Q: When spilled water on MacBook Pro keyboard?

sevenmilesup, greetings;  I have never witnessed a liquid spill on a MBP, but were you present the three times that permitted you to execute your step 1?

I quote:

"1) Turn it upside down IMMEDIATELY, even before you power it off. By the time you have wasted 5 seconds shutting it down, the liquid will have drained much further in."

My suspicions and doubts are raised. 

Ciao.

I'm unable to reply as anything I say is deleted by moderators.

Email has been sent to CEO Tim Cook (again).

sevenmilesup, greetings;  Not to fret, I did receive your response.  No I do not work for Apple nor have I ever worked for them.  I do use some of their products.

I certainly am not Judge Judy, but occasionally I do get my curiosity aroused.

You indicate that you have witnessed two times spillages on MBPs and using your technique 'saved' them.  My intuition says that it would be rare for one person to be present at one such event.  To be present at two, suggests astronomical odds.  I suppose if one associates with mostly clumsy people, that may very well be possible.

Nevertheless I am inclined to believe that there is an element of Taurus Excremnetum involved here.

You response, which I edited the vulgarities, is here.

Ciao.

Ogelthorpe is correct, ........as to the claim from the other party that Apple would "talk you into a logic board"

the fact is that there is very little inside many notebooks today BUT a logic board and its the "huge internal landing pad for spills"

As per the Macbook Air, there is NOTHING inside it essentially but a huge battery and a logic board (and IO board and 2 speakers)

The common notion that you can "dry it out and turn it on" doesnt work and never will 99 times out of a 100.

In answer to Ogel about spills, Ive seen 3 spills firsthand,... one in college, one at a former workplace, and another at cousins house.  (I think Ive seen 4 or 5 spills, but cant recall the others).

ANY 'signifigant' spill is going to cause serious damage, turned on or NOT, the liquid is inside

Turning a notebook upside down does NOTHING .....once the liquid rushes inside the top, the keyboard acts like a one way valve.

This is hard and fast proven fact.

Ive taken dead laptops and poured half a glass in and turned it upside down and very little will come out, it will roll to the corners inside and just wreck MORE havoc

I should make a video proving that BIG SPILLS wont "come out" when you turn them upside down.

Ive done it before, but not filmed it.

Your intuition is wrong then. You are saying that it is unlikely that one person could possibly have witnessed a liquid being spilled on two computers, and hence that my account cannot be true? Over 40 years I've probably seen at least 10 such incidents with keyboards, albeit most of them PC ones either in the workplace or elsewhere. That's only one every 4 years, which is hardly that surprising.

What about the other posters who have agreed with me that this is their experience too?

I've now e-mailed the CEO by the way, so no doubt my posts will now be allowed whilst the moderators fret on what to do.

PV, please explain the mechanism by which this damage occurs when the machine is powered off.

The point is that the big spill doesn't have to drain out immediately. All that is required is that the liquid dries before the unit is powered on, which could take days and careful movement of the case to faciliate such drying.

sevenmilesup 

PV, please explain the mechanism by which this damage occurs when the machine is powered off.

Moisture and residue

"SPILL" has no qualifier......I used to repair laptops long ago for many years......acetone spills, jelly spills, coffee, water, soda, milk, juice...

Spill itself doesnt mean anything.   WHAT was spilled.......WHERE did it land/ roll to.

Damage occurs anywhere and everywhere, the one thing we detested the most when I used to fix them, (not Apple laptops) was fixing things on dried spill residue was a guessing game

replace A, test it......ok now B is also bad.......replace B, test it........ok, now XYZ is also bad.

people would return "fixed" laptops because another part failed we couldnt magically determine was damaged, ...it makes the repairman look like the fool, when in fact outside of gutting a laptop and putting ALL NEW inside (and then whats the point?, there is none, just get a new machine),.... you cannot do that logically.  When a "repair" becomes a "replacement" you havent repaired anything because its all (90%) damaged/destroyed

sevenmilesup

The point is that the big spill doesn't have to drain out immediately.

Does not work that way, nope.

once the liquid rushes inside the top, the keyboard acts like a one way valve.

This is hard and fast proven fact.

sevenmilesup

All that is required is that the liquid dries before the unit is powered on,

Nope, not true at ALL,......most spills arent water, they leave HORRIBLE residue behind. And when dried out and powered on, catastrophic failure occurs.

even pure filtered water will NEVER "dry out" on a major spill even on an unpowered notebook.

Why? there are 1000 tiny tiny crevices that will remain wet for a long long looonng time.  Seen it often.

So, be smugly happy with the "savings". When it starts looking like this, have the cash ready for repairs or replacement:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3875300

I forgot to mention inevitable corrosion, thanks Cour.

The best option going forward is to move the beverage off the table or desk and away from the electronics with a device like this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1030552097/vector-cupholder-protect-your-lap top-and-your-lap

A few dollars now for a cupholder can save thousands of dollars later.

After hearing what has happened to people in this post, i'm guessing I was pretty lucky because I spilled water on my MacBook Pro and the screen turned almost like a static TV screen (RAM/Battery) The sleep light flashed and it beeped, but after putting it outside in the sun and then holding it in the freezer for about 20 seconds it was good as new!

Narmocady 

but after putting it outside in the sun and then holding it in the freezer for about 20 seconds it was good as new!

Corrosion will soon set in, backup all data ASAP......failure is just short of 100% guaranteed

Last night I spilled like half a cup of water on my macbook. It has turned on and everything there are no problems accept when i put in the laptop charger it just isnt charging the laptop! I have searched for someone with the same problem as me but i haven't found any thing.. I'm 13 and have no clue on how to fix it. No water dripped out of the laptop so i dont know why it has effected the charger. Can someone please help me?

Hi MissKittykath,

Did you read through the posts in this thread? There are only to things you should do, and the sooner the better - unplug it immediately, and take it to Apple to be looked at so they can tell you what is going to need to be done to make it safe and to make it not crap out on you in a few weeks' or few months' time when corrosion sets in.

There is no easy fix. Read Plotinus Veritas' posts. They very clearly tell you what is inevitable.

Cheers,

GB