying! Everything seems to be fine, except for the trackpad. At first it used to behave as minutes after the accident. Random and uncontrollable, however, after a few firm presses it works fine now. It was somewhat "glued" together because of the sticky beer residue I guess. Unfortunately at sometimes it's still sticky and behaves weird... Luckily I got an Apple Mouse though.

Do you guys think there's a significant chance new problems will occur or am I a lucky guy? If it stays like this I have the luxury to do a full check / trackpad replacement at Apple in less busy times
 
I guess you'll have issues sooner or later. The main issue with liquid damage is corrosion so, best case scenario, you're looking at a dying faster than normal rMBP.

This is obviously speculation. Obviously no one can tell you what exactly will happen. But the chances of nothing happening again are slim.
 
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