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Liquid Damaged Macbook

A

aawordy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
6
0
Hi everyone -
I was on a flight home and the schmuck next to me spilled his drink on my macbook. At the time it worked fine. I cleaned up the spill, and put it in my bag. The next day, the macbook wouldn't turn on. I took it to the Apple store, and they said they noticed liquid damage.

I took the top off (I figured the warranty was null and void, so what the hell) and tried to identify the problem. It looks like the heat sink took the hit, but that's odd since the liquid was near headphone and security lock area. Here's a link to the damage shots: http://gallery.me.com/apabate#100005

Here's my question, should I try replacing the heat sink and see if that fixes it, or should I just ebay it and cut my losses.

Thanks,
Andrew
 
When another schmuck spills something on your computer, you ask for $$$, no apologies.
 
You didn't ask for any of this guys information? You are SOL - the Genius probably noted that there was liquid damage to your macbook.
 
Two thoughts,

1) Do you get travel insurance with your credit card? do they cover this sort of thing? it is worth to ask ASAP (unless the trip was too long ago).

2) Find out the cost of repairing the laptop from the applestore (they can always tell about liquid damage), vs. the cost of selling it broken and buying a new one.
 
There is a small chance it could be a bad top case, I have seen a couple of MacBooks come in with liquid spills and the top simply got fried so the unit would not turn on.

As to replacing the heatsink it won't make a difference, the liquid either damaged the processors under it, or circuitry around the board. Either way you are looking at a logic board which is a grand with water damage, so try and get insurance or ebay it.
 
OK. Things you will probably regret:
1. Rather than pluck the battery out you turn your MB on!
2. You dont get the fool to cough up!
3. You take it to the Apple Store!

Your MB's Logic Board is fried (95% chance) and now [most probably] Apple has void your warranty forever! You'll have to pay alot! ($1000+)
 
I Know...

I didn't realize at the time what was happening, so I cleaned up as much as I can. Stupidly, I thought that since the macbook was still running on the plane, it would be ok. I didn't even think to ask for the guy's info because it was an accident. Fortunately, the hard drive was not affected, so I didn't lose any of my data.

It's also not worth it to go through renters/homeowners insurance, but I never thought about that.

Thanks for all of your advice, I figured Apple Store voided the warrantly, so I guess I'll be posting it on EBAY.

Andrew
 
aawordy said:
I didn't realize at the time what was happening, so I cleaned up as much as I can. Stupidly, I thought that since the macbook was still running on the plane, it would be ok. I didn't even think to ask for the guy's info because it was an accident. Fortunately, the hard drive was not affected, so I didn't lose any of my data.

It's also not worth it to go through renters/homeowners insurance, but I never thought about that.

Thanks for all of your advice, I figured Apple Store voided the warrantly, so I guess I'll be posting it on EBAY.

Andrew
Click to expand...

Man, that is a bummer! I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck selling!

You taught me something: no matter how rude you may feel, ask for the person's name and number. I'd probably have done the same thing you did if not for reading this.
 
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