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HELP - Someone threw up on my MacBook - Broken

T

thewolf

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 13, 2008
8
0
Well last night could have possibly been the worst night. My sick brother decided to throw up everywhere, including on my MacBook. Now it will not charge, the green LED on the bottom won't show, the LED on the charger will not show, and the LED on the front wont flash.

Periodically it will charge, but when i turn it on it beeps a few times. Something is probably fried. Am I completely hopeless?
 
Stomach acid is very corrosive. Don't think there's anything you can do. Too bad the iSight camera wasn't running. You'd have a hit on YouTube.
 
rdowns said:
Stomach acid is very corrosive. Don't think there's anything you can do. Too bad the iSight camera wasn't running. You'd have a hit on YouTube.
Click to expand...

Agreed. My cousin threw up in my aunts car once, and it ate away the fibers in the car mat. It was gross.
 
Dunno, but I would stop trying to use it until it is completely dry.
 
Stop turning the frikin' thing on, you are only compounding the damage by running electricity thorough the barfjuice.

The first rule is: Liquids = turn it off and pull the battery out, and leave it OFF until it is both clean and dry for at least 24 hours.

You probably need to take it in for service by now. Not covered under warranty...

MR Guides are your friend - see the Guides tab at the top of this window?
HArdware: Spilled Liquid on my Mac or Keyboard
 
thewolf said:
Well last night could have possibly been the worst night. My sick brother decided to throw up everywhere, including on my MacBook. Now it will not charge, the green LED on the bottom won't show, the LED on the charger will not show, and the LED on the front wont flash.

Periodically it will charge, but when i turn it on it beeps a few times. Something is probably fried. Am I completely hopeless?
Click to expand...

No LED light on the charger COULD mean that it's the charger that is faulty and not the laptop. Get a different charger or use the same charger one someone elses Macbook. :)
 
it's been 24 hours since this happened and i did not try to turn it on until now.
it is completely dry and the battery has been sitting out since right after the incident happened. i know the 24 hour liquid rule. he didnt directly hit it, but some definitely got into the battery area. i'm taking it in tomorrow for a "battery related" issue. we'll see what happens.
 
Keep us posted...

thewolf said:
it's been 24 hours since this happened and i did not try to turn it on until now.
it is completely dry and the battery has been sitting out since right after the incident happened. i know the 24 hour liquid rule. he didnt directly hit it, but some definitely got into the battery area. i'm taking it in tomorrow for a "battery related" issue. we'll see what happens.
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did your brother get to the doctor's office? :eek:
 
That's disgusting. I'd probably wipe what's visible to ensure the plastic doesn't get damaged (and maybe open the case to see how it is inside) and remove as much as possible. Good luck.
 
The best you can hope for is a complete disassembly and cleaning. After you pick up a logicboard on eBay you'll have to swap out the dead one.

Or part it out on eBay. That's what I did to a MacBook I had with a dead logic board. I broke it up into parts and sold everything for just about $700.
 
I know a guy who has barfed on everything he owns, who also happens to be real sharp with computers. I called him up just now and he says laptops are the worst, because even after you replace the inevitable damaged parts the smell never goes away...he claims that the smell of a previously-barfjuiced (good word CanadaRAM!!) laptop on a hot summer day once made him re-toss his tequila sunrise on the same poor Viao, killing it for good.

In any case, thanks for giving me a good excuse to call an old friend from wilder times, and good luck with cleaning up the iPuke.
 
shikimo said:
I know a guy who has barfed on everything he owns, who also happens to be real sharp with computers. I called him up just now and he says laptops are the worst, because even after you replace the inevitable damaged parts the smell never goes away...he claims that the smell of a previously-barfjuiced (good word CanadaRAM!!) laptop on a hot summer day once made him re-toss his tequila sunrise on the same poor Viao, killing it for good.

In any case, thanks for giving me a good excuse to call an old friend from wilder times, and good luck with cleaning up the iPuke.
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iPuke i like that

"uPuke, hePuke, shePuke, theyPuke, iPuke"
Thats mine
 
Personally, I would remove the harddrive, hand your brother the laptop and say "You owe me a replacement."

If I threw up on anything owned by someone else, I'd do whatever I had to to replace it. That's just inexcusable.....if he drove over it with the family car because he sneezed, he'd owe you a new one, right? i mean, I know it was probably an accident, but that's exactly why they call them accidents. When they happen with cars or planes or food, the person at fault pays to fix the body damage, gives you tickets for future flights, or vouchers for free food. Your brother owes you a new laptop, and the old laptop becomes his.


(this is why I hae dorm insurance. Covers all of my stuff in my possession and out of my possession, and other peoples stuff when I'm using it. So if I puked on your computer, I'd send the insurance company $25 and they'd send me a check to buy you a new computer with.)
 
shikimo said:
I know a guy who has barfed on everything he owns, who also happens to be real sharp with computers. I called him up just now and he says laptops are the worst, because even after you replace the inevitable damaged parts the smell never goes away...he claims that the smell of a previously-barfjuiced (good word CanadaRAM!!) laptop on a hot summer day once made him re-toss his tequila sunrise on the same poor Viao, killing it for good.
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This little story almost caused coffee to be all over my setup.

...sides... aching...:D
 
.JahJahwarrior. said:
(this is why I hae dorm insurance. Covers all of my stuff in my possession and out of my possession, and other peoples stuff when I'm using it. So if I puked on your computer, I'd send the insurance company $25 and they'd send me a check to buy you a new computer with.)
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That's pretty cool; you don't even have to have a special puke rider on your insurance policy? Maybe college has gotten calmer, but in my day any insurance company that insured against stuff getting puked on would've been insolvent in a matter of days...and I went to a pretty good school, which I assumed to have less barf-related incidents than true party schools. Alas, the world moves on...
 
tivoli2 said:
This little story almost caused coffee to be all over my setup.

...sides... aching...:D
Click to expand...

Maybe it affected you particularly because both the story and the phone call (well at least his half) took place in MN, which is where I come from :cool:.

I miss home right now, although I'm not sure what it says about me that it took the telling of an old puke-tale to bring that out.
 
shikimo said:
That's pretty cool; you don't even have to have a special puke rider on your insurance policy? Maybe college has gotten calmer, but in my day any insurance company that insured against stuff getting puked on would've been insolvent in a matter of days...and I went to a pretty good school, which I assumed to have less barf-related incidents than true party schools. Alas, the world moves on...
Click to expand...

When I was an RA at my college in Illinois a few years ago, I had a resident throw up on his radiator... in November... THAT was bad.... Throwing up on a Macbook... that might be worse :(
 
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