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One very good reason to disable the boot on lid open mechanic. Also help!

P

Padwen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2018
6
5
Because if you, hypothetically, were to spill water on your brand new MacBook Pro touch bar model that's your pride and joy and not even a week old, you would find it hard to perform all the necessary emergency procedures without accidentally booting it at least once. Or possibly 3 times. This is particularly annoying since it's crucial to keep it powered down until it fully dries out.

I'm crying quite a lot, as well as kicking myself very hard for stupidity, but I have a question I'd like some advice on.

It wasn't a big spill and I did all the right things (apart from the accidental booting) - flipped it in the first second, soaked up water with wads of absorbent paper etc - and it's now upside down drying over a towel. So if I'm very lucky it might just work and if not I'll have to pay for repairs. Which ever happens would I be better off to sell it - with full disclosure to the buyer - to recoup what I can and buy a new one? I'm going into retirement and this will be the last high end computer I can afford. I really want something that will last and not have expensive problems in the future. Or should I just keep it and hope for the best?
 
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I dumped a whole glass of wine on mine last month. If you have AppleCare+, you'll be out $300 to get this fixed. The laptop is riddled with fluid contact indicators, so when they send it off to the depot Apple will replace anything that shows signs of liquid contact. In my case, they replaced everything except the touchpad.

If you don't have AppleCare+ (I didn't), the repair is a whopping $1500. Because of that, I don't think resale value will be very high. I bit the bullet and got the repair, but it didn't do my bank account any favors.
 
Thanks dscottj. That's what I'm afraid of!

What I'm wondering though is say I do get it fixed. Will it ever be the same again or is it likely to have ongoing problems? Would I be better to sell it after it's fixed and just start again with a brand new one?
 
maflynn said:
That's what you do for electronics that got wet. The dry rice soaks up the water/moisture.
Click to expand...

Ohh a rice bath! I read a nice bath, which is why I didn't reply - thought you were being funny. My apologies. I did think of that but isn't there a risk that dust and particles from the rice would work their way into the keyboard and make things worse? I can go out and buy rice tomorrow (it's almost 1am here now) if it would really help and isn't too late.
 
Padwen said:
Ohh a rice bath! I read a nice bath, which is why I didn't reply - thought you were being funny. My apologies. I did think of that but isn't there a risk that dust and particles from the rice would work their way into the keyboard and make things worse? I can go out and buy rice tomorrow (it's almost 1am here now) if it would really help and isn't too late.
Click to expand...

That certainly is a risk....but when your computer might be toast, it's worth taking some extra risk.
 
Padwen said:
Ohh a rice bath! I read a nice bath, which is why I didn't reply - thought you were being funny. My apologies. I did think of that but isn't there a risk that dust and particles from the rice would work their way into the keyboard and make things worse? I can go out and buy rice tomorrow (it's almost 1am here now) if it would really help and isn't too late.
Click to expand...

If you can find a water-tight bag big enough to fit around your macbook, something like DampRid or silica gel will absorb the water both quickly (they are made to absorb moisture) and safer than trying to dry it out with heat.
Specifically what I've done with phones dropped in water that has worked is putting the device in a bag, and putting that bag inside of a larger bag of DampRid. I just leave the first bag (with the device in it) open with the opening facing up, partially submerged in a larger bag of Damprid. You just want to avoid the damprid itself getting on your device because it will stick to & congeal on any wet parts, and you don't want that.

Then I put it in the warmest part of the house & leave it there for a day or 2.

I say Damprid because it's easy to get large amounts cheaply at most stores and you want to start as soon as possible.
Silica gel will also work, but is probably harder to find.

Good luck!
 
Padwen said:
Thanks dscottj. That's what I'm afraid of!

What I'm wondering though is say I do get it fixed. Will it ever be the same again or is it likely to have ongoing problems? Would I be better to sell it after it's fixed and just start again with a brand new one?
Click to expand...

They don't repair, they replace, and the fix is covered by warranty. If it flakes after they fix it (and you didn't dunk it again), then you take it back and get it fixed again, and this time it'll be on them.

Also, I should clarify: Because it's so expensive to get liquid damage fixed, if you DON'T repair it, you won't get much (if any) resale value. If you send it in, you get it back good as new.
 
You've done all the right steps so far. With AppleCare+ you'd pay $429 I think it is where I live (Australia)
Without it would be closer to 2 - 3k depending on the model. Leave it upside down and put a box fan near it.

If it wasn't a huge spill and was only plain water you *might* be okay.

If it was something with sugar in it then it becomes more tricky.

One of my work Mac's was a 2013 Air & I spilt car cut and polish of all thing on it (yes I know) It went EVERYWHERE.

I wiped it off with a damp micofibre cloth with some isopropyl alcohol until I couldn't see the crap anymore.

Put it upside down and left it for 48h with a fan, had some sticky keys for a few days, but other than that no issue and works to this day.

Apple said it was unrepairable after looking at it.

Any liquid damage they will tell you the same thing, even if a bloody bead of sweat drops onto it.

PS apparently the rice trick is a complete myth. But who knows.

EDIT: Actually I have no idea if it was isopropyl alcohol that name popped into my head for some reason, it was some form of alcoholic solution we used to use to clean our electronics at work with, hopefully someone else can clue you in.
 
Padwen said:
Because if you, hypothetically, were to spill water on your brand new MacBook Pro touch bar model that's your pride and joy and not even a week old, you would find it hard to perform all the necessary emergency procedures without accidentally booting it at least once. Or possibly 3 times. This is particularly annoying since it's crucial to keep it powered down until it fully dries out.

I'm crying quite a lot, as well as kicking myself very hard for stupidity, but I have a question I'd like some advice on.

It wasn't a big spill and I did all the right things (apart from the accidental booting) - flipped it in the first second, soaked up water with wads of absorbent paper etc - and it's now upside down drying over a towel. So if I'm very lucky it might just work and if not I'll have to pay for repairs. Which ever happens would I be better off to sell it - with full disclosure to the buyer - to recoup what I can and buy a new one? I'm going into retirement and this will be the last high end computer I can afford. I really want something that will last and not have expensive problems in the future. Or should I just keep it and hope for the best?
Click to expand...
No not really, that's a terrible reason, it's even worse than the wipe the screen excuse to complain about non-issues.
If I spill water on my MBP, I would obviously shut it down, and then why would I close the lid? To prevent the water from evaporating?
 
1096bimu said:
No not really, that's a terrible reason, it's even worse than the wipe the screen excuse to complain about non-issues.
If I spill water on my MBP, I would obviously shut it down, and then why would I close the lid? To prevent the water from evaporating?
Click to expand...
Reasonable point, but it's very hard to remove the case (which had to be done as water pooled it it) without accidentally closing the lid. I guess if I'd been thinking more clearly I could have wadded a towel in there so I could wrangle the lid without closing it, but I didn't.
[doublepost=1543653580][/doublepost]
Crossbow.Wallaby said:
You've done all the right steps so far. With AppleCare+ you'd pay $429 I think it is where I live (Australia)
Without it would be closer to 2 - 3k depending on the model. Leave it upside down and put a box fan near it.

If it wasn't a huge spill and was only plain water you *might* be okay.

If it was something with sugar in it then it becomes more tricky.

One of my work Mac's was a 2013 Air & I spilt car cut and polish of all thing on it (yes I know) It went EVERYWHERE.

I wiped it off with a damp micofibre cloth with some isopropyl alcohol until I couldn't see the crap anymore.

Put it upside down and left it for 48h with a fan, had some sticky keys for a few days, but other than that no issue and works to this day.

Apple said it was unrepairable after looking at it.

Any liquid damage they will tell you the same thing, even if a bloody bead of sweat drops onto it.

PS apparently the rice trick is a complete myth. But who knows.

EDIT: Actually I have no idea if it was isopropyl alcohol that name popped into my head for some reason, it was some form of alcoholic solution we used to use to clean our electronics at work with, hopefully someone else can clue you in.
Click to expand...


Sounds like you were lucky. I turned it back on today after 48 hours:
-Diagnostics reports battery and fan issues
-the battery power indicator is stuck at 75%
-the 0 key isn't working
-the p key is now working as a shift key
-restart and shutdown are unpredictable

So it's off to the repair shop as soon as I can. I'm also Australian but currently living in Malaysia. We get repairs done through a premium reseller (Switch), and can't get Applecare+ - we get something called an Applecare protection plan.

Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
Padwen said:
Ohh a rice bath! I read a nice bath, which is why I didn't reply - thought you were being funny. My apologies. I did think of that but isn't there a risk that dust and particles from the rice would work their way into the keyboard and make things worse? I can go out and buy rice tomorrow (it's almost 1am here now) if it would really help and isn't too late.
Click to expand...
If you can find them, packets of silica gel would avoid the risk of rice debris entering the keyboard mechanism - I would be worried about this as it’s one of the single biggest problem areas of these machines.
 
I'll never understand people who put their food crumbs and filth and spilled drinks on laptops. It's really easy to keep your workplace tidy and keep drinks a foot or two away. Millions of years of evolution have given us abilities to arrange things neatly.
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
I'll never understand people who put their food crumbs and filth and spilled drinks on laptops. It's really easy to keep your workplace tidy and keep drinks a foot or two away. Millions of years of evolution have given us abilities to arrange things neatly.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't know :-|

Snark aside, you are quite right. Normally I keep drinks well away, but on this occasion I was holding my drink bottle well above the keyboard, noticed there were ants in it and squeezed by reflex, causing a small fountain. Stupid, yes, but it's not really helpful to tell people how stupid they've been when they've already been beating themselves up for days.
 
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No need for rice! :) If you immediately turned over the computer, then, most likely, the liquid did not leak inside. You did this right. On PC laptops, you must immediately disconnect the battery. But at Apple this can not be done, and because of this, there may be burnout of many elements. Leakage needs to be washed with alcohol. (isopropyl or medical) Alcohol absorbs moisture and evaporates quickly. Then look at the state of the elements. Defective to solder or change. But you need to have experience with electronics.
 
The rice thing isn't a good idea. Apart from the fact rice doesn't really absorb much water when the water's cold, the dust will likely cause more damage. Assuming you spilt pure water you might be ok just leaving it to dry.

I like the idea above of putting it in a bag with some silica gel packets (you know, those little packets of things that say "Do not eat" that come with certain goods), but a hair dryer on the lowest setting for both speed and heat will help too. Of course, if you have a dehumidifier just use that.
 
Never mind said:
Rice bath is a myth. Look it up on the Internet. Studies have been done and it doesn’t really work.
Click to expand...
The thing is there are actual desiccants you can buy, so I don't know why people still insist on recommending that we ruin a perfectly good bag of rice for no reason.

For my photography gear, I keep a couple of "Silica Gel Dehumidifiers" in my camera case. They cost $10 from Home Depot. You can dry them out in the oven to reuse them. They are in a metal case, so the beads don't get into your electronics.

Screen Shot 2018-12-01 at 6.39.21 AM.png
 
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maflynn said:
That's what you do for electronics that got wet. The dry rice soaks up the water/moisture.
Click to expand...
rice can't repair liquid damaged logic board, because damage was already done, only professional component repair can save the board

ultrasonic cleaner is only the choice used by professional to clean the board, but it's only one of the stages, there is a lot of more to do
 
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