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Queen6

macrumors G4
I see a lot of people here who have offered lots of different and potentially very helpful ideas, and yet I still see you whining and complaining the same as you were when you first started this thread. Your options are as follows: 1. Contact a certified Apple repair technician in your area, 2. Use ifixit.com (great website by the way) to tear it down yourself, and clean w/ cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol. 3. Sell it on eBay and let someone else do the repair work and make a dollar for their hard labor. or 4. Continue whining about how you messed up, and everyone wont help you and how your life just completely and totally sucks because you might have to switch back to PC. First world problems friend. Suck it up buttercup and pick one of those 4.

Rough, really rough, equally the man does have a valid point. If you don't have the skill`s to fix/clean the computer yourself, then you must source someone who can, pay Apple, or write off the the loss, these are the options and sadly they are very limited.

I use Rain Designs Mstands for all my Mac`s, with Apple`s Bluetooth keyboard and track pad, if something is spilled, or one of my little one`s has an accident it`s an inconvenience not a drama. Yes it`s an additional cost, yet compared to the price of the Retina, the software and most importantly the data, it`s insignificant. When I use one as a portable i am very conscious of where i place it, sorry the breakfast table would not be first on the list.
 

Philscbx

macrumors regular
Jan 4, 2007
174
0
Mpls Mn
Fact is, no apple store wants to do anything to help.

So, I'm using it for now, seeing what happens.
RULE number 1 -
No liquids at the same plane as electronics.
Get a riser device to keep it above the surface.

1) should have never been fired up still covered/filled with juice -
not having time to do it right - is costly.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16643480/
That post is your only choice -

- battery removed -
Inspect this zone as well - flood scrub it clean.

Get out the paint brushes -
trim them with scissors to make them stiffer per choice to
get soapy warm water scrubbed around keys.

Flood with water with unit on its edge.

Everyone knows - water with a drop of soap -
makes water wetter - try washing your hands w/o it.

Keep applying - till key actions feels normal.
Do Not lay it flat. Leaning 45 - maybe.

Place thick towels under it's edge too keep water in check.
What ever edge has the best draining option to vent out.


Force dry - baked as described in post - making a small baking zone with heater - not the hairdryer.
Use taken apart box to contain/ corral / bathe it all in heat.

Electronics are mfg by baking - not in some wet grow pot.
Common sense in this area is totally out of whack.

There are thousands of connections on circuit boards - covered with modules.
It needs to be baked dry as quick as possible.
It's not a wet tennis shoe - in the sun.

Blanket the heat zone evenly so it flows around entire laptop -
keep the hinge point raised about an inch for even flow -
This is with screen open 90 degrees to keys.

Use hand near laptop to judge temp aimed at it.
It should not burn the hand to keep it there. That's about 160 - 180F air temp.

Let device come to room temperature on it's own after a few hours of baking -
4hrs minimum - it should be good to go.
Never dry flat - Never.


Spill on electronics -
and not make any attempt to remove that substance by flooding with water is simply insane -
It's already wet.

Letting substance coat any of it and the inside - then let it rot -
Electronics staying wet for hours / days -
vs minutes - sealed up wet corrodes everything.
I repeat - Whacked - by some magic going to be Ok = Not.


Might as well take a bunch of screws - some AA's -
put in a plastic bag - not sealed at zip - spill anything in it -
and wait a few days in the Sun to see the new experiment come to life.
Good luck with that nonsense.


Quote:
I would NOT use a heater or a blow dryer to try force the water out quicker.
You will end up evaporating the water into steam which I believe would cause more corrosion.


Wrong - moderate heat (150F-200) bakes it bone dry - within less than a couple hours.
The source of water is no longer there.

It's surface water - not 8" of bath water in bath room.
The fact the mirror is fogged - it's colder than the air.
Heated mirror - it would be clear.


Adding Iso-Alcohol to water is not a bad idea.
Flooding out the zone is critical. Then quickly baked dry.
Never dry flat - Never.


Keep animals off the electronics -
No reason for hair wound up around keys as if a warming bed for them. It's not a cute cat toy.
It's simply disgusting working on them.

I'd charge 200 extra if full of hair.

Should be good as New.
 

Acorn

macrumors 68030
Jan 2, 2009
2,642
349
macrumors
hmm alot of the apple store employees that I have seen have been pretty cool. not snobs at all or even preppy for that matter. some have some really sweet tattoos. I have not seen any discrimination to their employees or their customers near me.

I just went through my own spill incident not to long ago. My laptop was on the bed and the desk was next to the bed. still not 100% sure what happened but a glass of fruit punch on the desk fell over sideways and dumped on my bed and laptop. however i got lucky and the laptop was closed so it just got on the lid not inside.

The best way to clean would be to remove the top case. this isnt easy. once everything is ok again i would get one of those rubber keyboard covers to prevent it from happening again.
 

Philscbx

macrumors regular
Jan 4, 2007
174
0
Mpls Mn
i would get one of those rubber keyboard covers to prevent it from happening again.
They are Ok with Screen Open - but Apple will confirm the same as I did -
The rubber impressions will mark the screen if it's the non glare type when closed.

The gap is too tight.
 

Systra72

macrumors member
May 26, 2011
32
14
Once I found an apple keyboard which was dirty and had cola on it with sticky keys. I managed to clean it by remove the keys and use tops and soap. If it is the same type of keys on the macbook then it is an easy job to clean it.
 

TonyHoyle

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2007
999
0
Manchester, UK
My one attempt to clean a macbook keyboard by removing the keytops resulted in it being an ex-keyboard, so I'd not call it 'easy' - they tend to come off but never go back on again.

IIRC you can get entire replacement keyboard for not too much if you want to repair - I gave up and relegated said macbook to be a server, which it's still doing to this day.
 

TresMusical1020

macrumors newbie
Apr 7, 2013
20
0
Take it to Apple

If I were you, I would take it to Apple to get it examined and have them make sure nothing is going to happen with it that could be harmful. :apple:
 

richorlin

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2007
103
1
I'd like to know how he got hair UNDER the keys. That would be close to impossible. Eyew!!! Gross!!!
 

kylayaremchuk

macrumors newbie
May 3, 2015
1
0
Curious...why do so many people come here saying they spilled something on their macbook? Like an astounding amount of people. Is it that hard to take care of a (for me $3800) product?

Kind of a rude comment to make. Everyone is here for answers. My sister spilled something on my keyboard but that doesn't really bring up as much info..... Hense the I... Regardless if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.
 

Phyco126

macrumors member
Oct 9, 2013
32
0
Kind of a rude comment to make. Everyone is here for answers. My sister spilled something on my keyboard but that doesn't really bring up as much info..... Hense the I... Regardless if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.

Very true, but I doubt it will do any good since the comment was posted over two years ago. Might want to just let it go man.
 

kwokaaron

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2013
574
257
London, UK
There's been way too many "I've spilled [insert liquid here] on my MacBook" threads here. On another note, one of my friend spilt orange juice on his MacBook Pro. The keyboard makes a sticky noise ever since #
 

moderngamenewb

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2011
441
63
I had liquid damage on mine once as well and totally freaked out. About 5 years ago an energy drink was knocked over on my computer (my leg accidentally hit a table that was really wiggly at school) and mine died instantly. Luckily I took it to geek squad and they were able to recover the data from my hard drive which was good because I had a book report I was almost finished with due the next day and not backed up. The computer itself was dead, but the hard drive itself was functional.
On the bright side, I got to upgrade from a basic MacBook to the MacBook Pro
 

Ian.C

macrumors regular
Mar 6, 2008
136
14
Lancashire, UK
Hi

To answer your question it all depend on where the liquid enters the machine and the type of liquid in my experience.

If it enters through the trackpad and keyboard you have a chance, as to a percentage if its water then I would still say its probably around 60-70% of recovery.

Like I say its really difficult to say to be completely honest with you, another factor is how long has it been standing there before its stripped down and cleaned, that's also a factor in success. and the final point is the type of liquid that is split has the biggest factor in all of this. Liquids with alot of sugar are basically killers for anything electronic.

This is what i tell everybody that ask and this is what i would advise to follow in the case of a liquid spill for any macbook

1 when you purchase a macbook / iphone buy a pentilope screwdriver at the same time, it could become a life saver further down the road
2 kill the power immediately
3 turnover the mackbook and put the keyboard face down so the liquid will hopefully not travel any further into the macbook.
4 remove or disconnect the battery immediately
5 strip the machine completely
6 thoroughly clean where there is any signs of liquid with isopropyl alcohol using a soft brush.
7 check all internal connectors and cables for liquid and clean
8 leave to dry for a couple of hours
9 reassemble and power on, fingers crossed its ok...

If caught quickly enough and power is on at the time of the spill then most likely the keyboard or trackpad will go first, so be prepared to at least replace them. The main part is obviously the logic board and fast reactions could save you over £400...

Hope this helps

Thanks

Ian
 

dendkmac

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2009
68
6
Generally speaking if the liquid spill was over the keyboard area all you should suffer from is sticky keys, the keyboard/backlight protects most of the electronics from moisture penetration unless you really spill a lot of liquid. I just got done replaceing the keyboard and it gives you a good look on how apple builds the unibody chassis, it is not a simple job but it is doable with enough patience.
 

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2010
2,626
313
Brasil
Generally speaking if the liquid spill was over the keyboard area all you should suffer from is sticky keys, the keyboard/backlight protects most of the electronics from moisture penetration unless you really spill a lot of liquid. I just got done replaceing the keyboard and it gives you a good look on how apple builds the unibody chassis, it is not a simple job but it is doable with enough patience.

This is something I envy from Lenovo Thinkpads. They really like drinking coffee, no need to worry when liquids are spilled on the keyboard.
 

aeneasvb

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2016
34
14
So, I'm using it for now, seeing what happens. Little else to do. Managed to get the worse of the stickyness off the Enter-key, but it still clicks unusually. I can see yellow stains under the plastic, where I cant reach. Surely it will rust. It's been a month now, maybe I have a few weeks left on it.

Had the same problem. The apple store offered to change my top case but it's pricey and he said it was not necessary. Of course, couple of people on here disagree and think that OJ could cause future worse problems but wondering how your mac is doing? Did you have any further issues or did you end up by replacing the keyboard?

Thanks.
 

MrAverigeUser

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2015
874
386
europe
Ok, I'll start again.
I went to the apple store and they told me there was little they could do. What they COULD do was do a damage report, which I would pay for, which I could use for my insurance to get a new. I'm a student, I don't have any insurance.
They said they "could clean it" but she said it like it was physically painful to utter and it wouldn't make any difference… (…)

One of our MBPs 2011 15" had exchange of the spontaneously (NOT because any liquid or so) failing keyboard.
The Q-O line of the keyboard failed in 2013 already 2 years and 3 days after purchasing it. apple refused to do any warranty or so. I bit the bullit and payed 450 EUR for that s*** of keyboard.

BUT as it failed again I went to one of the many professionals who do everyday repair of the nowadays non-reliable Mac Products. He was so kind and did immediately the repair just in front of me on the desk. Very interesting for me to regard how a PRO does this.

If (as every time) you know what to do, out is not that difficult. It took less than 1 hour for him. It is more about patience: The keyboard itself is fixed with about 60-80 screws! (NOT kidding!). And the bottom part of the MBP has not 4 screws as you say, it has 10….- 3 long and 7 short ones ;)
BUT: apple uses crappy cables inside. Easy to add some damage if you are not familiar in doing it because you are forced to dissemble nearly everything to get to the keyboard.

My advice: Go to someone OUTSIDE the apple-temples like this guy who helped me. Including a brand-new keyboard its did not even cost 200 EUR altogether incl. taxes. You can purchase Keyboards for replacement everywhere, but there are well-produced ones and crap. PROs know which to use for replacement. The illumination of the keyboard can easily be separated (if you know how to do it) and easily be cleaned. No exchange necessary (would cost more).

At the same time the person will clean up PROFESSIONALLY everything, not just the orange disaster but also fan area and others (if he is gentle) because he has at the same time access to everything, including upper side of main board etc. This is the MOST CHEAP and at same time MOST SECURE way to get away from further damage or a total loss.

the 2011/12 MBP 15" is a nice machine. Stay with it and invest the money. It´s worth it.

Take the price to pay as a ticket for one more lection in "getting more life experience"… ;)
We ALL do that more or less in our life…

keyboards of MBP fail sometimes - so for the additional 200 USD you get a brand-new keyboard which will be a pleasure to work with!

AFTER exchanging and cleaning the MBP go to another apple-store (I hope they did NOT do yet a report) of official repair enterprise and let them do the Test for the GPU (It´s free of charge) - because the "extended warranty" for "Radeongate" will expire in february!
If the test is ok: Be happy. If not: They will exchange your main board without charge!

Note:
1) EVER shut down immediately your notebook if spoiled and turn it instantly upside-down. And let it in that position until drying out
2) NEVER EVER start it again before problem solved. To go on with work just get out your HDD/SSD and use it elsewhere.
3) Sometimes help of a little, but competent enterprise doing all days repair for apple products is REALLY worth the price if you are not shire to be capable yourself.
 
Last edited:

Atreyu25

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2005
288
162
Happened with me and a 2012 rMBP. Nearly a glass of water spilled on it. Called Apple, had it brought in and none of the water sensors were tripped (miraculously!) so they didn't mark it as water damaged.
 
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