A Sticky Situation: How To Handle A Coffee Spill On Your Macbook

Nooooooooooooo!

After years and years of owning computers, I have finally done the unthinkable and spilled coffee on my laptop. Ironically, it wasn't my coffee and I wasn't drinking it but I somehow splashed some on the keyboard. After the initial freak out during which I frantically wiped off the keys and thought for a moment that it might be alright, my poor macbook turned off and I knew coffee had made its way into the insides of the computer. Since Apple doesn't cover liquid damage and my macbook is outside the warranty period anyway, the only way to save "Ping" was to open him up and dry him out.

Currently, E and I are house sitting in Agoura Hills. This means that I didn't have my tools with me and the house is somewhat unfamiliar. To fix Ping, we needed a lot of drying apparatuses and all of them pull a lot of power. We found a fan and a hair dryer but ended up unintentionally plugging them in to an outlet on the same breaker as the TV and all the electronics. This of course blew the breaker and we had NO clue where the breaker box was. It was 11pm, we couldn't find flashlights, and once we found a flashlight we couldn't find batteries for it. Note to self: Make sure there's always a flashlight WITH batteries in an obvious place. After an hour spent walking the perimeter of the house and checking cubbies and closets, E eventually found the panel in the front of the house (duh) and we reset the breaker. With our lights and power restored, it was time to tackle the macbook!

How to (Attempt) to rescue a Macbook from coffee:

Disclaimer: This guide is entirely use at your own risk. Opening your macbook is likely to void your factory warranty if it hasn't already been voided by you spilling on it. If you've already spilled, you pretty much have nothing left to lose. If you haven't spilled yet, keep these instructions handy in case you do. 

Tools:
- Fan, hairdryer, drying apparatus
- Super tiny phillips head screw driver, preferably with magnetic tip and short handle
- Q-tips
- Dishes/bags for screws
* Compressed air (optional)
* Rubbing alcohol (optional)

Step 1: Turn off the computer (if it hasn't turned itself off), unplug the power cord and remove the battery. You'll need a coin to open the battery compartment.

Step 2: Calm down. The Macbook is held together by approximately 237453846573 million screws and you'll need to remove most of them to clean out your computer. They're all tiny, similarly sized and very easy to lose or mix up so get a couple bowls to keep the screws straight.

Step 3: Get a hairdryer or fan to dry out the coffee/soda/water. After removing the battery, unscrew the three screws holding the L shaped memory protecting bracket in place. Depress the memory stick levers to eject the memory sticks and carefully remove them. You should put them in a baggy or on a dish to keep them safe, taking care to remember which side is up.

Step 4: With the bracket removed and the RAM out, you have a direct path into the insides of your computer. Here it might be best to try and dry out your macbook to prevent any further damage. You can aim a hair dryer or fan into this opening for about 5-10 minutes. Keep the screen open so the air can flow through the memory compartment and out of the keyboard and try to keep it level so the liquid doesn't slosh into any corners.

Step 5: Once you're reasonably sure the insides are dry, it's time to start disassembling your macbook. For this you need a teensy phillips screwdriver, preferably with a short handle and magnetic tip, and lots of dishes for different screws.

Disassembly is way easier if you have a picture to guide you. For that, I direct you here: Disassembly Instructions.

*** Be very careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edges of the top case. Also be careful not to break the connector!! You don't need a special tool to remove it, just gently nudge it with your finger.

Step 6: Once you've removed your top case, being careful not to damage the connector, you have pretty much full access to the inside of you macbook. Carefully clean up any dried liquid with q-tips. A little rubbing alcohol or distilled water can be used if it's really stuck on and you'll want to use some compressed air to blow away all the dust you're likely to find in there. Be very careful not to damage anything and make sure you get all the (now dried) liquid cleaned up. Also clean the back of your keyboard at this point in case it has any liquid on it as well.

Step 7: Go over everything with compressed air and your hair dryer before you close it up. Hopefully you cleaned up all the stickiness but just in case another dry can't hurt. You do not want ANYTHING in there to be even slightly wet when you try to boot it back up.

Step 8: Carefully reassemble your macbook, REVERSING these instructions: Disassembly Instructions. Once you get to the ram insertion, make sure you are putting the cards in right side up and apply enough pressure that the cards slide all the way in. You almost have to push them till it hurts or they wont seat correctly and your macbook won't boot.

***You'll know if the RAM isn't installed correctly if your hard drive spins when you press the power button but the screen doesn't come on.  The sleep light will blink rapidly but all is not lost! Hold the power button until it turns off, take the L bracket back off and make sure the RAM cards are all the way inside their slots. If you're sure that you've installed them correctly, the coffee may have damaged the RAM connector or the RAM itself.

Step 9: Boot up your macbook! If it works, Hooray! If it doesn't, you can try leaving it in a warm part of your house to dry for a few more days and try again. If that doesn't work, it's likely that the liquid damaged something inside and you'll need to bring it to a repair shop and cross your fingers that it won't cost you a fortune.

Step 10: If your liquid was sticky, there's a chance your keyboard keys will be sticky. This video here has some good instructions for popping off the keys. The spacebar is a different beast and those instructions can be found here.

First off, don't spill on your laptop! But if you do, you now know what needs to be done! Speed is key here since liquid can begin corroding your components within hours so you want to dry it out ASAP even if you don't have the tools to take it apart right away. Keep a close eye on all the screws and where they go and try not to drop any into the computers insides. If you catch the spill quickly, dry it out and remove all traces of liquid from inside the computer, you have a good chance of it working again!