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Spilled sprite on my MacBook Pro Unibody 13 :((((

S

sodaspiller

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 23, 2013
2
0
About three hours ago, my 7-month-old MacBook Pro took a sip of Sprite. Not too much though...I hope. I was moving my cup AWAY from the laptop when...well, it fell, the klutz that I am. About half the glass fell on the keyboard. Luckily, I had a cover on it. I hurriedly wiped most of the liquid off, but then some panicked part of my mind told me to take the cover off. In the process, I clearly saw some soda go in around the spacebar area and the upper area of the trackpad. It was quite a insignificant amount...a tenth of a normal paper cup, max...but an amount nonetheless.

I did not immediately turn off the laptop; I did about five minutes later, when I read another post on page like this (for another laptop). I unplugged the charger as well (it was plugged in and had 100% charge). I turned it over, but no liquid came out. I remembered I had an important file open which I hadn't saved (the genius that I am -.-), so I TURNED ON MY LAPTOP AGAIN (again....just...unbelievably stupid), saved it onto a USB, and turned it off again. I can say that while I did so, I faced no problems with hardware or software. Spacebar or trackpard weren't sticky or very troublesome either.

All this happened about three hours ago. Currently my Macbook is upside down, with paper towels placed inside (don't know how that came to my mind). I am at a loss for what to do.

I have the 2011 Unibody 13-Inch version, running Lion. Do I have to take my battery out? What parts of the hardware would be damaged if it took a not-too-great amount of sprite around the spacebar and upper trackpad area? Do I have to have it repaired? Anything I can do on my own? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I'm new with macs, and I'm only 15, with all my schoolwork in my laptop, and I am really freaking out. I know it's all my fault for being so careless, I am not bringing soda within hundred meters of my laptop ever again! But this laptop wasn't cheap, and I don't want to have to pay for another one because of the ruined warranty and whatnot (in my school, it's mandatory I pay for another macbook once one is ruined). HELP, PLEASE!!!
 
Sean76

Sean76

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2013
665
406
NYC
I'm no pro at this...

But I would just wipe it down the best you could..which you did. And maybe try a blowdryer from about 6 inches away on cool/low heat on the area that you got the liquid on.

If it was as small an amount as you've stated, you shouldn't really have any issues.
 
S

sodaspiller

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 23, 2013
2
0
It wasn't a spectacular amount that's for sure. But it wasn't exactly a few drops either. That's why I'm not too sure of the damage it has done or could do. I really hope it's no big problem, and my panic is for nothing.

I will try the blowdrying method you've advised. Thank you :)
 
Mavrack

Mavrack

macrumors member
Jun 2, 2011
96
19
Like others have said putting it in a box full of rice is really the best thing to do and hope it didn't damage anything. I think you learned your lesson about having soft drinks near your computer lol. Also a good way to avoid stuff like this is to have your MBP on something like a rain design mstand. Hope everything is ok!
 
V

VanTastic

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2013
14
0
France
"Funnily" enough I happened to spill the equivalent of about a quarter of a can of coke on the same MBP model as yours about a year ago. At first everything worked fine but as the macbook heated up the keys started to feel sticky at the point where if I press a key it'll get stuck until I pull it. So I had to take it to the Apple store and they replaced my topcase and my MBP has been working fine ever since. Keep in mind that in was a quarter of a can so in your case it should be fine given the insignificant amount of liquid that you spilled.
 
P

PinoyAko

macrumors 6502
Nov 25, 2012
272
1
Do not turn on your laptop for 2-3 days and try to blow dry it as much as you can. Good luck
 
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
I would disconnect the battery.
You cant pull it out on Unibody MBPs but you can still disconnect them.
Stick it in a bag of rice for at least a week and dont turn it on.

Worst case is dead logic board which will ask for whole logic replacement (900USD+).
It probably did trigger your LSI or Liquid Submersion Indicator which does void your warranty.
If it poured on the right side you would of been lucky but if it went on to the middle/spacebar area, it probably triggered LSI.

Damage can come any day.
My old Mac didnt show any effects still 3 weeks.
One day it just started not to respond to any keys or trackpad.
There it was completely dead and Apple told me it was around 600USD to fix (at that time).

Tbh as you said, it wasnt smart to turn the computer on again.
You should pull the HDD out instead of turning it back on and saving data.

And if this was a school computer, you might want to let them know or at least have Apple take a look.
Once LSI is triggered, the machine's warranty becomes void.
 
Last edited:
a-m-k

a-m-k

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2009
1,448
111
yusukeaoki said:
I would disconnect the battery.
You cant pull it out on Unibody MBPs but you can still disconnect them.
Stick it in a bag of rice for at least a week and dont turn it on.

Worst case is dead logic board which will ask for whole logic replacement (900USD+).
It probably did trigger your LSI or Liquid Submersion Indicator which does void your warranty.
If it poured on the right side you would of been lucky but if it went on to the middle/spacebar area, it probably triggered LSI.

Damage can come any day.
My old Mac didnt show any effects still 3 weeks.
One day it just started not to respond to any keys or trackpad.
There it was completely dead and Apple told me it was around 600USD to fix (at that time).

Tbh as you said, it wasnt smart to turn the computer on again.
You should pull the HDD out instead of turning it back on and saving data.

And if this was a school computer, you might want to let them know or at least have Apple take a look.
Once LSI is triggered, the machine's warranty becomes void.
Click to expand...

LSI=Liquid Sensor Indicator?
 
dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,131
4,110
5045 feet above sea level
wabbit42 said:
Seal it in a box of rice for 24 hours.
Click to expand...

Mavrack said:
Like others have said putting it in a box full of rice is really the best thing to do and hope it didn't damage anything. I think you learned your lesson about having soft drinks near your computer lol. Also a good way to avoid stuff like this is to have your MBP on something like a rain design mstand. Hope everything is ok!
Click to expand...

Rice works for water, not sugar laden sodas
 
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
a-m-k said:
I must have not seen it before. I may have blinked perhaps. Sorry, but thank you for telling me it again.
Click to expand...

yusukeaoki said:
I would disconnect the battery.
You cant pull it out on Unibody MBPs but you can still disconnect them.
Stick it in a bag of rice for at least a week and dont turn it on.

Worst case is dead logic board which will ask for whole logic replacement (900USD+).
It probably did trigger your LSI or Liquid Submersion Indicator which does void your warranty.
If it poured on the right side you would of been lucky but if it went on to the middle/spacebar area, it probably triggered LSI.

Damage can come any day.
My old Mac didnt show any effects still 3 weeks.
One day it just started not to respond to any keys or trackpad.
There it was completely dead and Apple told me it was around 600USD to fix (at that time).

Tbh as you said, it wasnt smart to turn the computer on again.
You should pull the HDD out instead of turning it back on and saving data.

And if this was a school computer, you might want to let them know or at least have Apple take a look.
Once LSI is triggered, the machine's warranty becomes void.
Click to expand...

No prob! :D
Just a little tip, there are more in the middle and left than the right.
 
iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
I had a similar incident with my MBP, except it was a full glass of coke instead... It's best to open it up, disconnect the battery and check if you can see any drops on the motherboard. Like someone else said, drying it up would work just fine with water, but with sodas, sugar residue will stick to places. What I did was spray a whole bunch of isopropyl alcohol on the affected areas (obviously with the battery unplugged) and then wait for it to evaporate (it usually takes less than 2 minutes, but I left it open all night). The next morning, it was working as if nothing happened.
 
T

TonyHoyle

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2007
999
0
Manchester, UK
Happened to a 2010 MBP I had - it was a small amount of coke.. a mouthful maybe. Even after drying several keys stuck down and some stopped working altogether. Trying to remove keys to fix it just made the problem worse, so it ended its life as a media server and is still keyboardless.

I'm *very* careful about drinks around laptops now.
 
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