[kilechki]

My 12" Powebook went through some sudden tropical storm this afternoon, only protected by a thin bag and a sleeve while I was riding a bike. After a few minutes, when I came home, the PB was not really wet, but undoubtly humid, especially around the screen (where the sleeve was wet).
I opened it out of sleep mode, and happily saw that it was working. After a fey minutes, though, the bottom of the screen began to flicker and some vertical lines appear. I then shut it down immediately, and used a hair dryer for a few minutes. I started the PB again, but this time, the screen flickered completely, became grey, white, eventually showing a very ghostly menubar on a see of blue, white and gray. I put it off once again.

I did a little searching and find out that I had to wait a few hours before trying again. But I still have some unanswered questions...
- does the behaviour of the screen mean that it is fried? Is there a chance that it will "heal" or is it physically impossible? Was it a bad idea to use a hair dryer? Or should I do it again?
- how long exactly should I wait before booting it up again? Would 12 hours be enough? or 24? Am I compromising anything by booting it before that?
- could the machine be fried with so few water? Is there a risk that the water could also grill the motherboard? The hard drive?
- which position would be recommended for drying?

I'm asking all this for I got the presentation of my thesis (due date : firday) on my drive, and I do not have a recent backup (more than a month). Why don't I? 'Cause my external hard drive fried 1 month ago after 1 year lifetime and I could not afford a new one, while I planned to do a DVD backup tomorrow...

So to anyone reading this : never delay a backup.
And do not trust weather prevision.

Tons of Thanks for your help!

[peeb]

OK, the good news is that you might be able to recover it. But stop trying to start it right now. Take out the battery, and put the computer in a warm, dry place, like in front of a forced air heater or under a hair drier (not too hot). You need to get all the moisture out. Any moisture can cause a short circuit. If the presentation date is Friday, you might be well served taking the drive out (which is most likely ok) and backing it up by putting it in an external enclosure. MacFixit has the instructions for disassembling the PB, it is not straightforward. Good luck!

[kilechki]

Thank you for your blitz anwer!

So I'll find a way to have it in a dry place. And I'll try again tomorrow evening.
But then one more thing... I have to take a plane tomorrow, with the Mac, for this presentation... It shouldn't be a problem to take in cabin, isn'it?

Thank you for the hope...

[peeb]

Having it in the cabin won't harm it. Wow, the presentation is tomorrow though, that's tough - got any friends to hand with Macs, or dealers, or Apple Stores nearby? I don't want to tell you this will definitely work - there is a chance you are screwed. You can likely get the data off the disc for your presentation if you can find another machine.

[OreoCookie]

The big, big mistake was to start the PowerBook while it was still wet. Big mistake. The thing you should have done and what you can still try now is the following: take out the battery and let it dry for two days, perhaps three. Don't be fooled if the outside is dry, the inside might still be damp.

If the PowerBook doesn't work then, it's probably gone.

Edit: A friend of mine almost killed his Pismo by spilling coke over the keyboard. He quickly ripped out the battery, yanked the power cord and let it dry for two days. It worked fine afterwards.

[peeb]

Like Oreo says. Even if the book is dead though, the drive may be salvageable.

[kilechki]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

The big, big mistake was to start the PowerBook while it was still wet. Big mistake..

That's what I realized afterwards. I've been fooled by the fact it went up from sleep without problem, and that it seemed dry. As far as I understand, the hinge seems to have suffered the most. I might have definitely short-circuited it by rebooting it. Those circuits are the most fragile...

Thank you once again for your help and advice... I would be tempted to leave the PB in a church for a few days - but there's to much moisture there

Now I just have to redo 3 months work in a day in some internet cafe.
I guess it could be worse.

[peeb]

Seriously, if it is three months work, take the drive out - I'm betting it is fine.

[OreoCookie]

I know it's a sort of stupid question, but don't you have a backup?
I'd also second the suggestion to take out the drive if the data is important to you.

[kilechki]

Technically, it's in 50 hours. In 23 hours, I'll plug it to an external display and boot it with the lid closed - as far as I know, this should prevent any hinge circuit from being used. From there, I'll see what I do. I still got hope to have it work just enough to get back the data...
Until then, I know I can be unlucky enough to just break the drive by trying to take it out....

Can a Mac boot in target mode with its video card fried? with its motherboard?
And, uh, Wasn't there some rumours of a macbook thin for wwdc?

[OreoCookie]

No, don't do that. The humidity can cause more short circuits on the motherboard causing further damage.

Keep the PowerBook in a dry, warm location for a few days. Don't use anything to `speed up' the process, no hairdryers, no nothing.

[kilechki]

You're killing me...

So basically, it's either taking the drive out, or waiting past friday?
Damned...

When I see the procedure here (MacBook-fr - AluBook 12" (G4), I can figure It'll take me more than a few minutes... And there's the risk to kill the motherboard, too.

Have to choose between plague and yellow fever....

Though I'm more than tempted to trust you and leave it powerless for a few days.

[OreoCookie]

Why me?
I mean it's up to you whether you take the risk of additional damage to your motherboard. I hate to sound like your mother, but if you had a recent backup … 

[kilechki]

To be true, I'll decide tomorrow. The guy in the "apple center" here told me earlier that 12 hours should be enough. But, well, the shop is a café with a guy sitting behind a desk and watching porn, only with an "apple center" sticker on the frontdoor. So your advice have some more credibility...

Regarding the backup, as stupid as it may sound, I had the DVD ready to be burned, I was planning to do it today... DVDs aren't exactly cheap, I have no more external hard drive, so I burn a DVD once a month, And I didn't have enough free space on my .mac account to save my data on it....

Actually my mother would not say anything about backup. She would think a second and say "whatever, I'm sure you'll do your presentation all right".
And of course, I would not know what to answer.

[OreoCookie]

Two days is actually playing it safe, but with these things, I'd rather be safe than sorry. But if you live in a humid environment, it takes more time to dry … 

In any case, I hope your machine is alright.

[romeosc]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Two days is actually playing it safe, but with these things, I'd rather be safe than sorry. But if you live in a humid environment, it takes more time to dry … 

In any case, I hope your machine is alright.

Take drive out and put in external case. Rent borrow or still a Mac for presentation using external drive. (You could go to a local Mac dealer and buy a Mac and return it the next day if you are on shady side!)

[peeb]

Yep. That's what you need to do.

[kilechki]

Sooo, the end of the story…

After 40 hours waiting, I booted it up, connected to an external screen. It went fine, no sparks, no smell, everything normal. I got my presentation back on an external hard drive, and tried the next step : booting without external screen.
And here comes the diagnostic : my PowerBook has become blind. The screen is more a Mondrian than a typical Mac desktop. There is quite a beautiful pattern on it, with thousands of vertical lines of all colors. A true cubist fireworks.

So the screen seems to be the only victim of the storm. This is nearly a happy end, since I got my data back a few hours before my presentation. And I found a cheap external screen.
I don't know how much I should pay to repair it, neither if it makes sense. Pay >500 euros to repair a 3 years old Powerbook does not sound like a bargain. We'll see.

Thanks again to all of you for your assistance!

[peeb]

Glad it made it for your presentation. My advice? You can use this as a desktop, but don't put more money into it. If you need a laptop, you can replace it with a better second hand machine for not much more than 500 euros.

[OreoCookie]

I second that suggestion. On the other hand, you could sell it on ebay and invest a few hundred Euros into a new MacBook/refurbished MacBook. However, I'm glad that the motherboard is still working.