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Beverage spill

I have a two year old MacBook Pro. Following an incident with a glass of wine, the left and up arrow keys are no longer functional. Does anyone know how to remap these to F11 and F12?

Other than the loss of these keys, the computer appears to be fine. To check that this is indeed the case, is there a hardware diagnostic that I might run?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--Vishnu

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 14, 2009 3:30 PM

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3 replies

Feb 14, 2009 10:22 PM in response to vjejjala

Immediately disconnect all peripherals, power cord & remove the battery. Turn the computer over with the lid partly open and the hinge facing upward to let the liquid drain. Do not flop it over and lay it flat - you want to separate it from the moisture. Place paper or cloth towels under the machine to sop up the mess.
After the computer disgorges whatever you spilled on it, don't turn it on for 72 hours or longer. You want to computer to dry out completely before turning it on again.
Some users here swear by hairdryers. Blow drying the innards may bake whatever was in the liquid onto delicate computer components. Better to let the computer air dry.

Use plain tepid water to clean out the computer. If you spilled iced beverage more than likely this ice fried the hot motherboard.
Sugary, acidic or milky drinks will almost always cause problems later on as the residue starts slowly corroding the computer innards.
Swab down any sticky parts with distilled water or denatured alcohol.

If none of the above works, you will need to take the computer to a repair shop. Apple Care does not cover liquid or food damage. Believe me, they can tell. So the old "my computer stopped working" line is not going to work. 😀

Feb 16, 2009 6:29 PM in response to vjejjala

In addition to the other suggestions, you could try cleaning the keys that don't work:

http://nonverbla.de/blog/2006/11/12/how-to-clean-your-macbook-pro-keyboard/

Very likely you will have to replace the keyboard, but there's nothing to lose by trying to fix something that doesn't work.

Just to add to what has already been said, it is extremely important to drain out any liquid and let everything air dry thoroughly before putting power to the computer. If you are very lucky, the wine won't penetrate all the way to the logic board. It is vital to clean up any residue, and I would recommend deionized or distilled water for this purpose. Also, allow plenty of time for air drying after using water to clean up the residue, as you never want to put power to anything if there is moisture present.

Good luck!

Beverage spill

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