Is liquid damage from over a year ago the COD for my friend's MBP?????

[gnasher729]

A year later, your friend blames you? I don't think that's cool at all.

I think it's absolutely cool. When you spill fluids (vodka) over a computer, that may cause damage, like corrosion, that may take some time to stop the computer from working. There may be a little bit of sugary stuff inside the computer that takes many months to eat itself through to a point where it causes actual damage. So _if_ that is actually the problem, which is possible but not certain, then she is right to blame him. Look at it the other way round: If it was your computer, would you be happy with the situation?

More likely candidates are hard drive (easy and cheap to replace), and if that doesn't help then an Apple Store will tell them what actually is damaged and what caused it.

I think expecting you to pay half at this point for a brand new notebook without taking her old notebook in first for an official diagnose is too demanding and extremely unfair of your friend.

Let's say it isn't well thought through; but his friend is probably upset right now that her computer is broken. Yes, the fair thing would be to first try to minimise the damage by checking if it can be fixed (and that could be < $100), if it can't be fixed, and the liquid is actually at fault, then it should be treated the same as if she had sold her computer to him one day before the damage: Price = value of a two year old MacBook, and he keeps the computer.

 

[pricej636]

Based on what you have posted, I don't think you need to be opening up a computer and doing much at all. Its already a sticky situation (pun intended ) lets not make it worse by getting in above your head. The best and only advice that you should follow is to have the computer looked at by a professional.It does sound like the hard drive, most anything else would probably be a catastrophic failure resulting in the computer not turning on at all, or no screen etc.

 

[tigress666]

Hrm... I've heard liquid damage can cause problems later on. On anything electronic (it's why you don't want to buy a car that has been flooded even if it looks fine now. That's a car you want to avoid like the plague unless you want to part it out. Water damage has a annoying tendency on electronics not to always manifest itself right away - which is why it is smart to avoid a car with a salvaged title unless you know why. Because if it is flooded damage you may not be able to see all the problems that will eventually pop up. It's also why getting water damage instantly voids the warranty period).

So, I'd say there is no way of really knowing (if it isn't just a dead hard drive) and it is quite possible it did have something to do with breaking her computer.

Now, I think what is *fair* is to pay half the cost of what it would cost her to buy another of the same laptop (only half since as said, there is no way of really knowing). It's not like she can't find another used one of the same on ebay or craigslist so she doesn't have to buy a brand new one.

 

[Apple OC]

IMO it does seem a little long for it to be solely from the original incident.

I also agree with taking it somewhere and checking it out ... for all you know, there was a more recent incident you do not know about.

They should be able to tell if it is from a year ago, more recent, or just a HD gone.

Never hurts to find out.