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inaco

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2009
2
0
Well I got the new 13" Macbook and yesterday I spilled some on it, actually it wasn't water. it was beer, that doesn't really make a difference, does it?. liquid as liquid. well it spilled like 1/3 of a beer can right over the keyboard it took about one second and the screen went completely black and the little green light on the power cord turned off as well. I was in complete shock so I just flipped the laptop over and removed the battery and the power cord as fast as I could, screamed for my mother(in panic, haha) to get something to clean it up with. she ran down to get some paper and we cleaned it up as best we could, and I waited a couple of hours, I hooked up the battery and turned it on. But only the fan sounded and still the screen was black, at this moment i actually thought my lovely computer had died and I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to get a new one from the insurance, so all I wanted was to try boot it up and hope it would work but my dear mother told me to wait a day or two before doing anything else with it, so I placed it against the radiator flipped open with the keyboard facing down, then I went to bed after some hours of panic, the other day I woke up I still thought the computer would be left in the grave but when I tried connecting the battery and all it worked just fine and now I'm typing this! Actually I think the Macbooks got some sort of automatic shutdown thing when liquid is spilled on it, or is this knows as a thing they have? I dont know.. Well if this ever happened to you and you read this as in great panic, just have patience really, it fu**ing hard I know but its worth it. We all love our MacBooks! keep em alive!
 
You took a huge risk waiting just 2 hrs before trying to boot it post-spill. For any kind of liquid spillage you really should wait minimum 2 days with the battery and the AC disconnected. You lucked out!
 
I think you saved it because you acted quickly, not because the macbooks have amazing build quality
 
A liquid sensor would be cheap, easy and effective, but I don't think there is one. Apple makes plenty of money from bricked laptops, so they have no incentive to add something like this.

There is one fundamental difference between beer and water: beer is sticky. Keep an eye out for keys sticking, as there may be beer between the keyboard membranes. Oh, and your computer will smell like a bottle depot for a while.
 
A liquid sensor would be cheap, easy and effective, but I don't think there is one. Apple makes plenty of money from bricked laptops, so they have no incentive to add something like this.

There is one fundamental difference between beer and water: beer is sticky. Keep an eye out for keys sticking, as there may be beer between the keyboard membranes. Oh, and your computer will smell like a bottle depot for a while.

iFixit.com said there were 7 liquid sensors below the keyboard? Stickers that are blue and turn white when exposed to water. Even Apple says dont leave you laptop anywhere wet, damp or in the fog for some reason :p
 
iFixit.com said there were 7 liquid sensors below the keyboard? Stickers that are blue and turn white when exposed to water. Even Apple says dont leave you laptop anywhere wet, damp or in the fog for some reason :p

I believe those are just to notify Apple of a liquid incident for warranty purposes rather than to shut the machine down... but I don't know that for sure.
 
I believe those are just to notify Apple of a liquid incident for warranty purposes rather than to shut the machine down... but I don't know that for sure.

oh yes of course sorry, so his laptops still working but warranty and applecare voided. Meh life could be worse.
 
Wow, you were really lucky. Things could be much worse, like a fried logic board if the beer seeped in the crack in front of the screen.
iFixit.com said there were 7 liquid sensors below the keyboard? Stickers that are blue and turn white when exposed to water. Even Apple says dont leave you laptop anywhere wet, damp or in the fog for some reason :p

Do you know if this is also for previous generation Mac's? That sounds like an amazing feature that should be on all laptops.

Or does anyone know if this feature is also on many more current PC laptops?
 
Wow, you were really lucky. Things could be much worse, like a fried logic board if the beer seeped in the crack in front of the screen.


Do you know if this is also for previous generation Mac's? That sounds like an amazing feature that should be on all laptops.

Or does anyone know if this feature is also on many more current PC laptops?

no, but i know its in the iPhone and all Apples iPods
 
Do you know if this is also for previous generation Mac's? That sounds like an amazing feature that should be on all laptops.

Or does anyone know if this feature is also on many more current PC laptops?

It's not a "feature", it's a way for the manufacturer to get out of having to make good on the warranty. It does nothing for the user.

Most electronic devices have something like this. Even my cheap-o cell phone has two of them, one on the battery and one on the body. It seems a piece of sellotape has become accidentally attached to them, which may coincidentally prevent them from getting wet in the event that the rest of the phone does. ;)
 
So whereabouts are these water sensors located? :confused:I'm curious, recently installed BSE on my MacBook Pro, so would hate to find out I may have voided my warranty.
Seriously though, traveling from extreme cold weather back to indoor heated environment alone would create a damp enough environment to throw these sensors off. I'm sure they're some type of paper related to litmus type paper....this is ridiculous for them not to own up on a warranty if the damage is not liquid related, say the hard drive gives out. Apple wouldn't want to see or hear how vexed I'd be.:mad:
 
So whereabouts are these water sensors located? :confused:I'm curious, recently installed BSE on my MacBook Pro, so would hate to find out I may have voided my warranty.

I'm pretty sure installing mad cow disease would void your warranty, yes.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/15/inside_the_new_macbooks_lsi_battery_hd_and_ram.html

Seriously though, traveling from extreme cold weather back to indoor heated environment alone would create a damp enough environment to throw these sensors off. I'm sure they're some type of paper related to litmus type paper....this is ridiculous for them not to own up on a warranty if the damage is not liquid related, say the hard drive gives out. Apple wouldn't want to see or hear how vexed I'd be.:mad:

Try telling them that.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3302
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3425
 
It's not a "feature", it's a way for the manufacturer to get out of having to make good on the warranty.

I fail to see how the water "sensors" can be described as "a way for the manufacturer to get out of having to make good on the warranty". The warranty protects the purchaser from manufacturing defects. It is not insurance. I fail to see how a clumsy user pouring water over an electronic device is a manufacturing defect. :mad:
 
Well, that depends. If the damage is a result of the spill, then the user should have to pay for it. If the spill is entirely caught by the keyboard membrane and does no damage, but the logic board later fails for an unrelated reason, you're still screwed.
 
I fail to see how the water "sensors" can be described as "a way for the manufacturer to get out of having to make good on the warranty".

Ok simple hypothetical situation: you cry one day, some tears drop into your keyboard and activate a water sensor.

2 years later you walk into an Apple store because your magsafe is malfunctioning, they see the water sensors were activated, instantly warranty and Applecare voided, you have to pay for all your repairs, no matter what the problem, even if its completely unrelated.

Apple are really tight with their Warranty and Applecare, people try to scam them all the time "oh i cant imagine how half the swimming pool ended up in my laptop"etc etc so they have to be harsh

:):apple:
 

I'm clear as far as my Touch goes, no red or pink down the headphone jack....
looking at the placement of the LSI's on the MacBook Pro, the worst chance I got is the one placed near the top to the trackpad......:(
BS, total BS.....:mad:
People do what they do to help protect and make thier devices last longer, its justified.
Where is the BS flag!?

Mad Cow Disease?? :confused:
 
So whereabouts are these water sensors located? :confused:I'm curious, recently installed BSE on my MacBook Pro

For those of you who are a bit slow, BSE = Mad Cow Disease, and the guy above (BlueRevolution) who first mentioned it was just joking about it, it doesnt have anything to do with this thread.
 
For those of you who are a bit slow, BSE = Mad Cow Disease, and the guy above (BlueRevolution) who first mentioned it was just joking about it, it doesnt have anything to do with this thread.

Right, cuz when I'm @ a Mac Forum, discussions about Mad Cow disease are the norm, especially in the "Help" sub-topic.

And it completely has everything to do with the topic to begin with .....

And no, nobody just wanted to show off how smart they think they are by identifying an acronym he may have just discovered in high school.:cool:

Sorry I can't get you a cookie:rolleyes:
 
Why wouldn't he want a cookie? I'll throw in a sense of humour too, but now we're really getting off topic. At this point, just hope for the best. There isn't much point in disassembling your computer to check the indicators, particularly since that would probably void your warranty anyway.
 
It's not a "feature", it's a way for the manufacturer to get out of having to make good on the warranty. It does nothing for the user.

Most electronic devices have something like this. Even my cheap-o cell phone has two of them, one on the battery and one on the body. It seems a piece of sellotape has become accidentally attached to them, which may coincidentally prevent them from getting wet in the event that the rest of the phone does. ;)

awesome :D
 
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