Macbook pro water damage

[yoyogabbagabba]

Hi guys, this is my first ever post so I hope it's ok.

A few days ago as I was walking to college I felt my bag become wet. Lo and behold when I opened it up, my water bottle had leaked into my Macbook Pro. It was switched off at the time but I immediately took it out and drained and dried off the water I could but the water seemed to have leaked through the ports. On the advice of a friend I put it in a bag of uncooked rice for 3 days. Today I took it out and it would not turn on. After I plugged it into the wall adapter, it turned on and worked normally and I was able to backup all the documents I was working on.

At this point I think it needs to get fixed by a techie but what's the likelihood of the whole thing being fried internally? Has anyone had experience with this sort of damage and been able to save it without forking out to replace the whole thing?

 

[leman]

Its a hit and miss, really... I know people who have poured an entire cup of tea over their laptop — and it still works perfectly after a few years and then I know people who's laptop died just because of minor moisture (a bit of rain leaking into the bag)... It sounds like at least some of your power circuitry has been fried. Corrosion is also possible. You could bring it to the repair center, but it won't be cheap I am afraid.

P.S. Water bottles always leak eventually, no matter how good they are

 

[Fishrrman]

Not such a good idea to put a water bottle ANYWHERE in a bag that also has a computer in it.

Go forth from this day and learn -- a sadder, but wiser young man.

 

[jerryk]

Hi guys, this is my first ever post so I hope it's ok.

A few days ago as I was walking to college I felt my bag become wet. Lo and behold when I opened it up, my water bottle had leaked into my Macbook Pro. It was switched off at the time but I immediately took it out and drained and dried off the water I could but the water seemed to have leaked through the ports. On the advice of a friend I put it in a bag of uncooked rice for 3 days. Today I took it out and it would not turn on. After I plugged it into the wall adapter, it turned on and worked normally and I was able to backup all the documents I was working on.

At this point I think it needs to get fixed by a techie but what's the likelihood of the whole thing being fried internally? Has anyone had experience with this sort of damage and been able to save it without forking out to replace the whole thing?

Unfortunately, the last time I did something like this the repair bill was more than the value of the computer. Like over $700 on a 4 year old system.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi guys, this is my first ever post so I hope it's ok.

A few days ago as I was walking to college I felt my bag become wet. Lo and behold when I opened it up, my water bottle had leaked into my Macbook Pro. It was switched off at the time but I immediately took it out and drained and dried off the water I could but the water seemed to have leaked through the ports. On the advice of a friend I put it in a bag of uncooked rice for 3 days. Today I took it out and it would not turn on. After I plugged it into the wall adapter, it turned on and worked normally and I was able to backup all the documents I was working on.

At this point I think it needs to get fixed by a techie but what's the likelihood of the whole thing being fried internally? Has anyone had experience with this sort of damage and been able to save it without forking out to replace the whole thing?

To be honest I would have opened it and done a rub down with IMS to completely dry off the internals before I put any current through it. Sounds like you have a problem with the power supply and battery connector. It may be fine or it could be slowly corroding your motherboard as well and die sometime in the future.

Apple won’t touch it with Liquid damage so maybe a local Apple certified store can help.

 

[0989383]

Leave the machine submerged in a basin FULL of uncooked rice, inside the water closet in your house for about a week.. change the angle of how its sitting (flat, upright on its side) every few days.

The heat, absorption will eventually get everything bone dry. If you have any of those little pouches of silica gel, they work wonders for that stuff too. Throw them into the rice too.

Worth a shot. Do not even think about powering on or plugging it in until you've tried my solution or a similar one. I'd put the time and effort into it for a MacBook Pro of any age tbh.

Please keep us updated, and I hope you get out of this one with no major loss. Miracles like that do seem to happen, but it comes down to luck.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

The rice thing is a myth. Please stop spreading untruths.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140924005241/en/Rice-Myth-Busted-New-Study-Proves-Rice

 

[fischersd]

The rice thing is a myth. Please stop spreading untruths.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140924005241/en/Rice-Myth-Busted-New-Study-Proves-Rice

Ok, but that list of actions is dangerous:

4. IF it was dropped in salt water, DO rinse it in fresh water – Salt water will almost certainly corrode and short the phone and will do more damage than fresh water, so it is best to remove any traces of salt water quickly.

This is ***** crazy!!! If it wasn't shorted out by the initial dunk, let's gamble again, shall we? (have a vision of a guy using a hose pouring it into the usb ports).
The answer for salt water would be to dry it the same as you would anything else...but then someone should pull it apart later and use rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs to clean off any salt residue.

Apple didn't do people any favours by sealing the batteries in the MacBooks so they can't be quickly removed in these circumstances.

 

[MikeThicke]

The rice thing is a myth. Please stop spreading untruths.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140924005241/en/Rice-Myth-Busted-New-Study-Proves-Rice

I don't know if the rice method is effective, but this "study" isn't very convincing. It was performed by a company whose business is drying phones. Not exactly a credible source. And as far as I can tell they did this all of one time, using a "phone simulator" rather than an actual phone. It would be interesting to see a robust study by an independent party.