Filed under: Troubleshooting
Don't panic: Liquid damage, and what to do about it
We've all had an "oh poopie" moment involving liquids: Time slows down, you watch as the glass tips over, its contents cascading (beautifully, in another context perhaps) over the rim and onto the table. The rivulets of beverage roll in a miniscule tidal wave across the surface, over the edge, and drip to the floor. All in the span of a few seconds.
The worst part is when there's a computer between the cup and the table. That's when an oops becomes a crisis.
What's the best thing to do when there's a spill on your laptop? Keep calm and carry on:
1. Don't panic.
First, know that your data is safe. Hard drives -- while not hermetically sealed -- are tightly put together. If you act quickly, you can prevent the liquid from getting to your hard disk, and damaging your valuable data. (I'll save the bad news for later.)
2. Turn off the computer.
Even before you run to get a towel, turn the computer off. If you can't shut it down normally (the keyboard won't respond for example), try pressing the power button for several seconds to force the computer to shut down. Unplug the laptop, and disconnect any cables and USB devices.
3. With the lid open, turn the computer upside down.
This prevents the liquid from getting too far into the computer. While the computer is upside down, remove the battery and set it aside.
4. Wipe up the liquid.
All joking aside: use toilet paper. Ounce for ounce, it's the most absorbent material you're likely to have handy. It's also thin, so it can reach down into crevices in and around your keyboard to soak up the liquid. This is especially important for sugary drinks like colas and juice: Sugars are sticky, and if they dry, you'll have a bigger problem.
Next: If you're prepared, you can take your computer apart to clean up any liquid inside.
5. Disassemble and clean the computer.
You can find plenty of information online for how to disassemble your Mac. MacRecycling.com offers videos showing how to disassemble plastic 13-inch MacBooks, and iBook G4s. iFixIt has PDF guides for how to take apart almost any MacBook, MacBook Pro, iBook or PowerBook. Make sure you're electrically grounded, too, before working on your computer. Lightly touch the screw on the outside of a wall switch to ground yourself, or use a grounding strap (if you have one).
You'll most likely want to remove the top case, the part of the computer that includes the keyboard and trackpad. In many some cases, you'll have to start at the bottom of the computer and remove many, many screws, ribbons and parts. Using a notebook and an empty ice cube tray to keep track of the many different sizes of screws is a good way to make your life easier when it comes time to putting the computer back together.
With your computer apart, try and find where the liquid has seeped to, and sop it up as best you can. Any liquid you spill is going to have the ability to conduct electricity due to metals, sugars, and salts within. Colas, especially, are very acidic, and can corrode sensitive electronic parts. Even if you drink nothing but food-grade de-ionized water, material on the surface of your computer can be carried by the liquid inside your computer, meaning possible conductivity. Of course, unwanted conductivity is bad for your computer.
If what you spilled was oily or sticky, you can use dilute isopropyl alcohol (IPA, or rubbing alcohol) to try and clean areas with the oil on it. Dip a lint-free cloth in a small amount of alcohol and use the tip of your finger to gently clean areas inside the computer.
6. Let everything dry.
You can use a desk lamp and incandescent bulb to gently warm and dry the disassembled computer. Remember, make sure to clean up anything that will become sticky before you dry the computer. You'll want to make sure everything is completely dry before trying to turn on your computer. No matter how great the compulsion, you should wait at least a day before trying to boot your laptop again.
7. Reassemble the computer and try to boot it.
Have you considered prayer? Prayer sometimes works, too.
8. Test it out.
The keyboard and trackpad will probably be most affected by a spill. Try all the keys and all the functions of the trackpad (like scrolling and tapping). If something isn't working right, there are two possibilities: Either it's not completely dry, or its permanently damaged. Give it another day to dry out, and if it isn't working, chances are it needs to be replaced.
If nothing works, you can still take the hard disk out of the computer, put it in an enclosure and connect it to another Mac. That way, you'll have access to your critical files if you need them.
9. Get Service.
Remember the bad news I mentioned in step 1? Well, here it is: Many warranties (including AppleCare) don't cover liquid damage. In fact, newer Apple laptops include moisture sensors to tell repair technicians if something has leaked inside the case. These sensors -- small dots adhered in specific places inside the laptop case -- are white when dry, but turn red when exposed to liquids. If liquid damage isn't covered, then you have to pay the cost to repair any damaged components. Sorry.
10. Share your story.
With that hard lesson under your belt, I'm sure you'll make sure to keep drinks away from your computer from now. Even so, there are times when even the most careful among us fall prey to liquid damage: The laptop pictured at the top of the article had an unfortunate encounter with a (what was thought to be tightly capped) bottle of cranberry juice inside a backpack.
Do you have a liquid damage horror story? Vent your spleen and leave a comment.
[with help from WikiHow.]
Also see:
How to save a wet laptop (via Switched)
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
greg said 12:12PM on 5-12-2009
I once killed a laptop with a glass of champagne while showing my friends a very funny porn site.
I guess if you have to go that's the way!
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Francisco said 12:12PM on 5-12-2009
My wife spilled beer once at my iBook. I was fast and removed the power cable quick, put it upside down and removed the battery without even trying to turn it off. I shook it upside down and dried with paper towel. A few hours later I turned it on and it was working, tried all keys and they were working miraculous. Now, its hers laptop, I got a MBP :-)
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Greenbook said 12:18PM on 5-12-2009
I went though the expensive process of spilling hot tea on my macbook pro once. Fortunately I don't take milk or sugar, so it was basically just hot water. Still, after drying it out a couple of my keys stopped working as did the two finger click. It requited a top case replacement. Unfortunately I was leaving for melbourne the next day for two weeks, and so was without a computer for that whole time (ouch).
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Mark said 12:21PM on 5-12-2009
I would take out the battery at step 2. Also don't try to shutdown, just pull out all power sources.
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Chad said 9:49PM on 5-18-2009
from experience - I second that.
Brett said 12:28PM on 5-12-2009
I let orange juice out to play, and it does not play well with electronics. And, when you say, "flip over the laptop", do it in the opposite direction of the hard drive. I didn't, and all the OJ went straight to the HDD, and it was unrecoverable.
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Tim said 12:29PM on 5-12-2009
When cell phones get wet, a good trick is to stick it in a sealed container of dry rice, as the rice will absorb the moisture quite well. This would also likely work for other electronics, such as laptops.
Tim
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John Ellenich said 12:36PM on 5-12-2009
I had a friend who washed her iPhone and put it in a baggy of kitty litter and it worked 3 days later! Pretty crazy!
Luxu said 12:34PM on 5-12-2009
ive had to cases with macbooks and water lol in less than a year once with mine and once with my dads, mine basically wasnt a water spill, im very picky about the keyboard being clean and i cleaned it with a wet wipe and closed it, by the time i arrived at work and opened it i found out that a few keys werent working and the shift was constantly being pressesed so i needed a keyboard replacement which i still wanted cos my keyboard was in italian and it became difficult to code in java and my dads was a case of i thought the bottle was closed and i spilt a bottle of water onto his laptop with some more water under the laptop, only problem turned out to be the screen which had a sort of watermark bottom left mainly, but this dried out thankfully.
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alex cutter said 6:40PM on 5-12-2009
Are you retarded?
Ryhan said 8:27PM on 5-15-2009
Stop commenting from an ipod touch/ iphone. Seriously.
Ryan S. said 12:42PM on 5-12-2009
I'm actually on a Macbook that survived a Diet Sprite spill. Since it was Diet, there wasn't much residue. Of course, I didn't know what to do, so I skipped step number 2. I ran around to get a towel. When I got back to my mac, the screen computer was turned off. I unplugged it, and turned it off. I opened the case, and let it set for 4 days. (I wasn't taking ANY chances.) I pressed the power button and (after a dramatic pause. My mac likes to tease me. xP) I heard the famous gong. :) It's been working for over a year now, and actually has been running faster since the spill. Don't ask me how. :)
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wengleung said 12:49PM on 5-12-2009
Faster speed = Running on a high from all the artificial sweetners!
Joseph said 12:58PM on 5-12-2009
I just poured 2 diet sprites on my Mac Pro - just for the speed boost.
Joseph said 12:48PM on 5-12-2009
Im not entirely sure Toilet Paper is the best tool for the job. TP was made to fall apart when wet. With soldering point being sharp, this could be a potential nightmare.
Also I have heard of some type of water used for cleaning electronics when you spill something that has residue potential. I think what you mentioned "de-ionized" water was what I have heard in the past. soak it completely and then let it dry for a week. as long as it is all off, you dont risk shorting it out and it will do better than a cloth.
When I worked in a photo lab - we had a bottle called "de-natured alcohol" that we would clean electronic components with daily. Is this the same as over the counter isopropyl in the semi-opaque bottle? Also, they offer like 5 different kinds, which is the best? I think they are based on percentage.
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Randy said 2:00PM on 5-12-2009
Distilled water.
Robert Palmer said 2:20PM on 5-12-2009
TP is great to just lay on top of the spill and have it soak up the excess. For cleaning, definitely use a lint-free cloth.
Denatured alcohol is ethanol that they've made to not taste good, so you don't drink it. :) I'd reckon more people have IPA in the house than denatured alcohol: It's different than IPA, but works just as well. I'd go for the most dilute solution you have handy.
Romesh said 5:54PM on 5-12-2009
Deionized water is cheaper than distilled water, it's non-conductive so that's the one to get
Mack said 12:49PM on 5-12-2009
I let my MacBook Unibody had a drink (just water) two months ago. I was shocked so I quickly unplug all cables, turn it up side down and remove the battery.
Don't even press the power button in order to avoid short-circuit.
So I disassembled the Mac and put the components into Dry cabinet for a day... now running fine again :)
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Rando said 12:57PM on 5-12-2009
I was using my mini 9 whilst taking care of some business in the bathroom and when I went to wash my hands I tipped the mini right into the sink where it sat under a full blast stream of water for at least a few seconds. Hard to tell how long it was because it happened in horrifying slow motion. I turned it over and yanked the battery out without shutting down or anything first. Thats a waste of time. I let it sit in front of a fan for 24 hours and popped in the battery and it worked fine. I probably should have waited longer or attempted to take some of the case off to let air in but i didnt and it works good as new. And it's sparkling clean now after its bath.
Whoever said to submerge it in dry rice is smart, thats a great idea that I'll try for sure next time.
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