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spilled tea with milk and sweetner on MACBOOK! :( help :(

S

skylar.210

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2009
2
0
hi everyone...

i spilled tea (yerba mate) sweetened with almond milk and stevia all over my new macbook yesterday morning.

i immediately removed the battery and flipped it upside down in attempt to drain it. stupidly, i turned it back on to see if it'd work and it DID, like a charm.

quickly removed battery again and let it dry for a couple of hours face up. realized it should be upside down, flipped it over and it's stayed like that ever since. i also blew it dry with a blow dryer - setting on no heat, just air, low pressure.

do you think i'll have any luck?? please someone - some words of wisdom or my chances, please!:(
 
honestly, i can't see it going well mate,

i did the same with just milk two years ago, followed the same procedures, removed power, battery, tipped it upside down dried it up on the outside. left it for a few days. and then we had to pay £100 for a new keyboard and installation.

then apparently that made my applecare void, and i took the laptop in recently. and the genius told me that my laptops poor performance was due to the liquid damage two years ago, WTF! how could that be, it doesn't just stop working as well quite suddenly as a result of damage done so long ago.

now i will either pay £767 to fix a £500 pound machine, or go through home insurance, and they will just buy me a new laptop, but its a bit of a hassle.

you're in for a rough ride mate.
 
no true

"WTF! how could that be, it doesn't just stop working as well quite suddenly as a result of damage done so long ago. "

its quite normal for things to erode over time due to liquid contact. two years seems like a lot but i've had a macbook pro break for apparently no reason, then opened it up to what looked like mold from a liquid spill i thought causedno problems and happened a year before.
 
I don't understand what the problem is!

You spilled milk on your laptop, and that sucks, but turned it on since, twice now, and it works fine.

Are you concerned it will not live much longer? Have you since turned it back on to find that it no longer works?

:confused:
 
Take the battery out, get it near a de-humidifier and put it in a bucket full of sand (of course make as much of a point to keep the sand away from getting into cracks, etc). This will allow the most amount of liquid to be pulled from the laptop...of course the longer you leave it in that condition, the better off it will be. Erosion will happen, basically try and try to get as much liquid crap out and be careful!
 
You need to rinse with distilled water and let the mb dry for two days. distilled water does not leave any conductive residue as milk and tea and sugar does.

Sugars are very conductive to electricity. Distilled water is NOT conductive at all. You need to clean it out.
 
Um, you are screwed. Especially because of the stevia, which for anyone who has ever used it will know, it leaves a nasty reside (I got it all over my hands one day...)
 
Perhaps if you placed a crumpet close by, the tea would be attracted and gravitate towards it.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
 
California said:
You need to rinse with distilled water and let the mb dry for two days. distilled water does not leave any conductive residue as milk and tea and sugar does.

Sugars are very conductive to electricity. Distilled water is NOT conductive at all. You need to clean it out.
Click to expand...

True story, pure water does not conduct electricity.
 
Take it apart and using a soft toothbrush gently scrub the goo off of the insides. Use distilled water and isopropyl alcohol to rinse. Make sure to air dry it at least 12 hours afterwards.
 
the trick its to put the macbook in a pile of rice, or a bag of rice, and let it sit there for a day, just put tape on the super drive so stuff doesnt go in since rice works at a sponge with liquid
 
Good time to start thinking about getting a new MB pro in June, don't you think?

De-humidifying with heat/air will take out the water but leave behind a corrosive combination of sugar, milk protein / sugars and tea tannins.

If your brave the isopropyl alcohol would work as it will clean and also remove water, but you'll have to get right inside.

Do you want to risk breaking your computer completely pulling it apart?
 
If I were you, I'd find an Apple authorized service center locally that you trust, and ask them if they would be willing to try cleaning the logic board and other components for you. I know there is a shop local to me that has done that kind of work before, hopefully you're lucky enough to have a good one around too.

The longer the sugars sit on the logic board, the more damage they're going to do. HOWEVER, unless you've got a good static-safe work environment at home, and feel comfortable tearing your machine apart, I wouldn't necessarily do the cleaning yourself, as you could pretty easily make the situation worse.

Lastly, of course, you can take the machine to Apple, who can send it away to their central repair facility for a fee, but it won't be cheap. On the upside, it'll put your machine back within warranty.
 
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