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OMG: Wine spilled onto MBP

M

MBX

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
817
Well **** happens and it just happened to me. My dog knocked over a full glass of wine onto my fairly new MBP and it went all inside the keyboard. Immediately I shut it off but I can't tell if a short circuit happened at the same time because I then pressed the power button to test and it didn't came on. Was probably a mistake. I then took the battery out and cleaned as much as possible. I even tried to disassemble it but one tiny screw hindered me because it was screwed in too tightly and I didn't have the proper philips-screwdiver.

Well I'm letting it dry now for at least 48hours an see if by magic it will get on.

Just so mad at myself I let the glass sit near the laptop. The last I need is to deal with computer problems before Xmas. Ugh
 
Testing a wet computer by turning it on generally is about as smart as lighting a match to see if there is gas in the tank.
 
Also the bad part is that wine is full of sugar rather it's dry or sweet and it will crystalize when it dries. Good luck to the OP.
 
HLdan said:
Also the bad part is that wine is full of sugar rather it's dry or sweet and it will crystalize when it dries. Good luck to the OP.
Click to expand...

Does it help if I try to clean it up tomorrow or monday to get the proper scrediver to take apart?
 
MBX said:
Does it help if I try to clean it up tomorrow or monday to get the proper scrediver to take apart?
Click to expand...

Yes, I would recommend it but use only a damp cloth to wipe the hardware and motherboard inside. Just make sure the battery is removed. After cleaning it make sure it's completely dry before powering it on. One short circuit will fry your logic board. I'm not sure where it is but Apple places a seal-type indicator inside the MBP to indicate water damage. If you find it and it's not "red" in color then take it to the Apple genius to get repaired if your logic board fails.
 
MBX said:
Does it help if I try to clean it up tomorrow or monday to get the proper scrediver to take apart?
Click to expand...

The faster you get it cleaned up, the better chances you have of turning this around.
Do NOT under any circumstances try to boot the computer. Unplug the power adapter and remove the battery so that you can reduce the risk of a short occurring.
Clean with Qtips/lint free cloth and DISTILLED water and a little bit of 90% alcohol to help with drying.
 
Great. Just when I googled wine spills on laptops and read some worked again after dryng you tell me it won't because of the sugar :(
 
i bet if you shut it off in time and dry it out thoroughly before turning it back on you'll be good to go. was it red, white or rosé?
 
macrem said:
i bet if you shut it off in time and dry it out thoroughly before turning it back on you'll be good to go. was it red , white or rosé?
Click to expand...

I'm about to have a bit of white wine myself. If the original poster purchased AppleCare I *highly* suggest giving them a call at 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273). If it's any consolation, I dropped my Macbook Pro not too long ago and was able to get a refund (unused portion) on my Applecare purchase.

MBX said:
Immediately I shut it off but I can't tell if a short circuit happened at the same time because I then pressed the power button to test and it didn't came on. Was probably a mistake.
Click to expand...
Big mistake.
 
Interesting, I'm pretty sure there have been more than just this one case where people have spilled wine on their MBPs.

Good luck getting it sorted out.
 
Your MBP is drunk from all that wine, let it rest from its hangover and hopefully it'll be okay. :D
 
it will probably work when its dried out.

if you haven't wiped the internals, its only a matter of time before corrosion sets in and you'll start seeing random issues popping up.


its too bad your warranty is voided--thanks to those spill detectors/indicators/sensors (whatever you want to call them..basically stickers) hidden on the underside of your keyboard.

unless of course you have the classic non-uni mbp.
 
Dammit I know I can't blame the dog and it's my fault for not being more cautious with liquids but I wish these laptops had some internal seperation or cover underneath the keyboard so it doesn't all flow into the circuits.

I hope some hardware store is open today so I can get proper tools to try and clean it's guts from the alcohol poisoning.

It was red wine btw (Rioja) and my MBP is the early 2008 (non unibody)
 
If it makes you feel any better, my Mom's old Macbook had broken RAM slots, so it wouldn't boot up, and they needed to replace the logic board. When they opened her up, they found liquid damage, and still replaced the logic board under warranty. Hopefully you can get any issues fixed.
 
Someone needs to give Apple a nobel-prize.

Yes you're hearing right i'm writing from the MBP.

These mofos are resistant it seems.

I went to get proper screwdivers but still couldn't unscrew the last tiny little bitch because it was too tight. So i said **** it, i put all the screws back in, memory and battery too and started up and it works!

Let's see for how long. I hope the corrosion thing isn't gonna happen though.
 
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