JUST SPILLED COFFEE ON MACBOOK... Forum

[kswiss]

DUDE:

Go buy a massive sack of rice. Cover computer in rice. Wait 24 hours. Reboot.

This will fix most problems if the computer was turned off relatively quickly. The rice sucks out the moisture. I've done this with phones and cameras with excellent results.

Also: remove the hard drive and re-mount it in another computer or external enclosure (after completely drying it!). You should at least be able to get the info off.

Don't jump the gun. Make sure everything is completely dry before turning that shit on.

[JazzOne]

Thanks for this. I got a free copy of MobileMe that I haven't even opened because I wasn't sure what it was.

Doesn't it require a $100/yr subscription fee? Though that easily seems worth it.

A friend of mine bought a MacBook with some peripherals, and he also purchased (I assume) the MobileMe software. I then purchased the whole package from him before he used it. I actually have a box with the software in it. Do you get the first year subscription for the price of the software? Or is the software free and you only pay for the subscription?

[bk1]

IIRC, the software is free and you get one month free but if you want to keep using it you have to pay for a subscription.

[goosey]

you can also put the laptop in a giant sack of rice---it will absorb theliquid...leave it in there for like 3 or 4 days. works for cell phones, prob works for laptops too?

must be entirely covered by rice.

also, got dropbox after a very scary false alarm where I thought I lost all my work. its nice to have peace of mind

[homestyle28]

Go buy a massive sack of rice. Cover computer in rice. Wait 24 hours. Reboot.

Eat rice while startup completes. Use remaining rice to absorb tears.

[2807]

Thanks for this. I got a free copy of MobileMe that I haven't even opened because I wasn't sure what it was.

Doesn't it require a $100/yr subscription fee? Though that easily seems worth it.

A friend of mine bought a MacBook with some peripherals, and he also purchased (I assume) the MobileMe software. I then purchased the whole package from him before he used it. I actually have a box with the software in it. Do you get the first year subscription for the price of the software? Or is the software free and you only pay for the subscription?

There is no software. That is more marketing than anything else. There is probably a code# in there you will need to activate it with. Thats it! Just go to Apple website and find your way..

Also, if you have an iphone the MobileMe is a must. It will make your phone sync instantly with calendar/contact edits (like a blackberry). And you can get the free iDisk app for your phone and ALL your files are with you wherever you go. You cant edit them, but you can access and email them in a pinch to wherever you are so you can edit them then.... Trust me, it is awesome.

[ArchRoark]

I am on my iPhone right now, but I will post a walk trough later. I higkyt doubt that your hard drive is fried. You should be able to easily savage your data.

[Iconoclast]

DUDE:

Go buy a massive sack of rice. Cover computer in rice. Wait 24 hours. Reboot.

This will fix most problems if the computer was turned off relatively quickly. The rice sucks out the moisture. I've done this with phones and cameras with excellent results.

Also: remove the hard drive and re-mount it in another computer or external enclosure (after completely drying it!). You should at least be able to get the info off.

Don't jump the gun. Make sure everything is completely dry before turning that shit on.

TITCR

Rice makes a great dessicant, and an external enclosure only costs about 15 bucks and will essentially turn your hard drive into a USB drive and you can copy all your files off it.

[goldeneagle]

Someone spilled an entire cup of beer during a party on my Macbook... I used the "rice trick" for a few days, then turned it back on.

It works fine.

[achilles]

I spilled a glass of water on my macbook 6 months ago and it was fine. I just soaked up what I could and turned it upside down for a while. My roommate also spilled a vodka and cranberry juice on her laptop and it was fine (although her keys were sticky, so she had to replace them.) So my point: there's hope! Laptops are resilient!

This is freaking me out; I will be emailing myself all my essays now, just in case.

[ArchRoark]

I have no idea whether or not your laptop is salvageable, but it would be easy to salvage your data.

1) First you need to remove the hard drive from your laptop.
If you post the exact model year (i.e. Macbook Pro vs Macbook).. I can try and dig up exact instructions.
This link has instructions for a number of the Macbook Pro versions.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 529,00.asp

2) After you have your hard drive removed, I would buy an external hard drive enclosure that accepts 2.5" laptop hard drives. I believe all the hard drives interfaces on MacBooks have transitioned to SATA but you will need to match your hard drive interface to your external enclosure interface.

SATA vs IDE interface:


External Enclosure w/ SATA Interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182138

External Enclosure w/ IDE Interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182145

Other 2.5" External Enclosures from newegg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=20

3) Install the hard drive into your external enclosure and hook it up, usually via USB, to your computer. If you hook it up to a Mac it *should* auto-identify it and mount it (*Other computer geeks correct me if I am wrong... I don't have that much experience with Mac). If you only have a Windows machine to plug it into, you will need HFSExplorer or Macdrive. I have not tried either, but the former is free and the latter requires a product key.

Link to HFSExplorer:
--LinkRemoved--

* Load file system from device

This is because block devices in Windows are not as easily accessible as under UNIX-like systems. The user will be presented with a dialog where it can choose which partition to read.
The easiest way to find your HFS+ volume is to press the "Autodetect" button, but in case it doesn't work, you can specify the device manually. The naming scheme is as in the following examples:

* Harddisk0/Partition0 - The entire first hard drive
* Harddisk0/Partition1 - First partition on hard drive 1
* Harddisk0/Partition2 - Second partition of hard drive 1
* Harddisk1/Partition1 - First partition on hard drive 2

Hard disks are enumerated from 0 upwards. Partitions, on the other hand, are enumerated from 1 and upwards, with Partition0 representing the whole drive. Keep that in mind when looking for your Mac partition.
If there's nothing in the list, take a look in your system using WinObj from Sysinternals to see if you can find what you are looking for.

Then I imagine it should pop up a file explorer browser where you should be able to copy files from your Mac drive over to the host computers hard drive.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[let/them/eat/cake]

Slurp it off.

Dude...

Seriously, does anyone know if I can recover my work?

if it won't turn out when you eventually try it, buy a firewire and turn it on in disk mode while having it hooked up to a mac that works. you may be able to pull files off it and save them on the other mac (and then to an external HD) even if the comp is so screwed that it won't boot up properly. GL dude.

[dextermorgan]

This is what Time Machine is for.

[savagedm]

Dude chillax. First, don't turn it on. Second, dry off the outside. Third, open it up and take out the hard drive. It is very unlikely that you got any coffee on the drive itself. Even if you did, the drive is sealed... it's very difficult to get anything in there. As for the machine, blow dry it very gently using the lowest setting and holding the dryer at a good distance from the machine.

After letting it dry for a day or two you should try putting the drive in and turning it on. Most likely the machine will boot right back up with no problems. If not, put the drive in another machine to get the data off.

TITCR, your drive isnt dead bro unless you drop kicked it in panic. I could shoot my computer screen with a .44 magnum right now and not lose ANY data. You want to know why? The motherboard/screen/keyboard/hard drive/disk drive, etc. are ALL separate parts that operate independently utilizing the mobo to sync them up. If the motherboard goes, the rest are fine 99.9% of the time with modern technology as the short will stop at the part it originates from. For instance, if I failed to put a heat sync on my processor or it goes out on me unexpectedly and my processor overheats and melts onto my motherboard, my disk drive will still work in another machine and my hard drive will work as a secondary hard drive when connected to another computer and set to the "slave mode". Once that happens you can simply copy and paste the files from there. Very simple, most people arent aware of this though for some reason.

[ArchRoark]

Very simple, most people arent aware of this though for some reason.

Most people are technically illiterate. Just like most people don't know how to even change their own car's oil, air filter, break pads, or any other number of easy car maintenance tasks.

[ResolutePear]

First: Learn about this called Dropbox. Makes this whole thing a non-issue had you been using it:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=132533

Second: Had you had a Thinkpad T-series, the coffee would of drained out through drainage holes that are built into it for that reason.

Third: Take *that* Apple Fan boys.

Forth: Sorry for your loss.

Fifth: Get a Thinkpad.

Sixth: Nothing.

Seventh: I will get 250MB from you signing up for Dropbox. Do et.

[ResolutePear]

Dude chillax. First, don't turn it on. Second, dry off the outside. Third, open it up and take out the hard drive. It is very unlikely that you got any coffee on the drive itself. Even if you did, the drive is sealed... it's very difficult to get anything in there. As for the machine, blow dry it very gently using the lowest setting and holding the dryer at a good distance from the machine.

After letting it dry for a day or two you should try putting the drive in and turning it on. Most likely the machine will boot right back up with no problems. If not, put the drive in another machine to get the data off.

TITCR, your drive isnt dead bro unless you drop kicked it in panic. I could shoot my computer screen with a .44 magnum right now and not lose ANY data. You want to know why? The motherboard/screen/keyboard/hard drive/disk drive, etc. are ALL separate parts that operate independently utilizing the mobo to sync them up. If the motherboard goes, the rest are fine 99.9% of the time with modern technology as the short will stop at the part it originates from. For instance, if I failed to put a heat sync on my processor or it goes out on me unexpectedly and my processor overheats and melts onto my motherboard, my disk drive will still work in another machine and my hard drive will work as a secondary hard drive when connected to another computer and set to the "slave mode". Once that happens you can simply copy and paste the files from there. Very simple, most people arent aware of this though for some reason.

Short Circuits on the IDE/Sata controller has been known to fry HD's by throwing/misaligning the heads. Don't really know the details of it, but it is known to happen.

[2807]

No surprise that a Pear is talking you out of an Apple.

Beware: suspect fruit

[Gatriel]

Take the rice idea. I bet the computer is fine. My old MBP survived multiple spills with the rice trick.

Spend $100 a year on MobileMe. In law school its completely worth it.

[dextermorgan]

First: Learn about this called Dropbox. Makes this whole thing a non-issue had you been using it:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=132533

Second: Had you had a Thinkpad T-series, the coffee would of drained out through drainage holes that are built into it for that reason.

Third: Take *that* Apple Fan boys.

Forth: Sorry for your loss.

Fifth: Get a Thinkpad.

Sixth: Nothing.

Seventh: I will get 250MB from you signing up for Dropbox. Do et.

Oh please. If the MacBook had drainage holes they couldn't make it as thin as it is. The keyboard is the intake for the ventilation system.

[ResolutePear]

No surprise that a Pear is talking you out of an Apple.

Beware: suspect fruit

First: Learn about this called Dropbox. Makes this whole thing a non-issue had you been using it:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=132533

Second: Had you had a Thinkpad T-series, the coffee would of drained out through drainage holes that are built into it for that reason.

Third: Take *that* Apple Fan boys.

Forth: Sorry for your loss.

Fifth: Get a Thinkpad.

Sixth: Nothing.

Seventh: I will get 250MB from you signing up for Dropbox. Do et.

Oh please. If the MacBook had drainage holes they couldn't make it as thin as it is. The keyboard is the intake for the ventilation system.

Thanks for pointing that out. Seems like the intake worked well with that coffee. OP's just thankful that this wasn't a day before finals.

Just because an anorexic person is thin, doesn't mean they did it the right way - and they'll probably end up dying prematurely because of it. Seriously, who the fuck cares if your laptop is 0.5mm thinner when you're assed out the night before finals without a laptop.

[beach_terror]

Just because an anorexic person is thin, doesn't mean they did it the right way - and they'll probably end up dying prematurely because of it. Seriously, who the fuck cares if your laptop is 0.5mm thinner when you're assed out the night before finals without a laptop.

+1

Thickness differences are pretty much irrelevant because THEY ARE ALL THIN COMPARED TO YOUR CASEBOOKS, SO AN EXTRA HALF INCH REALLY ISN'T GOING TO MATTER KIDS

[beach_terror]

First: Learn about this called Dropbox. Makes this whole thing a non-issue had you been using it:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=132533

Second: Had you had a Thinkpad T-series, the coffee would of drained out through drainage holes that are built into it for that reason.

Third: Take *that* Apple Fan boys.

Forth: Sorry for your loss.

Fifth: Get a Thinkpad.

Sixth: Nothing.

Seventh: I will get 250MB from you signing up for Dropbox. Do et.

Oh please. If the MacBook had drainage holes they couldn't make it as thin as it is. The keyboard is the intake for the ventilation system.

--ImageRemoved--

[ResolutePear]

Yep, that [/img] pretty much sums it up.

[savagedm]

Dude chillax. First, don't turn it on. Second, dry off the outside. Third, open it up and take out the hard drive. It is very unlikely that you got any coffee on the drive itself. Even if you did, the drive is sealed... it's very difficult to get anything in there. As for the machine, blow dry it very gently using the lowest setting and holding the dryer at a good distance from the machine.

After letting it dry for a day or two you should try putting the drive in and turning it on. Most likely the machine will boot right back up with no problems. If not, put the drive in another machine to get the data off.

TITCR, your drive isnt dead bro unless you drop kicked it in panic. I could shoot my computer screen with a .44 magnum right now and not lose ANY data. You want to know why? The motherboard/screen/keyboard/hard drive/disk drive, etc. are ALL separate parts that operate independently utilizing the mobo to sync them up. If the motherboard goes, the rest are fine 99.9% of the time with modern technology as the short will stop at the part it originates from. For instance, if I failed to put a heat sync on my processor or it goes out on me unexpectedly and my processor overheats and melts onto my motherboard, my disk drive will still work in another machine and my hard drive will work as a secondary hard drive when connected to another computer and set to the "slave mode". Once that happens you can simply copy and paste the files from there. Very simple, most people arent aware of this though for some reason.

Short Circuits on the IDE/Sata controller has been known to fry HD's by throwing/misaligning the heads. Don't really know the details of it, but it is known to happen.

Those are usually instances where the liquid got under deep and into the actual connections themselves. I highly doubt this is a case, it's quite difficult unless it's a direct spill right on the portion of the board with the connection.