Macbook mysteriously soaked (condensation?) -- what happened and what now?
Alright, so I'm sort of panic mode here -- after leaving a Macbook on a chair near a closed glass-paneled door for about 5 and a half hours today I came back to find it totally soaked. Like, drenched. The worst part is that it's not even mine, I was borrowing it from a friend...and I seriously have no idea what happened and I don't really have any idea of what to do about it now. Currently it's unplugged and upside down on a towel near a space heater and I dried it off as best I could...if there's anything else I should be doing by all means let me know.
To give a little more detail: since last fall I've been taking weekly time lapse videos for a project for one of my classes and I've been using a friend's Macbook to record the videos with its built in webcam. Up until now I've had no problems with it at all, and I've used it outside for hours at a time as well as used it in out in a garage in front of a window on days when the temperature was in the 40s and 50s. Today I set it up to do another routine time lapse recording, this time in a new location, pointed outside through a glass paneled door while placed on a chair in front of said door in my computer/tv room. It was turned on, plugged in and recording when I left it at around 11:30AM. When I returned at 5:00PM the screen was black, the power light was off, it was still plugged in and it was totally soaked with water. And I mean soaked. When I picked it up water poured off of the keyboard like I had just picked it up out of a lake. There's a puddle of water from where it spilled off when I picked it up and a trail of water between there and the other room I took it to. The only thing I can think of is that some sort of major condensation happened, but the amount of water that was on it seems like WAY too much for just condensation. The whole thing was soaked too, including the entire screen (which is now streaked with water stains) as if a water balloon hit it.
As for the temperature, it was between 16°F and 33°F outside today and the temperature of my house is around 70°F. It's 23°F outside right now (5:30PM). The door was fully closed and locked (I tested this many times) and the skies were totally clear today, no rain or snow at all that could have somehow gotten in through cracks in the door or anything. The chair it was on was about 3 or 4 inches away from the door. I've been in the house all day so I'm sure that no one else has been inside it besides myself. I checked the ceiling above where it was and there's no sign of any leak; when I found it, it was the only thing that was wet--even the fabric chair it was sitting on was dry. There were no glasses of water around it or near it and there were no other liquids in the room whatsoever. (Regarding the door, the closest representation of it that I could find were these two pictures: http://i53.tinypic.com/23su440.jpg and http://i51.tinypic.com/14ucr9j.jpg). When I touched the glass on the door it was cold (obviously) but the computer wasn't touching the glass or the door, it was just near it. Could simply being near a closed door to the outside be enough to cause condensation like this?
I've had this pointed out closed glass windows earlier this winter and the temperature was a lot colder then and there was never even a hint of condensation. The only difference I can think of is that the windows are new and the door is old (I believe it's the original door for this house and the house is 250+ years old) so the door is certainly draftier and less equipped to keep out cold air. But I felt no cold air near it at all and I've been in that room countless times and it's always been the same temperature as the rest of the house so I still can't figure this out. I also have no idea how long it was soaked like that--I just know that it was fine when I left it there at 11:30AM and soaked when I came back at 5pm. It was plugged in and operating the entire time so I imagine that doesn't help matters. I didn't try and shut it off when I found it since the power light was already off and the screen was black and I also didn't remove the battery since I didn't (and still don't) know if I'm supposed to.
Okay, that's all the information I can think of right now...the only good thing in all this is that my friend has a total of 4 computers and this was his oldest (from 2007 or 2008 I believe) thus why he lent it to me. He also hasn't asked for it back in all this time so I'm assuming that means he doesn't use or need it very often. I also think this is or was one of his work computers meaning it was given to him for work by his employer and actually belongs to them....which probably doesn't help. But still, there were a ton of documents and files on there that weren't mine and I've got to assume at this point everything that was on there is now long gone...but I don't know for sure which I guess is why I'm posting here. Basically what I want to know is if there's anything else I could or should be doing to help dry it out, improve its chances of functioning again or anything else and also what caused this so I can at least tell him there was an absolute and identifiable cause instead of just saying "I left it on during the day and came back to find it off and mysteriously soaking wet." Any help, info or advice on the matter would be much appreciated.
To give a little more detail: since last fall I've been taking weekly time lapse videos for a project for one of my classes and I've been using a friend's Macbook to record the videos with its built in webcam. Up until now I've had no problems with it at all, and I've used it outside for hours at a time as well as used it in out in a garage in front of a window on days when the temperature was in the 40s and 50s. Today I set it up to do another routine time lapse recording, this time in a new location, pointed outside through a glass paneled door while placed on a chair in front of said door in my computer/tv room. It was turned on, plugged in and recording when I left it at around 11:30AM. When I returned at 5:00PM the screen was black, the power light was off, it was still plugged in and it was totally soaked with water. And I mean soaked. When I picked it up water poured off of the keyboard like I had just picked it up out of a lake. There's a puddle of water from where it spilled off when I picked it up and a trail of water between there and the other room I took it to. The only thing I can think of is that some sort of major condensation happened, but the amount of water that was on it seems like WAY too much for just condensation. The whole thing was soaked too, including the entire screen (which is now streaked with water stains) as if a water balloon hit it.
As for the temperature, it was between 16°F and 33°F outside today and the temperature of my house is around 70°F. It's 23°F outside right now (5:30PM). The door was fully closed and locked (I tested this many times) and the skies were totally clear today, no rain or snow at all that could have somehow gotten in through cracks in the door or anything. The chair it was on was about 3 or 4 inches away from the door. I've been in the house all day so I'm sure that no one else has been inside it besides myself. I checked the ceiling above where it was and there's no sign of any leak; when I found it, it was the only thing that was wet--even the fabric chair it was sitting on was dry. There were no glasses of water around it or near it and there were no other liquids in the room whatsoever. (Regarding the door, the closest representation of it that I could find were these two pictures: http://i53.tinypic.com/23su440.jpg and http://i51.tinypic.com/14ucr9j.jpg). When I touched the glass on the door it was cold (obviously) but the computer wasn't touching the glass or the door, it was just near it. Could simply being near a closed door to the outside be enough to cause condensation like this?
I've had this pointed out closed glass windows earlier this winter and the temperature was a lot colder then and there was never even a hint of condensation. The only difference I can think of is that the windows are new and the door is old (I believe it's the original door for this house and the house is 250+ years old) so the door is certainly draftier and less equipped to keep out cold air. But I felt no cold air near it at all and I've been in that room countless times and it's always been the same temperature as the rest of the house so I still can't figure this out. I also have no idea how long it was soaked like that--I just know that it was fine when I left it there at 11:30AM and soaked when I came back at 5pm. It was plugged in and operating the entire time so I imagine that doesn't help matters. I didn't try and shut it off when I found it since the power light was already off and the screen was black and I also didn't remove the battery since I didn't (and still don't) know if I'm supposed to.
Okay, that's all the information I can think of right now...the only good thing in all this is that my friend has a total of 4 computers and this was his oldest (from 2007 or 2008 I believe) thus why he lent it to me. He also hasn't asked for it back in all this time so I'm assuming that means he doesn't use or need it very often. I also think this is or was one of his work computers meaning it was given to him for work by his employer and actually belongs to them....which probably doesn't help. But still, there were a ton of documents and files on there that weren't mine and I've got to assume at this point everything that was on there is now long gone...but I don't know for sure which I guess is why I'm posting here. Basically what I want to know is if there's anything else I could or should be doing to help dry it out, improve its chances of functioning again or anything else and also what caused this so I can at least tell him there was an absolute and identifiable cause instead of just saying "I left it on during the day and came back to find it off and mysteriously soaking wet." Any help, info or advice on the matter would be much appreciated.
Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6)
