2010 Mac Pro. Small Solder Job - Applecare?

[Johnf1285]

Hey everyone. I stupidly broke the clip off the battery holder. My curiosity got the best of me.

I had a spare motherboard cmos battery holder from an old motherboard lying around. So I removed the logic board, desoldered the broken one and popped another one on.

I guess since I totally disassembled the computer AND soldered something that I had broke, should I just not even bother buying Applecare at this point?

 

[Pgohlke]

Hey everyone. I stupidly broke the clip off the battery holder. My curiosity got the best of me.

I had a spare motherboard cmos battery holder from an old motherboard lying around. So I removed the logic board, desoldered the broken one and popped another one on.

I guess since I totally disassembled the computer AND soldered something that I had broke, should I just not even bother buying Applecare at this point?

well technically you have voided your warranty, but what apples doesn't know won't hurt them. I know people think this is wrong, but if something totally unrelated to the piece you fixed broke you should still be able to have a warranty on it.

 

[Johnf1285]

Thats the way I was thinking. If one took a close look, they would see it was a solder job by a human and not a machine, otherwise its totally not noticeable (other than the battery holder looking slightly different).

Also I have been wrestling with the idea of Applecare all together. The only Mac I had owned long enough to have anything fail was a 2007 first gen Aluminum iMac. The hard drive died a month after Applecare expired...

 

[Pgohlke]

Thats the way I was thinking. If one took a close look, they would see it was a solder job by a human and not a machine, otherwise its totally not noticeable (other than the battery holder looking slightly different).

Also I have been wrestling with the idea of Applecare all together. The only Mac I had owned long enough to have anything fail was a 2007 first gen Aluminum iMac. The hard drive died a month after Applecare expired...

why not go into an apple store or call and ask. Just make sure to not give them a serial number or real name?

 

[Johnf1285]

Thats a good idea. Actually a former manager of mine is now a manager at the local Applestore. I could always run it past him and see what he says. I hate to keep harassing him though.

I'm on the fence about Applecare though, even before I stupidly broke this thing.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Is AppleCare like standard health insurance where they exclude known conditions at the time of purchase but the rest of the machine would be covered, or is the policy totally void if there is accidental damage to *any* component?

Fictitious example... if you are honest and say "I have modified the battery clip due to accidental damage but I believe the HDD is at fault due to a loud grinding noise" will they turn down the AppleCare claim?

 

[goMac]

Fictitious example... if you are honest and say "I have modified the battery clip due to accidental damage but I believe the HDD is at fault due to a loud grinding noise" will they turn down the AppleCare claim?

They can, yes.

 

[philipma1957]

if you hired a lawyer and went to court you might win but we all know that is not what anyone would do.

you were supposed to bring the machine in and say I don't know what happened but the clip is broken please repair it.

 

[Johnf1285]

if you hired a lawyer and went to court you might win but we all know that is not what anyone would do.

you were supposed to bring the machine in and say I don't know what happened but the clip is broken please repair it.

I didn't want to jump through hoops and wait a week for a logicboard replacement because I doubt these geniuses use a soldering iron to fix small things like this. I probably should've acted like it was a defect, but I know it was my own fault. Oh well.

 

[cutterman]

If you have to bring the MP in for an unrelated problem I wouldn't mention the repair. Chances are the "genius" won't notice it and if they did I doubt the first thing they would consider is that a customer repaired his own logic board. After all how many times has that happened?

 

[calderone]

If you have to bring the MP in for an unrelated problem I wouldn't mention the repair. Chances are the "genius" won't notice it and if they did I doubt the first thing they would consider is that a customer repaired his own logic board. After all how many times has that happened?

Agreed. Most Geniuses have never touched a soldering iron and most likely be unable to tell the difference between human and robot soldering.

And unless you bridged points (doubtful since you likely wouldn't be using the thing), something like this wouldn't come up in AHT or ASD.

 

[Johnf1285]

Well I guess I will wait till the end of the year and decide on purchasing applecare. Its not at all noticeable unless you were looking specifically at it and where its soldered.

 

[goMac]

Well I guess I will wait till the end of the year and decide on purchasing applecare. Its not at all noticeable unless you were looking specifically at it and where its soldered.

I would think the average case was if they noticed, they could make you pay for a new logic board before your AppleCare was valid.

However, they can try to make the case that whatever damage you caused affected other components. I see this most often in drop damage situations, where an undamaged component may die later, but Apple will argue that the drop could have reduced the lifespan of all the components in the machine.

It really depends on what mood they are in.

Also stop messing with your CMOS battery. This is why I mess around in my Mac Pro internals only when I'm installing new stuff, and not as a fun weekend activity.