water spill on ibook...eeeek

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kelseyq

Guest
okay, last night, i somehow managed to upset part of my bookshelf and rain down 12-13 heavy books on top of my open and turned on ibook...as well as knock a glass of water into the keyboard. i immediately turned the computer off and flipped it over, hoping the water would drain out.

this morning, my roommate turned it on and it immediately froze, and when i tried to reboot the screen went dead. i called mac support and tried a number of reboots, and eventually got it to flash the sadface/question mark thing. upon booting it from the install disk, the computer couldn't recognize the hard drive (disk utility listed only the inserted cd.) i was bummed and expected a fried hard drive...but, to my supreme excitement, after letting it drain in the upside down and open position for a few hours, i got it to boot up normally. the computer operated fine for about an hour, then froze completely and refused to reboot (exactly as before). i'm typing on it now, after it spent a few more hours in the drying position.

i know absolutely nothing about computer hardware, but it seems like this behavior would indicate some sort of loose connection or a connection problem rather than a fried hard drive. my question is...is there anything i could do to fix this myself, rather than take it into the apple store and pay out the nose? i don't even know how to pop it open (remove the keyboard.) advice?

--kelsey
 
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prophet

Guest
now that just plain sucks...

you have my sympathies, but I doubt I could help you any.
 
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Well I think to open it up, you'll nees special tools...

To open the keyboard, turn the screw / num pad light until it's straight and then pull down the 2 little clips at the top sides of the keyboard and carefully pull up.

That's all I know ;)

But I'd try letting it dry like 48 hours and see if the problem just goes away...
 
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VastDeathmaster

Guest
Many times, when someone spills water onto a laptop the rule is to let it completely dry out. That may take several days instead of just one.

I've taken my ibook completely apart, (was thinking of changing the case color, but didn't) and it requires a set of Jewelers screwdrivers (philips) and torx wrenches, though I don't recall exactly which ones.

Taking the machine apart is a tedious process so it isn't recommended.

It sounds like the books did more damage than just the water.
 

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