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abbaZaba · Mar 19, 2007, 11:09 PM

I spilled water on the upper right part of the macbook's keyboard

I immediately lifted and flipped it over, disconnected the power, mouse, and external drive

I then brought it over to my bad and laid it upside so the keyboard was flat and let it sit for about a minute

Then I realized I should have turned it off and I held the power button down until it shut off.

I waited about an hour and then turned it back on.

It came on and booted up and I was on Adium when the keyboard started to stop responding.

I then turned it off and let it sit for 3.5 hours.

I just got back to my room and the macbook will not turn on at all now.

what are my options? I bought the macbook in August 2006 and I bought an Applecare plan.
will applecare cover this?
homeowner's insurance?
how much'll this cost if it's not covered under the applecare or insurance?

Mac Write · Mar 20, 2007, 02:52 AM

AppleCare is only for manufactures defects not accidental/indentional damage.. I would let it fully dry out which means a bare bare min of 5+ days/week+ to let it fully dry out, else turning it on before it is fully dried out, will most likely short the Circuits.

theokandroid · Mar 20, 2007, 03:20 AM

Yeah Id wait a little bit before fully freaking out. Unfortunately Applecare will not cover this, but if you let it dry out there's a good chance it'll be fine.

abbaZaba · Mar 20, 2007, 02:09 PM

if it won't turn on now doesn't that mean it's never going to turn on even if it dries out?

how much would it cost to repair, say, if the logicboard is shot?

Mac Write · Mar 20, 2007, 03:10 PM

$500+ if your lucky. Just don't turn it on and see what happens in a week when it's dried out, if you've used it while wet the damage is most likely done and it's going to be $$$$ for the repair.

quiklee · Mar 20, 2007, 03:18 PM

Trust me . . . the apple technicians know exactly when you spill liquids because of the type of damage that happens. I don't know if there's anything you can if it's not working properly anymore. Just backup your data if you can right now.

SLiMeX · Mar 20, 2007, 03:27 PM

At least the internal hard drive is easily removable... then you could buy an external case and get all your data back? I'd be confident that you probably short-circuted the logicboard.

Drinks are never near my Macbook, I always have an arms length away.

Also: can I have your RAM?

abbaZaba · Apr 17, 2007, 11:30 PM

I took the macbook into the apple store but I didn't tell them I spilled water on it. they sent it out to see what was wrong with it and for some reason, they didn't notice water was the culprit. apparently just the on/off switch got busted.

they fixed it free of charge! I'm so lucky they didn't see any water damage. I get it back tomorrow.

SLiMeX · Apr 18, 2007, 12:10 AM

....

SVass · Apr 18, 2007, 03:39 PM

Next time REMOVE the battery as well as the power cord! Leave it off overnight. sam

ixus_123 · Apr 18, 2007, 05:36 PM

the ibook in my sig has survived a pint of water & 2 cups of tea in it's lifetime although it does have a tea stain that is around the hard drive showing through the translucent shell.

As said above, remove teh hard drive & leave it in a warm place to dry out for about 3 days. It can take a while for all the moisture to escape.

Near a radiator (on a shelf) is good but you want it to be warm NOT hot - too much heat might damage the screen

trippinvicious · Apr 19, 2007, 12:24 AM

This is precisely the reason that I got a special protection plan. I got my macbook just about a week ago from www.macmall.com, and they offered a special protection plan that matches the applecare plan plus adds on spillage and accidental droppage protection. Glad to know I got that protection plan for a good reason.

abbaZaba · Apr 19, 2007, 12:29 AM

I am very lucky that they didn't charge and there wasn't more damage.

after a month of using the computer lab dual G5's, this macbook is downright snappy. very glad to have it back.

turntabletux · May 18, 2007, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by abbaZaba

I spilled water on the upper right part of the macbook's keyboard

I immediately lifted and flipped it over, disconnected the power, mouse, and external drive

I then brought it over to my bad and laid it upside so the keyboard was flat and let it sit for about a minute

Then I realized I should have turned it off and I held the power button down until it shut off.

I waited about an hour and then turned it back on.

It came on and booted up and I was on Adium when the keyboard started to stop responding.

I then turned it off and let it sit for 3.5 hours.

I just got back to my room and the macbook will not turn on at all now.

what are my options? I bought the macbook in August 2006 and I bought an Applecare plan.
will applecare cover this?
homeowner's insurance?
how much'll this cost if it's not covered under the applecare or insurance?

I just had this happen with my last Dell notebook. It worked fine up until about a month ago. It won't recognize any cd I put it, the screen got messed up, the keys started to fall off. The thing is, I rarely keep liquid near my computer. Oh well, I was destined to get my macbook

Faceplant · May 19, 2007, 05:17 PM

It is a bit scary when you spill stuff on the 'puter. I use one of those rubber keyboard covers, and though typing is a bit harder, if I spill, the thinking is that I might have a few extra seconds before the damage is done. I have taken mine, cut it to a perfect size and glued around the edge of the keyboard. Not perfect, but in a spill, it will help.

kikkoman · May 20, 2007, 05:33 AM

I spilled water on my keyboard last weekend. I turned it off immediately. Do not move the computer! Liquids are going to move around if you don't keep it level. I left it on the table and used a heavy duty wet vac to suck out most of the water. Then let it sit and dry out. Fortunately no damage occured and my MacBook survived.

Sherman Homan · May 20, 2007, 08:12 AM

At your local hard ware store, craft store or gun store is silica gel desiccant. It is sold under dozens of brand names, DampX, Pentax, Peli and if you box your 'Book with a package of silica it does a great job of absorbing moisture.

maybesew · May 20, 2007, 09:09 AM

You are indeed lucky that they didn't notice the liquid damage. However, in your case, if the computer was working outside of the keyboard, you would most likely only need the top case replaced. Even with labor that's no more than $300.

If you spilled the water in the top right hand corner, the logic board is nowhere near that, because the super/combo drive is there.

Either way you lucked out and be careful with those liquids!

ShawnDC · May 21, 2007, 01:54 PM

I spilled a whole bottle of beer all over my iBook while it was on about 6 months ago. Then I dropped it!

After taking it apart and letting it air dry for about 4 days, I reassembled it and it started right up and has been working fine ever since (although a couple of the keys stick).

All things considered, they are pretty resilient machines.

FrankLloydMike · Mar 27, 2008, 01:29 PM

I just spilled a little bit of tea--with no sugar added--on the top right corner of my Macbook. I had never looked up what to do, so I tilted it to get the water out and then tried to dab up everything I could, which seemed to work. I started looking up what to do when I got a grey screen telling me to re-start (which I had previously had happen while I was abroad a semester ago, I think it's a kernel error), so I knew something was not good. I then let it sit, with the battery out for awhile, and turned it back on only to have the screen show up before it even started. I'm in school and it's a school-issued laptop, so I brought it to the IT department and just told them about the grey screen. They tried it and it wouldn't turn on, so they suspected something with the RAM I guess. While they were trying to verify its ID number to have it sent out to be looked it, it started working just fine again. Everything seems to be working fine, except maybe a little slow (I could also just be paranoid), but everything is backed up. Am I in the clear or what should I do now?

imitchellg5 · Mar 27, 2008, 02:42 PM

Cold Warrior · Mar 27, 2008, 04:22 PM

It's ok. I don't mind niche zombie threads. It's better than 20 threads over a couple years.

jcwsdp · May 31, 2008, 04:27 AM

I just spilled water on my 2 weeks old black mac book, it was unplugged and running low on battery at the moment. I thought not a lot of water got on it and that it had died because of the low battery when it immediately turned itself off after the spilled... so for some reason, that I don't know, i plugged it in!

Then the scream started to go all crazy and it made a lot of weird noises i unplugged and turned off. Then i read on the manual to also take the battery off.
Now, after I read this I left it off to dry off...

Do you guys think there was a short cut?!

!!!
Ay!

Cold Warrior · 03:13 PM

Please see our sticky on the topic. I've copied your post there as well.

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-noteb...r-beer-liquid/