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jcbradley · Aug 1, 2007, 12:05 AM

How difficult would it be to replace the bottom case of my macbook by myself?

Also whould this void any warrenty i have even if it was done properly but not by an apple certified technitian?

The reason im asking if because i have a crack from the top of the back left of the case by the screw that extends to the bottom corner of the magsafe power port. My macbook was sent into apple but they said it was caused by "impact damage" (even though it has never been dropped) which they do not cover and i would have to pay them 430.00 +tax to get it replaced by them.

The man i talked to also said that without the case being replaced i am not covered for any reason with my warrenty. Even if say the hard drive crapped out a year from now. Is the right or was he just trying to sell me on the replacement?

Ive found some bottom cases for sale online for around $90 and on ebay as low as $45 so i was thinking of doing it myself.

sorry about not having pictures but the computer is being shipped back right now.

Waragainstsleep · Aug 2, 2007, 05:05 AM

They aren't tough to work on, but getting all the cables in the right places is a pain the arse. And yes, if they can tell you've done it, it will void your warranty. If they can't, there's no problem.
Its possible you could ring Apple and convince them the unit has cracked of its own accord due to heat or whatever. But if you try this, there is also a chance they will not grant you a free replacement and then they may void your warranty themselves. (Not likely, but possible). If you are comfortable working on Apple laptops and have a good set of instructions, you will probably be OK doing the job yourself. Taking the display housing apart is a much fiddlier job. If you are frightened at the prospect, then ring Apple.

jcbradley · Aug 2, 2007, 11:22 PM

here are some images of the crack. it started out as a tiny hairline crack right on the top of the screw which i thought was just a scratch then it wrapped around without me noticing because i usually have the computer hooked up to my monitor and leave it in clamshell mode sitting on my desk most of the time.

JustinHorne · Aug 3, 2007, 12:09 AM

I don't have a solution to your problem, but....
Did you flip those pictures around or what? Becuase, your Magsafe port is on the right!

jcbradley · Aug 3, 2007, 12:32 AM

yea for some reason photobooth didnt flip the image and i just didnt mirror it before uploading it, the magsafe is on the correct side.

chipchen · Aug 3, 2007, 05:01 AM

1. Your warranty is already pretty much void. The notes have been entered about the damage, and it's linked to your serial number. Now don't get me wrong here.. it doesn't say "no warranty"... but if someone read the all the notes... they would probably refuse service in the future even if you replaced the bottom case.

2. How hard? A bitch. It's a pain.... you literally have to remove EVERYTHING... And there's a good chance you'll kill it doing it, or at least messing it up in a pretty obvious way even if you get it back together and working. You can tell when something has been taken apart.

3. Does the little crack bother you that much? It's just a little crack.

4. I have to say, cracked don't just appear from no where. It may look like cheap plastic, but Apple actually uses very high quality plastics. (I actually learned a lot about Apple plastics, injection molds, high pressure molds, etc today.) And from my experience (with thousands of Apple laptops), it takes a pretty good impact to create a crack like that in the plastic. And if it were a design issue, we would see a whole lot more of them. (like the hair line fractures in the Cube design)

4b. Now, I'm not saying you did it. And I'm not saying you're lying. But SOMETHING happened to the computer. Maybe when you weren't looking. Maybe someone did something and didn't wanna accept the responsibility? It's been known to happen.

jcbradley · Aug 3, 2007, 11:15 AM

They told me on the phone and in the store that if i had it replaced by someone certified it would bring me back into warrenty status. Ive pretty much ruled out doing it myself because i would rather live with a crack than have a broken computer.

Really i could care less about the crack as it does nothing to the performance. Its the $250 apple care that has just started a month ago that makes me want to fix it. Maybe if i would have brought it in when it was just a tiny hairline crack they would have done something but w/e.

Anyways i talked to someone at a certified store that wasnt apple and they quoted me at $185 which isnt too bad considering its parts and labor. Should i get it fixed or just live with it?

Andrew88088 · Aug 3, 2007, 06:22 PM

I guess I don't think $185 is all that bad... I would probably pay to have it fixed mainly because it'd bother me.. haha

Waragainstsleep · Aug 4, 2007, 06:15 PM

Probably worth it since they won't fix any issue while that crack is there. While the notes may have been made, they may indeed not have voided your warranty. There is a way for service providers to do this, but the one and only time I used it I got a serious telling off from Apple for it.
There is a text box on the right hand side of this page which will allow you to check if your serial is still covered or not:
Apple - Support - MacBook
As changing bottom cases on Apple notebooks goes, the MacBook is pretty much the easiest. Getting it to look like a factory job is nigh-on impossible.