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I think my iPad Battery swelled up? UPDATED x2 7/23 Final Results

saving107

saving107

macrumors 603
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
I woke up this morning, grabbed my iPad off of my nightstand and was browsing the internet and caught up on e-mails. After 30 minutes of using my iPad I got out of bed and placed my iPad back on my nightstand, I then went downstairs to go eat breakfast.

After an hour or so I came back up to grab my iPad so that I could play some games on it, but this time as soon as I turned it on I immediately realized that it is now in-operable.

the screen is now almost 1/2 dead, their is some separation going on between the screen and the aluminum border and when I hold it on its side I can see an obvious bend. I am home alone, so in the last hour no one has used my iPad and I have not charged my iPad in a week (currently 32%), so it was not due to power shortage and it has not been dropped, ever. I am not 100% if this happened because of the battery, but I don't know what else to assume, but my iPad does feel a little thicker.

Has anyone else here had this problem? I do have an appointment at the genius bar tonight at 7pm, hopefully they can help.

ipad001.jpg


ipad003.jpg


ipad002.jpg


UPDATE:
I want to say thanks to all of you who replied this thread and thanks for all of your opinions, they were great and I do have an update for you guys today.

Since Apple believes that I'm at fault here and wouldn't replace my iPad, I had to contact my Credit Card company for insurance. After submitting a claim for the repair fee ($299) almost three weeks, all I have been able to do is wait for the approval, which I got confirmation of this morning. I should be getting a check in the mail sometime this week (it was approved and mailed out last friday, but I was busy this weekend I didn't notice the email until this morning).

My birthday is this saturday, and I will be spending it in the bay area with family, so I already booked an appointment at the Valley Faire Mall Apple Store to get my replacement (now I have to cross my fingers and hope they have replacement units in stock)
 
What make and model is your nightstand? I won't be getting one if it can do that to an iPad!

Hope you get it sorted asap, like you say it appears that the battery has swelled up for some reason?
 
good thing you have an appointment. this is similar to what happened to some guys macbook pro last year.
 
Yah I think your battery exploded hehe. I had this happen on my old macbook. Apple takes care of you.
 
That looks like someone sat on it, on a soft surface...like a bed. If it were pressure from within, the screen should have popped out long before the case bent (just look at any iPad disassembly video- the screen pops out relatively easily, no screws.) The elevation view shows the bend, clearly.

I sense the whole story hasn't been told here.
 
Shinigami301 said:
That looks like someone sat on it, on a soft surface...like a bed. If it were pressure from within, the screen should have popped out long before the case bent (just look at any iPad disassembly video- the screen pops out relatively easily, no screws.) The elevation view shows the bend, clearly.

I sense the whole story hasn't been told here.
Click to expand...


It looks like the aluminum is popping out though. I would think for that to happen someone would have to sit on the screen side. I would think the pressure required to bend all the way through the aluminum like that would crack the screen.
 
nixiemaiden said:
It looks like the aluminum is popping out though. I would think for that to happen someone would have to sit on the screen side. I would think the pressure required to bend all the way through the aluminum like that would crack the screen.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but the aluminum is dead soft on these devices- F condition temper from photos of damaged units I've seen. They should have used a solution heat treatable alloy.

Anyhow, considering the battery location inside the unit, the leverage required to bend the case in the manner postulated in the OP and shown in the photos Makes me go "hmm...".

Occam's Razor says this was from an external load. Let's see what we hear later.
 
Hello,

So I just returned from my appointment, and the genius employee told me that it is pretty obvious that I either dropped it or used excessive force and since I caused the damaged, my iPad is now out of warranty and if I would like a replacement unit, it would be a $299 fee.

Shinigami301, I looked at the iFixIt teardown and I know the battery is located on the opposite side from were the damage is located on my iPad, and trust me, their was no excessive force. As I stated in my first post, it sat idle on my nightstand.

I am a little disappointed of the situation, I spent over $600 on this thing only 3 months ago. If I would've caused this damage to my iPad, I would accept full responsibility, but I didn't and I have no way of convincing an Apple Employee otherwise.

So at the current moment, it seems like I know have a very big paper weight sitting on my desk, which is cool because it has been a little windy these past few days. (sad humor)
 
saving107 said:
Hello,

So I just returned from my appointment, and the genius employee told me that it is pretty obvious that I either dropped it or used excessive force and since I caused the damaged, my iPad is now out of warranty and if I would like a replacement unit, it would be a $299 fee.

Shinigami301, I looked at the iFixIt teardown and I know the battery is located on the opposite side from were the damage is located on my iPad, and trust me, their was no excessive force. As I stated in my first post, it sat idle on my nightstand.

I am a little disappointed of the situation, I spent over $600 on this thing only 3 months ago. If I would've caused this damage to my iPad, I would accept full responsibility, but I didn't and I have no way of convincing an Apple Employee otherwise.

So at the current moment, it seems like I know have a very big paper weight sitting on my desk, which is cool because it has been a little windy these past few days. (sad humor)
Click to expand...

call apple, or goto a different store and raise hell.
 
CrAkD said:
call apple, or goto a different store and raise hell.
Click to expand...

I will, but unfortunately for tonight Apple Care only operates from 6am to 6pm, so I have no choice other than to wait until tomorrow morning. I did make another appointment for tomorrow at 3pm at the same apple store, so I'm hoping I will have better luck with a different employee.

if that fails, I do have plans to go down to san jose next week, so I might have to visit a different Apple Store in the bay area.
 
saving107 said:
I will, but unfortunately for tonight Apple Care only operates from 6am to 6pm, so I have no choice other than to wait until tomorrow morning. I did make another appointment for tomorrow at 3pm at the same apple store, so I'm hoping I will have better luck with a different employee.
Click to expand...

you may end up having to send it to apple so they can take it apart and see it was the battery. I was under the impression that genius' cant disassemble the ipad. since they replace them for dead batteries.
 
CrAkD said:
you may end up having to send it to apple so they can take it apart and see it was the battery. I was under the impression that genius' cant disassemble the ipad. since they replace them for dead batteries.
Click to expand...

the reason why I made another appointment as soon as I walked out was because my appointment was scheduled at 6:45pm, but I didn't get helped until 7:20pm. the genius employee apologized but he was the only one working the counter at that moment, and their were a lot of more people waiting (I don't know if everyone was on lunch/break, but he was alone the entire time I was in the building)

I don't know if he was just trying to rush me out or what, but in all the years i've own mac products and had genius apt, I've never had service like this today (putting aside my iPad situation).

if I must send it in, I am perfectly fine with that.
 
saving107, while I appreciate your well-written posts and sadness, it really does appear like a person caused physical damage to it. I think even a battery would not cause both the front casing AND back casing to bend like that. It would be one or the other, I'd imagine.

That said, I do feel bad for you...
 
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