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Soda spill! Did I dodge a bullet?

ericg301

ericg301

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 15, 2010
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For the first time in my 30+ years of using computers, I spilled some liquid...Coke Zero, in particular...on my M1 Macbook Air. It wasn't a full spill, but rather I bumped the cup, and some soda sloshed over the side onto the keyboard and trackpad (and Airpods and phone). I shut it off immediately, wiped up what I could, and left it in an upside down "A" position with a small fan blowing on it. No further liquid came out. Three hours later, I fired it back up, and it seemed to be fine. I'm typing on it now while doing a Time Machine backup. No stuck keys, at least per The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Did I dodge a bullet? If there were to be real damage, I would know by now, right?

Also, what kind of design decision is it to make ANY key power on the machine? I know where the power button is if I wanted to use it. I probably had to power it back down 5 times just trying to clean it up. I could have legit shorted out the machine just because of this design decision that made it impossible to keep the machine off. Is there any sort of firmware hack to change that?
 
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My rule in the house or office is this: No liquids on or near any of my electronics.

In the event you do not learn from this, I would suggest the age-old rule of liquids and pcs... Put it in a bucket of rice to help absorb the moisture, as Duma stated, long term, corrosion is going to be a bit of a concern.
 
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I think that what he is saying is that Cupertino believes that they know best what you need but in practice (as in this case), it is not true!
 
RokinAmerica said:
My rule in the house or office is this: No liquids on or near any of my electronics.

In the event you do not learn from this, I would suggest the age-old rule of liquids and pcs... Put it in a bucket of rice to help absorb the moisture, as Duma stated, long term, corrosion is going to be a bit of a concern.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. That’s my rule too. Except for the one time it wasn’t.
 
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All right I have an appointment tomorrow to get it looked it at just in case. Hopefully they can get ahead of any corrosion.
 
MrCheeto said:
You know these things are designed in California, right? They know better than you and you will get whatever they think is best for you.

Been a decade-long battle for me against Apple. That's why I'm going back to Leopard. At least Steve made the employees go into the office to work back then.
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You need to go back to panther.
 
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ericg301 said:
All right I have an appointment tomorrow to get it looked it at just in case. Hopefully they can get ahead of any corrosion.
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It may not be an issue, unless it doesn’t dry, and sticks around with other dust inside the laptop.
 
ericg301 said:
For the first time in my 30+ years of using computers, I spilled some liquid...Coke Zero, in particular...on my M1 Macbook Air. It wasn't a full spill, but rather I bumped the cup, and some soda sloshed over the side onto the keyboard and trackpad (and Airpods and phone). I shut it off immediately, wiped up what I could, and left it in an upside down "A" position with a small fan blowing on it. No further liquid came out. Three hours later, I fired it back up, and it seemed to be fine. I'm typing on it now while doing a Time Machine backup. No stuck keys, at least per The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Did I dodge a bullet? If there were to be real damage, I would know by now, right?

Also, what kind of design decision is it to make ANY key power on the machine? I know where the power button is if I wanted to use it. I probably had to power it back down 5 times just trying to clean it up. I could have legit shorted out the machine just because of this design decision that made it impossible to keep the machine off. Is there any sort of firmware hack to change that?
Click to expand...

I’ve had some small liquids on my laptops over the years. Nothing much like you’ve mentioned but some. I wiped it off and all was ok. My wife watches Netflix while doing the dishes and her 2012 (I think) MacBook still works fine.

Don’t get it “wet”, but a minor spill shouldn’t do damage.
 
ericg301 said:
Also, what kind of design decision is it to make ANY key power on the machine? I know where the power button is if I wanted to use it.
Click to expand...

In all of my years of using Macs, I never noticed this recent change! What a dumb idea! I just powered off my M1 Air to test it out, and you're right! Any key press will power on the machine. Talk about idiot-proofing to the extreme. Come on Apple... reverse this silly decision!
 
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Oh you just noticed? Let me make it worse for you: it powers on simply by opening the lid.

Yeah. Genius, right?

What’s so great about Panther? It’s hardly a complete operating system.
 
MacProFCP said:
I’ve had some small liquids on my laptops over the years. Nothing much like you’ve mentioned but some. I wiped it off and all was ok. My wife watches Netflix while doing the dishes and her 2012 (I think) MacBook still works fine.

Don’t get it “wet”, but a minor spill shouldn’t do damage.
Click to expand...

I was given a MacBook Pro that had red wine spilled on it. Wouldn't boot up at all... until 2 years later when I tried again, and voila! Up it comes! But it still didn't work well.
 
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coolfactor said:
In all of my years of using Macs, I never noticed this recent change! What a dumb idea! I just powered off my M1 Air to test it out, and you're right! Any key press will power on the machine. Talk about idiot-proofing to the extreme. Come on Apple... reverse this silly decision!
Click to expand...

Right. How are you supposed to wipe down the keyboard? Much less absorb any liquid while keeping it off?
 
coolfactor said:
In all of my years of using Macs, I never noticed this recent change! What a dumb idea! I just powered off my M1 Air to test it out, and you're right! Any key press will power on the machine. Talk about idiot-proofing to the extreme. Come on Apple... reverse this silly decision!
Click to expand...
That is why I dislike the fact that i can't wipe the keyboard. I mean i wiped it once and suddenly pressed multiple buttons which disabled half of my keyboard buttons - thought I flooded and after 3 days found out that i accidentally hit multiple shortcuts that turned on accessibility which disabled my keyboard.

So yeah, I want the thing to be off when i need it to be off.

Probably the only worse idiot proofing is done on Mercedes: one lady opened her door in the latest Mercedes Suv while stuck on the train rails - idiot-proofing mechanism powered off her SUV and she could not drive away and got smashed by a train. Like I don't need my car to be stalled and go to error state because I opened my door while in D or R.

PS. On the topic: had coke in my 2012 MBP - it was overheating for 7 days because of the short, sticking keys and then my bluetooth module stopped working but nothing more than that. Sticking keys got removed because i kept pouring and cleaning with 90% alcohol, overheating stopped for some reason, but bluetooth completely went out.
 
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When did it start that pressing any key turns a MacBook on? I have a MacBook Pro 2015 and it only powers on when I press the power button on the keyboard...

I spray disinfectant [alcohol] on it then wipe the keyboard and I pressed the power button by mistake, of course, it powers on but not others buttons/keys...
 
winxmac said:
When did it start that pressing any key turns a MacBook on? I have a MacBook Pro 2015 and it only powers on when I press the power button on the keyboard...

I spray disinfectant [alcohol] on it then wipe the keyboard and I pressed the power button by mistake, of course, it powers on but not others buttons/keys...
Click to expand...
I think 2016 MBP. The re-designed model with touch-bar I mean.
 
ctjack said:
Probably the only worse idiot proofing is done on Mercedes: one lady opened her door in the latest Mercedes Suv while stuck on the train rails - idiot-proofing mechanism powered off her SUV and she could not drive away and got smashed by a train. Like I don't need my car to be stalled and go to error state because I opened my door while in D or R.
Click to expand...
Sounds like there's more to the story.
The one terrible automation MB does have is lane guidance that aggressively drops power + brakes hard on one side if crossing lanes when not indicating.
Off course I'm going to have to check this open door thing now on my car, unfortunately no train tracks here though ;)

Edit: my A-class. Opening driver's door whilst not moving in Drive, auto-activates into Park mode, ePark brake also.
 
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