When A Defect Is Really Damage

One of the more difficult lines to walk as a technician is the line between manufacturing defects and user-created defects. It’s not unusual for a customer to come in with a malfunctioning machine that they believe has a warranty covered defect only to find out that the problem was actually created by physical damage or misuse. Sometimes these are very cut-and-dry cases, like a cracked LCD (glass does not spontaneously crack), but occasionally it just takes a tiny crumb to cause a big problem.

We received a fairly new end-of-life MacBook Pro in for return last week because it was not latching correctly when the display was closed. Upon initial inspection, the MacBook Pro looked to be in perfect condition; clean, shiny, not a scratch. The problem was that the latch assembly in the bottom case wasn’t retracting so when the display was shut the latches on the display had nothing to latch onto, so the computer couldn’t close. While this might look like a defect in the latch, experience told me there was probably something stuck in it. Sure enough, after removing the top case I found a very small piece of black plastic had wedged itself between the clutch assembly and the bottom case. I video-taped this endeavor so you can see just what I mean:

Fixing a MacBook Pro Latch, Part 1
Fixing a MacBook Pro Latch, Part 2

Speaking of videos, what are you interested in seeing? While I can’t promise all ideas would be doable, I’d love to know your thoughts!