Macbook Pro's "moisture sensor"

[Kirk Gittings]

I wasn't there but last week my dear wife dumped a 12 oz cup of coffee on my MBP last week. Thinking on her feet she quickly turned it upside down and shut if off. I saw it shortly thereafter and it didn't look good. The keys were saturated. I let it dry thoroughly upside down for 24 hours under a fan and wahlah!!! It works fine-0 signs of damage.

I've heard that Apple installs a moisture sensor to detect just such accidents and that the tripping of this sensor invalidates the warranty. My MBP is just a year old and the extended warranty is just scheduled to start kicking in.

What are my chances that the sensor was tripped and my extended warranty is toast?

[Bob Salomon]

Kirk,

My wife did the same with orange juice on one of the earlier MBP that had the removeable keyboards. I wiped it down and dried it out but it would not start. Left it overnight and then it did start up but two keys would no longer work.
I called Apple Care and told them I had a problem with two keys not working. They sent a new keyboard overnight and told me to throw the bad one away.

If they still have that attitude then you should be OK. If not?

[William Whitaker]

Oh, the hidden dangers of breakfast beverages!...

[sanking]

Oh, the hidden dangers of breakfast beverages!...

I bet more keyboards are ruined by beer and wine than by breakfast beverages.

Sandy

[Heroique]

Moisture sensor?

If Kirk and Bob’s experiences are the norm, shouldn’t it be a “spouse sensor”?

“Sorry, Apple is not responsible because our sensor indicates your spouse came near.”

[Ben Syverson]

I would take it to Apple immediately. They do have moisture detectors (really just tiny color changing stickers), but they won't need them if they open the case and see dried coffee on the hard drive. I would beg mercy and ask them to replace the drive, as it's now a ticking time bomb.

It's not well-publicized, but Apple routinely performs repairs that aren't technically covered by warranty, especially if you also purchased Apple Care. Be extra nice to the Geniuses when you bring it in, and downplay the amount of coffee imbibed by the notebook.

The worst that could happen is that they void the warranty and quote you something outrageous for the repair. In which case I would recommend taking it home and replacing the drive yourself (or having an authorized repairperson do it). Drives are cheap, disaster is not.

In either case, you gain nothing by waiting for a problem to appear. If you have a failure in a year, they might not be as lenient as they are at the beginning of your AppleCare.

[Sevo]

I've heard that Apple installs a moisture sensor to detect just such accidents and that the tripping of this sensor invalidates the warranty.

Liquid sensing indicators are self-adhesive patches that permanently change from white to red (or perform some other colour change - some computer makers have started to use UV visible marks) if they ever become wet. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...d_and_ram.html has the locations for at least some in some Macbook Pro - but there might be more, and these things tend to get shifted around across different versions.

[nolindan]

Medical equipment has moisture sensors that shut the machine down - permanently - if they ever get tripped. Count your lucky stars.

[Mark Sampson]

I got some salt water inside my Leica M3 and it shut down permanently- no sensors needed. No warranty on a 1959 camera, of course. Gerry Smith at Kindermann told me 'maybe you should find another one'.

[Light Guru]

As a former Genius for Apple I cannot even remember how many computers I had come in that had liquid damage.

The portables usually have several indicators inside and some models also have them under certain keys. Most of the time that liquid damage is discovered its not from the liquid indicators but from corrosion, liquid residue or even liquid still in the machine.

Alcohol and computers definitely don't mix a good chunk of the liquid damaged machines were alcohol related fatalities. I even had white plastic macbook come in one time and the plastic had bubbled. I asked the kid what happened and he said "I'm not completely sure i was pretty drunk, but I think it was put in the microwave."

If the machine still works awesome the first thing to do is back it up.