spilled water on macbook

[abbaZaba]

I spilled water on the upper right part of the macbook's keyboard

I immediately lifted and flipped it over, disconnected the power, mouse, and external drive

I then brought it over to my bad and laid it upside so the keyboard was flat and let it sit for about a minute

Then I realized I should have turned it off and I held the power button down until it shut off.

I waited about an hour and then turned it back on.

It came on and booted up and I was on Adium when the keyboard started to stop responding.

I then turned it off and let it sit for 3.5 hours.

I just got back to my room and the macbook will not turn on at all now.

what are my options? I bought the macbook in August 2006 and I bought an Applecare plan.
will applecare cover this?
homeowner's insurance?
how much'll this cost if it's not covered under the applecare or insurance?

[trevor]

Give it a few more DAYS to dry out completely before panicing.

Trevor

[warragul]

A quick word to all of you who are planning to wet your laptops in the future. Remove the battery as soon as possible. Or immediately, whichever is sooner. This will at least minimise the damage caused by water conducting current to places it just shouldn't go.

I didn't and, as I was shaking the water out of the CD-ROM slot, a puff of smoke signalled the end for my machine. One motherboard later...

[Sherman Homan]

Ditto warragul and trevor. Yank the battery, do not shut down! The possible damage of an emergency power outage is nothing compared to an electrical short. The tendency is to restart to see if anything is wrong, wait it out! It could take a couple of days to get all the water out. The water itself is harmless, heck they wash logic boards during manufacture. The problem is water and electricity together. Get it in some nice warm, dry place and walk away!

[abbaZaba]

but even if it's not turning on right now, doesn't that mean it's shot for good?

[JDV]

No, not necessarily. Give it ample time to completely dry. There's a better than fair chance it will be OK, but it takes a while for the water to evaporate completely from an enclosed, unventilated (mostly) unit.

Joe VanZandt

[Sherman Homan]

but even if it's not turning on right now, doesn't that mean it's shot for good?

Well, it is definitely not a good thing, but like Joe said, let it dry, take your time!

[agentphish]

i let my cell phone dry out after being submerged in a puddle of water. Took about 3-4 days but i just opened it up (any body panels I could take off readily) and let it sit.
It worked fine for another year!

Good luck

[Foibles]

I'm not sure if you can do this on the MacBook, but on my iBook you can press in two tabs and lift the keyboard out. That might help it dry faster.

[macuserhere]

I found taking out the hard drive helped in my case. I spilled green tea on my Powerbook while it was powered on - I was on the net. I had music playing on iTunes and this fizzled out. The screen seemed to be OK. I turned off the computer and turned it upside down. When I tried to turn the computer back on after ten minutes or so, there was a black screen.

I took it to a Mac shop the next day and they said it needed a new motherboard. Anyway, the hard drive was removed and then put back in - to save the data.

When I took the computer home, I turned it on the next morning (2 days after the accident) just as a hunch. It worked. I think the removal of the hard drive which probably got wet and then drying it which is probably what they did, put the computer back to working.

When I dropped my computer hard on the floor on its edge, it also stopped working. Taking out the hard drive and then putting it back in fixed it.

Both times, I was saved costly ($800) repairs.