Macbook drank too much lemonade

[ManInAShed]

After a long night illustrating children's books I was in dire need of some chilled lemonade. After almost finishing the glass, I went back to work (Not on my macbook, but on my pc - maybe that's the reason my macbook deserted me..), and after some more hours work I became a bit clumsy of the tiredness, and after some misdirected arm movements I accindently emptied the last bit of lemonade over my much beloved (and used) macbook.

Of course it immediately shut down, and I removed the vital parts (the HD, RAM and Batteries), disconnected the power, and let it drie for a few days upside down.

Now when I turned it on after making sure the lemonade at least had dried, it turned on, but quite slow and not without problems. It crashed almost immediately, and afterward the motherboard begin beeping like crazy. I was sure that this was the last sound my macbook would ever make, and I was planning on calling my insurance company to see if they would compensate me for the lemonade and the damage done (I wish Neil Young had wrote a song about that...).

Anyway, before I was going to contact them, I wanted to make sure that the macbook was as broken as I thought it would be, and I tried it again. And to my suprise it booted, not fast, but faster than the day before and it actually stayed on, while I was checking my mail and moving stuff around on the desktop.

I let it run for a while, and it seems like there was nothing wrong, except some sticky keys. As I was trying to burn a disc however, it crashed after a few minutes, and it restarted with some serious hick ups.

Now after another day of testing I realized that it works a bit, but if I start stressing it, it always crashes on me, and sometimes the MB starts beeping without doing anything else.

My question is... Is it really broken now, and should I call the insurance? I'm worried that the insurance isn't convinced it's broken, ánd that I'm stuck with a somewhat working, but in the end not very useful-anymore Macbook. I also think the acids in the lemonade will damage it more in the long run. Any thoughts/suggestions for what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sparkyms]

If you can't do anything strenuous on the thing then I'd say you're in trouble.

When my cat knocked a full-on pint of water on my dad's MacBook he left it a while and it booted but soon after crashed and was never used again.

I think your MacBook may very well be a ticking time bomb, make sure everything is backed up and call the insurance company, who will probably tell you to take it to Apple to get it looked over and quoted for a repair, if Apple are generous as they were with my father, they'll just add up costs of parts and then labour, and likely that will come to the price of a new Laptop (he bought his refurbished so he actually got a far better MacBook in the trade-off).

 

[ManInAShed]

Any idea what the beeping might indicate? It beeps two times over and over again, until I turn it off..

 

[sushi]

Any idea what the beeping might indicate? It beeps two times over and over again, until I turn it off..

Might be the RAM, although I believe that is 3 beeps. Try re-seating the RAM and any other connectors that you disconnected.

The problem is the lemonade that you spilled. My guess is that there is residue that is affecting your computers operation.

When this has happened to me before, I washed everything, gently, with soap and water. Then after blowing as much water off as I could with a fan, I let the MoBo set out in the sun and dry for a couple of days.

Afterwards, computer booted up fine.

Note, I was very careful and gentle when I washed everything. There are many connectors that could be damaged when washing your computer. This technique is definitely not for the faint at heart. There is a high probability that you may damage your computer. But if you are at the end with no other options, this might work for you. YMMV.

 

[ManInAShed]

I checked the RAM, and replaced it a few times, but as the bleeps only occur after a reboot, when the mac crashes, I don't think that's the problem. I read that I could clean it with some kind of de-ionized water for best results. I leave that as a last result, as there are also some minor tears in the casing of the macbook (the keyboard part).

I have no idea how they got there, but I wasn't very bothered with it, but I fear it might tear further if I try the magic creditcard trick to open it. I have taken it off a little bit to check if the MB was sticky, and it was quite sticky.

But If I clean it I will almost defenitely get nothing from my insurance, and I think i'll also lose my apple warranty.

 

[sushi]

I read that I could clean it with some kind of de-ionized water for best results.

I think that you are past using just water to clean it.

But If I clean it I will almost defenitely get nothing from my insurance, and I think i'll also lose my apple warranty.

Apple will not cover accidents like this.

Might want to go the insurance route if you are sure you are covered.

 

[ManInAShed]

Thanks for all your answers. I called the insurance and brought it to the Apple Shop today. I hope they see that it's wrong enough to warrant a replacement.