I just reached for my cup of water and it slipped out of my hand spilling on my laptop. Probably only a few tablespoons, but when I got back with paper towels it had shut off. How screwed am I?
I just tried to power it back up and got the first screen and the improber shut down screen then it went dark again. I put it on its side and some water drained out. Is there anything I can do or am I totally hosed?
I would disconnect the battery and let it dry for 24 hours.
If it doesn’t turn on after that, all hope is not completely lost. I had a minor spill on my brand new MBP which voided my warranty and would have been a $1200+ fix (new motherboard, basically). Initially, I put it in to repair then, the next day, thought the better of it and managed to get it back. I took it apart, got the highest concentration of rubbing alcohol I could find, and took a Q-Tip and started cleaning off the visible corrosion. Ten minutes later, working computer. And it’s worked ever since (going on 7 months now.) Granted, I got lucky, but you may, too.
Thanks… right now the battery is out and it is on its side (I figure less pooling this way). I’m pretty impatient but will try to wait as long as I can and give it a go. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I did this to my PowerBook once – the night before vacation. I dried it as well as I could, but when I tried to start it at the airport it would not boot. I got a mysterious icon that (I think I learned later, IIRC) meant that it couldn’t find the hard drive. After a few days it would boot, but several keys would not work. I took it to the Apple dealer when I returned home a couple of weeks later, and it required a new keyboard. (I wish they’d replaced the keys, too. My Space key has the paint rubbed off where I press it all the time. Of course, it wasn’t that worn then.)
I’d take the entire thing apart and dry as many components with q-tips and some kind of microfiber towel as I could.
We’re back. About a dozen starts and fails, but finally it looks like things are back to normal without any noticible problems.
I’m glad everything worked out in the end. Just in case this happens again in the future, I figured I’d point out the two things you could have handled better:
When it gets wet, shut it down ASAP. I’d even recommend going so far as removing the battery and power cord without bothering to do a proper Windows shutdown. Once it’s off, THEN you can go get paper towels.
If it’s still wet, don’t turn it back on. Let it dry first.
Disassembling a laptop is rarely for the technically timid. Alot of small screws, alot of clips to be gently pried apart, and alot of little wire connecting things to places that are not real obvious to those who do not do so regularly.
Oh holy Jesus, you ain’t kidding. I wanted to clean out my heatsink once. It was probably a four hour process. You have to strip it down to the motherboard to get at it. Putting it back together, I somehow had a dozen extra screws.