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Help: Water (Kool Aid) damage

K

Kinneas

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 29, 2006
39
0
Waterloo, Ontario
Well it happened. I (my girlfriend actually) accidentally spilled about 50ml of koolaid (orange flavour) into the keyboard of my Macbook 13inch.

Now we do have lots of koolaid downstairs still so at this point I'm a little more worried about the computer. I cleaned it the best I could, let what would drip out do so when I let it sit upside down. I also put the crappy ram back in just in case.

Now it will boot up for 2 seconds. ie makes the 'whrrrrr' noise and the little light goes on for a bit. But the screen won't start and the computer seems to just turn back off. Any ideas?

This is still under warranty through Apple and American Express so as a last resort, I'll just get it replaced.

I'm thinking that it boots, does the apple equivalant to POST and notices a component is messed up.

Any suggestions or anything to make me feel better about losing that kool aid would be appreciated! =)


Thanks.
 
Remove the battery and definitely don't plug it into the mains. If you're lucky it will work again once dried out. Otherwise since you caused the damage, you're not covered by the Warranty and you'll have to pay for the repair (unless your AmEx covers accidental damage).

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Hopefully it will work once dry.

**crosses fingers**
 
AmEx will replace it no matter what, as long as it's within the time. See the problem is that it's kool aid. once it evaporates, there's just a bunch of sugar left behind. I'm going to try to open it.
 
Kinneas said:
AmEx will replace it no matter what, as long as it's within the time. See the problem is that it's kool aid. once it evaporates, there's just a bunch of sugar left behind. I'm going to try to open it.
Click to expand...

Don't open it up if AmEx will replace it no matter what. That would be a really dumb move. Just get it replaced and be on your way before they change their mind.
 
I have experience opening laptops. Just not this one. But I'm assuming itll show me the screws that void the warranty like most do?


Holy crap that's a lot of screws. http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/86.0.0.html

(I just want to clean the sugar off of it before it all evaporates and is impossible to clean)


EDIT: Plan B, listen to itasor

I was hoping to get it cleaned up a bit better with alcohol, but some of the screws are impossibly tight. I think they probably have the security thingy on the back letting them know it's been opened. Regardless AmEx would cover it if I threw it at a wall. Don't ask why, but they have in the past. I think it's more of a sales pitch to get people to use AmEx.
 
thoughtthrough.jpg
 
Haha you're my hero.

So I took it in to the local authorised retailer/service shop. The tech was out till Monday but the other guy looked at it, checked the RAM and basics and said there's no clear damage and that the tech will figure it out on Monday.

I just told him that I came back to it and it just wasn't working. I wonder how easy or hard it is to tell that it's water damage. I think I may have a good chance here because it was maybe 50ml of liquid, most of which I got off quickly, the rest came out quickly after tipping the computer.

Worst case scenario, I have to fill out all that crap that AmEx will make me do, so I can get up to $1000 to cover the repairs. AmEx comes with a 90 day after every purchase "accidental something or other" where even if they know I accidentally poured kool-aid into it, they'll pay the up to $1000.

Anyone had experience with mac repairs and the general costs?
 
^
^
^
That was uncalled for, Raven VII

Orange Koolaid ® is definitely the worst for laptops, next time stick to spilling water. What happens if you spray WD-40 on the parts in question? :)
 
It was funny. I give him props.

WD-40 is a lubricant. It would probably fry anything that wasn't already fried.

You would want to clean it with isopropyl alcohol

What I think is that if they find ANYTHING, it'll be sticky residue on some of the parts, around edges and crap. If they don't find anything, I'll most likely just get a new one that very second at the store.

If not, then I have to jump through hoops with AmEx but I HOPE it would be less than $1000 (CDN) to repair it. Probably just needs a new mainboard.
 
Kinneas said:
I just told him that I came back to it and it just wasn't working. I wonder how easy or hard it is to tell that it's water damage. I think I may have a good chance here because it was maybe 50ml of liquid, most of which I got off quickly, the rest came out quickly after tipping the computer.
Click to expand...

I hate to say it but I'm pretty sure they will be able to tell. Liquid damage is a very obvious thing to notice. I would see what others say....but I don't think I would lie about it.
 
I didn't lie. I just omitted the truth. Who knows? Maybe the damage occured a while ago and it affected it just now. Regardless, I'll see what the tech says. All I hope is that repairing it will be under $1000 so I don't have to pay anything. The annoying part is the paperwork and hoops to jump through to get AmEx to pay for it. They WILL, it's just tedious.
 
funkychunkz said:
Just eh?

Oh, and BTW the can says it cleans out moisture from electrical circuits.
Click to expand...

Well then. I always thought WD-40 and other mechanical lubricants would be conductors. Regardless, I'd rather use rubbing alcohol than WD 40 :p


And yeah; it was very little liquid that hit the far left area of the keyboard. The CPU is located to the centre top so it's probably fine. Dunno about airport and some other internal peripherals. I know you can get a chain reaction of frying hardware, but generally with low voltage devices such as laptops, it's whatever gets directly hit. It coule even start working again on Monday when the tech tries it. Probably just needs to let everything evaporate (too bad the sugar will stay).

There was such little liquid too, I'd be suprised if much got inside anyways. most of it got wiped up, the rest came out right away.
 
I spilt a load of larger in my MacBook Pro a while ago. Went all over the right hand speaker and underneath the keyboard. Of course I panicked and quickly shut it off (by holding the power button down). I then raced through to my parents room and stuck it under a hairdryer for 20 minutes. Everything was fine again...
 
You do know you're supposed to drink the Kool-Aid, buy in to the RDF, and then buy new Apple products, not pour the Kool-Aid into the Apple products, right?
Kinneas said:
There was such little liquid too, I'd be suprised if much got inside anyways. most of it got wiped up, the rest came out right away.
Click to expand...
50 ml sounds like a lot of liquid to spill on a MacBook to me. You're talking about 10 teaspoons worth of liquid, one fifth of a cup, 1.6 fl. oz. etc...

Anyhow, plan on starting the paperwork with AmEx. Applecare doesn't cover liquid spills and replacing the logic board, an likely the upper and lower casing will cost you ~US$1000 (at least it does for a 15" PB I have sitting under my desk at work. :()

Personally I'd avoide the WD-40, but just wanted to point out that WD stands for Water Displacer. The problem is that here you might displace the water to somewhere where it'll do even more damage...

B
 
macdaddy121 said:
I hate to say it but I'm pretty sure they will be able to tell. Liquid damage is a very obvious thing to notice. I would see what others say....but I don't think I would lie about it.
Click to expand...


My friend had a hole burned through her ipod, I mean right through the shell and Apple replaced it under warranty. I'm not kidding.
 
Kinneas said:
Well then. I always thought WD-40 and other mechanical lubricants would be conductors. Regardless, I'd rather use rubbing alcohol than WD 40 :p
Click to expand...

[urban myth?]WD-40 = Water Disappear-40th attempt. :p
 
there is a 0% chance of needing the LCD assembly replaced. The RAM is fine, the HDD will be fine. I'm sure it'll be under $1000CDN The laptop new cost $`1300CDN so worst case scenario, I get a new laptop for $300 with 0 wear on it.

This is the funny/ironic part. The kool-aid was in a measuring cyllinder at the time cause I was out of glasses. I also read it wrong and I'd say about 20ml now. Most of it came right out. But yeah it's too hard to tell without opening it and cleaning. I wasn't going to do that because it's under warranty with AmEx for the $1000 so why risk damaging more of the computer?

They'll call me tomorrow or Tuesday and probably be like. yeahhh water damage buddy. That's when i get the quote, we register the computer with the AmEx insurance and make a claim.

(by the way, I'm being really thourough here because I know how annoying it can be to be searing for similar issues, and never get enough information or steps/suggestions to follow)
 
You wouldn't want to spray WD-40 on anything, just for the smell alone. Your computer would smell like it for the rest of it's life.
 
Killyp said:
I spilt a load of larger in my MacBook Pro a while ago. Went all over the right hand speaker and underneath the keyboard. Of course I panicked and quickly shut it off (by holding the power button down). I then raced through to my parents room and stuck it under a hairdryer for 20 minutes. Everything was fine again...
Click to expand...
That's because the holes you think are where the speaker is, is really a black plastic shield. The MacBook Pro was made for people like you. It has black plastic shielding under the speakers, and plasctic shielding under the keyboard. The only thing you could damage that would cost you a fortune is if liquid got splashed onto the screen and dripped down to the inverter to short it out. Which, eventually shorts out the screen which is about $800. But you know....
 
CuteGothTech said:
That's because the holes you think are where the speaker is, is really a black plastic shield. The MacBook Pro was made for people like you. It has black plastic shielding under the speakers, and plasctic shielding under the keyboard. The only thing you could damage that would cost you a fortune is if liquid got splashed onto the screen and dripped down to the inverter to short it out. Which, eventually shorts out the screen which is about $800. But you know....
Click to expand...

Now is that shielding in the Macbook Pro only or would it be for my Macbook too?

the only place the liquid got into was the very left part of the keyboard.
 
Kinneas said:
Haha you're my hero.

So I took it in to the local authorised retailer/service shop. The tech was out till Monday but the other guy looked at it, checked the RAM and basics and said there's no clear damage and that the tech will figure it out on Monday.

I just told him that I came back to it and it just wasn't working. I wonder how easy or hard it is to tell that it's water damage. I think I may have a good chance here because it was maybe 50ml of liquid, most of which I got off quickly, the rest came out quickly after tipping the computer.

Worst case scenario, I have to fill out all that crap that AmEx will make me do, so I can get up to $1000 to cover the repairs. AmEx comes with a 90 day after every purchase "accidental something or other" where even if they know I accidentally poured kool-aid into it, they'll pay the up to $1000.

Anyone had experience with mac repairs and the general costs?
Click to expand...

We can tell when it's water damage. We can definately tell when it's kool-aid damage, and we can REALLY tell when its beer, yuck!

General costs? If its not working then you did something to it. Far left area? That's where your DC-IN board is. Hmm, its about $25 for the part, and repairing it is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. So figure on paying about that much as hourly rate goes and about that much for the part. Good luck!
 
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