5 ms·

Are you in my living room? A few months ago I disassembled and cleaned a grape juice damaged MBP. Tried it afterward and no dice. Tried it yesterday on a bored

by fein 12y ago

Are you in my living room? A few months ago I disassembled and cleaned a grape juice damaged MBP. Tried it afterward and no dice. Tried it yesterday on a bored whim and I now have a working MBP with a sticky keyboard. Why? I have no idea.

TrainedMonkey 12y ago
Most of the actual logic board is sealed. So unless you spill something corrosive that goes through that seal and damages the logic board liquid can only get to and damage[0] actual connectors between components and physically moving entities. In case of MBP physically moving entities are mostly fans and keyboard. My guess would be that grape juice shorted some of those connectors. After few months it dried sufficiently, such that when you reseated them short went away. [0] And by damage I mean mostly short and/or corrode the metal.
- teslacarsgobang 12y ago
  I found I didn't need any extra holes in the case, as the OS was already full of holes! And that was not cool (or cooling)!
pm 12y ago
Heh. I caught in the rain with my MacBook Air, and it worked fine for a day, but then wouldn't boot up at all and wouldn't hold charge. Three weeks later and rice and all that jazz and nothing. A couple months later, the charger showed a light, but it wouldn't boot and never lit up green. Six months from the first incident, and I randomly plugged it in and it booted instantly - I was ecstatic. It lasted two weeks before it wouldn't boot up again. A week later, it booted up again, and has been fine ever since. Beats me man. Apple "Geniuses" wouldn't touch it and wanted me to buy a new one.
- thetinguy 12y ago
  Would you have preferred they tell you to leave it alone for a couple of months and maybe it would work again?
  - pm 12y ago
    How about attempting to fix the issue instead of confirming what I already knew and telling me to buy a new computer? That's what technicians are supposed to do.
    - dagw 12y ago
      As a rule of thumb never take a thing to be repaired by someone who's main business is selling new versions of that thing.
      - sgustard 12y ago
        Car dealers make more money from servicing cars than selling new cars, though.
    - unreal37 12y ago
      They did the same to me, when I dropped my first iPad and cracked the screen. They looked at it, and said "We'll sell you a new one at half price". Oh thanks, not even going to pretend to try to fix it? But I did buy the new one and let them have the cracked one.
      - endemic 12y ago
        Sounds pretty great, actually. On these modern devices where the LCD is bonded to the glass screen, replacing the screen can cost as much as the device itself.
- Alupis 12y ago
  Again, this was likely due to the minerals in the water causing a short, and after a long period of time, the mineral "bridges" broke/wore-away, resolving the short, and allowing your macbook to boot. Regarding the "Apple Geniuses", I doubt there would of been anything they could do for you, other than sit there with a cuetip and attempt to wipe down your entire mainboard after a full disassembly. Not to mention water damage probably isn't covered...
  - pm 12y ago
    That sounds plausible, though I thought any power running through it would've caused it to burn out. I was actually going to do a full disassembly with a mate of mine who was an EE, but never got round to it. We attempted to do it with my iPhone (which was dunked into a toilet in an unrelated incident), but even cleaning everything with isopropyl alcohol it wouldn't work. I didn't hold high hopes for the MacBook. And no, water damage wasn't covered by warranty, but it was out of warranty anyhow. I just didn't want to pay another $2K for a MacBook Air (maxed out specs at the time).
- xenophonf 12y ago
  One weird trick I remember from alt.hackers was using WD-40 to remove the water from soaked electronics, and then using high-purity isopropyl(?) alcohol to clean off the WD-40. (You'd want to remove the WD-40 since it would attract dust.)
  - Alupis 12y ago
    That's interesting, I'd think you'd just use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) of >95%, since it will evaporate very rapidly by itself, taking any moisture with it. It also has great cleaning properties by itself (often used to eat the thermal paste gunk off heatsinks). Isopropyl alcohol is what "Swimmers Ear Drops" are mostly made of (for when you get water stuck in your ear).
  - exadeci 12y ago
    If it's not water (coffee etc) shower the motherboard with no battery the wash it with distilled water let it dry. And that works :)
  - nikisweeting 12y ago
    Butane works well too, as long as you don't spray too much and cause condensation.
- michaelcampbell 12y ago
  Unfortunately rice is mostly placebo. It's something to give your brain a reason to leave the device alone for a while. Use an actual dessicant. Which might also not work, but then your problem is less likely leftover wetness.
  - Recoil42 12y ago
    Rice does certainly work as a mild desiccant. Admittedly it is not a terribly effective desiccant, but it still has those properties.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

by fein 12y ago

TrainedMonkey 12y ago

Most of the actual logic board is sealed. So unless you spill something corrosive that goes through that seal and damages the logic board liquid can only get to and damage[0] actual connectors between components and physically moving entities. In case of MBP physically moving entities are mostly fans and keyboard. My guess would be that grape juice shorted some of those connectors. After few months it dried sufficiently, such that when you reseated them short went away. [0] And by damage I mean mostly short and/or corrode the metal.

teslacarsgobang 12y ago
I found I didn't need any extra holes in the case, as the OS was already full of holes! And that was not cool (or cooling)!

pm 12y ago

Heh. I caught in the rain with my MacBook Air, and it worked fine for a day, but then wouldn't boot up at all and wouldn't hold charge. Three weeks later and rice and all that jazz and nothing. A couple months later, the charger showed a light, but it wouldn't boot and never lit up green. Six months from the first incident, and I randomly plugged it in and it booted instantly - I was ecstatic. It lasted two weeks before it wouldn't boot up again. A week later, it booted up again, and has been fine ever since. Beats me man. Apple "Geniuses" wouldn't touch it and wanted me to buy a new one.

thetinguy 12y ago
Would you have preferred they tell you to leave it alone for a couple of months and maybe it would work again?
- pm 12y ago
  How about attempting to fix the issue instead of confirming what I already knew and telling me to buy a new computer? That's what technicians are supposed to do.
  - dagw 12y ago
    As a rule of thumb never take a thing to be repaired by someone who's main business is selling new versions of that thing.
    - sgustard 12y ago
      Car dealers make more money from servicing cars than selling new cars, though.
  - unreal37 12y ago
    They did the same to me, when I dropped my first iPad and cracked the screen. They looked at it, and said "We'll sell you a new one at half price". Oh thanks, not even going to pretend to try to fix it? But I did buy the new one and let them have the cracked one.
    - endemic 12y ago
      Sounds pretty great, actually. On these modern devices where the LCD is bonded to the glass screen, replacing the screen can cost as much as the device itself.
Alupis 12y ago
Again, this was likely due to the minerals in the water causing a short, and after a long period of time, the mineral "bridges" broke/wore-away, resolving the short, and allowing your macbook to boot. Regarding the "Apple Geniuses", I doubt there would of been anything they could do for you, other than sit there with a cuetip and attempt to wipe down your entire mainboard after a full disassembly. Not to mention water damage probably isn't covered...
- pm 12y ago
  That sounds plausible, though I thought any power running through it would've caused it to burn out. I was actually going to do a full disassembly with a mate of mine who was an EE, but never got round to it. We attempted to do it with my iPhone (which was dunked into a toilet in an unrelated incident), but even cleaning everything with isopropyl alcohol it wouldn't work. I didn't hold high hopes for the MacBook. And no, water damage wasn't covered by warranty, but it was out of warranty anyhow. I just didn't want to pay another $2K for a MacBook Air (maxed out specs at the time).
xenophonf 12y ago
One weird trick I remember from alt.hackers was using WD-40 to remove the water from soaked electronics, and then using high-purity isopropyl(?) alcohol to clean off the WD-40. (You'd want to remove the WD-40 since it would attract dust.)
- Alupis 12y ago
  That's interesting, I'd think you'd just use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) of >95%, since it will evaporate very rapidly by itself, taking any moisture with it. It also has great cleaning properties by itself (often used to eat the thermal paste gunk off heatsinks). Isopropyl alcohol is what "Swimmers Ear Drops" are mostly made of (for when you get water stuck in your ear).
- exadeci 12y ago
  If it's not water (coffee etc) shower the motherboard with no battery the wash it with distilled water let it dry. And that works :)
- nikisweeting 12y ago
  Butane works well too, as long as you don't spray too much and cause condensation.
michaelcampbell 12y ago
Unfortunately rice is mostly placebo. It's something to give your brain a reason to leave the device alone for a while. Use an actual dessicant. Which might also not work, but then your problem is less likely leftover wetness.
- Recoil42 12y ago
  Rice does certainly work as a mild desiccant. Admittedly it is not a terribly effective desiccant, but it still has those properties.

deleted 12y ago

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