My sister spilled water on her Macbook! Help please!

My sister is 14 and she spilled a full glass of water on her Macbook keyboard. It shut off automatically. I took out the battery and turned the laptop upside down. I tried to aim a hair dryer at the vents, and now it is just sitting still drying out. It is showing no sign of life. Any tips or advice? Please and thank you.

 

Unfortunately the blowing air might serve to drive the water deeper in rather than dry it out. You could leave the machine upside down with the battery out for at least 36-48 hours, then reinstall the battery, cross your fingers, and try turning it on. Or take it to an Apple Store or reseller and have them take it apart and dry everything out; I have no idea how much this would cost, however, or whether the result would be any better.

One of my girls (20 and certainly old enough to know better) left her car window open and got "a few drops" of water on her MacBook's keyboard in a rain. When I took it apart it was clear water had reached almost a half inch depth under the hard drive, which was completely fried. I replaced that and the machine runs fine to this day but the battery died soon after, probably also from the dousing.

Good luck. Computers and liquids really do NOT mix...

 

Take it to the apple store may be the best idea.

 

Yeah, best let the techs take it apart and have a peek.

 

Do you know how much that might cost?
Or does anyone?

 

36-48 hours is BARE MINIMUM....and that's if you plan on completely taking the laptop apart. I would leave it for at least a week if you don't plan on taking it apart or ultimately take it to an Apple store. Too many times, people plug in wet electronics before all traces of water have evaporated and therefore end up killing the device because of their own impatience.

I had a full cup of coffee get dumped into the keyboard of a laptop. I immediately pulled the power and battery and turned it upside down to let the excess coffee drain out. After completely disassembling the laptop and leaving it for 2 days to dry out (including completely washing the keyboard under tap water to remove all the coffee sugar), to this day, it still works great!

 

depends on what is broke. They do give free estimates, so no risk there.

 

Take your sister and have her cry, they might feel sorry and lower the price, who knows it might help

I'd let it dry for a couple of days, depending on how much water actually got in it, I would leave it as long as possible. Maybe call Apple see if they have some suggestions.

There is the Rice trick. Get a container that the macbook will fit into and put the macbook in it and fill it with rice. seal the container and let it sit a couple days. The dry rice is suppose to help suck up the water. Make sure it's uncooked rice that is dry.

Instead of rice you can also use the silica gel packs, Those are those little packs that you find in shoe boxes or other electronics. They say do not eat. That might be the better choice if you can find a couple of those.

Also after putting it in a container with silica gel packs maybe putting the container under a light to warm it and help evaporate the water.

***I am not responsible for any damages you may cause***

 

I like the rice idea, which I'd never thought of. A Tupperware-type container with a tight seal and a box of rice would set you back less than $10 and probably be as effective - at this point - as anything.

 

My personal advice... (Which may be very bad advice, but this is what I would do)

Take the Macbook apart as far as you feel comfortable (or have the tools for), and pour 90% isopropyl alcohol in it. The alcohol will mix with the water, and evaporate much faster.

Leave it off for several days, preferably in a warm area in direct sunlight.

Being that you've already tried to start it up again though, I'm going to assume that it's fried now, but it never hurts to try the above stuff.

 

I vote for taking it to an Apple store or at least calling them up and asking for the expenses.

 

Minimum you will need to replace the keyboard for testing.
The keyboard houses the power switch along with the track pad and that likely has gone out.
Therefore once the laptop has been dried out, you will need to find a keyboard, keep in mind that there were several versions of this keyboard via model year.
eBay is the best place. $30 - $70
OR if you have palmrest staining or chipping going on around the edges of the top/keyboard and you are very very good at sweet talking, just maybe you can get the genius bar people to replace the keyboard due to the chipping, the problem here is if they can't turn it on prior to check the embedded serial number and the water damage, they likely will tell you to no due to water damage


The Apple store will look at it and tell you flat fee $750 to repair "white or black Macbook"
Apple WILL NOT offer a simple component repair/replacement.
This repair will maintain the warranty as they will repair/replace all that is needed.
Once Apple confirms water damage, they WILL note that serial number in the database as such, good bye apple care.
The internal metals stains in such a way via corrosion and its very easy to identify.


Unless you try a replacement power switch/keyboard, you can press that power button as many times as you wish and get no further ahead.

Very easy to do, open it up and let it dry,
Upper Case
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Browse/MacBook

Once you have gone this far, you can visually see the top part of the logic board for corrosion & burnt components, keep in mind this is only half of the logic board as the underside also houses components.
Then make the determination to repair or not.
There is a person on eBay in Canada that offers a flat free repair for water damaged units at the component level.

I have purchased & repaired many of these types of macbooks via craigs list.

The key is get it dried out FAST, the Pram battery on the underside of the logic board will promote further corrosion if wet.

Finally, even a water damaged mac has good value on eBay, even without parts included such as ram, hard drive, battery & power adapter.

$'s depends on the model you have

Sometimes the replacement is only a few $'s if you purchase used & sell the damaged unit

 

Apple charges around $250 to fix water damage and continue apple care doesn't it? Or is that Dell I'm thinking of?

 

Not Apple

 

When you're drying out a laptop that has not been taken apart, it takes a VERY long time. 2 days is not nearly enough for it to dry. Remember that laptops are sealed pretty tight and there's not very much air movement, so it'll take a while to dry if not taken apart.