Ants Building Nest in iMac
Last Monday, my boss discovered that her work desk had ants crawling all over it. We are not talking about a few, but easy hundreds. It was like a dead carcass was sprawled all over it, and the ants were having a feast. As we were frantically trying to sweep/kill/destroy them, I discovered something even more disturbing - the ants were crawling in and out of her iMac.
Almost instantly, I suspected that the ants had set up home inside her iMac. They were crawling in and out of the speaker/ventilation gaps at the bottom of the screen. They were crawling in and out of the USB ports, and were using the cables like highways to gain access into the unit. After clearing out the ones on the desk, my boss turned on the iMac and started doing her work.
After 2 hours, my boss shrieked somewhat as the iMac shut down abruptly. A few attempts to restart it failed, and that was when I decided to bring it to a local Apple service centre for diagnostics, and repair work.
Our office premises had been plagued with ant problems for quite some time now. Perhaps a large ant nest resides somewhere outside this shophouse, and the ants are seeking refuge from the hot weather. Judging from the number of ants crawling in and out of the unit, I thought it was best if I sealed all the ports at the back with tape and head to the service centre ASAP.
Miraculously, the technician was able to turn the machine on as I tried to demonstrate the problem. He then proceeded to conduct the SOP of running some diagnostics to check all the hardware components in the unit to ascertain the problem. As he went on, the ants started to crawl out of of the unit from the speaker gaps, and soon there were a disturbing number of the creatures on the service counter top. It did not take him very long to figure out what was happening.
To cut the long story short, the service centre took my machine in and opened it up to see how bad the infestation was. I asked them to take a photo of the insides. These images are of the actual iMac from my office that had the problem.
A thorough investigation of the damage caused by the ants concluded that the ventilation fan and power supply component needed replacement. Although Apple initially considered such incidents caused by "accidental damage" not covered under AppleCare, I was able to convince Apple and the service centre to cover the parts, and bill me only for labor charges to service the unit.
Since this episode, my bosses had finally learnt their lesson and dealt with the ant problem at work. Pest busters were roped in on Friday, and effective treatment was administered on Saturday. Seems like the ants have left the building and not coming back anytime soon. Or died. Whatever the case, I just hope they don't attempt at setting up home in any other iMacs in the office. So much trouble for nothing.
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