Liquid Damaged Macbook

aawordy · August 5, 2008 9:28AM

Hi everyone -

I was on a flight home and the schmuck next to me spilled his drink on my macbook. At the time it worked fine. I cleaned up the spill, and put it in my bag. The next day, the macbook wouldn't turn on. I took it to the Apple store, and they said they noticed liquid damage.

I took the top off (I figured the warranty was null and void, so what the hell) and tried to identify the problem. It looks like the heat sink took the hit, but that's odd since the liquid was near headphone and security lock area. Here's a link to the damage shots: http://gallery.me.com/apabate#100005

Here's my question, should I try replacing the heat sink and see if that fixes it, or should I just ebay it and cut my losses.

Thanks,

Andrew

cyko95 · August 5, 2008 10:31AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aawordy

Hi everyone -

I was on a flight home and the schmuck next to me spilled his drink on my macbook. At the time it worked fine. I cleaned up the spill, and put it in my bag. The next day, the macbook wouldn't turn on. I took it to the Apple store, and they said they noticed liquid damage.

I took the top off (I figured the warranty was null and void, so what the hell) and tried to identify the problem. It looks like the heat sink took the hit, but that's odd since the liquid was near headphone and security lock area. Here's a link to the damage shots: http://gallery.me.com/apabate#100005

Here's my question, should I try replacing the heat sink and see if that fixes it, or should I just ebay it and cut my losses.

Thanks,

Andrew

Two questions/ideas for you...

1 - Do you have Home Owners Insurance or Renters Insurance? If so you may have coverage on it.

2 - Any way the airline would put you in touch with the douche that caused the problem? He or his insurance company may take care of it for you.

Any way you go, good luck man. I know that has to be frustrating.

bbwi · August 5, 2008 2:10PM

I doubt replacing the heat sink will work but I haven't been right on these boards lately so I may be talking out of my arse. However, its been my experience that if you have a bad heat sink your Mac should at least power on and then after several seconds (maybe 30 seconds at most) die. If it doesn't even power on I would guess that it's more than the heat sink. But if it powers on and then 10-30 seconds later freeze you may in luck.

Having said all that it's still worth a shot to replace the heat sink and see what happens

toymaker · August 5, 2008 9:40PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aawordy

Hi everyone -

I was on a flight home and the schmuck next to me spilled his drink on my macbook. At the time it worked fine. I cleaned up the spill, and put it in my bag. The next day, the macbook wouldn't turn on. I took it to the Apple store, and they said they noticed liquid damage.

I took the top off (I figured the warranty was null and void, so what the hell) and tried to identify the problem. It looks like the heat sink took the hit, but that's odd since the liquid was near headphone and security lock area. Here's a link to the damage shots: http://gallery.me.com/apabate#100005

Here's my question, should I try replacing the heat sink and see if that fixes it, or should I just ebay it and cut my losses.

Thanks,

Andrew

For future reference, NEVER try to turn on ANY electrical device that's had liquid spilt on it. It's not necessarily the liquid that does the damage, it's the circuits inside being shorted by said liquid. If there's no electrical flow, the chances of damage are significantly less. If your computer gets wet, turn it off and remove the battery immediately, then get it checked out by a pro.

I can tell you right now that replacing the heat sink will not fix your problem. Chances are, the logic board is fried.

I agree with the above posts, try for insurance.

Liquid Damaged Macbook

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