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HELP! My MacBook Pro was wet!

Blaunerts

Blaunerts

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 30, 2008
141
0
Miami
So im at work doing dishes, and I hear water dripping. I look and I see water DRIPPING from the ROOF in a spot I have never seen water drip in the store before. It is dripping on my MB Pro on the left of the keyboard/ onto the USB panel. Yes it was on, no it was not plugged in. It may have been sleeping but I was using it 15 mins before then. I was furious. I ran to it and started drying it off. Blow dryed it on low/cool and did what ever I can to save it.

I tried opening it up to take the battery out but I couldn't open up one of the little screws on the back cover.


I got this mac in August 2010 for college. It has been over 24 hours since the spill. Still not turning on.

What are my options? I have an appt. at Apple tomorrow but im not sure what to tell them. I have the limited warranty but if the AppleCare would help with my situation then I would purchase one ($250).


What do I do?? If repairs are over $1000 I might as well just buy the 2011 MB Pro but I really do not have the money to be spending to buy a new computer.

What should I tell Apple? I have read stories on here of people going in and apple resolving their issue with a new MacBook Pro or repairing it free of charge. I hope I am this lucky tomorrow when I go in. What should I tell them???

Please help! :(

-Brandon
 
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

Well, if Apple Care won't cover it, your homeowners/renters insurance should cover it.

You can also get a giant bag of rice and put the MBP inside for a few days (battery separate).
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

Well, if Apple Care won't cover it, your homeowners/renters insurance should cover it.

You can also get a giant bag of rice and put the MBP inside for a few days (battery separate).
Click to expand...

I put the mac in the bag of rice for over 24 hours already and still nothing. I can't remove the battery as it is in the computer and I'd have to unscrew everything. Don't want to mess with that
 
Blaunerts said:
Should I tell them it got wet or say it stopped working suddenly? :eek:
Click to expand...

You should tell them the truth if you want them to feel for you, as there are water indicators all on the inside so if you try to mislead him leaving him to find the water damage himself, I'm guessing he's going to be less than thrilled to hook you up.
 
apple care wont help because it simply extends your warranty but your inside your 1 year mark anyway.

Be honest and explain the whole situation and hopefully they will be sympathetic if you lie they will see you as trying to take advantage.
 
If you have the gut, just open it up inside out and wipe away/blow dry the water off the logic board. And then just tell them the thing stopped working suddenly. Without the water trace, there's no way to tell if it's been damaged due to water or something else. It would be just like a dysfunctional board :cool:.
 
bitesmac said:
If you have the gut, just open it up inside out and wipe away/blow dry the water off the logic board. And then just tell them the thing stopped working suddenly. Without the water trace, there's no way to tell if it's been damaged due to water or something else. It would be just like a dysfunctional board :cool:.
Click to expand...

You don't know what you are talking about, or you enjoy spreading false information.

Apple devices have water sensors built into them. They change color when they are exposed to water. All of the drying, blowing and wiping is not going to change the sensors color back to normal. It is because of people like you who lie about how their computers got damaged is the reason that Apple put the sensors in there in the first place. It keeps people honest about water damage. Aside from dropping, water damage is the most common preventable disaster that can happen to a computer.

To the OP. If you would have put the computer in rice for a few days BEFORE turning it back on you probably stood a better chance of recovery. My guess is that the water has shorted out the motherboard. Good luck!
 
AdamRock said:
try both...go to different apple stores (if their is few near you)
Click to expand...

..don't do this. apple (can) make note of any service that is done or is requested. not sure if it is a strict policy that they always do this or not, but you'd look like a fool if you go to store #2 and they ask if you just took it in for the same thing..
 
AdamRock said:
try both...go to different apple stores (if their is few near you)
Click to expand...

Whenever you request service on an Apple product, that goes into a case file and it is attached to your computer id. If you go to another store, they will automatically pull up your case file and it will show everything the other store said about your computer. The Apple stores are NOT separate entities and are NOT ran like franchises. They actually work as one cohesive unit connected by a common database. If you lie at one store, they will have a record of it that will show up at any of the stores you go to. The only way around it is to buy from a 3rd party like Bestbuy who handles warranty. But even those large stores are starting to require customers to do warranty service directly through Apple so that there is an electronic paper trail.
 
evaporateddwarf said:
Well, I'd recommend the honest route, even if it costs you some money.

My two cents.
Click to expand...

When it comes to Apple, honesty is the best way. If you plead your case, they can and do make exceptions. If you lie, there is no way in h ell that they are going to help you. And, Apple is really good at catching liars. I'm sure they have seen and heard every trick in the book.
 
THX1139 said:
You don't know what you are talking about, or you enjoy spreading false information.

Apple devices have water sensors built into them. They change color when they are exposed to water. All of the drying, blowing and wiping is not going to change the sensors color back to normal. It is because of people like you who lie about how their computers got damaged is the reason that Apple put the sensors in there in the first place. It keeps people honest about water damage. Aside from dropping, water damage is the most common preventable disaster that can happen to a computer.

To the OP. If you would have put the computer in rice for a few days BEFORE turning it back on you probably stood a better chance of recovery. My guess is that the water has shorted out the motherboard. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Well if the sensor hasn't changed color OP can still go for it.
 
bitesmac said:
Well if the sensor hasn't changed color OP can still go for it.
Click to expand...

he said it got wet. If he has it in a bag of rice, then it was bad enough to change the indicators. The only way to see if the indicator has changed colors is to take it apart, which at this point honesty is the best way.
 
HBOC said:
he said it got wet. If he has it in a bag of rice, then it was bad enough to change the indicators. The only way to see if the indicator has changed colors is to take it apart, which at this point honesty is the best way.
Click to expand...

This.
 
Does the place where you work have insurance that might cover it? Expecting to have the interior areas that are under the roof be dry doesn't seem to be unreasonable.
 
bitesmac said:
If you have the gut, just open it up inside out and wipe away/blow dry the water off the logic board. And then just tell them the thing stopped working suddenly. Without the water trace, there's no way to tell if it's been damaged due to water or something else. It would be just like a dysfunctional board :cool:.
Click to expand...

You quite clearly missed the part about water sensors :rolleyes:
 
Thanks everyone for their help. I am going to be completely honest with them today. I pray they help out a broke college student!

As for my job having insurance, doubt it. My boss won't care. I brought my computer on my own will to do HW, etc.


I will give you guys an update this afternoon.

*Crossing Fingers*
 
Good luck, but having worked in mobile phone and Apple approved repair centres, as soon as the liquid ingress markers change colour, we just give the machine back and declare it Beyond Economical Repair. All warranty is out the window and it won't get touched by Apple.

That being said, even if the markers haven't changed colour, it is very, very easy to spot liquid ingress if you know what you are looking for.
 
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