Lightning damage

Question

Level 1

65 points

Lightning damage

A lightning storm was in out area the other day. I have a cyber power surge protector/battery backup device protecting my mac mini. well after the storm hit the battery backup of the cyberpower box no longer works and my mac has strange errors, also the Apple Hardware test will give an error on the hard disk

My Insurance company will not do anything untill I get someone to look at it but the apple store is quite a ways from my house (around 90 -120 min depending on traffic) is there anyone out there that can say for sure if this is lightning damage or just a hrd disk failure and does the apple warranty cover damage like this (FYI I did upgrade the RAM myself)

MacMini 1.25Ghz G4, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Jan 6, 2006 6:38 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 6, 2006 8:14 PM in response to Kyle Barker

RAM is okay, the power might have shocked the hd, if the surge protector wasnt strong enough. First, back your data up. If you call apple care, they might be able to say its fried, so your insurance co will be happy.
Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 2

Mac-Medic

Level 6

17,301 points

Jan 6, 2006 11:10 PM in response to Patrick Allin1

I repaired televisions for 25+ years and had to deal with a lot of insurance companies on lightning damage to customers sets. It's hard to get them to pay a claim unless the can see some physical damage. They used to send adjusters over by us to look at the damage. Tuners or power supplies would be fried and it was apparent that it was hit, but unfortunately it may be hard to prove your hard drive was damaged. Good luck though. You may run into a sympathetic adjuster.

- Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
 An Apple User Group 
New: MacOSG Podcast

Reply

Answer 3

Kyle Barker Author

Level 1

65 points

Jan 7, 2006 7:51 AM in response to Mac-Medic

thanks guys I will call apple and hopefully insurance will pay up

Reply