The Official "I spilled liquid in my MacBook, what do I do now?" Thread

dying4004 said:

I already know the repair cost mate. I am from Australia. and Logicboard is gonna cost around $800 and keyboard will take another $200.

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Most folks don't…that's why I mentioned it.

dying4004 said:

I am fine with the prices.

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Yes. Since you have a very new model computer…the replacement cost is probably worth it.

Good luck,

- Nick

p.s. Kinda weird that the Apple Store folks told you NOT to replace the logic board…because they couldn't guarantee that it would work after the repair. It's their job to figure out what's wrong…and make it right…so they CAN guarantee the work.

cwa107 said:

Unlikely. The only thing that I would be concerned with would be the SSD module, which is about the only component not soldered fast to the logic board in that model. Of course fans and sensors could be a problem too, but I would personally risk it, rather than buying new.

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thnx mate. thats pretty much my thinking as well.

SSD seems to be working at the moment as i can see login screen with my custom wallpaper but lets see how it goes after i see the apple authorised repair center

cwa107 said:

Another thing to consider are companies that do component level repairs. Especially with Apple logic boards being so expensive.

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This man here knows his stuff if the OP wants to go that way and save $$$. His typical repair cost is $250.

dtravis7 said:

This man here knows his stuff if the OP wants to go that way and save $$$. His typical repair cost is $250.

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I am from Australia.

just got assessment report from the repair shop. Pretty much everything inside is affected by water except SSD.

Repair cost is gonna be $1600 AUD.

I have accepted to repair it as all the affected parts will be new and will give my warranty back and i still have over an year warranty, no data loss and new mbp will cost $3800 AUD.

hopefully it will be fixed next as they said.

lets see how it goes

That is an expensive repair. But as you said...significantly less than a new replacement computer.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

That is an expensive repair. But as you said...significantly less than a new replacement computer.

- Nick

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yes mate.

and they said my apple warranty will continue as well.

Yes you really need to stress that, "I am from Australia" bit,or perhapes more importantly, I am IN Australia. You need to go to your profile page and add that information. You will notice mine (under my name to the left) so I understand your plight and sympathise about the prices. My MBP cost me AU $2500.00 on sale from Harvey Norman.

dying4004 said:

I am from Australia.

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I just saw your reply. The guy in the URL I showed you fixes macs from all over. He did one for a soldier overseas. Had him ship it. Still hundreds less than Apple would have charged.

Rod Sprague said:

Yes you really need to stress that, "I am from Australia" bit,or perhapes more importantly, I am IN Australia. You need to go to your profile page and add that information. You will notice mine (under my name to the left) so I understand your plight and sympathise about the prices. My MBP cost me AU $2500.00 on sale from Harvey Norman.

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yeah mate. our special australian prices.

dtravis7 said:

I just saw your reply. The guy in the URL I showed you fixes macs from all over. He did one for a soldier overseas. Had him ship it. Still hundreds less than Apple would have charged.

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didnt think shipping a laptop overseas to get fixed is an option.

thanks for the info though

water spilled over

he water does not have much time to seep through the small holes in the paper under the keyboard. The paper under the keyboard is glued at all edges with seep holes for various mountings and cables. Also, removing the battery connection to the logic board removes power which should drastically decrease chances of damage. Besides the water test strips that turned red inside the chassis, everything is functioning perfectly as before; except my self loathing for making such a bone headed mistake.

unlockiphonese said:

he water does not have much time to seep through the small holes in the paper under the keyboard. The paper under the keyboard is glued at all edges with seep holes for various mountings and cables. Also, removing the battery connection to the logic board removes power which should drastically decrease chances of damage. Besides the water test strips that turned red inside the chassis, everything is functioning perfectly as before; except my self loathing for making such a bone headed mistake.

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Don't hate yourself too much. On another forum, we had a thread, running into hundreds of posts, about what redress one could expect from Apple after dropping iPads onto various hard surfaces. It appeared that people didn't clue into the fact that concrete and glass don't mix very well, and the glass usually comes off a very poor second. I, and others, had some laughs about the various stories which resulted in the (quite unreasonable) destruction of an iPad, and yet...

It took reading through some of the posts on this thread to make me realize that whenever I'm at home, my MBP is ALWAYS perilously close to either a cup of coffee or a bottle of beer. No more. My stupidity has not diminished, but I've learned from the wisdom of others that I have been within a whisker of a calamity. Now, no liquids are allowed within splash range of my electronics. So thank you to all contributors to this thread.

KevinJS said:

It took reading through some of the posts on this thread to make me realize that whenever I'm at home, my MBP is ALWAYS perilously close to either a cup of coffee or a bottle of beer. No more. My stupidity has not diminished, but I've learned from the wisdom of others that I have been within a whisker of a calamity. Now, no liquids are allowed within splash range of my electronics. So thank you to all contributors to this thread.

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If you have little ones at home...or pets (especially cats)...this can be a VERY risky situation.

Yes...reading these horror stories time after time (new & old)...my wife & I are super careful when liquids are near our computers! We have a big dog...and between his big nose & big tail...almost anyting can happen!

- Nick

I have a large executive desk on which I have my iMac sitting among other things like my two printers and so forth. My cat thinks that the empty space behind my iMac is a nice warm place for her to lay down and go to sleep! For that reason I never place any drink or food items close by and try to keep her paws off my keyboard. ;D

Macbook pro keyboard typing in all caps and symbols after water spill

So after spilling water on the keyboard of my macbook pro I did what this thread said and powered down my macbook and removed it from it's charger. I turned it upside down and let it dry for three days next to a fan. This morning I turned it on and it powered up normally.

Everything functions fine except the keyboard. Anything that I type shows up in all caps and weird symbols*such as: ÅÍÎÏ.

is there anyway to fix this besides repairing the keyboard completely? Should I give it more time to dry out or do you think the keyboard is already damaged beyond repair?

Also want to mention that when I plug it into an external keyboard everything works fine.

Kattales said:

Everything functions fine except the keyboard. Anything that I type shows up in all caps and weird symbols*such as: ÅÍÎÏ.

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If the keyboard is not operating correctly...then everything is not working fine ("everything" means everything). The keyboard on a portable computer is a very very important component.

The keyboard has a circuit board beneath it...and a ribbon cable that plugs into the logic board. So these electronic components could have been damaged by liquid before the liquid got to the logic board.

Yes powering down the computer after a liquid spill can help. But remember...electrical damage like this can happen in milliseconds. MUCH faster than any human can react.

Some things to look into:

1. Yes...maybe let things dry out longer (long shot).
2. Maybe replacing the keyboard may help.
3. Try using an external keyboard...and see if this helps.

- Nick

Kattales said:

So after spilling water on the keyboard of my macbook pro I did what this thread said and powered down my macbook and removed it from it's charger. I turned it upside down and let it dry for three days next to a fan. This morning I turned it on and it powered up normally.

Everything functions fine except the keyboard. Anything that I type shows up in all caps and weird symbols*such as: ÅÍÎÏ.

is there anyway to fix this besides repairing the keyboard completely? Should I give it more time to dry out or do you think the keyboard is already damaged beyond repair?

Also want to mention that when I plug it into an external keyboard everything works fine.

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Hello and welcome to the forum! You've not told us the model/age of your MBPro or whether the laptop is still under warranty? But your KB is likely damaged permanently and w/ time and potential further corrosion of water remaining inside the machine, further and more significant problems may arise.

First, I hope that you have your computer backed up and your important files saved in a place(s) other that the Pro's HD. Second, I would suggest that you take the machine to an Apple store if one is near or an authorized Apple dealership for an evaluation and estimate of replacement of the KB. Good luck - Dave

Thank you!!! (plus a tip that might help someone else)

About 6 weeks ago, I was drinking a diet soda and fell asleep on my macbook air (mid 2012). Narcolepsy is awesome. Anyway, I woke up hours later to the soda can lying over the keyboard (laptop still plugged in and running), and when I picked it up liquid was dripping from the bottom. Sat it on a pillow and enough ran out the bottom to soak a 12" circle on it. I hopped on here on my phone to see what I should do (still hadn't unplugged it), read for a bit, and freaked out. I unplugged and powered down, sat the mac-teepee over a towel, and held a hair dryer to one side (with my hand in front and on the cooler cycle to be sure I wasn't going hot).

I turned it back on after about 3 intermittent hours of the blowdryer and about 12 hours total in a room beside a dehumidifier. It made horrifying noises, weird screen with symbols, and the charger mag wouldn't even register that it had plugged to the laptop. Thought for sure it was a total goner, and started online shopping for a replacement.

Turned it back on after a few meltdowns about the cost of a new one, and somehow it worked perfectly without a hitch, and has ever since. I have no idea how I got that lucky. Had I not read this and seen where some had started out acting like they were destroyed and then somehow recovered, I would have likely trashed it after the first check - especially since I think I did EVERY SINGLE THING wrong.

So, my two cents - buy a laptop stand for the crazy moments, don't drink at the mac, use cool (hand-tested) hairdryer to maybe speed up the drying, and WAIT. And even if it isn't working after you wait the full 72 hours that you really need to, give it a bit more time...maybe you'll get lucky!

Nice story, but it isn't over yet. Come back and tell us when your MacBook Air crashes and won't turn on again..... Diet Soda is like cyanide - deadly poison for computers.