I spilled a rum and Coke (that has sugar, not sugar free, if that makes a difference) on the keyboard. Immediately wiped it off. It shut down and tried to reboot. Then died. No lights, nada.
I spoke to the authorized Apple service center in Merida. They told me it is obsolete (2011). Apple doesn’t support it, and there are no parts. They are reluctant to perform a diagnostic. They don’t have a sales department, solely service.
I would like to resurrect it, as I recently had a solid disk drive installed.
How serious is this? Can any qualified tech handle this?
I once spilled a gin and tonic (sugar!) on a Toshiba laptop’s keyboard. It shut off immediately and wouldn’t turn back on–until several months later, when I guess it had thoroughly dried out. It has funny water spots on the screen and isn’t as reliable as it was, but at least the drive is accessible.
Well, your drive is probably okay. That’s pretty easy to take out and salvage is everything else has gone kaput. I would take it to a qualified repair facility that is used to deal with liquid damage and see what they can do. You’re in Merida, as in Mexico? I assume there must be a few places in town that are capable of handling something like this. I wish I could give you something more substantial beyond Google for computer facilities that deal with water damage/liquid damage repair and to ask around. There are perfectly capable technicians out there who will deal with Apple products outside the Genius Bar. In the mean time, I wouldn’t plug it in or try powering it on.
I have had some very successful dealings with motherboard repair places in California.
They specialize in water-damaged MoBos. But, it’s going to be around $200-$300 for this repair, and a 2011 MacBook is pretty obsolete. You might want to look for a good used one instead, and part this one out.
Open it and turn it upside down for a few days and don’t touch it or connect it to power. It may come back on its own after it dries out. It may be just protecting itself from an electrical fault induced by the spill. I work on computers for a living and I have had success with that method about 50% of the time. The key to that tip is to not mess with it while it is drying out really well and make the problem worse.
FWIW, I managed to save my 2011 Macbook Pro when it was brand new from a $1200 motherboard replacement because of water damage by just cleaning everything on the circuit board that I saw was hit with water with a Q-tip and 91% isopropyl/rubbing alcohol. Still works to this day. I couldn’t believe it. If you’re in a “I’ll give anything a shot” position at any point, that’s one to try.
I think you and your self assured friend need to discuss what is actually going to happen. No government IT dept in Mexico or the US is going to be doing board level repair of older Apple Macbooks like the guy in New York. By “handle it” he means they will remove the hard drive and let you copy the data to a new computer. He does not mean they will be able to do a board level fix to your older Mac book. Also if they are not experienced in opening Macbooks they may well destroy the machine entirely even if they remove the drive successfully. If you give it to him your Macbook will probably not be coming back home intact and working but you will have the hard drive.
The PC Depot in Playa Del Carmen can diagnose the problem. It’s a little closer than New York but still a bit of a trek for you if you’re in Yucatan. I’m sure there are similar places in Merida. They aren’t an Apple authorized service provider so won’t do the repair but they can tell you if it’s a gonner or not for about 250 pesos. If you want they can also remove the motherboard and clean it in a chemical bath for about 400 pesos. That won’t repair any parts that might have burnt up from a short but if it’s a non-fatal short with some sticky coke in the wrong place that alone might fix it. At the least they will be able to remove your hard drive and test it in another machine to see if it can be salvaged.
If you ever spill anything in your laptop never, ever, ever try to power it up before it has been thoroughly dried. Take the battery out immediately, remove the case and keyboard and air dry everything for literally days before attempting to power it back up.