Water spilled on iBook

March 25, 2006 10:40 AM

Some water (a glass, only about 20% full) got accidentally spilled on my iBook (it was closed, turned off and disconnected). I immediately rinsed it all off, especially the rear panel vent, very carefully. But I am afraid water got in the insides of the iBook. How long do I have to wait until its guts dry up & I can safely try to turn it on, see if it's been damaged? And, if it doesn't work, is it going to be expensive to have it fixed (it's a G4, two years old)?
posted by PenguinBukkake to computers & internet (13 comments total)

Since the machine was off at the time of the spill, it's probably undamaged.

I really don't know that anyone can give you a true, safe answer for how long to wait because water will evaporate at different rates depending on climate, humidity, and also where in the laptop it is (has it moved to somewhere where it's confined and not exposed to as much air? etc).

I think your best bet is to open the laptop as much as possible somewhere safe so it dries faster. I don't know much about the iBook, but my Dell can have the keyboard pretty easily removed, etc, exposing some of the parts. This would let more air circulate around and speed up the evaporation process.

Personally, just to be safe, i'd probably open it up as much as possible and leave it off for a few days. A day or two may be enough if it's a very small amount of water, but I'd err on the side of caution since it's turning it on when wet that's going to cause the damage.
posted by twiggy at 10:47 AM on March 25, 2006

Ideally, you want to hit it with some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol, which would pull the water out. However, you're not likely to have that, and don't use 91% or 70% from the drugstore.

I'd pull the battery and wait a day.
posted by eriko at 10:48 AM on March 25, 2006

Get a hair dryer and blow thru the keyboard for a good while. That's what I'd do.
posted by dobbs at 10:49 AM on March 25, 2006

Do pull the battery.

Let it dry for at least a week. You can even put it somewhere slightly sunny off and on. You don't want it to get too warm, though.

The main problem with an unpowered spill is going to be the raw, not de-ionized water causing corrosion or leaving conductive deposits somewhere delicate (say, under the CPU chip, or under any chip or narrow space.), or staying there and not evaporating soon enough.

Which is why I suggest a week if you can manage it. A day or two would probably be enough, but if you want to be sure wait as long as you can.

A warm but not hot hair dryer can speed the process. If you have any of those "WARNING: DO NOT EAT" dessicant packets that come with electronics to prevent condensation damage during shipping and handling, you can stick those in the battery bay, leave 'em on the laptop, atop the keyboard, etc.
posted by loquacious at 11:22 AM on March 25, 2006

I'd be careful with a hair dryer here... this guy actually melted his keyboard in a similar accident!
posted by amf at 11:29 AM on March 25, 2006

I have no idea what the process is on an Apple laptop, but on most Windows-based machines, removing the keyboard is a trivial process. Usually doesn't take more than a couple of screws.

I'd look into figuring out how to take your keyboard off. If it's easy, do it. It'll expose some of the laptop's innards, which will make it much easier to dry out.
posted by CrayDrygu at 11:49 AM on March 25, 2006

I'd wait 3 days. Some people suggest putting it in a bag with rice and/or silica gel dessicant, but if you live in a dry environment that's probably unnecessary.

Look at the bright side; the glass was 80% empty!
posted by Nelson at 11:50 AM on March 25, 2006

Using a hair dryer is a bad idea, because if there are any small (or large) droplets of water still hanging around, you can actually push them into unwanted places. Just open it up as much as you can (remove battery, keyboard, RAM, hard drive, CD drive, etc. if you can), and wait a couple days.

I actually spilled a somewhat significant amount of water into my laptop (a Dell) through the keyboard--while it was running. It locked up before I was able to cut power, but after airing it out a couple days it turned on just fine. I've had no problems since (none noticeable, at least), and this was a couple years ago. Good luck.
posted by homer2k1 at 12:06 PM on March 25, 2006

hey, thanks everybody, I'll remove the keyboard and wait several days

[despite my username, I swear it was water. seltzer, even]
posted by PenguinBukkake at 12:23 PM on March 25, 2006

hmm. Well, I dropped a palm pilot in the bathtub once and I opened it up and then went at it with a hair dryer and a baseboard heater. Cured it good. (Of course, I didn't leave it unattended and I opened it first--I assume the OP would at least remove the keyboard.)
posted by dobbs at 1:11 PM on March 25, 2006

This can be a real PIA. At least it's water, soda ate the printed tracks (phosphoric acid in a can, anyone?) on my compaq laptop keyboard and made it irrepairable, but the rest of it survived.

You're definitely going to have to take your case apart to see where the water found it's way to. It seems like it wouldn't be a problem once it's dry, but the residue and minerals left by it can cause shorts or 'resistor bridges'. Not Good. You'll note a white film and corrosion in areas that the water has been (on unmasked parts of the PCB usually the SMD's or chips will have this stuff covering their pins, also: the mask is the green stuff that covers the tracks protecting the copper traces from corroding). Clean this stuff up with alchohol and q-tips VERY GENTLY.

For the keyboard: Most keyboards have two thin plastic sheets with the circuit tracks (literraly, in this case) printed on them. For a laptop, you'll usually have to pry the metal sheet out from under the bottom of the keyboard to access this. The sheets are pushed together but a little rubber 'button' that sits directly beneath the keys. Cleaning those sheets is chancy, as the tracks will wipe away with little excuse and will, over time, usually corrode beyond usability after such an exposure. A conductive ink pen, purchased at your local electronics store can repair these, but it's not always possible.

If tearing the thing open seems too adventurous for you, maybe an electronics savvy friend can help. Alternatively, look here (I should have looked for this before I started typing :) :
MacFixit
posted by IronLizard at 2:56 PM on March 25, 2006

Direct link to the procedure form Apple.
posted by IronLizard at 3:02 PM on March 25, 2006

Don't blow on it with anything, especially a hair dryer. Rushing air across electronics builds an electrical charge, which can cause all sorts of problems.
posted by knave at 10:24 PM on March 25, 2006