Macbook Pro fried!

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Macbook Pro fried!

I have a 17" MBP that I purchased last December. When I am not using it, I usually close the lid and let it go to sleep.

Today when I tried to wake it from sleep, I got no response.

I noticed that no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to power up. I tried all the things on the support page. Taking out the battery and doing the power button for 5 seconds, trying the control applepower and nothing.

So I then removed the battery again and opened the ram cover. I noticed that the ram cover had a burn mark on it on the left prong. I smelt it and also the inside of the mbp and it smells like sometihng was fried.

I am currently on a business trip in China (I purchased it in California). Before when I had some problems, I called the support people in China and they said if I didn't have my receipt, I might have to pay for support.

From what I've seen, I am covered globablly under the 1 year hardware support.

I don't have my receipt as it's somewhere in a box in the US and paying to fly back is just ridiculous to get the receipt.

My questions are twofold.

1. Has anyone had this problem where their insides of their mbp fried? It's not the battery and it doesn't seem to have originated from the RAM (and yes it's the original RAM not an upgrade.

2. Has anyone had to try to get hardware support outside of the country? If so, did they get away with not having the receipt. I've registered my computer under my name, so with the S/N and the registration, there should be no doubt that it's me and I'm covered. Also, if there are a lot of parts or a whole computer that needs to be replaced, will they migrate my data or am I screwed on that part?

Thanks in advance.

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 30, 2007 6:40 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 30, 2007 9:57 AM in response to wangja

1. I wouldn't expect my US warranty to be valid outside the U.S. I know my AppleCare Plan provides global protection, though.

I have never needed to show Apple my sales receipt: I register all my Apple purchases online, and that info is stored there.

2. Sounds like your travel voltage converter might have failed.

But since you have an iMac account, you can access those important docs from any computer while on your trip via your iDisk. You DO have a backup plan for the trip, don't you?

Message was edited by: clintbradford

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Answer 2

Oct 30, 2007 2:35 PM in response to wangja

You're not supposed to use US chargers internationally otherwise it'll fry the battery of whatever you're using. Do you have the global adapter for charging? If you don't, don't use the support in China and don't mention to Apple that you were charging it in China, otherwise they might charge you to repair it.

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2007 6:57 PM in response to MICHAELSD

Why is anyone using a voltage convertor? The Apple charger is good for 100v-240v I have been overseas and used it often. There may be confusion on convertors that convert electricity and adaptors which adapt the plug. 2 different things.

Now, if you had a power surge which may happen in developing countries overseas, and was not protected by a surge protector then that may have caused the damage.

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2007 7:08 PM in response to Peter Moyer

Opps. Nevermind.

Message was edited by: MICHAELSD

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Answer 5

Oct 30, 2007 8:36 PM in response to wangja

Wow - this thread is going all over the place 🙂

I'll give you my two cents worth, or pence if you prefer 🙂

a) The MacBook Pro 1 year warranty is worldwide. Call Apple or go to the shop and they will fix it.

b) The magsafe power adapter is multi-voltage auto-switching - you just need the correct cable or corner prong adapter - so the chap (Peter) who said that is correct.

c) You don't need the receipt. Apple know from the serial number when they sold the machine.

- Not familiar with the problem you describe, but as for repair, yes Apple repair computers worldwide and in my experience they don't ask for a receipt - it's not as if businessmen travelling around carry a receipt. I'd speak to a different Chinese chap, or you can show the Chinese chaps this page

http://www.apple.com/support/

after you've entered your serial number in the box at the bottom left corner.

As for data though, Most manufacturers don't promise to protect it, which is why they recommend keeping a backup. you could ask them to preserve the hard drive for you and offer to pay the difference perhaps. If it was powering up then a friendly employee might dump the data to a drive for you (for a charge) or you could back up to DVDs or an external drive.

Hope that helps.

Best of luck.

PS - If you paid using a credit card, the card issuer might have doubled your warranty and added other services - concierge for example so if you don't have any luck you could try them

Cheers.

Message was edited by: Rajesh Sharma

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