Pop & smoke coming from macbook pro. Laptop died

Question

Anyone else experience this rather strange phenomenon?
Purely out of goodwill, I am posting for this guy who purchased from me, a macbook pro 2.53 Ghz with 4GB RAM with a fresh install of Snow Leopard on it (gave him original discs etc with it). This machine worked like a charm with ZERO hassles while it was with me. ZERO hassles and it showed not even the faintest hint of any problem for the years I owned it. I took excellent care of it and it was in pristine condition working and looking like brand new even on the date of sale. Heck it was still giving me an easy 6 hours battery life and no signs of slowing down or anything.
Anyway, when he took it from me, he texted me close to the end of the day that apparently he was using migration assistant to transfer data from his old laptop to the MBP and he was about 10 minutes into the process wherein he heard a pop and then smoke came out from the back of the MBP and the computer shut down. I am at a COMPLETE loss of words, thoughts or ideas as to what the heck he did with the computer to have resulted in this smoky outcome.
Has anyone else experienced this issue? If yes, please please respond so this kid can be helped out.
Also, for something like this, what sort of backup or coverage does Apple provide? Of course the laptop was from 2009 with no Apple Care on it. Because honestly I could've taken care of most tech issues and never expected my laptop to emit smoke and get fried like that.
Thus, I am guessing and hoping that they uncondintionally take care of this issue because this is a very rare and strange phenomenon. Also, in all its probability, it's not like the kid was running a nuclear reactor through this MBP for it to go toast like this.
Could this be a batter issue? A power supply issue or a hard disc issue?
I would appreciate if someone could let me know anything related to such a problem (or similar) if it happened to them too. Any words of advice or suggestions would be most welcome as to how best to tackle this situation. I dont' want this kid to feel cheated off his money. If he is truly telling me honestly that it happened during just a file transfer then he needs to be helped and I want to provide him whatever information I can, so he doesn't lose his money.
Thank you for your time

Answer 1

Hi Phagun,
The problem, at least as I see it is that you really don't know what caused the problem. It could have been a random failure for some unexplained reason or it could have been an accidental spill into it. You just don't know. All you have to go on is what the purchaser told you. You know that you took good care of it and had no issues with the product when you sold it.  Perhaps what you might do is gently ask the new owner to take it in and have it diagnosed and to call you and let you know what they say. It is possible that there is something simple and inexpensive to repair. At least that way you will have some factual basis from which to try and alleviate the situation.
I am certain you feel bad that this happened. Most of us would but you are not responsible for what happened to it. It is possible that it was damaged in shipment and no one noticed it. There are just too many possibilities.
There are a couple of factual itmes that were mentioned in previous posts. First of all Apple is not responsible to fix it at this point. That is a fact and there is no changing it. Warranties are limited in scope and time and the computer is well out of warranty because it is 3 years old. If you feel badly about it or feel some sort of responsbility than refund the money and take it back is all I can suggest. No manufacturer is going to cover a product that is two years out of warranty and it just isn't realistic to expect them too.
I wish I could provide you with some hope but these things happen. Nothing lasts forever and until you can be certain what happened then there is not much you can expect from Apple or folks here. We certainly can't provide you with anything more than emotional support which we are happy to do, but it won't solve the purchasers problem.
Once again, I would suggest you ask him to take it in and have it diagnosed. If he refuses that will also give you information about what may, may I say have happened.