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Accidentally got water in MacBook Pro...

S

StephenCampbell

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 21, 2009
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I have the June 2012 MacBook Pro 2.9Ghz i7, 13". The last one that has upgradeable internal components.

Anyways, it got a bit of water on/in it, but continued to work fine for a bit. Then the charger light on the magsafe connecter became a very dim green, and the computer wouldn't come on anymore. I took the bottom off and there was some water on the battery, which I dried off. I left it open overnight to dry out, but no luck this morning.

Is there any way to save it?
 
It didn't seem bad at all, nothing looks damaged. But the computer is completely dead. It makes no noises of any kind whether plugged in or not, and the light on the charger is either dim green or off.
 
MacInTO said:
This is the week for getting water on MacBooks.

I'm going to keep liquid at least and arms-length away from mine!
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Before I open / come within 10 feet of my Macbook I make sure to pass through a vacuum I keep handy, dry me right out. Ain't taking any risks when it comes to liquid damage. Gotta get this thing to last 10 years like that other thread is talking about.
 
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Agreed. All these threads are a good reminder! I've been vigilant because my baby is new, but I've got a work laptop too which I'm FAR less careful with and somehow I've yet to spill coffee all over that one either.

Just a bit of distance; seems pretty straight forwards.
 
The best thing you can do for it is not turn it on for a while. Let it dry for several days. You can also submerge it in rice to soak up any moisture.
 
Rice worked on a iphone 4s I had but I doubt it would work on the Macbook. Just too large of a device to be effective.
 
It's still not coming on.... any other ideas? I've been unable to remove the battery because the screws are shaped weird, like a wind turbine. I had it sitting in rice for a couple days, to no avail.
 
StephenCampbell said:
It's still not coming on.... any other ideas? I've been unable to remove the battery because the screws are shaped weird, like a wind turbine. I had it sitting in rice for a couple days, to no avail.
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It's dead, Jim. How dead (that is, what parts are dead) is to be determined. The fact that the magsafe light and charging became an issue right away leads me to believe that the power/charging circuitry was affected. Your best bet is to find a reputable (read "Apple authorized") repair shop and have it evaluated.

The rice trick works sometimes for removing the moisture... but once something stops working (power, etc), the damage is done. The real issue is the combination of moisture and electric current - that combination will fry components quickly.
 
StephenCampbell said:
It's still not coming on.... any other ideas? I've been unable to remove the battery because the screws are shaped weird, like a wind turbine. I had it sitting in rice for a couple days, to no avail.
Click to expand...

Screwdrivers for the screws are available at places like iFixit. They run $8 or so. If you have a well stocked local hardware store you might be able to find one also. I am pretty sure they are P5 Pentalobe screws.

Without getting the back off I don't think you can get all the water out or fully dry the insides. There are multiple batteries with connectors that need to be dry layer plastics in the keyboard, solder joints, etc. It can be a big deal to get a system back working.

Louis has a good video on handling this and do's and don'ts.

 
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It's so strange because what happened was my wife accidentally spilled a glass of water in the baby's crib (the baby wasn't in it at the time), and the laptop was sitting on the bed next to the crib, not in it. In the process of trying to dry out the crib she said that she was moving dripping towels over where the laptop was, and accidentally had some water drip on the laptop, but that was the extent of it.. it wasn't a big spillage of a glass of liquid falling directly on the laptop. And it continued to work fine for a little while after the incident.

This is such a bummer. I got that thing brand new at the end of 2013, and had meant to keep it for a while since the ram, hard drive, and optical drive are upgradeable.
 
StephenCampbell said:
It's so strange because what happened was my wife accidentally spilled a glass of water in the baby's crib (the baby wasn't in it at the time), and the laptop was sitting on the bed next to the crib, not in it. In the process of trying to dry out the crib she said that she was moving dripping towels over where the laptop was, and accidentally had some water drip on the laptop, but that was the extent of it.. it wasn't a big spillage of a glass of liquid falling directly on the laptop. And it continued to work fine for a little while after the incident.

This is such a bummer. I got that thing brand new at the end of 2013, and had meant to keep it for a while since the ram, hard drive, and optical drive are upgradeable.
Click to expand...

One rule I've learned over the years, is my wife and kids fall into the list of what to keep away from my laptop. This is a good excuse to get a new on though!

Wait a second, you sabotaged your Mac in an opportune moment to make it seem like it was the water, and therefore your wife's fault, and made a false thread so when she checks your history, this story will seem more legitimate? Ohhhhh you're a naughty boy. I'm gonna set a trap and use your genius tactics when I need a new one. Very dirty, but very effective technique. :D
 
dwfaust said:
Your best bet is to find a reputable (read "Apple authorized") repair shop and have it evaluated.
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I would probably call ahead. Many of those shops charge for an estimate/diagnostics.

Goatllama said:
Maybe replace the battery? How bad was the water damage?
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It wouldn't help. It would power up without the battery using only the charger.

StephenCampbell said:
It's still not coming on.... any other ideas? I've been unable to remove the battery because the screws are shaped weird, like a wind turbine. I had it sitting in rice for a couple days, to no avail.
Click to expand...

They are pentalobe or at least they used to be, so they require a special screwdriver. ifixit used to carry them and you can check by model number. It wouldn't require a new battery, and I doubt removing it would help. The issue is a short circuit blowing something out. Electricity flows in an unintended manner when you have something conductive like water.

StephenCampbell said:
It's so strange because what happened was my wife accidentally spilled a glass of water in the baby's crib (the baby wasn't in it at the time), and the laptop was sitting on the bed next to the crib, not in it. In the process of trying to dry out the crib she said that she was moving dripping towels over where the laptop was, and accidentally had some water drip on the laptop, but that was the extent of it.. it wasn't a big spillage of a glass of liquid falling directly on the laptop. And it continued to work fine for a little while after the incident.

This is such a bummer. I got that thing brand new at the end of 2013, and had meant to keep it for a while since the ram, hard drive, and optical drive are upgradeable.
Click to expand...

That sounds really unlucky.
 
StephenCampbell said:
It's so strange because what happened was my wife accidentally spilled a glass of water in the baby's crib (the baby wasn't in it at the time), and the laptop was sitting on the bed next to the crib, not in it. In the process of trying to dry out the crib she said that she was moving dripping towels over where the laptop was, and accidentally had some water drip on the laptop, but that was the extent of it.. it wasn't a big spillage of a glass of liquid falling directly on the laptop. And it continued to work fine for a little while after the incident.

This is such a bummer. I got that thing brand new at the end of 2013, and had meant to keep it for a while since the ram, hard drive, and optical drive are upgradeable.
Click to expand...

Compared to a other computers MacBook as pretty susceptible to water damage because of way things like the keyboards are built and how they stack the components. And the way the case is milled it funnels any liquid right down onto the keyboard. Other computer like Thinkpads have catch areas and drainage for the keyboard area because in on the go usage eventually something will spill into the keyboard.
 
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I'd stand it in front of a fan, blowing into any opening you can find or make, for a few days before you give up on it. It might be worth ordering the tricky screwdriver for that model (eg from iFixit), if you can get the back off you have a much better chance of drying it out enough to get it working. (If it's going to work at all, of course.) If it was clean water you have a rather better chance than if it were something else such as red wine, just to pick a random example. Ahem.
 
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