Cube Fire

[David Goetzka]

Here's one for the list I don't think I've seen before.

First off let me say, my cube is the only computer I've owned that I 
plan on keeping forever.I love that thing. I maxed out the ram, I 
installed a 32 MB graphics card, I added a big hard drive, and for me, 
the final piece to complete my cube was an Apple LCD Display.

Last week I bought a 17 inch refurb from Apple's web site. I couldn't 
wait to try it when I got home from the office.

First thing I did was turn off my surge protector, unplug my old 
monitor and then plugged in the beautiful new Apple display. Turned the 
power strip back on and then the power on the Cube and then... nothing.

I then turned off the power strip, unplugged everything, re-plugged in 
everything and still nothing. But this time I thought I heard a little 
"pop' sound.

I then pulled the core from the case and set it on my desk. I hit the 
power on the Cube and the fireworks started. The DC board starting 
sparking and then flames about two or three inches high starting coming 
from one of the chips. (It was the small chip next to the ones marked 
"04" and "08".) After sitting there stunned for a few seconds, I turned 
off the power strip and the flames went out. The burning smell stunk up 
my whole house.

I called Apple and relayed my experience. Apple seems to take things 
pretty seriously when you tell them your computer caught fire. They 
gave me a case number. After a day I called back and was wondering 
where things are at with my case. I was told to take it to a dealer and 
that Apple would more than likely handle all costs.

The service technician at the dealer, who looked all of 15 years old, 
tested the display on another Mac and it worked fine. He reported this 
back to Apple and that pretty much closed my case. I was then told I'm 
responsible for all costs. The service tech told me the next step is to 
order a new dc board ($160 parts plus $120 labor) and go from there. I 
failed to see the logic and pointed out to the tech that what happens 
if the new board burns up also. He flatly stated I'd then be 
responsible to replace it and then whatever other components that would 
need to be replaced. He stated that was the method of testing directed 
by Apple - keep replacing components until they stop burning up. Well I 
guess this is simple enough to do when you're not footing the bill. 
Anyway, I asked the tech to do a little more testing - like pull the 
video card from the cube and test it in another machine - and then I 
would feel more comfortable about ordering the dc board. The video card 
passed his tests so the parts on en-route from Apple.

So after that long and most likely boring story, here's my question: 
Have any other listers have had/heard of such a problem? Does anyone 
know of any course of action against Apple to get them to pay for my 
costs? This Cube has worked perfect since it was new. I used a number 
of Displays with the Cube before this 17 inch LCD. I used a Apple 17 
inch CRT ADC for a few months and most recently I was using a KDS Rad-5 
15 inch LCD VGA with no problems. The 17 inch LCD Apple Display is 
compatible with the Cube right?

And finally, under what circumstances is it acceptable that a computer 
catches on fire?

Cubeless In Michigan,

David