Cracked LCD screen

susanmcburg wrote:
I am so ticked. I bought my MBP July 3. On Aug 18 it died and was sent back to Apple and they replaced the logic board. Today, I was working on my MBP, closed closed the lid to carry it down the hall, walked about 20 feet, set it down on a table and opened the lid. Much to my surprise, the LCD was cracked and it is impossible to use. I nearly had a heart attack. I have never dropped, bumped, scratched, jarred, hit or jabbed my MBP in any way. I saved for a couple of months for this baby, and on a teacher's salary, that's no easy task.

Of course I ran right to the genius bar and the genius laughed and said he hasn't seen a cracked LCD like that in a long while. I didn't find that particularly funny. He basically handed it back to me and said there was nothing they could do. I spoke to the manager and he also found it quite humorous. All he would say is that I can call Customer Relations and see if they will do anything. And of course, Customer Relations said it was my fault and buh-bye. They said they might be willing to split some of the cost with me.

I am ticked beyond belief. I didn't do a single thing to crack that lcd. I mean nothing. I take such good care of that computer that people make fun of me.

I had a Powerbook for years and NEVER ONCE had a single repair. I buy my brand new MBP and have two huge issues in as many months.

Is my only option to bite it and get a new screen myself?

The reason they laughed is that screens do crack spontaneously. I have never heard of such a thing happening. Cracked screens are the result of excessive pressure or a drop/collision.

Did it really just crack on its own?

It can be determined by close inspection if the screen was subjected to a drop or excessive pressure depending on the edges. If they point out maybe your right, if they point in it did not happen on its own.

If there are other signs of a drop they certainly will discount your story.

In any event I can understand your frustration and I hope it gets taken care of in your favor.

Links to look at:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5189391&#5189391

Seems only one other post exist with the same complaint but it was the users fault, it did not just happen on its own.

William

Hi, just wanted to revive this thread...

I'm in the same boat, I have a MBP C2D 17" from December 2006. I hardly ever move the machine around, it stays set up at the studio for work, or gets put in its padded case, then set up at home. Recently I turned the machine on one morning at the studio, and without any warning, there was (and still is) a huge crack in the LCD running from the top right, like a jagged edge all the way to the right of the screen. There is no way it took a hit of any kind, it hasn't been dropped.. nothing. I'm about to take the computer in, and I expect it to be repaired under guarantee.

I had some encouraging news on this: A guy who works at the studio where I was working on the project at the time my screen decided to die called me a week later. He said that a friend of his had told him exactly the same thing happened to his laptop, overnight the screen just developed a crack all on its own. He was really upset about it, because his machine hadn't been dropped or hit either.. When he took it to Apple, they asked him if the machine had been exposed to any sudden temperature and humidity changes. He said that as a matter of fact, at the time it happened he was on holidays by the sea, and that particular night they'd left the back door ajar because it had been hot in the day, and that night there was a sudden cold snap. The laptop was sitting on the table just by the door that was left open.. So the apple repair people were able to confirm that this is indeed something that can happen as a result of sudden temperature/humidity change, and from what my friend told me, it was apparently a known flaw of this particular model of LCD.. in any case, they did repair it under warranty and they were able to confirm that there were no signs that the machine had been abused in such a way as to cause the crack to happen.

So.. I am off to an authorized service centre just as soon as I can do without the machine for the time it takes to be repaired.. with any luck, they won't try to give me some story that I've dropped my machine or something because that ain't gonna fly with me...

Would love to hear from anyone else who has had this kind of misfortunate thing happen, and to hear if they had any trouble getting it repaired under warranty.

Last night my wife closed her new 15" MBP while we were sitting at the dinner table talking. She put it on the side board and this evening when she got home, she picked it up, placed it back on the table and opened it to check her mail. The screen had a crack in the upper left corner. So, I know for a fact that it wasn't dropped, it wasn't mishandled and it the screen did not suffer any impact and yet it most definitely cracked. I actually got her one of these plastic shells to protect it when it was out of its case so this is a pampered macbook pro.

I don't think this one can be dismissed as accidental damage or abuse. I am going to call apple in the morning to see what they will do but this thread and others I've read don't make me too hopeful.

This sounds remarkably like what happened to my machine.. Almost identical... Would be very curious to hear what repsonse you get from Apple, so please post what happens at your end..

Amazing the same thing just happened to my 15" 2.16GHz C2D MBP. I was using it last night, closed the screen and when I turned it on there was a sizable crack and the computer would not boot. As a college student I certainly cannot afford to replace the screen. I intend to talk to someone from Apple about it but don't like the results I'm hearing about on this forum. This really ticks me off though.

Okay just spent two hours on the phone with apple and was told that a cracked LCD can be covered under waranty if a certified repairer will say there is no accidental damage. The only problem then is finding a repair store that will hear your story and believe it i took mine in for repair yesterday and was told it wouldn't be covered, called today after talking to apple and told them what i was told and they actually looked at it (other than to see that the screen is cracked) but still say they won't get it covered. I plan to pick it up tomorrow (before they repair it) and take it elsewhere. Finally there's some hope they we won't be treated like we're stupid because we say it's not accidental damage that cracked our screens.

that sounds promising GT.. at my end, I took the machine to a certified apple repair place, and they didn't even contact apple, just sent me a quote for over 900€ to have the screen replaced! not impressed considering the machine is now out of warranty, although it was still covered when I gave it to them. so I'm going to call apple france tomorrow and explain what happened, hopefully they will make an effort to at least establish that my machine was never damaged by any external hit or drop. at least that way I will feel like I've gotten my point across even if they still refuse to cover it. this is dragging on and I really need my machine back soon.. let me know how you go, I am running out of hope at my end but I still plan to follow through till the bitter end. I just think it's not right that from one day to the next, the screen can just pop and suddenly have a crack in it, despite the fact that I treat it like a newborn baby and barely move it from one place to another at all.. there is simply nothing unreasonable at all about expecting a guarantee to cover the replacement of a component that just dies all by itself!

anyway, good luck..

OK so here's the final installment in my situation with my MBP's display.

just to recap quickly: one day I turned on my laptop and there was a big nasty crack down the screen running from the top in a jagged line across to the side. the machine was never dropped, hit or abused in any way, so to anyone out there who doubts that this kind of thing can just happen... well, it can.

anyway, after taking the machine to an authorised repair centre, instead of contacting apple for a warranty repair as I'd asked them to do, they just sent me a quote to replace the screen at a cost of around 950€. now, if I'd dropped my computer, or some accident had happened to it, I would have just had to swallow it and accept that this is how things go. but seeing as nothing like that had ever happened, it's a little harder to come around to thinking you are going to have to shell out for something that obviously was defective and snapped all of its own accord. the repair centre suggested that if I wasn't happy with the quote I should take it up directly with apple..
so, I called apple france the next day and explained the situation. it was a little tricky because my MBP is now a month or so out of warranty, however it was still under warranty at the date when I handed it over for repair. so fortunately I had documentation to prove that. after a lengthy conversation and being put on hold a couple of times, the consultant told me that they would need to speak with the technician that had assessed the machine. if the technician would verify that there were no signs of abuse on the computer, they'd replace the display under warranty. so they put me on hold again and called the repair centre. when they got back to me, the confirmed that whatever happened to my display was not the result of any damage accidental or otherwise, and they would authorise repair under warranty.

so there you go, I was obviously quite happy with this and at the risk of sounding like a fanboy broken record, the apple consultants I spoke with were pretty decent and reasonable about the whole thing.

there was one additional factor that may have played in my favour in this whole story.. when I bought the computer (online from the apple store) and it was delivered, the first thing I noticed about the machine was that the display wasn't very good. it had badly uneven backlighting, was not evenly sharp all over and was generally not up to the standard I would expect in a top of the line machine.. so, I immediately called apple and told them this. they offered me a DOA which is 'dead on arrival', the right to have the machine replaced for an entirely new one within 14 days of receiving it. at the time since it was the very first batch of the core 2 duo machines, I didn't want to run the risk of getting a new machine that might have had something else wrong with it. a sub-standard display I could live with as long as the rest of the machine was in good working order, which it was.. better that than have a dodgy hard drive or worse. so, they created a detailed record on my call, with a reference number etc. basically it said that I had decided to keep the machine but that I felt the display had issues, and that during the warranty period I was going to consider asking for the display to be replaced if I felt that whatever quality issues they had with the early machine's displays were worked out later.
I never ended up taking them up on this because work has been so busy I didn't have the time to do without my computer. but, it's possible that having had this early complaint about the display on file helped confirm my suspicions that I had gotten a bad display to start off with... and I guess I was just lucky that it decided to die while I was still under warranty. in fact, the last consultant at apple that I spoke to did mention to me that I seem to have already made a complaint about my display in 2006, so who knows if this fact made them more ready to accept responsibility that the display was defective to start off with.

in any case, I just thought I'd let you know how it worked out for me. am very happy that I'm getting my display replaced, and possibly even happier that at no point did the people at apple try to make me feel like I'd done something wrong and deserved to pay for the fix myself.

next time I am definitely getting apple care, because I knew all along that there was something up with my machine, and if it had died after the warranty ran out, it would have been a bit unpleasant let's say.

anyway there you go, good luck to everyone else in the same or similar boats.

The same thing just happened to our 15" MBP this morning. The machine was open, my wife closed it to move it, and when she re-opened it, she saw lines on the screen... the lines eventually resolved until it became apparent that the screen was cracked.

No droppage, no exterior damage.

We're going to an Apple store this afternoon to have it looked over.

I purchased a 15" powerbook pro for Christmas, we had just spent a week setting the computer when we put it to sleep by closing the top. When it was open two hours later it had the left half of the screen gone. It looked cracked, I called apple and told them I would like to exchange the computer as this unit was defective. I was instructed to go to an apple store and meet with a genius to get this resolve. Once I meet with the genius I was told that it was accidental damage and it would not be covered, I don't like to be call a lier by apple. Well the computer never left my site or my home I am the only on with access to it and it was not dropped, poked, twisted, or prodded.

I have had 4 other Mac laptop through work and home, I never have had any issues, they seem to have some sort of manufacturing issue. Apple really needs to review it Genius support.

I read this on another forum and it was extremely eye opening. I plan to pursue my spontaneous crack issue, DAILY. I will stop at nothing to have the repair covered for this. Its unacceptable. In my case I took the book in to Genius bar complaining of colorful lines on the screen. The "genius" moved the monitor from the side using his thumb and forefinger, when he put pressure on a black spiderweb shot out from where his finger was. It was NOT there before.

3 hours on the phone with apple care and they are saying that it was my fault, and were urging me to be honest with them and admit to having dropped it. Unprofessional at best. Read the info below!

Concerning cracked MacBook screens, I recommend to keep pressure on Apple to do the right thing and replace the screen. There has been a high reported incidence of MacBook screens spontaneously cracking. To me it is pretty clear that Apple is having a problem with one of their suppliers.

LCD screens are processed in batches on large substrate glass called a "mother glass". When the mother glass is done undergoing semiconductor processing (to apply the thin film transistors), it is scored and cracked into individual screens. On the larger fabrication lines of today, more than 20, or even 30, screens will come from a single mother glass. Picture a thin glass sheet larger than a kitchen or dining room table and you will have the general idea of it.

After the mother glass is scored and broken up into individual 13.4" screens for the MacBook, as you can imagine, the edges of the glass are very rough. This roughness has to be eliminated because it can be an entry point for a crack to appear. There must be a faulty process or else a manufacturer taking a short cut and the result has been a large number of cracked MacBook screens where the owner is (honestly, I believe) stating that they did not mishandle or cause a blow to the case or screen. Owners should not be held liable for such damage.

A crack that originates from an edge, especially those near a hinge, would usually look very different from impact damage somewhere in the center. An Apple Genius should be able to tell the difference. And if you get nowhere with the Geniuses, then use the phone and keep calling and ask to talk to managers when you don't get satisfaction at the first level. And if you stall with one person, call back because you'll get another person, and that could result in a whole different outcome. Be patient, take notes and above all be courteous and keep your cool. That final point is paramount. It never helps to cop an attitude when dealing with problems like this, even if you encounter attitude, arrogance and rudeness from those you deal with. Be your level-headed best and you'll go farther.

I hope you have luck getting apple to replace your display.. I was lucky I think in that apple were more than reasonable to replace mine at no cost, even though they only heard about the problem after my guarantee was expired. of course I had put it in for repairs to an apple authorised place before the expiry date, but still it was good of apple france to step in and agree to cover the repair under warranty even after the repair place had sent me a (very expensive) quote to pay for the fix myself. all I had to do was allow them to examine the machine to prove that it had no signs of being dropped, and they were happy to take it from there. I guess this could work against you if the machine is not in absolute pristine condition... even if a given scratch for example has nothing to do with the screen having cracked and was not the result of the machine being dropped, it might make it more difficult for them to feel 100% sure that the machine hasn't taken a hit. in my case, my MBP is in absolutely as new condition, so it would have been impossible and outrageous for them to try and claim that the computer had been dropped.

in any case, good luck. sorry to hear some people are having less than reasonable reactions from apple staff over this kind of problem. I guess I was very lucky that I hit on people at apple france who were fair about the issue. surely there must be a way to have apple customer care in the US consult the records of apple france to show that this problem does come up (ie, my case), and to show precedent that it can be grounds for a warranty repair.

good luck..