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spilled water on my laptop, trackpad doesn't work

spilled water on my macbook pro and now the mouse/trackpad doesn't work. also i can hear the fan constantly running. (loudly)

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Aug 8, 2011 8:38 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 5, 2012 5:06 PM

STEP BY STEP SOLUTION:

You will need: Printer or notebook paper, rice (or silica gel), and a small, sealable box that can hold your laptop (preferrably, the cardbord box in which your laptop was sold).


(1) Turn off the computer; disconnect power cords.

(2) Blot off any water that got on your laptop. Quietly mutter swear words to yourself (optional), but know its going to be okay because you are following these instructions.

(3) Tear off a small strip (~2 in. x 0.5 in.) of paper from a piece of printer paper.

(4) Feed the strip of paper into the gaps between the trackpad and the laptop body. Doing this will absorb water that got into the computer and under the trackpad.

(5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 on all sides of the trackpad, until the paper is no longer picking up any water.

(6) Open your box, and take out anything in it.

(7) Put your laptop in the small box, with the screen propped open.

(8) Spread an handful of rice onto the trackpad and the gaps between the trackpad and the laptop body. Pour a few cups of rice into the box around your laptop. (Explaination: Rice is a desiccant, so it will aborb the humidity in the air and dry out any residual water that may be in your laptop.)

(9) Close the box. You may need to lower your laptop's screen to make it to fit inside the box.

(10) Leave the box and laptop undisturbed at the very least overnight, if not a full day. Your rice-box is now a dehumidifier. Let it do its thing.

(11) Open the box, wipe the rice off your laptop, and remove your laptop. Turn your computer on. **If your curser is moving about erraticly, turn your laptop off and repeat steps 7-9.

(12) Open Safari, go to this thread, and give this post a thumbs up.

16 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 5, 2012 5:06 PM in response to nicholefromlithonia

STEP BY STEP SOLUTION:

You will need: Printer or notebook paper, rice (or silica gel), and a small, sealable box that can hold your laptop (preferrably, the cardbord box in which your laptop was sold).


(1) Turn off the computer; disconnect power cords.

(2) Blot off any water that got on your laptop. Quietly mutter swear words to yourself (optional), but know its going to be okay because you are following these instructions.

(3) Tear off a small strip (~2 in. x 0.5 in.) of paper from a piece of printer paper.

(4) Feed the strip of paper into the gaps between the trackpad and the laptop body. Doing this will absorb water that got into the computer and under the trackpad.

(5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 on all sides of the trackpad, until the paper is no longer picking up any water.

(6) Open your box, and take out anything in it.

(7) Put your laptop in the small box, with the screen propped open.

(8) Spread an handful of rice onto the trackpad and the gaps between the trackpad and the laptop body. Pour a few cups of rice into the box around your laptop. (Explaination: Rice is a desiccant, so it will aborb the humidity in the air and dry out any residual water that may be in your laptop.)

(9) Close the box. You may need to lower your laptop's screen to make it to fit inside the box.

(10) Leave the box and laptop undisturbed at the very least overnight, if not a full day. Your rice-box is now a dehumidifier. Let it do its thing.

(11) Open the box, wipe the rice off your laptop, and remove your laptop. Turn your computer on. **If your curser is moving about erraticly, turn your laptop off and repeat steps 7-9.

(12) Open Safari, go to this thread, and give this post a thumbs up.

Aug 8, 2011 11:01 PM in response to nicholefromlithonia

Spill Cleaning

Some liquid has just spilled into your Mac. What should you do?

Do

  • Immediately shut down the computer and unplug the power cord.
  • Remove the computer's battery if it's a portable Mac.
  • Disconnect any peripherals (printers, iPods, scanners, cameras, etc.)
  • Lay the computer upside down on paper towels to get as much liquid as possible to drip out.
  • Note what was spilled on your Mac.
  • Bring the computer into an Apple store or AASP as soon as possible.

Don't

  • Don't try to turn it back on. Liquids can help electrical current move about the components of your Mac in destructive ways.
  • Don't shake the computer (this will only spread the liquid around).
  • Don't use a hair dryer on it (even at a low setting a hair dryer will damage sensitive components).

May 5, 2012 6:29 PM in response to sig

First, I'm sure he fixed it. I'm talking to anyone who came to this thread looking for a solution to the same problem.


Second, I've spilled water on two different occations. I used this clever method both times. Worked both times, and the rice never was a problem. If anyone is as worried as sig seems to be about the rice 'gumming up the works,' then place the rice into a sachet bag or tube sock to keep it from making direct contact with the computer.


Third, the trite adivce to "bring it in to an apple store" is unhelpful. Your proposed solution is to ask someone else for a solution. And if a person posted/searched in an apple support thread, she probably don't want to go an talk to a "genius" who will ship her computer off to apple for weeks of expensive repairs. My method can be done at home with $2 of rice and 10 minutes of effort.

May 6, 2012 2:02 AM in response to lwl209

Wonderful. And if you feel my initial post to the OP was lacking in originality or freshness you need to understand the consequences involved with liquid damage to electronics and the resultant disaster of the "do it your selfer." Just hang out at the genius bar when they bring in their Macs with orange juice, coffee, coke and a miriad of other spills. Read forum posts here for at least a month regarding spills. If it worked for you fine. For everyone else, take it to an Apple store.

spilled water on my laptop, trackpad doesn't work

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