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help! spilled on my laptop!

Hi all--

Fri night I spilled a Long Island all over my laptop (i know, I know). It was on at the time, didn't shut off. I turned it upside down right away, wiped it off (on the outside), turned it off, and then turned it back on (i learned later this was a bad idea). It turned back on fine, and everything seemed to be fine, so I turned it off and went to bed.

The next morning, however... it didn't turn on. The little green light on the charger was not on, either. I followed some advice and took out the battery and unplugged it and have just been letting it sit.

I tried turning it on today (so about 48 hours later), and it's still not turning on. Should I start panicing yet?

My boyfriend said he would help me take it apart and clean it. I've heard rubbing alcohol is not ok to use, instead we should use "denatured" alcohol. Does anyone know anything about this or have any advice on cleaning it out?

Also, I was just wondering if anyone has heard of a similar story and what the chances are that the computer's dead to the world...?

Macbook (late 2006), Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Mar 16, 2008 8:13 PM

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3 replies

Mar 16, 2008 8:36 PM in response to beebparis

Opening it up and wiping it out will not work if you fried some electronic component, which is most likely what happened. You might call these guys to get it fixed. It may be cheaper than Apple repairing it. It sounds like you may need a logic board.

http://www.dttservice.com/macbook.html

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Mar 16, 2008 8:38 PM in response to beebparis

The chances are very, very good that the computer is dead to the world.

Since liquid conducts electricity very well, what happens is that a liquid drop connects two separate electrical circuits on your logic board that were never meant to be connected. Thus, electricity of varying current and voltage flows all kinds of places it was never meant to. That fries the electronics. Permanently.

You were correct in immediately flipping the notebook upside down, shutting it off and unplugging everything. But you should have waited DAYS before trying to turn it back on. At this point, it is highly unlikely that "cleaning" it will restore your notebook. Taking it apart will also void the warranty, even though Apple will not repair your notebook for free at this point because it's been accidentally damaged.

I would start by calling up Apple, explaining the situation, and getting a repair estimate. You may find it more economical to simply buy a new MacBook.

help! spilled on my laptop!

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