Fried my laptop

[Kiwi cop]

So last night I'm sitting in my recliner watching episodes of Smallville that did not air in this country on my late 2011 MacBook Pro 17. My step-son brings me a hot drink and as he hands it to me the dog decides it is time I paid him some attention and jumps up on me.

Liquid all over the trackpad and mouseon the laptop.

I clean it up and go back to watching my program. A while later the screen starts to freeze for a second or so before continuing to play. Then the picture goes from full screen to standard page and back again a few times before sticking at standard size. The trackpad and mouse are not responsive and the screen freezes.

I turn the computer off and remove the bottom of the computer case and it's all nice and dry inside. But the hard drive is right next to the trackpad. Put it back together, reboot and it's working fine, so I finish watching my program. Then everything freezes again.

Reboot and I cannot input my password. The right side third of the keys are not registering. I have a USB keypad on the other computer so I grab it, plug it in and..... nothing. The right side third keys on the other keyboard do not work either

Turn the machine off and hope it drys out in a day or so. About 30 minutes later, even though the top is closed, I hear the start up sound. I look across and the laptop is powering up with the Apple logo illuminated. Then it dies again. I go to turn it on and....nothing. Will not power up. This morning the same. And tonite, well you get the picture I'm sure.

I think I've fried the hard drive but I grab my iPad and google the fault. Consensus is that the keypad is ruined.

Now being honest I dropped the machine some time ago and one of the brackets keys fell off while the cap lock key came loose. Last year when Karen was in Hospital in Auckland I took it to a place that repaired the screen of her dropped iPad and they told me I would need a new keyboard, including the upper case, which was going to cost me NZ $400 plus fitting, which I didn't have at the time.

So I resign myself to finding $500 I don't have to spend on shooting or our holiday.

Then tonite I remember that when I was quoted over $300 locally for new upgraded RAM I found some on Amazon that cost me NZ$160 delivered. I go onto Amazon and search for a MacBook Pro 17 keyboard and find several sellers, most who do not ship to this country. But two do, and for US $23.95 plus postage I can get a new BESTeck replacement keyboard with backlight.

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/BESTeck-Keyboard-Backlight-MacBook-Warranty/dp/B07CV8ZY9V/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1531550203&sr=8-14&keywords=macbook+pro+17+keyboard[/ame]

So out with that darned credit card, again.

 

[Farmer17]

I run my construction business off my lap top and if anything happened to it I would be in really bad shape! I just paid $70 for a yearly service that backs it up daily online and saves all the data so I can sleep a lot better at night. It's a 6 year old Dell that only cost $300 and has been dropped dozens of times and I could care less if anything happened to it as long as the data is saved.

 

[johngalt]

Hope you successfully fix it! I've never tried replacing a keyboard.

The hard drive is probably ok, but make a backup just in case. If you have a 2nd machine, can you put the Mac in Target Disk Mode and access it from the other?

I've heard of people flushing their electronics with distilled water in situations like this. Sometimes the stuff in the drink causes short circuits. Unplug the power, including the internal battery before attempting.

I once washed a computer motherboard that had been in a fire in alcohol to clean off the soot and got it working again.

 

[Steve912]

That's crazy $$ for a keyboard. A Toshiba keyboard
runs $30 and up--is the Apple logo worth it?

You should be able to detach the keyboard and rinse it
out with distilled water. Towel and tap it dry and let it
hang vertically for a couple of days. "Sooner is better
than later"--wet residue rinses; dried, sticky gummy
stuff resists rinsing.

Chances of success
are good; if you don't give it a rinse, chances are the
residue of beverage will dry to a sticky residue that will
be pretty annoying.

The spill probably didn't directly damage the HDD,
but it could have re-routed amps/volts from other circuits
and damaged the HDD's controller board.

Depending on how much was spilled, where, and the
internal layout, the board(s) may have conductive residue
creating new & undesireable paths. Sounds you're seeing
those type effects.

Disassemble until you've found the limit of liquid contamination.
Get all the residue off the board(s), including between pins/leads
of processors/chips. Any residue left in the gaps between leads can
cause continual or intermittent ( eg, hygroscopic residue that becomes
conductive in higher humidity conditions) malfunctions, as seen in
flood damaged vehicles...

Even with thorough clean-up, there's a chance that some component(s)
may have been damaged by misrouted volts/amps. You won't know till
you try.

 

[dben002]

After everything is repaired or replaced and the world is back to normal......consider doggie training classes......

 

[Triathloncoach]

I read burying wet iphones in rice helps.

I have three dogs, two are puppies. I can not sit or lay down without a wrestling match breaking out on top of me. It is party time, all the time at my house.

 

[Rustyt1953]

My Son-in-Law is a techie at General Mills. With us having a houseful of cats and kids, we keep him quite busy.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Hope you successfully fix it! I've never tried replacing a keyboard.

The hard drive is probably ok, but make a backup just in case. If you have a 2nd machine, can you put the Mac in Target Disk Mode and access it from the other?

I've heard of people flushing their electronics with distilled water in situations like this. Sometimes the stuff in the drink causes short circuits. Unplug the power, including the internal battery before attempting.

I once washed a computer motherboard that had been in a fire in alcohol to clean off the soot and got it working again.

At present I can't even turn the computer on!

I don't really have the room at home to strip the laptop down, too much shooting and guitar stuff taking up room

I'll drop it into a repair place Monday to see what they can do.

 

[Kiwi cop]

I read burying wet iphones in rice helps.

I have three dogs, two are puppies. I can not sit or lay down without a wrestling match breaking out on top of me. It is party time, all the time at my house.

Every time I get down on the floor to street go out my spine I have to fight off two dogs who think I want to play. They jump on my chest and insist on giving me a face wash.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I and my fiancé have 3 dogs , 2 aussie and a collie mix . They are very well behaved / trained to hand commands and voice , if necessary . They learn the words , " OFF " and " NO GO " with a stern voice early in their life . Dogs , just like kids need to learn to be respectful , to wait and obey commands . We are not accepting of " bad dog " behavior . It can be trained out of them w/o resorting to physical abuse . Regards, Paul

 

[LVSteve]

We have a separate room at work for computers that connect to the Web. The IT guy put up some very strongly worded notices regarding food and drink in the room. The message was "no, with an F".

 

[Kiwi cop]

Well good news is that today the MacBook powered up and all keys except for the O, L and . worked.

Problem is I need the L key for my login password and the . one for my iCloud log in.

Oh well, into town tomorrow to Mr repairman.

 

[Rustyt1953]

G00d £uck!!

 

[rwsmith]

Orange juice...

Orange juice applied to the keyboard will result in a quick and painless death.

 

[soFlaNative]

This pic wins the Internet!