[Hidden-tech] MacBook Pro repair advice

[Deborah Chandler]

Hi all,

Well, as I am sure some of you have done, I spilled some liquid on my
beloved laptop. And I didn't waste my time with water, but rather went
right for the cognac. ;)

It happened at midnight about three weeks ago, and I immediately shut
the power off and cleaned all surfaces quickly with paper towels. I
can't remove the battery, so I then just enclosed it in a container
with some uncooked rice and left it overnight. (Oh, and I prayed a
lot...)

I have Apple Care, but as many know, liquid spills are not covered. :(

The liquid cascaded down into and over the laptop, which was standing
on its edge beneath the table with said cognac on it. The liquid went
first into the USB port and then further inside, and also sprinkled
all over the keyboard.

I asked the advice of a computer expert, who suggested I go straight
to the Apple Store at the Holyoke Mall, which I did that next morning.

A member of the Genuis Bar did a diagnostic in front of me, then took
it out back, opened it up and upon return, printed out the cost for
repair: $1240. Apparently there is "Tier 4 Accidental Damage", and the
logic board was affected among other things.

I decided to hold off on any repairs, after the Genius said it
wouldn't cost me anymore to just wait and see if the laptop would
fail. Three weeks later, the laptop is working fine, but the fan is
still running loudly, as it did right after the incident. This is
overall fine, but on occasion I like to listen to something or watch a
movie and the noise is distracting. It's also hard to have a phone
conversation over it. It sounds like white noise, but when I tip the
laptop, it sounds more fan-like.

So, since the Apple Care won't cover this repair situation, my
question is this: Is there someone you can recommend who might be able
to clean or fix just the fan for reasonable money, or is this a bad
idea? Apple said that if a non-certified Apple shop does anything to
the laptop, it will void my warranty.

This is the first time I have done damage to my laptop, and I am not
clear what my options are. I also don't know if the time has elapsed
in which my laptop would fail if it was going to. As I said, so far it
is just the loud fan, and everything else seems fine.

A hard lesson has been learned...

Thanks in advance for your advice,
Deb