Water Damage to 2009 Macbook Pro

Dang that's a pain 😟

Inside the MBP are some moisture sensitive pieces of paper that will tell Apple it's been soaked and so the warranty is sadly likely to have been voided. In this situation you've really nothing to lose letting your friends Dad have a go at drying it out and seeing if it will reboot/work but it might need some new parts.

You could always have Apple take a look first and get their opinion it won't cost anything.

Hi moeyoldbold22,

I'd say at this point, there's little you can do to make matters worse (besides turning it on). If your friend's Dad is confident that he can attempt to make the machine salvageable without causing any further damage, I'd say take him up on it.

As the other user posted, the new machines have indicators that are pretty sensitive. If you spilled an entire glass of water on the machine it's pretty safe to say/assume that at least one of them was activated.

Turning it off was definitely the right thing to do. the water doesn't actually cause the damage, what causes damage is when electricity is carried by the water to areas its not supposed to go (shorts ). if you can completely dry it then it should reboot. as long as nothing shorted before you turned it off. a great trick i've used over the years was to place the wet piece of electronics in a bag of rice. the rice soaks up all the moisture (it will dry out much better then blow drying it) let it hang with the rice for a few days or a week and then try it.

<Edited by Host>

if you do go to apple and they discover that it was damaged by water the worst that will happen is they are going to give it back to you.. in the exact same shape you brought it to them.. they aren't going to confiscate it and keep it from you..

DonnieBlaze wrote:
if that doesnt work take it apple tell them it just wigged out but dont tell them about the water. maybe the water didnt get to the water damage indicators. if your lucky.

Can't say I condone being deceitful to technicians. But having worked at an AASP and the Genius Bar for quite a while, I wish you all the best with this tactic. Most of the good, seasoned technicians (which every store has at least one) can tell... even with a user's best efforts to clean up the machine.

Next time you take it to the technician, it is better to admit the accident happened than not. You never know if in the long term some issue will come up that will cost more than the machine is worth and be out of warranty. If Apple is tempted to replace the whole machine or logicboard, you can often get by for less by calling one of these places:

http://www.dttservice.com/
http://www.powerbookresq.com/
http://www.microdocusa.com/
http://www.macspecialist.com/
http://www.techrestore.com/

The longer you hold the truth, the longer it might take for issues to be fixed as the technician may be troubleshooting the wrong items, and in the process damage more, not knowing the accident happened. Knowing the accident happened, they'll know to take a certain level of care to ensure other things don't get tripped up.

DonnieBlaze:

...they aren't going to confiscate it and keep it from you.

No, they certainly aren't. And they aren't going to be impressed by the intelligence or honesty of someone who has tried to lie to them about water damage that they can easily detect in seconds, and consequently they certainly aren't going to be inclined to give him the benefit of even the smallest doubt, or give him any breaks on the cost of repairs, or hurry to get the repairs done quickly for him. They're going to treat him as the schmuck he is, because that's what he deserves. If, on the other hand, he goes in and confesses to having made a stupid mistake and explains exactly what he's done to avoid causing any more harm afterward, they will probably have a certain amount of sympathy for his plight and respect for his candor. That may or may not translate into a quicker repair and/or a lower cost, but in any event it will be the basis for a friendlier relationship.

It's never advisable to try to deceive anyone who knows a whole lot more about the subject at hand than you do.

Message was edited by: eww

That's excellent news 🙂

If you need Warranty repairs in future, provided the problem wasn't caused by water (as they will know), you should be able to get coverage.

Great news, moey . . .
I didn't assume you were going to do anything nefarious . . .
You were looking for help.

I'm really glad it worked out for you.
I did something really similar about 3-4 months ago.
Turned it off immediately (I think that's really important) and babied it for a few days.
Anyway, so glad it's working great!

moeyoldbold22 wrote:
And to set the record straight, I wasn't implying that I was going to lie to the Apple technicians, but more asking whether the AppleCare was already invalidated by the spill and whether there was any chance that in the future I might be able to use AppleCare for other issues.

Hi Moey,

I don't think of any of us were implying that you were, but rather our responses were in regards to another commenter's suggestion of being deceitful. Oddly enough it was cleaned up by the <host> but for historical accuracy the original comment is still embedded as a quote in my response.

Happy to hear your machine is working again!

To to set this srtaight i did NOT tell Moey to lie to the technician. i told him not to tell the technician what damaged the computer. its not Moeys job to diagnose the problem.. Lying and with holding information are totally different animals..

i do love how in perfect apple world everyone is sooo nice and friendly and honest.. except for the people that sold this kid that expensive *** warranty and didn't tell him it doesn't cover accidental damage..

Glad your mac is working again.. you must have been super relieved when you saw that bright grey and white Apple boot screen..

That is indeed great news.

When i dropped my powerbook a few years ago (severely -- whop!!) I got a nice dimple in one corner but everything else was fine. It was only a few months old and I feared I had just lost my warranty.

I took it to the Genius Bar and explained what had happened. They gave it a check up (no charge) and then made an annotation stating my warranty was still valid except for the cosmetic damage to the case.

Might be worth looking into.

AND to answer your question about your warranty...

if any of those moisture indicator pads were tripped, your warranty is invalidated. as soon as they open your comp for any other issue they will see that and immediately attribute any damage to water.. however like i said before.. if that does happen and they do decide your warranty is invalid, they will just send it back to you, so dont be afraid to try and use it still...

just giving the real..

..except for the people that sold this kid that expensive * warranty and didn't tell him it doesn't cover accidental damage..

One can easily read the AppleCare agreement before buying, so as to know what it covers. Believe it or not, Donnie, some folks are still smart enough to take an active interest in understanding what they're spending money on. For those who aren't, it's a cruel world out there. Take care.