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water damage :(

P

poematik13

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 5, 2014
1,591
2,844
I accidentally bumped a cup of water next to my MBP and it spilled a little onto the vent under the screen / between the keyboard. It was fine but I turned it off to wipe the keyboard down, and then it wouldnt turn back on anymore. I let it sit for a while and now it turns on but the trackpad no longer responds and the system shuts off randomly.

its done for, right? i dont have applecare and my warranty expired last year. There are lots of shops that do "water damage repair" to macbooks, are they worth the money/time?

anybody else have experience which sad situations like these?
 
If you have an Apple store nearby I would take it to them and ask for a repair quote. Even if you don't get them to repair it, a quote is a good place to start - that way, you know exactly what's wrong with it and can shop around to other repair places or even attempt the repairs yourself.
 
its a 15" cMBP, 2.3 i7, 16GB ram and a samsung 840 evo 750GB SSD. its my baby :((

it works now somewhat...its fine when its plugged into power but the trackpad is totally shot i have to use a mouse.

i setup an appt with the genius bar for thursday to take it in and see how much itll cost to clean it out and replace the parts that are damaged. im expecting something around/under 500
 
I took it to a apple certified repair shop and they quoted me 750 for the repair. 600 for a new logic board and 150 for labor. The trackpad is fine apparently, but its the wiring/chips on the logic board that control it that are fried, so the whole thing needs to be replaced.

idk...is it worth it? or should I just get a new one? the shop told me I should just use a mouse from now on and dont repair anything
 
ugh, my wife LOVES to test my OCD when it comes to liquids around her MBP. sorry for your loss.
 
I think im just going to sell this on craigslist for a reduced price, and then put some money together and get a refurbished retina that has similar specs
 
if you sell it, make sure you let the buyer know its water damaged

mental note, always keep liquids away from your table.

Have a separate small table for your food and drinks if you have to have it within arms reach
 
With liquid spills especially with just water a bit of quick thinking can make it not much of a problem.

Never did it to any of my Macs, I lecture every client about it but having friends over after a few drinks I went and did to my own old T43p thinkpad; half a glass of water all over the keyboard. In a matter of a few seconds I had it upside down hard powered off then it took a trip to my airing cupboard where it sat for 2 days with the display stuck through one of the wooden slats backward at about 120 degrees, the keys facing downwards dripping onto a towel letting Isaac Newton save it for me. Worked absolutely fine afterwards and when I opened it up a few months later to re-do the thermal paste I couldn't see a stain inside. Though for liquids other than water the affected parts need washing down with isopropyl, cola is the worst..

Rubbing water off the keyboard just adds to the ingress; flipping upside down and staying upside down and holding that power button down till it shuts off then patience letting it dry out are the key things to do to rectify your huge, huge mistake that I'm even more aware of than most..
 
Sorry to hear about the accident. Perhaps in the future, you can invest in a laptop stand to raise the computer up off the desk. That's what I do, and it saved my bacon a number of times.

As for your current predicament, You may have not given it enough time to dry out. Your only option at this stage is to have apple look at it, and give you an estimate imo.
 
What a sad thing to happen to a t43p! And your advice is right on. Surviving a spill is getting it turned upside down and OFF.
Man, the t43 was a good box. I fell in love with the x series starting with the 31, and have never forgotten the day I dropped my x60 from the top of my F150 bed to bare concrete at a clients workplace. All it did was chip the fan housing at the back of the laptop. Still absolutely love thinkpads.


Gav Mack said:
With liquid spills especially with just water a bit of quick thinking can make it not much of a problem.

Never did it to any of my Macs, I lecture every client about it but having friends over after a few drinks I went and did to my own old T43p thinkpad; half a glass of water all over the keyboard. In a matter of a few seconds I had it upside down hard powered off then it took a trip to my airing cupboard where it sat for 2 days with the display stuck through one of the wooden slats backward at about 120 degrees, the keys facing downwards dripping onto a towel letting Isaac Newton save it for me. Worked absolutely fine afterwards and when I opened it up a few months later to re-do the thermal paste I couldn't see a stain inside. Though for liquids other than water the affected parts need washing down with isopropyl, cola is the worst..

Rubbing water off the keyboard just adds to the ingress; flipping upside down and staying upside down and holding that power button down till it shuts off then patience letting it dry out are the key things to do to rectify your huge, huge mistake that I'm even more aware of than most..
Click to expand...
 
JHUFrank said:
What a sad thing to happen to a t43p! And your advice is right on. Surviving a spill is getting it turned upside down and OFF.
Man, the t43 was a good box. I fell in love with the x series starting with the 31, and have never forgotten the day I dropped my x60 from the top of my F150 bed to bare concrete at a clients workplace. All it did was chip the fan housing at the back of the laptop. Still absolutely love thinkpads.
Click to expand...

Accidents happen, it was likely Karma after lecturing so many clients about spills through the years I simply had to have a taste of my own medicine one day!

It was replaced by a T61p with hacked bios for sata2, whitelisting new wifi cards and CPU's and the 7 licence accidentally burnt in too. Has a 256Gb SSD with 4Gb and a T9500 CPU and runs like an absolute champ as my backup notebook still :D

It's not built like a brick like the older ones though..
 
thanks for the advice guys. Im def using a laptop stand from now on. it'll probably improve my posture too LOL

they quoted me 750 for the repair (600 for the logic board and 150 for labor)

im just gonna throw it on ebay and use the money towards a new one.

does anybody know any good ext. warranties that cover water damage?
 
Gav Mack said:
With liquid spills especially with just water a bit of quick thinking can make it not much of a problem.

Never did it to any of my Macs, I lecture every client about it but having friends over after a few drinks I went and did to my own old T43p thinkpad; half a glass of water all over the keyboard. In a matter of a few seconds I had it upside down hard powered off then it took a trip to my airing cupboard where it sat for 2 days with the display stuck through one of the wooden slats backward at about 120 degrees, the keys facing downwards dripping onto a towel letting Isaac Newton save it for me. Worked absolutely fine afterwards and when I opened it up a few months later to re-do the thermal paste I couldn't see a stain inside. Though for liquids other than water the affected parts need washing down with isopropyl, cola is the worst...
Click to expand...

FYI ... You never saw a water stain on the ThinkPad because they are designed to channel water out through little holes in the bottom of the chassis. Worst case, you would have had to replace the keyboard (~$100 for the part, depending on where you go.) All that other stuff you did to "save" the system was probably unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM
 
duervo said:
FYI ... You never saw a water stain on the ThinkPad because they are designed to channel water out through little holes in the bottom of the chassis. Worst case, you would have had to replace the keyboard (~$100 for the part, depending on where you go.) All that other stuff you did to "save" the system was probably unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM
Click to expand...

A t43p doesn't have those channels - the t410 made 4/5 years later in that video has. My t61p made just before the t410 doesn't either.

I'm a tech by trade btw :D
 
Unfortunately stuff happens, and there is little you can do. A couple weeks ago, I was using my current machine on the couch, and my son walked up with an M&M minis tube. He popped open the lid and water went flying all over my keyboard (checking the volume of water using the tube showed about 2.5oz. had left the container).

I immediately powered off with a hard shutdown, and proceeded to remove the logic board. I found water near the battery and nothing on either side of the logic board. I dried out the keyboard for the day with some moving air. I reassembled the machine, and things have been working like a charm since.

I got lucky this time. I had been tossing around purchasing AppleCare before the regular warranty ran out, but that decision has been made for me now. After a lifetime of no liquid incidents, I've had 2 in the last 6 months; both were at the hands of my son (still under 2). Statistics are a wonderful thing when they work in your favor, but when you reach an anomaly, it seems as if the odds are stacked against you.
 
meson said:
I got lucky this time. I had been tossing around purchasing AppleCare before the regular warranty ran out, but that decision has been made for me now.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, AppleCare for MacBooks doesn't cover water damage (unlike AppleCare+ for iPhone/iPad).
 
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