I spilled water on my imac's keyboard. Now my iMac won't boot. I installed a new keyboard and the computer beeps (three short, three long, followed by three short). No water got into the computer. Any suggestions?
According to this knowledge base article, for some reason it thinks there are bad memory modules.
You might try an SMC reset and see if that clears things for you.
No, the SMC reset didn't work. I have nine beeps. Three short, followed by longer three, and then three short.
3 long tones, 3 short tones, 3 long tones means there is a problem with the firmware. Was the computer in the process of an update when the water was spilled on the keyboard? Did any water splash up into the bottom vents when the spill happened? Did you replace the keyboard with an Apple keyboard? New or used?
Actually, this is my son's computer and he spilled water on the keyboard and let the water sit for a couple of hours. He turned off the computer, and then it wouldn't boot. I have four gigs in the computer with two ram sticks. I tooked both out and reseated them. No luck. I took one out. No luck. I took the other out and no luck.
I put another keyboard on the computer I tried zapping the pram. No luck.
I tried the smc reset. No luck.
Since you don't say just which iMac this is and what version of Mac OS X, if it has 10.6 on it, do you have the install disks and can you try booting, holding the C, and see if it will start from the install disk? The beep sequence says it thinks it was interrupted during an update of the firmware from a CD, so maybe it will start from the install disk.
If it is Lion, try starting holding the Command and R keys so it boots from the recovery partition.
If neither of those work, it might be a good idea to take it to an Apple genius bar and have the techs check it out and see what is going wrong.
Liquids and electronics never play nice together.
It would be really helpful to know which model/size iMac you have. Several years ago I had one of my 24-inch iMac's exhibit a very similar issue. My service tech was able to resolve the issue by removing the small coin battery from the logic board for a couple of minutes and then installed a new one after checking the battery voltage. He didn't have to replace any parts other than the battery. Hopefully the timing with the water spill was just a coincidence, possibly caused by this being the first time the system had been shut down in a long time.
This link shows what the battery looks like:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iMac-Intel-24-Inch-EMC-2111-PRAM-Battery/ 5193/3
It is a 20 inch, 2.4 Ghz, Sept. 2007 model.
A five year old model is entirely possible to need a new PRAM battery...they don't often last this long. If you go to the Support item upper right, then Manuals and then to the manuals for iMacs you can find detailed directions for replacing the battery.
Yes, the battery would go bad. However, would a bad pram battery cause the computer to not boot?
Yes, possibly.
LCohen wrote:
Yes, the battery would go bad. However, would a bad pram battery cause the computer to not boot?
It may have been lurking there for a while, then when the water was spilled the computer got confused at the message it was getting from the keyboard and things just cascade. Try replacing the battery and see if that helps. If it doesn't, then a visit to the genius bar sounds good.
The user manual for that iMac is here. Page 51 says the internal battery is not user-replacable, however, sites like iFixit do show how to replace the battery. Just caution in handling to make sure the clip that holds the batttery in place is not bent is important.
POSTSCRIPT: I brought the iMac to the Apple store. They diagnosed the computer with a logic board failure. After five full years it died.
I appreciate all the suggestions here. Thank you very much.
My son is a happy camper. As an early birthday gift I purchased a new i5 iMac.
A bad coin battery will appear like a bad logic board. If they didn't try pulling the coin battery and testing the voltage, or at least replacing it, then I would ask them too. It's a minimal amount of labor, and a whole lot cheaper.
Hi Guys,
I just want to write this testimonial about what happened to my MacBook Pro 3 days ago. While I was eating dinner at the table while surfing the net, I accidentally knocked my tall glass with water straight to my laptop. Water was spilled on the side where the charger is. I don't really know the extent of spillage but all I know is that there was really water on that side of the keyboard. I immediately unplugged the charger because I was also charging that time and wiped the keys with wash cloth. The laptop was initially ok and was still on but after several seconds the screen went black. I panicked and I immediately turned it off and turned my laptop upside down in the hopes of draining the remaining water that spilled. I then searched for forums from my phone on what to do in cases like this and came upon this forum. Upon reading the posts, I thought I did a good job by turning it off immediately. But here's the thing. When I was about to flip it over to wipe the keys again, I accidentally pressed on the power button. I saw the apple logo at the back of the screen lit up and heard the usual sound when you turn on the mac. I was happy but a second later, I saw the apple logo flicker and when I checked the screen, it was blank. There was nothing on the screen. I was really disheartened and tried to turn it on a couple of times. But all I get is the sound when you turn on the laptop but the screen is totally blank. My heart started racing and I didn't know what to do. My wife and I discussed things and decided to immerse the laptop in rice, just as what we have read in the forums. We kept it there for approximately 3 days. We then prayed and prayed and prayed. I was really broken hearted. After all, it was not an easy peasy purchase. We haven't even finished paying for the laptop because we enrolled it for 6 months in installment payments. I was already searching the net for Apple Service shops near us just to get ready if that dreadful thing happens. But I just surrendered everything to God for I know He is the God of everything. I was tempted to try to open it several times but fear always kicked in. After 3 days, we decided to test the laptop. I came from night duty so I was sleeping when my wife tried to turn it on. She prayed fervently first. When she pressed the power button, VOILA my laptop sprung back to life 🙂 She tested all the keys, it was all working. She tried to charge it, it was charging. She woke me up and blurted out the good news. I was really happy 🙂 Truly, He is the God of everything! May this testimonial give hope and inspiration to all of you who are in the same situation as I was, 3 days back. To God be all the glory!
water on keyboard - now imac won't start
