Water+computer=how bad?
March 11, 2016 5:33 PM   Subscribe

I leave my Macbook on during the day while at work. Spouse spilled water on it at some point, the area around the keyboard is damp and the computer won't start up. Any chance of resurrection?
posted by Brandon Blatcher to Computers & Internet (15 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Put it in a bag full of dry rice and wait a few days. If it has a removable battery, remove it. Wait a few days and try again.

Otherwise, you can still probably at least get the data off the hard drive.
posted by fifthrider at 5:35 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Macbooks are pretty successful if you simply transplant the hard drive from one to another. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's something to keep in mind.

Nail down now what exactly was spilled. If it's not plain water, but something with sugar in it, there's going to be stickiness.

Finally, keep an eye on the rice-- if it gets wet enough to get gluey, take out any wet rice. Don't need a coating of rice starch on your electronics. Move the rice around once a day, as well.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:44 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I did that -- I kid you not -- FOUR times in one year. I have a trusty Mac tech who saved it each and every time. Trick is to get it in quickly. I tried the rice thingy and it didn't work for me. Also, if you're covered by Apple Care, have them replace whatever parts show there was water damage (whether or not the computer is working), because if Mac sees evidence of that water previously contaminated your computer, they flat out won't honor repairs under your Apple Care agreement.
posted by zagyzebra at 6:00 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: FWIW if it *is* fried, Apple will replace any and all busted parts for a flat $755 fee. Not cheap, but cheaper than buying a new laptop.
posted by asterix at 6:05 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Yeah, I had left it in the bag of rice when I found out, which was about 4 hours ago, then went out (FYI Sweet Crude is an awesome band, especially live). When I got home, the power cable was shining bright green, when it was showing nothing at all before, so I hit the power button and the computer powered up just fine. The battery seems fried, but everything else is fine. Huh. weird. But good!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:34 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Same thing happened to mine, BB. Battery no longer worked, but it worked fine plugged in for another 1-2 years (before the hard drive died but that would have happened eventually anyway). I'd still suggest leaving it off and unused for a few more days in rice. Depending on how much water was spilled there could still be a few parts left to dry out.
posted by downtohisturtles at 6:40 PM on March 11, 2016


Best answer: Sounds like you're already on the road to recovery (hopefully) but I'll leave my comment for posterity. (Based on my own experience resurrecting a MacBook after a red wine spill!)

Rice: I know this is the go-to fix, but I don't necessarily recommend it. I think it's better to use a blow dryer (low heat) and a narrow nozzle (and patience) to run warm air through the ports and along the keyboard, and/or use a vacuum hose (again with a narrow nozzle) to suck out moisture at all the ports and around all the keys. Then, leave the MacBook open with a fan blowing across it overnight (at least.)

The problem with rice is that it can get into the ports and cause other problems. If your MacBook has a fan, you might hear rice rattling around whenever it turns on (as happened with my wine-soaked one). If you DO put it in rice, then first put it in a thin pillowcase or a mesh bag of some sort that will allow moisture to escape but will not allow rice to enter the ports.
posted by The Deej at 7:03 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: I think the rice thing might overrated:

Gazelle’s Guide to Water Damage: The Truth About Rice, the Galaxy and Everything

Dry, uncooked conventional rice was the worst of the seven options we tested. It absorbed the least water in 24 hours, losing out to silica gel, cat litter, couscous, instant oatmeal, classic oatmeal and instant rice.
posted by bluecore at 7:25 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Now go make a full backup of your entire drive, because I know you've been putting it off.
posted by softlord at 7:34 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: I'd pull the hard drive out just to remove any possibility of water leaking into it and destroying your data.
posted by deathpanels at 7:56 PM on March 11, 2016


.Apple will replace any and all busted parts for a flat $755 fee.

Does that include when it's caused by major water damage? Some three years ago they told me it would be $1200 because it was water damage, but I haven't had to look into prices since so perhaps it's gone down?
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:43 PM on March 11, 2016


They told me $1200 this week (my computer was dry when I brought it in, but a water sensor was tripped).
posted by janewman at 7:26 AM on March 12, 2016


Response by poster: Now go make a full backup of your entire drive, because I know you've been putting it off.

Nope, i plug it in to an external drive at night and let Super Duper back it up and have multiple cloud accounts backing up important docs, and the wife's computer is an agreed upon backup computer if mine goes down.

I've learned, boy have I learned.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:32 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Update, because why not?

The laptop became temperamental and wouldn't turn on at times. Each time it would turn on, it would say it was unable to connect to the battery (the icon in the menu bar was X'ed out). Then it would only work with the battery out. Said battery worked fine in the wife's laptop. Finally it just gave up the ghost altogether last night.

New (well used) laptop is on the way. Y'all be careful with your liquids around computers!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:56 AM on March 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


The fee depends on your model. I was in there recently and was quoted the same $755 for water damage, but they wanted to know which model I had first, and then went in the back to look up the cost for that model. This was a late-2011 non-retina 13-inch macbook. Your $1200 quote was probably for a more expensive configuration.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:34 PM on March 21, 2016


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