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AJ Muni

macrumors 65816
Aug 4, 2005
1,149
23
Miami
Thats why I have a 4 foot rule...no beverages within 4 feet of my laptop. Even though people think im an ass everytime I tell them to move, i dont care. Four years with 3 laptops and no spills yet. good luck op
 

palmerized

macrumors regular
Nov 15, 2007
158
7
St Jacobs, ON, Canada
I spilled an entire glass of water on my company HP laptop last year. Same thing happened, turned off, wouldn't turn back on. About 2 or 3 days later, it was completely fine.

Give it a couple of days...

As for those dots that turn red when they get wet, I don't think these have them...
 

jbg232

macrumors 65816
Oct 15, 2007
1,148
10
I spilled an entire glass of water on my company HP laptop last year. Same thing happened, turned off, wouldn't turn back on. About 2 or 3 days later, it was completely fine.

Give it a couple of days...

As for those dots that turn red when they get wet, I don't think these have them...

You're incredibly lucky, 99% of the time: spill on laptop + no power = fried motherboard = sad owner
 

rozner

macrumors member
Nov 14, 2007
34
0
I think the best thing would have been to clean it properly right away, unfortunately drying over a heater probably did not help. I only once spilled some juice on a keyboard (not a laptop, actual external keyboard), and that keyboard still works (5 years later... but I don't use it anymore). It just needed a good cleaning. That said, my macbook pro is less than 2 months old and liquids generally get no where near it, if they do I'm very careful, and the container of liquid (i.e. glass) never passes directly over the macbook. If you're lucky all you'll need is a new keyboard, but I don't think it looks so good.
 

Wayfarer

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2007
1,225
601
Clumsy me spilled a bottle of water of my Apple Keyboard a few weeks ago. I was pretty sure that was the end of it when it stopped working. I gave it several days to dry and it works again.

Please keep us updated.
 

Melan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
122
6
Hi all,
Thanks for all the continued advice. I think I'm probably too clumsy (as evidenced by the original post) to clean the inside of the comp without complicating things further. I'll wait and take it into a shop I think, even though i risk by doing so.
I tried the laptop again earlier today and no luck. I'll try again in another day or two. fingers crossed.
oh and happy christmas all! heh.
edit: oh yes and battery = removed
 

Chris88

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2007
54
0
Thats why I have a 4 foot rule...no beverages within 4 feet of my laptop. Even though people think im an ass everytime I tell them to move, i dont care. Four years with 3 laptops and no spills yet. good luck op

I like that rule
 

sublicon

macrumors member
Dec 23, 2007
57
0
NY/NJ
This happened to my girlfriend, she went to the Apple Store, they quoted her like $1,200 to fix. She then found DT&T which charged her less than half of that. Might be worth a shot, if you can't afford to buy a new one.
 

Big-TDI-Guy

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2007
2,606
13
Unless you're a gorilla on steroids - you can do it. It just requires patience, a little research, and patience. (to wait for it to dry BEFORE you power-on)

Be advised - each time you power this unit up, via battery OR power adapter - you decrease the likelihood of recovery by an order of magnitude.

That sounds like a mega over-exaggeration but seriously, powering up a shorted circuit is what damages it. You could dump your laptop into a beer tank without batteries (or hard drive) and recover it just fine a week later. (though you'd have PLENTY of cleaning to do) But that little spill will continue to damage it each time power is applied.

I used to submerge $350,000 dollar lasers in di-water (CCAs, processor and ALL) for a cleaning process. As long as all the caps were bled down, and it was vacuum dried after - it never harmed one of em. (I built a couple hundred)

So stop being so chicken with your cheap laptop. :p
 

uzi

macrumors newbie
Dec 8, 2007
20
0
Bummer

Well if you own a home, you might see if your home owner's insurance might cover it. Otherwise, I would it contact apple to see if there are any repair options... Very sad, I've got a 2 week old Blackbook and damn near did the same thing --I now keep my I.P.A. off the table and on the floor --I can fix spill on the floor, not me MAC mate...

Cheer up...

Uzi;)
 

DaniGirl100

macrumors newbie
Dec 26, 2007
18
0
Hmm, I dropped tea over my keyboard of my MBP one day (I was watching a programme about ghosts and got all jumpy) and I drained it, dried it out and the keys stopped working. Then I had a firmware screw up and took it in. I told the truth about the tea and they told me it could cost around 500 quid to fix it and I had no insurance I was sooo angry.


Anyway three weeks later they ring up and tell me they can't fix it so they gave me a brand new laptop free of charge. Didn't have to pay a thing.

I'm still really confused as to why this happened... they even gave me a brand new warranty, brand new software, AppleCare for 90 days etc.


Do you think they dropped it?
 

DaniGirl100

macrumors newbie
Dec 26, 2007
18
0
P.S. Even if you drop the tiniest amount of liquid onto the keyboard, even just a smidge it can cause rust underneath the keyboard and even if it's fine for a while it'll apparently slowly deterioate and then screw up.... just for the record
 

tmoney468

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2007
586
85
I know you said you weren't comfortable with taking apart the MB and trying to clean it yourself, but I would give it a shot. I'm sure there are some guides from a google search that specify the steps to try to clean it.

My sister had an old laptop that had liquid spilt on it, and what I ended up doing was taking it apart and removing the motherboards and then let it soak in 90% Isopropyl Alcohol for a couple of hours. I then used a gentle brush to remove all of the dried liquid and it actually performed a flawless job. I never did put the computer back together, but it at least got rid of all the sugar-residue on the motherboard.
 

notengolegs

macrumors member
Dec 17, 2007
88
0
Taking it apart and cleaning it would be a waste of time, it isn't going to help at this point. Either send it to someone for a quote to repair, or buy a new one. Simple as that.
 

Melan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
122
6
Ok update: I gave it to Apple to repair telling them exactly what happened cuz I'm a damn fool. Just got the e-mail saying it'll cost $1500 to repair. Screw that, naturally.

This is really blarg. Maybe I should start a blog, make up a story and get a free one? Blar.

Any suggestions anyone for what I can do with what's left of it? Someone said they were interested in buying? Seems the logic board, battery connector and top casing would need to be replaced in the repair. The top casing could be repaired for free under warranty but that's pretty pointless..

Oh yeah and does anyone know anything about somehow getting Time Machine files onto a windows machine? coz what i'm looking here is..... getting a dell.
 

Big-TDI-Guy

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2007
2,606
13
Ok update: I gave it to Apple to repair telling them exactly what happened cuz I'm a damn fool. Just got the e-mail saying it'll cost $1500 to repair. Screw that, naturally.

This is really blarg. Maybe I should start a blog, make up a story and get a free one? Blar.

Any suggestions anyone for what I can do with what's left of it? Someone said they were interested in buying? Seems the logic board, battery connector and top casing would need to be replaced in the repair. The top casing could be repaired for free under warranty but that's pretty pointless..

Oh yeah and does anyone know anything about somehow getting Time Machine files onto a windows machine? coz what i'm looking here is..... getting a dell.

Where do you live? I'll try to help you fix it if you're local.
 

Melan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
122
6
hey thanks for the offer but I'm in Kingston Ontario which I`m guessing is far from you. You really think it`s fixable even with apple`s assesment?
 
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