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2yr old poured juice on PowerBook!!!

F

Felix_the_Mac

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 18, 2003
92
0
UK
My 2 year old daughter poured her juice on my 15" AL Book.
Bless her little cotton socks! :)

Luckily the juice was mainly on the wrist rest area. So I swore, shouted and held the machine upside down.

At first only the left Apple key seemed to have been affected.
Then the left option and control keys also began to be very sticky.
Then ... the trackpad button became sticky.
And finally, the latch button ... you guessed it ... became sticky!

(When I say sticky I mean that once you have pressed a key it it takes about 1 second to pop back up again. Or, in the case of the latch, at first you cannot depress it at all then the 'seal' breaks and it pops open.)

I hope and believe that this will be covered by my house insurance.

So my question is what should I do assuming
a) any repairs ARE covered by insurance?
b) I have to pay for it myself?

Thanks!
 
Its for situations like this that I invested in a seperate computer insurance policy for myself. I don't have a 2 year old daughter, but I'm a huge clutz, so for $64 I got $2000 of coverage here in NY. The rates vary by state, it seems most are twice that of NY. Still worth it in my opinion.

Sorry, I can't offer any insight into homeowners insurance covering it, since I'm a college student I don't yet have a home requiring insurance :)
 
$64 , that's what I call a good deal!
I haven't got around to arranging special computer cover yet.

To anybody else who reads this ... please don't think this is a supposed to be a long and informative chat about insurance!!

I really would like technical suggestions about how to fix my Powerbook if either cost is irrelevant or it ain't!
 
I don't want to sound like an ass, but if there's insurance that will cover this I hope I'm not using that company. I'd hate to see my rates increase because they paid a claim like this. If your computer floated away in a flood, got hit by lightning, or got stolen then I think it's a valid claim. But spillage is avoidable--hardly an "act of god." But to be sure, call your insurance company and ask them or read your policy.

If the computer doesn't do anything wacky like crash, smoke, or fail to turn on then the juice didn't do anything too serious. Wipe up what you can see and don't turn the computer on for a while (>24hours) so that it can dry up. If you get sticky keys you can pop them off and clean them. Qtips, alcohol, compressed air, and patience should get you through this.
 
Horrortaxi said:
I don't want to sound like an ass, but if there's insurance that will cover this I hope I'm not using that company. I'd hate to see my rates increase because they paid a claim like this. If your computer floated away in a flood, got hit by lightning, or got stolen then I think it's a valid claim. But spillage is avoidable--hardly an "act of god." But to be sure, call your insurance company and ask them or read your policy.
Click to expand...

Yup, this is sorta what insurance is for. I bet they'll fill the claim. Remember, there's a 500 deductible usually to make most people not want to take up the frivolous claims.

BEN
 
turn the computer off. take off the keys, wipe clean. i'd also take the whole computer apart and clean with a damp towel and compressed air, no need to file an insurance claim if everything works fine. sticky keys are easily fixed, trust me, all my keyboards have taken lots of abuse.
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
turn the computer off. take off the keys, wipe clean. i'd also take the whole computer apart and clean with a damp towel and compressed air, no need to file an insurance claim if everything works fine. sticky keys are easily fixed, trust me, all my keyboards have taken lots of abuse.
Click to expand...

i wish my keyboards bounced back....too many post-rugby game parties did in 4 keyboards during my junior year of college...good ole' guiness.


anyhow, hope you're able to fix your laptop dude.
 
Felix, I feel your pain. My 3 yr-old took a pair scissors this past Friday and cut the cord in three pieces that was hooked up to my iBook. I'm suprised he wasn't electricuted or something.
 
saabmp3 said:
Yup, this is sorta what insurance is for.
Click to expand...
I'm curious to see if they'll accept his claim (though I'm still not sure what his actual damage is) but this isn't what I think of when I think of insurance. Insurance doesn't generally cover your own neglegence. If you spill acid on your car, your insurance is not going to pay for a new paint job.
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
turn the computer off.
Click to expand...
Just thought I'd chime in here about what a good idea it is to turn the computer off in case of liquid getting into the works. I knocked over my water bottle a while ago right onto my tibook, spilling a lot, and the first thing i did was yank the power cable and the battery right out. It doesn't take water long to drain down throught the keyboard and into the components. I started to see a few lines of static on my screen before I was able to yank the battery - but after I got it out, I just declared an end to work that evening, flipped up the keyboard, and propped the PB up in front of a fan. By morning it was all dry and good to go.

So yeah.. don't try to dry it out yourself while it's still running and the battery is connected and voltage is everywhere. Just yank the power and let airflow do its work.

Heck, when I used to be a service technician, we would sometimes clean out keyboards by taking them out back and hosing them down - then letting them dry for a week. No quicker way to get out pounds upon pounds of gunk.
 
peteMG said:
Heck, when I used to be a service technician, we would sometimes clean out keyboards by taking them out back and hosing them down - then letting them dry for a week. No quicker way to get out pounds upon pounds of gunk.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Your solution is actually to pour MORE liquid into the machine. Mind you, this liquid will not leave behind sugars or other sticky residues when it dries because the liquid you will be pouring into your PowerBook will be WATER.

First, unplug your PowerBook and remove the battery.

Second, if your PowerBook has a customer removable keyboard, remove it. You can wash it separately.

Third (and this one's really gonna be tough to do), pour 2 or 3 big glasses of water directly into your computer. Usually the keyboard is the best place to do this.

Then let it sit for a little while before turning it upside down so that it may drain through the keys. Repeat the process if necessary.

Once you have sufficiently rinsed your computer, you can then leave it turned upside down on a towel and leave it for no less than 72 hours. You might even want to get a fan out an have it pointed at the computer to aid the drying process.

Water will not hurt your computer as long as it completely dries before you turn it back on. Sugars, however, will cause permanent damage to components over the long term (even if your PowerBook appears to run just fine now).

This works. Trust me, I've been there. I poured a ton of water into my Toshiba laptop in 1999 and it still works to this day (though I wouldn't know it because all I use is my 17" PowerBook).
 
If you are going to do the above and flush your PowerBook with water, remember that tap water is not pure and has metals and things that can do undesirable things like stay behind and conduct electricity. Distilled water would be the way to go, but the whole idea sounds a little sketchy to me.
 
tfaz1 said:
Third (and this one's really gonna be tough to do), pour 2 or 3 big glasses of water directly into your computer. Usually the keyboard is the best place to do this.
Click to expand...
Just thinking more about this .. powerbooks have backup batteries to keep the clock going - is that voltage something to worry about? Never had to worry about that when putting keyboards in the dishwasher :p
 
Horrortaxi said:
I'm curious to see if they'll accept his claim (though I'm still not sure what his actual damage is) but this isn't what I think of when I think of insurance. Insurance doesn't generally cover your own neglegence. If you spill acid on your car, your insurance is not going to pay for a new paint job.
Click to expand...

Actually, the SafeWare insurance DOES cover this sort of thing. It falls under the category of "accidental damage." For $64 a year for $2000 coverage with no deductable, I can't think of a better deal :)
 
rastafari said:
they should call it stupidity insurance ;)
Click to expand...
I didn't want to put it like that, but yeah. The idea of insurance, from the insurance company's point of view, is to sell a policy that they have a low chance of paying a claim on--so that they can make money. It doesn't seem too likely you'd make any money selling stupidity insurance because you'd pay a claim on every policy.

Celeron, do you have a link for that insurance company? Do you own a policy? Have you made a claim? I'm curious about the specifics.
 
Horrortaxi said:
Celeron, do you have a link for that insurance company? Do you own a policy? Have you made a claim? I'm curious about the specifics.
Click to expand...

Sure do, www.safeware.com . Yah I have my own policy, I got it a couple months ago, $2000 coverage cost me $64 here in NY. The rates vary depending on the state you are in and what type of user you are. For example, high school students pay more than college students.

I haven't made a claim, and I hope I don't ever have to, but if I do, I know I'm covered.
 
What a spill!

Felix_the_Mac said:
My 2 year old daughter poured her juice on my 15" AL Book.
Bless her little cotton socks! :)

Luckily the juice was mainly on the wrist rest area. So I swore, shouted and held the machine upside down.

At first only the left Apple key seemed to have been affected.
Then the left option and control keys also began to be very sticky.
Then ... the trackpad button became sticky.
And finally, the latch button ... you guessed it ... became sticky!

(When I say sticky I mean that once you have pressed a key it it takes about 1 second to pop back up again. Or, in the case of the latch, at first you cannot depress it at all then the 'seal' breaks and it pops open.)

I hope and believe that this will be covered by my house insurance.

So my question is what should I do assuming
a) any repairs ARE covered by insurance?
b) I have to pay for it myself?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I feel your pain! I bought my wife a 14'' G4 iBook last November, and our now three-year-old spilled a nice-sized tumbler of OJ on it. And in my wife's case, it was a few minutes before she noticed the spill, but the computer was still on. It was when she turned it off, that it hasn't been able to turn on since.
So we took it to SpringBoard Media here in Philly, and they said the juice really did a number on the RAM sink, the processor and the keyboard.
Now, there is a place that replaces the Motherboard on iBooks, and here's the site:
http://www.dttservice.com/ibook/ibookg4.html
Keep in mind though that the cost of the repair you may need may wind up costing about half that of a new laptop, and as the SB rep told me, with spills, their could be a number of things wrong, but the motherboard replacement should fix the damage done by the spill.
In our case though, we're just gonna take out the HD and the CD drive and encase them in external firewire drives; I guess we're going to get her a new one soon though.
Good luck!
-damon
 
Celeron said:
Sure do, www.safeware.com . Yah I have my own policy, I got it a couple months ago, $2000 coverage cost me $64 here in NY. The rates vary depending on the state you are in and what type of user you are. For example, high school students pay more than college students.

I haven't made a claim, and I hope I don't ever have to, but if I do, I know I'm covered.
Click to expand...

Wow I can get insured by them for $69 per year for up to $2000 here in Ontario. I guess the amounts are in USD though. Still good.
 
Celeron said:
Actually, the SafeWare insurance DOES cover this sort of thing. It falls under the category of "accidental damage." For $64 a year for $2000 coverage with no deductable, I can't think of a better deal :)
Click to expand...

Too bad it costs almost twice as much in Illinois ($120)
 
Celeron said:
Actually, the SafeWare insurance DOES cover this sort of thing. It falls under the category of "accidental damage." For $64 a year for $2000 coverage with no deductable, I can't think of a better deal :)
Click to expand...
Does the "Accidental Damage" also include drops? because if that's the case, it looks (LOOKS!) as though this type of insurance trumps AppleCare, at least on the hardware side of things!
-d.
 
Felix_the_Mac said:
My 2 year old daughter poured her juice on my 15" AL Book.
Bless her little cotton socks! :)
Click to expand...

SWEET ;)

I had a son/daughter/kids friend pour a can of coke on my brand new G5 & 20" cinema display! :eek:
Nobody has fessed up yet.
I had the sticky keys , sticky screen ...
The screen cleaned up fine. I had to take the keyboard completely apart & put it thru the dishwasher.
Everything works fine now.
 
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