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gertrud_s

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2019
2
0
Denmark
Hi,

I accidentally spilled water on the left side of my Macbook Pro 2017 Touch Bar. I put it in rice for 24 hours, and just now turned it on.

Everything but the touch bar now seems to be working - there is just no light coming from it.

Any suggestions on how to fix it?

Thanks
 

afir93

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2018
730
910
Hi,

I accidentally spilled water on the left side of my Macbook Pro 2017 Touch Bar. I put it in rice for 24 hours, and just now turned it on.

Everything but the touch bar now seems to be working - there is just no light coming from it.

Any suggestions on how to fix it?

Thanks
You could run an Apple Hardware Test and see if it detects any issues (and if so, which ones), but I doubt you yourself can do anything to fix the problem since it's water damage we're talking about. There are likely parts of the internal chipsets that are fried.

Bring it into an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider, depending on which is closer. Be upfront about what happened; the MBP has internal sensors that detect when water got inside, so Apple will very likely find out if you claim otherwise. I've heard of cases where Apple is accommodating with water damage, so if you're nice and honest about it then maybe they help you free of charge, but more likely you should expect having to pay for the repair. The only exception would be if you have AppleCare+, in which case your situation would fall under accidental damage and you only have to pay the deductible.

Also, does the TB itself still register touch inputs, and just doesn't show anything? If that's the case, then I suppose you could use some very thin paper (thin enough to let touch inputs through), draw the symbols for the respective actions on it and put or (very slightly) glue it on top of the Touch Bar so that you know where to touch it for which action. I've seen a reviewer do that whose Touch Bar failed until he got a new machine and it was working for him, but it's probably no long-term solution. But if you can't or don't want to pay for an expensive repair, I suppose it might be better than nothing.
 

gertrud_s

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2019
2
0
Denmark
Update: After writing the post I put the computer in rice for another 24 hours - this time facing downwards. I now turned it on and the touch bar is now working.

Thanks!
 

afir93

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2018
730
910
Update: After writing the post I put the computer in rice for another 24 hours - this time facing downwards. I now turned it on and the touch bar is now working.

Thanks!
That's lucky, glad it worked out for you!
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,100
1,962
A tip. Rice won’t do anything useful. Use some silica gel packs instead. They are very cheap.

(And even then that’s debatable).
 

Tracy Martini

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2020
1
0
HI! I just had this happen also and wanted to tell you that I didn't use a drying medium. I just put the MacBook Pro on its end and let dry overnight. The Touch Bar didn't work. I saw your response (Gertrud) and so I faced it upside down putting an object inside to keep it open for air circulation. I turned it on this morning and the Touch Bar is back! Yay. So thank you for posting!
 
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