What to do after dropping laptop
May 6, 2018 7:07 AM Subscribe
I just dropped my laptop (2014 MacBook Pro) on the train. It seems to be working ok, but I have a few questions about what I should do next.
The laptop was sitting on the tray table attached to the back of the seat in front of me; I momentarily forgot it was there, lifted up the tray table to get up out of the seat, and it slid off the tray table and on to the floor (a height of about 80 cms/31~32 inches). It was fortunately powered off at the time, and seems to be working ok with no external damage apart from a few scratches, but I'm concerned about the following:
1) Could any of the files in the laptop be corrupted? As soon as I got home, I backed it up using SuperDuper! I was about to do a Time Machine backup as well, but haven't yet in case corrupted files could be an issue (the last Time Machine backup was yesterday).
2) Is there any way of checking whether there is any hidden damage that could cause the laptop to suddenly fail in the future?
The laptop was sitting on the tray table attached to the back of the seat in front of me; I momentarily forgot it was there, lifted up the tray table to get up out of the seat, and it slid off the tray table and on to the floor (a height of about 80 cms/31~32 inches). It was fortunately powered off at the time, and seems to be working ok with no external damage apart from a few scratches, but I'm concerned about the following:
1) Could any of the files in the laptop be corrupted? As soon as I got home, I backed it up using SuperDuper! I was about to do a Time Machine backup as well, but haven't yet in case corrupted files could be an issue (the last Time Machine backup was yesterday).
2) Is there any way of checking whether there is any hidden damage that could cause the laptop to suddenly fail in the future?
I've dropped Mac laptops down concrete stairs with no noticeable loss of function. Very very likely it's totally fine.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 7:50 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pseudostrabismus at 7:50 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
1) Could any of the files in the laptop be corrupted?
If you have a Retina MacBook Pro, there is zero chance of file corruption. Those only come with SSDs. If you have the non-Retina 13" model that was still sold in 2014, that does have a traditional spinning disk, but the head should have been parked already because the computer was powered off. Even if it weren't parked there's a motion sensor that's supposed to ensure that it parks within a fraction of a second if a fall is detected, but that's not the case here. If that's the model you have, maybe keep an eye on it, but you're not supposed to have any problems caused by that sort of drop.
To be sure what kind of storage you have, open up "About This Mac" from the Apple menu, and click on the "Storage" tab. If it says "flash storage" there is no way a drop could have hurt it.
2) Is there any way of checking whether there is any hidden damage that could cause the laptop to suddenly fail in the future?
Check the hinge for misalignment and look for any wavy patterns in the display that could indicate that there's a case deformation putting stress on the panel. You can also run the built-in diagnostics and listen for the fans to see if they sound like they're scraping against anything. Assuming you have a Retina MBP, the hinge and the fans are the only moving parts. Everything else is solid state.
FWIW at my last job they provided me with an older MBP that had been dropped by a previous user, and while the hinge was slightly misaligned (visible when the clamshell was closed) it still ran perfectly.
posted by fedward at 8:45 AM on May 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you have a Retina MacBook Pro, there is zero chance of file corruption. Those only come with SSDs. If you have the non-Retina 13" model that was still sold in 2014, that does have a traditional spinning disk, but the head should have been parked already because the computer was powered off. Even if it weren't parked there's a motion sensor that's supposed to ensure that it parks within a fraction of a second if a fall is detected, but that's not the case here. If that's the model you have, maybe keep an eye on it, but you're not supposed to have any problems caused by that sort of drop.
To be sure what kind of storage you have, open up "About This Mac" from the Apple menu, and click on the "Storage" tab. If it says "flash storage" there is no way a drop could have hurt it.
2) Is there any way of checking whether there is any hidden damage that could cause the laptop to suddenly fail in the future?
Check the hinge for misalignment and look for any wavy patterns in the display that could indicate that there's a case deformation putting stress on the panel. You can also run the built-in diagnostics and listen for the fans to see if they sound like they're scraping against anything. Assuming you have a Retina MBP, the hinge and the fans are the only moving parts. Everything else is solid state.
FWIW at my last job they provided me with an older MBP that had been dropped by a previous user, and while the hinge was slightly misaligned (visible when the clamshell was closed) it still ran perfectly.
posted by fedward at 8:45 AM on May 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: It's a Retina MacBook Pro, and I haven't discovered any issues after doing the checks suggested above, so it looks like everything's ok. Thanks so much, everyone, for the quick and helpful advice!
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 7:41 PM on May 6, 2018
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 7:41 PM on May 6, 2018
The only thing I'd add is to listen for new rattling noises. It's not likely, but a shock like that could have broken a capacitor or something off the board, and you'd want to fish that out so it doesn't find its way into a bad spot and short something out. (Yes, most of the capacitors in a piece of digital electronics aren't strictly necessary in the sense that the device can operate with them missing, though it may introduce instability or otherwise make things weird)
If you're flush with cash and really like your computer, I'd have someone replace all the ceramic caps preemptively. They're already prone to cracking from thermal cycling stress and often fail short, so after being dropped like that it's hard to say for sure one isn't going to let the smoke out at some point down the line, damaging other components in the process. I wouldn't bother, but I'm lazy, cheap, and not particularly attached to any specific piece of hardware.
posted by wierdo at 12:25 PM on May 7, 2018
If you're flush with cash and really like your computer, I'd have someone replace all the ceramic caps preemptively. They're already prone to cracking from thermal cycling stress and often fail short, so after being dropped like that it's hard to say for sure one isn't going to let the smoke out at some point down the line, damaging other components in the process. I wouldn't bother, but I'm lazy, cheap, and not particularly attached to any specific piece of hardware.
posted by wierdo at 12:25 PM on May 7, 2018
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It is doubtful their was corruption unless it was in the middle of writing a file, and the hard drive was a magnetic (non-SSD) drive.
Run Disk Utility first aid if you want to be sure.
posted by nickggully at 7:33 AM on May 6, 2018 [3 favorites]