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Spilled beer on macbook pro. It won't turn on :(

R

rohnypod

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
9
0
I spilled a little beer on my mac book pro when it was completely shutdown and in closed position. I immediately wiped off any beer on top of the macbook. But in the morning when I woke up and opened the mac book I saw liquid(beer) at the bottom 1/4th of screen and top 2 rows of keyboard and on the powerbutton area. I immediately wiped off and tried to turn it on and it didn't. I made couple of attempts in turning it on and then left it untouched. After 5 mins or so, it turned on itself without displaying anything and then shutoff. Then I read couple of forms which said leave it untouched for couple of days. I left it for a day and tried turning it on but didnt work. So now I removed battery also. I'l wait for another 2 days before turning it on.

Any suggestions if I need to do anything else?
Please help.
 
Ouch. Rough first post. You joined just for this, huh?

I have a feeling your doomed. I spilled some bottled water on my Macbook pro two years ago, there is still a perfect line down the screen about 1/3 of the way on the right, about 1" wide. I called Apple and took it to Apple Store, they both said it would be about $1200 to fix.

I was lucky. This was bottled water, relatively little additives or minerals. Beer is, um, not so pure (unless it was Bud Light. Might as well be water!! Yuck!!). So you have sticky stuff in there too, not just frying of connections to deal with, like I did/do.

From what I've read, what you should've done, is not turned it on, turn it upside down, shake it out as much as possible, and perhaps blow a fan in there to try and dry it off. Wait at least 24 hours before turning it on.

Others have mentioned putting ipods or laptops in the oven at 150 degrees to speed up the evaporating process. This scares me. It's like leaving it in a sealed car in Phoenix in July for 2 hours. I don't want to do that to my computer.

In conclusion, my first guess is that you're screwed. Might I suggest a new MacBook Pro or iPad? I heard they're lovely. But to be sure, I'd take it into an Apple store and have them take a look at it.
 
I'm sure it is not more than 15-20ml.. I know I'm screwed but trying to make it work :(
 
Ouch that sucks. Put it in a large bowl of rice. I hear it resurrects iPhones that had liquid damage.
 
Rithem said:
Ouch that sucks. Put it in a large bowl of rice. I hear it resurrects iPhones that had liquid damage.
Click to expand...

dam, was about to say this.


Yeah, take a giant bowl of rice and plop it down in the middle, and then pour some more on top. Wait a day or two and then put the battery back in.
 
I actually had a friend spill an entire beer on my unibody pro a year ago during the NBA playoffs. I immediately powered off removed te battery and put it sideways with a fan running in front, it worked fine after a week of drying..... Sold it on craiglist just to be safe though :p and bought a newer one with beefier specs
 
The alcohol more then likely screwed things up. Don't know if much can be done how. However for future, after a spill check everything. I would have not only whipped the top, but also the inside, as well as even popping it open to make sure nothing did get on the insides. Always let equipment dry off fully before powering on.
 
What you had to do was leave it with the keyboard downwards, unplug it, remove the battery and don't touch it

Probably those attempts you made just burned your computer if it wasn't already
 
Actually liquids and electronics of any kind are a no-no. 90% of the time the -complete- story involves some other really stupid act which results in the spill. We just got the "I spilled beer" part, not the part where the MBP was left on a Beer Pong table lol

TheBritishBloke said:
Good luck getting it working. But even if it does work again, this should teach you the lesson which we all know here.

No food or drink near the Mac! lol
Click to expand...
 
That sucks dude. You could try and go to Apple and hopefully catch a genius on their nice day.
 
I just spilled some beer on the left side of my mbp -- the tiny speaker holes on the left and the left 1/3rd of the keyboard. I wiped it off, turned it upside down. It was actually still on and I had to shut down all my running apps while it was upside down, including shutting down Mac OS. I unplugged it and it's now sitting upside down on a metal rack with a fan blowing at it from below. Is there anything else i should do? I hear about removing the battery but doesn't doing that void warranty?
 
LisaMaree said:
I just spilled some beer on the left side of my mbp -- the tiny speaker holes on the left and the left 1/3rd of the keyboard. I wiped it off, turned it upside down. It was actually still on and I had to shut down all my running apps while it was upside down, including shutting down Mac OS. I unplugged it and it's now sitting upside down on a metal rack with a fan blowing at it from below. Is there anything else i should do? I hear about removing the battery but doesn't doing that void warranty?
Click to expand...

unpluging the battery does not void the warranty, removing the battery voids the warranty.
 
LisaMaree said:
I just spilled some beer on the left side of my mbp -- the tiny speaker holes on the left and the left 1/3rd of the keyboard. I wiped it off, turned it upside down. It was actually still on and I had to shut down all my running apps while it was upside down, including shutting down Mac OS. I unplugged it and it's now sitting upside down on a metal rack with a fan blowing at it from below. Is there anything else i should do? I hear about removing the battery but doesn't doing that void warranty?
Click to expand...

Just keep it like this for a few days and don't turn it on. If I were you I'd leave it untouched for 4-5 days and then try turning it on. If it doesn't work, sell it on CL or ebay and buy a new one.
 
pukifloyd said:
Just keep it like this for a few days and don't turn it on. If I were you I'd leave it untouched for 4-5 days and then try turning it on. If it doesn't work, sell it on CL or ebay and buy a new one.
Click to expand...

I plan on keeping it like this for at least a week. What about taking out the battery though? Should I or not? And if it doesn't work and sell it on CL or ebay, I'd have to mention the spill won't I? If so, I guess that means no buyer...

It's a 17" i5. From the ifixit teardown page (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Unibody/618/2), it looks like the logic board is on the left side so i assume i screwed myself on the worst possible place i could have spilled.
 
LisaMaree said:
I plan on keeping it like this for at least a week. What about taking out the battery though? Should I or not? And if it doesn't work and sell it on CL or ebay, I'd have to mention the spill won't I? If so, I guess that means no buyer...

It's a 17" i5. From the ifixit teardown page (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Unibody/618/2), it looks like the logic board is on the left side so i assume i screwed myself on the worst possible place i could have spilled.
Click to expand...

liquids and computers do not mix.

if you can remove the battery, do it. If you have to disassemble the machines to do it (newer ones) then that's your call if you feel comfortable doing so. I wouldn't turn it on for a few days either. The bad of rice trick can't hurt.
 
sdsvtdriver said:
liquids and computers do not mix.

if you can remove the battery, do it. If you have to disassemble the machines to do it (newer ones) then that's your call if you feel comfortable doing so. I wouldn't turn it on for a few days either. The bad of rice trick can't hurt.
Click to expand...

I just don't have the tools to do it. Also, taking it out voids warranty right? Or is this no longer any concern at all since the spill already voided it? And if i end up not taking out, is this ok or not? My thinking is that the mbp is upside down now so any liquid isn't going to touch it right?

I read about the rice thing but i don't have any in the house now. If i leave the mbp upside down with a fan blowing under it, is this essentially the same thing?
 
LisaMaree said:
I just don't have the tools to do it. Also, taking it out voids warranty right? Or is this no longer any concern at all since the spill already voided it? And if i end up not taking out, is this ok or not? My thinking is that the mbp is upside down now so any liquid isn't going to touch it right?

I read about the rice thing but i don't have any in the house now. If i leave the mbp upside down with a fan blowing under it, is this essentially the same thing?
Click to expand...

You spilled liquid on it. The warranty is void unless the tech is blind and misses beer residue on the logic board.

The liquid is already inside. upside down, crooked, suspended by cables.. it is all irrelevant. The fan isn't going to do much either. The water part of the beer needs to evaporate and the rice will help with that in a closed environment. Hopefully no conductive residue is left behind.

The best thing to do is have someone disassemble the machine and clean the area with electronics cleaner to ensure nothing is left on the circuit board.
 
I've washed a lot of electronic devices in ivory soap and water using a shaving brush to apply the lather.

That may sound strange to you, but as long as the device is completely rinsed and thoroughly dry before activating it, it's usually fine. I've disassembled and washed TV remotes, printers, and even a monitor once.

They've all survived to live long clean lives. :)
 
sdsvtdriver said:
You spilled liquid on it. The warranty is void unless the tech is blind and misses beer residue on the logic board.

The liquid is already inside. upside down, crooked, suspended by cables.. it is all irrelevant. The fan isn't going to do much either. The water part of the beer needs to evaporate and the rice will help with that in a closed environment. Hopefully no conductive residue is left behind.

The best thing to do is have someone disassemble the machine and clean the area with electronics cleaner to ensure nothing is left on the circuit board.
Click to expand...

I don't know anyone at all who could disassemble and clean it. This is the only service i found on CL but it looks shady: http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cps/1900549752.html

Anyone a regular on the forums, live in NYC and could help me out? I'd pay of course.

Maybe the best way is to leave it upside down with fan as i have now, wait a week, then do the rice thing after? Just to be able to do both methods and be extra safe? I have read the upside down fan thing could possibly work too so since I'm already doing that, might as well give it a shot?

I should also mention that I actually did this once before to a different mbp (pre unibody) but it was water and not beer. I left it upside down with a fan for 3-4 days and it has worked fine ever since (about a year ago). But I took the battery out since it was easier to do (I am obviously a clumsy person and fiddling with inside computer parts is bad news for me). Since this is beer, I think the damage would be worse but if it's a matter of getting the water to evaporate then it seems that either using rice or putting it upside down, time will take care of it in a week right?
 
Merkava_4 said:
I've washed a lot of electronic devices in ivory soap and water using a shaving brush to apply the lather.

That may sound strange to you, but as long as the device is completely rinsed and thoroughly dry before activating it, it's usually fine. I've disassembled and washed TV remotes, printers, and even a monitor once.

They've all survived to live long clean lives. :)
Click to expand...

Do you live in NYC :)
 
rohnypod said:
I spilled a little beer on my mac book pro when it was completely shutdown and in closed position. I immediately wiped off any beer on top of the macbook.
Any suggestions if I need to do anything else?
Please help.
Click to expand...

Someone just spilled some beer on my macbook pro. It shut down instantly and I had the reaction of turning it on. Soon I thought it might be worse and forced shut down. I dried it out completely and I let it dry some more with the aid of a heater, from a certain distance.

Can you please tell me what happened with your computer at the end. I'm taking it to a service tomorrow first thing, but I'm wonder which could be the long term effects of this mess. Thank you.

----------
Reapur said:
unpluging the battery does not void the warranty, removing the battery voids the warranty.
Click to expand...

Someone just spilled some beer on my macbook pro. It shut down instantly and I had the reaction of turning it on. Soon I thought it might be worse and forced shut down. I dried it out completely and I let it dry some more with the aid of a heater, from a certain distance.

Can you please tell me what happened with your computer at the end? I'm taking it to a service tomorrow first thing, but I'm wonder which could be the long term effects of this mess. Did it ever came back? Did it cost you a lot?

Thanks in advance,
 
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