Oops. Water in PowerBook LCD.

I had a glass resting oh, about a foot away, and as I picked it up, it shuddered and splashed a few drops right into the crack between the screen and the bezel.

I now have a jaggedy lighter-toned area along the bottom edge of the screen, and behind that, a shapeless white blob.

Is it f#$!ed???

do you still have a warranty on it? or email/call the support or repair line to see what you can do. if your monitor isnt a big mess and everything still works, you might just have to live with it:(

4 years old. Warranty is toast.

I’m going to try putting it near my heating unit to blow warm air into it. This was recommended by some website or another. <crosses fingers>

Turn it upside down so that the top edge of the LCD is down. Most of the electronics and electrical connections are usually at the bottom of the screen; there usually aren’t any at the top, except possibly microphone wiring.

Stored PB open and upside down overnight. /\ like that.

Amorphous white blob has shrunk considerably.

Jaggedy lighter area staying, but not easily visible in normal use.

Keep it up. For the time being, store the laptop like that any time it’s not in use. If the liquid was just relatively pure water, it should go away almost completely in time. Take it from someone who’s dunked nearly everything from digital cameras to iPods to computer keyboards, sometimes intentionally.

The big risks of water getting in electronic things are:

  • Salt and other corrosive impurities, not a problem if it’s drinking water.

  • Shorting electrical components (pure water’s pretty non-conductive, but it doesn’t stay pure once it’s in there, unless you have much better computer hygiene than most folks.) You really don’t want water shorting around things like voltage limiters, which is why you generally want to remove batteries from immersed items.

  • Capillary action holding the water in narrow spaces (your problem).

Even with complete immersion, I’d expect everything to function again in a month or so if it were left with the batteries out. A little water splashed in it? Probably a couple of weeks. The “ghosting” may get left behind, either the residue of dust carried up there by the water, or a washing out of some of the empty space.

And the backlight in many cases.

The white blob is now just a few scattered spots. By tomorrow morning it should be gone.

Thanks to all for their input.