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Water Spilled on MBP

M

Major Sparky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2011
25
0
So my girlfriend spilled some water (about 1-2 oz.) on the top left part of the keyboard on her 2011 13in MBP. Nothing happened initially but then the screen started to flicker a bit, the mouse wouldn't move fluidly, and I got a pop-up saying that the usb port was drawing too much power and they had been turned off or something.

I immediately turned off the laptop and dried it as best as I could. Then after letting it sit for a few minutes I took the back off and dried off all the water I could find on the inside.

We haven't turned it back on yet and we're planning to wait about 48 hours until we try to fire it up. What do you think the damage could be? And how costly would the repair bill be? I've got some compressed air and some contact cleaner, would these be useful in trying to repair the PCB?
 
It's tough to say - depends on how much liquid and how far it seeps into the design. It could have only been spilled on the top left corner as you describe, but that could essentially effect every internal component if it spreads enough.

You may be looking at a costly repair bill unfortunately.
 
Major Sparky said:
What do you think the damage could be?
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Do you really expect a reliable answer to this? :eek:

And how costly would the repair bill be?
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$927.35 :D

I've got some compressed air and some contact cleaner, would these be useful in trying to repair the PCB?
Click to expand...
I can't tell if you shut the machine off immediately like you say. It sounds like your <cough> girl friend <cough> kept using it for a while.

I spilled 8 oz of unsugared coffee directly on top the keyboard on my MBP13 (same model as you). The difference is, I "immediately" (like in 2 seconds), disconnected the magsafe and held the power button down until it shut off. Then I held it upside down over my head to keep the liquid from spreading. Finally, I dashed to the crapper and held a blow dryer at a distance of 18 inches for 3 minutes or so with the macbook still upside down.

10 minutes after the spill I powered back up. That was 6 months ago and all has been fine since. Unfortunately, I didn't even bother buying AppleCare because I'm sure the liquid sensor was tripped.

I think at this point you do what you have to do to give you peace of mind before powering back up. It's just too hard to tell where that water went and also if anything got shorted out before you could truly shut things down.

Something tells me you'll be ok though. Good luck!
 
i would wait as long as possible, but if it was left on to the point where there were issues on screen, i would pray extra hard tonight.
 
Nothing happened initially but then the screen started to flicker a bit, the mouse wouldn't move fluidly, and I got a pop-up saying that the usb port was drawing too much power and they had been turned off or something.
Click to expand...
You obviously didn't turn it off immediately.

Damage could be somewhere between nothing to fatal (0 - $1000) :rolleyes:

You should dry the computer very well before turning it on again. Use hair dryer and leave it few days to dry (you never know where the water could be). If it were mine I would wait at least 1 week before turning it on again.
 
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Hi, the same thing happened to me two days ago! Water spill and the pop-up message that one usb port was drawing too much power. I wonder what happened to your MBP after the dry-up. Did you get it repaired?


Major Sparky said:
So my girlfriend spilled some water (about 1-2 oz.) on the top left part of the keyboard on her 2011 13in MBP. Nothing happened initially but then the screen started to flicker a bit, the mouse wouldn't move fluidly, and I got a pop-up saying that the usb port was drawing too much power and they had been turned off or something.

I immediately turned off the laptop and dried it as best as I could. Then after letting it sit for a few minutes I took the back off and dried off all the water I could find on the inside.

We haven't turned it back on yet and we're planning to wait about 48 hours until we try to fire it up. What do you think the damage could be? And how costly would the repair bill be? I've got some compressed air and some contact cleaner, would these be useful in trying to repair the PCB?
Click to expand...
 
I've once spilled 1/3 of beer bootle on my mac.

cleaned, dried, waited one night, everything is fine)

so it depends on your luck)
 
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