water problem with macbook!

miuracorsemiuracorse
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I spilled a small amount of water on my MacBook; the case got a little wet but barely any, maybe a mL, got inside. I turned off the power and dried the computer. When I took out the battery it was dry. When I tried to turn it back on, it chimed and got stuck at the gray screen that you see at start up. I called ProCare and they gave me lots of advice, none of which worked... I want to avoid having to send the computerin for service. Can anyone help me???

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    benzenebenzene Posts: 338member
    water + macbook = "sorry pal, you're f*cked"



    Your best bet it to take it to pieces, as I can guarantee there's water sitting on some components. Unless this was distilled water, and even eventually then, it's going to act as a conductor. Assuming there's no permanent circuitry damage (yet), you still must get that water out or it will corrode your macbook's innards.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    Wait for a few days before turning it on again and place your MacBook somewhere where it is warm (NOT on top of a heating system, though!). That should remove the water that might be still inside the computer. Take out the battery as well!



    Good luck!
  • Reply 3 of 13
    joeyjoey Posts: 236member
    Just as an FYI... anytime you get water in an electronic device, the first thing to remember is DO NOT TURN IT ON. The temptation is to turn it on right away to see if it still works. This can cause permanent hardware failure. As mentioned, you need to be sure it is completely dry (not that it just looks dry). Something like the MacBook really needs to be opened to make sure it is completely dry. It should be allowed to sit for a few days... a blow dryer on a low setting can also help. The problem with getting water in something as tightly sealed as a MacBook is that it's difficult for it to evaporate completely... at least not before causing some damage.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    martin cmartin c Posts: 32member
    It sucks that AppleCare doesn't cover spilt liquids...
  • Reply 5 of 13
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    Why should they? It clearly is the user's fault if that happens!



    There was nothing wrong with the machine before, no inherent fault that would be covered by the AppleCare contract. No manufacturer must repair defects clearly caused by the user...
  • Reply 6 of 13
    newnew Posts: 3,244member
    hey, Seeing this I have to tell you aobut my shuffle. The day after I got it I was playing around with the clip-mechanism, on the rim of my pint of beer. Guess what happend...?

    Well, schooping it out of the beer as fast as I could, I turned it of, went to the bathroom, and held it under the drier for a while. Then I let it lie in my pocket for the rest of the evening.

    The day after; It still worked as if nothing had happend.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    ichiban_jayichiban_jay Posts: 660member
    If you ever drop an electronic device in water, you want to quickly turn off the device and dry off all you can manually. Then, the safest thing to do is to have it sit for about 3 days to make sure everything that you could not towel off evaporates.



    Chances are you damaged your laptop, not because of the water itself persay, but because you tried to turn it back without waiting for all the water to evaporate first.



    Check to see if your home owner's insurance will cover your laptop because applecare does not cover accidental damage.



    Also, for future reference you could buy laptop insurance at http://www.safeware.com which covers accidental damage, theft, and power surges.



    Lastly... My sympathies, I know it must really suck a ton, but let it sit for a couple days and see if it'll work again.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Martin C


    It sucks that AppleCare doesn't cover spilt liquids...



    they do if it's water and you don't tell them
  • Reply 9 of 13
    fieldyfieldy Posts: 31member
    Similar thing happened to me with my 12" PowerBook. I was in the kitchen making my kids dinner and came through to the lounge to find my youngest taking a piss all over my (closed and sleeping) PowerBook. I quickly took the battery out and mopped up whatever piss I could find then left the PowerBook open over a radiator for 24 hours. Turned it on after waiting the 24 hours and it worked perfectly and still is 2 weeks later. 8)



    My wife also manged to drop her iPod mini down the tiolet and again it worked after a thorough drying out over a radiator. Guess we've just be lucky -- although our stuff probably stinks of piss!
  • Reply 10 of 13
    howyoudoinhowyoudoin Posts: 118member
    I know AppleCare doesn't cover accidental damage but I've had pretty good luck getting apple to repair my powerbook mostly do to dropping it (2 lcd screens replaced) and a new casing (bent frame). For the lcd replacement I just told them it stopped working. The new enclosure just happened to get replaced while fixing the keyboard (bleeding keys).
  • Reply 11 of 13
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    It took 10 days for the water to dry out of my calculator opened up with a fan on it. Of course, I washed it in the sink with the dishes to get the apple juice sticky off of it.



    But it works now. HP49G
  • Reply 12 of 13
    fooeyfooey Posts: 52member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fieldy


    Similar thing happened to me with my 12" PowerBook. I was in the kitchen making my kids dinner and came through to the lounge to find my youngest taking a piss all over my (closed and sleeping) PowerBook. I quickly took the battery out and mopped up whatever piss I could find then left the PowerBook open over a radiator for 24 hours. Turned it on after waiting the 24 hours and it worked perfectly and still is 2 weeks later. 8)



    My wife also manged to drop her iPod mini down the tiolet and again it worked after a thorough drying out over a radiator. Guess we've just be lucky -- although our stuff probably stinks of piss!





    hahaha!!!
  • Reply 13 of 13
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fieldy


    Similar thing happened to me with my 12" PowerBook. I was in the kitchen making my kids dinner and came through to the lounge to find my youngest taking a piss all over my (closed and sleeping) PowerBook. I quickly took the battery out and mopped up whatever piss I could find then left the PowerBook open over a radiator for 24 hours. Turned it on after waiting the 24 hours and it worked perfectly and still is 2 weeks later. 8)



    My wife also manged to drop her iPod mini down the tiolet and again it worked after a thorough drying out over a radiator. Guess we've just be lucky -- although our stuff probably stinks of piss!



    Wow... sounds like the kid is a Windows Fanboy



    That is all





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