02-20-2010, 06:59 PM

Where can i find the right type of tools to unscrew? Sorry, I'm a female and not so much into DYI, have not done this before but I managed to unscrew 14 of them with the tip of a pair of scissors!
I bought my Mac only 3 months ago but it was second hand (although almost as new!) so Apple Care would not be an option anyway. I phoned a repair shop this afternoon and I was told it would be £53 just to open it up and diagnose what has been damaged. The guy also said that if it was the motherboard, I would be looking at £700 to replace it, ouch :-(

05-05-2010, 05:37 PM

hey Research, i stumbled upon your thread after googling what to do after having a major spill on my unibody MBP about 5 days ago. did everything the sticky thread told me to ie; take off the back shell, wipe down, lay on dry rice, waited 5 days etc, etc. i put it back together and initially only the indicator light came on, but after trying again a few hours later it booted up and i'm on it right now. everything works except the backlight on my keyboard.

I was in the same situation as you were where my macbook shut itself off after the accident. i was wondering if you could give us any updates on how your system is doing.

ThANKS and i'll continue to check up on this thread.

07-15-2010, 03:42 PM

Hey

I had a very similar situation to the guy in the original post. I split a cup of water on my macbook, I wiped it off but I didn't turn it off right away. It shut down about 10 min after, I took the battery out and flipped it upside down to dry. Two days later I tried to turned it back on and it worked for about 15 min and then shut down. I left it to dry for another three days and then tried it again, it worked for two hours then I turned it off. When I tried to use it again it would not turn back on right away, I finally got it to turn on but it shut down 10 min later.

I am not sure what to do now, let it dry more and hope for the best or take it in to get repaired? Any help or ideas about what might be wrong with it or how to fix it would be really appreciated!!

Thanks,
Jessica

01-05-2012, 09:05 PM

Just like ResearchGuy, I idiotically spilled a glass of water all over my macbook pro (Fall 2010 unibody). Most of it got into the keyboard and into the vent where the monitor meets the main body. The screen went black immediately.

When I picked my computer up off the counter, water was pouring out of it. I quickly unplugged it and opened the back, drying as much of it up as I could with a rag. Then I propped it up in front of a box fan and let it dry overnight and into the next day.

Today, I plugged it in and booted up for the first time. It booted up as usual. I tested each hardware functionality: brightness, key brightness, volume, headphones, usb, dvd drive--no problems. Suspicious, I ran a hardware test, which concluded with no problems as well.

I put in my startup disk and ran disk utilities (repair permissions and repair disk) though I know this won't do much. It completed in a normal fashion.

So far, it has been well over an hour since I booted up my computer, and it shows no sign of ever being spilled on (typing on it now). I consider myself very lucky, and thank ResearchGuy for giving me hope when the outlook was grim. I am aware that long-term corrosion is a possibility (the water was purified drinking water, not distilled). So far, so good however.

This was a scary and valuable lesson for me. Live and learn.

03-03-2012, 10:42 AM

It shut down two seconds after the water spilled over the keyboard. I mopped up and put it upside down over my bed, I couldn't attend to it as I was conducting a phone interview at the time. It wasn't charging at the time of the spill. My mom took it and turned it on (bad move), it started up no problem. I immediately turned it off when I saw that she did that, it was probably on for about a minute. I didn't turn it on or charge it at all since then. A computer repairman suggested that I leave it and blow-dry it every once in a while for at least three days, so that's what I've been doing. Today, I turned it on very nervously, and it seems to be okay! All my files are still here, and the keyboard seems to be functioning normally (albeit slightly stiffer, but hardly noticeable).

My question now is, should I be treating it any differently now (don't say "don't put any liquids near it" because that's pretty obvious now), and should I be expecting problems in the near future? What can I do to prevent these problems, or overcome them when they happen?

Thanks!

03-03-2012, 04:35 PM

We need a huge sign over the door


KEEP ALL LIQUIDS WELL AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER

This includes beer, wine, tea, coffee, water, soda pop, coke etc etc.

04-14-2012, 08:26 PM

yeah i recently spilled a glass of water on my macbook pro. something similar happened, i disassembled it, let it dry for about 2 days, and after reassembling it and crossing my fingers,i turned it on. Well it ran fine for about 10 min, then shut off. so i repeated the disassembling/reassembling process and now it looks like it's running okay (i'm using it right now!). I'm still dreading another shutoff, which undoubtedly harms the computer, would any of you advise taking it in somewhere to make it's alright?

much obliged,
nave

04-14-2012, 09:22 PM

Taking it somewhere is going to cost probably more than the machine is worth. Apple for example, will recommend changing the logic board - around a $500 or more repair. And I'm sure any other authorized Apple repair service center will be the same.

Just keep your fingers crossed and hope that there are no future failures. If you did a good job getting all the water and possible corrosion cleaned up, you may be OK.

07-17-2012, 12:39 PM

Back on January 5th, I posted in this thread about how I idiotically spilled an entire glass of water on my 2010 Macbook Pro. Well, it's been six months and my laptop still shows no signs of long-term damage (I use it daily for CG production and am typing on it now).

I'm still incredibly amazed my laptop survived all that water...I am never doubting Apple hardware again.

Tips from an idiot-spill survivalist: If you want to increase your computer's chances of making it through, do not turn your machine back on until you are absolutely sure it is completely dry. I know it can be anxious, but have a little patience––you might save yourself an expensive logic board replacement.

07-17-2012, 01:17 PM

Good advice. Glad to hear your MBP is alive and well.