water damaged macbook pro

I've had experience with quite a number of Macs with liquid spills. If you do not open the bottom case to clean it, some will fail and become beyond repair. There are some risky DIY methods and some DIY methods that require a bit of technical know-hows. Like simple disassembly and reassembling.

The DIY method that works with slight risk

1. Firstly, power off your Mac immediately by performing a hard shutdown by pressing and holding on the power button.

2. Get hold of a philips crosshead screwdriver and open up the base. For Retina Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, your need a P5 Pentalobe screwdriver. iFixit comes to mind. Else just google and see if other stores sell it.

3. Dry out any water you see, looking for areas where the water indicators have turned red. Inspect and look for corrosion. If there is corrosion, it is best to send it for repairs.

4. Dismantle the entire Mac, get hold of a WD40 electrical contact cleaner. Spray the entire logicboard on both sides with it. Leave your logicboard to dry for at least 24 hours. Reassmble and power on.

The DIY risk it method

1. Perform step 1, 2 and 3.

2. Open the LCD to 90 degrees angle.

3. Lay your Macbook upside down on a table edge with a towel underneath.

The professional method

1. Send it in to a professional repair service that explicitly states they do chemical cleaning for water damaged Macs as soon as possible. Anything more than 1 week is quite hard to repair.

It is totally untrue that water damaged or logicboards with some corrosion cannot be repaired. Most places can't do it because they do not do component level repairs on the logicboard. It is also possible to revive Macs within hours as professional Mac repair services can do chemical cleaning of even corroded Macbook logicboards with industrial strength cleaning machines and chemicals, and speed dry them with industrial blowers.

Do nots

1. Put it in rice. You are leaving the logicboard inside with water. Your logicboard might grow mould.

2. Use a hair dryer. The LCD might be damaged and the hair dryer pushes water further in.

3. Leave it to "dry" and power it on a few days later. Sometimes this works, but days or weeks down the road, if there is water and moisture, the components inside can start to corrode.

This is what happened to my friend's Macbook Air. He said it suddenly stopped working one night. A number of my customers brought their Macs in after 1 month of usage after a liquid spill. Passing electricity through a Mac with water is like doing electroplating. The rust and corrosion with be adhered to the components.

This blog details some repair tips.

[URL="http://www.macplus.sg/blog/"]http://www.macplus.sg/blog/[/URL]

Spill Cleaning

And, don't think that just because it was two teaspoons and not a glassful that there is a difference.

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 you can)
• 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).
• Do not put in a bag of rice in as much as rice will get into the ports and optical drive and do further damage.

Allow me to add another "do".....

If you have homeowners'/renters' insurance, notify them of the incident immediately. Although no Apple coverage plans address accidental damage, many people have found that their regular insurance covers such damage to computers.

The reason I mention this is that, in spite of small volumes of seemingly "harmless" liquids, many notebooks never recover from a spill. Too many components get compromised and you find that replace v. repair costs are so close as to make the latter unappealing.

Obviously, any insurance settelemnt is subject to the usual deductible.

"If you have homeowners'/renters' insurance, notify them of the incident immediately. Although no Apple coverage plans address accidental damage, many people have found that their regular insurance covers such damage to computers."

Be advised that I doubt any insurance company is going to pay for a self inflicted water spill. If a water pipe broke in your home and your computer was damaged as a result then you've got a chance but limited to a deductable and depreciated value of the computer.

Macbook Pro vulnerable to liquid spills

I wish we had renters insurance so I could go down that avenue

Ouch!

I recently experienced the same issue. My success may or may not translate to your situation. Good luck: MacBook Repair Success Story - Cola Damage

* edit copy old post

here are some repair options:

www.the-mac-boutique.com

these guys fixed my MacBook Pro and offer a 180 warranty