Travel Technology - Water on a Mac keyboard. Help!

This morning, my wife spilled several ounces of water onto the keyboard of her Mac Powerbook as she was powering it down. The Apple folks suggested she place the computer upside down over some towels and let it drain for 24-48 hours. I tried to start it a few hours later - after she'd tilted it right-side up to double-check things over my protestations - and nothing happened other than catching a whiff of a distressing burning smell.

So... what are the odds that the Mac is dead? Is there anything else we might try? I'll take any help I can.

Thanks.

You might want to try google. Last year I saw a video of some tech guy telling how to get everything working again after similar to what your wife did. But it's been a while so can't remember where it was/send you the link.

Good luck. Cheers.

If you smelled burning, then chances are it is indeed dead.

I'm hoping you removed the battery immediately (and disconnected it from the power).

Let it air dry, and try powering it on tomorrow. And keep your fingers crossed.

Battery was immediately removed after the spill and it's been disconnected from power, save for those 30 seconds I described above, the whole time as well. It's outside in the sun now, unpowered, baking in 90F+ temperatures in the hopes that whatever water remains in there will be gone by sundown.

Thanks for your feedback. I'll keep you all posted...

It's outside in the sun now, unpowered, baking in 90F+ temperatures

I can't imagine that this is doing your computer any good. I think it's time to go laptop shopping.

Or else completely disassemble your laptop (guides available here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/), give everything an alcohol rinse, a thorough dry, and then reassemble.

Battery was immediately removed after the spill and it's been disconnected from power, save for those 30 seconds I described above, the whole time as well. It's outside in the sun now, unpowered, baking in 90F+ temperatures in the hopes that whatever water remains in there will be gone by sundown.

Thanks for your feedback. I'll keep you all posted...
If she has a hair blow dryer that can be set to air blow only (no heat) that's much better than baking in the sun. Next best is just leave it in a room opened up -- sun-baking unnecessary and bad idea if it gets things too hot (evaporation can occur even at room temperature).

I've resurrected from water spills many times, even from a white wine spill with the computer on, but the latter took 72 hours (during which time I was assuming I'd be buying a new laptop). The burning smell is a bad sign, but not fatal. Google is very much your friend on this one.

If she has a hair blow dryer that can be set to air blow only (no heat) that's much better than baking in the sun. Next best is just leave it in a room opened up -- sun-baking unnecessary and bad idea if it gets things too hot (evaporation can occur even at room temperature).

I've resurrected from water spills many times, even from a white wine spill with the computer on, but the latter took 72 hours (during which time I was assuming I'd be buying a new laptop). The burning smell is a bad sign, but not fatal. Google is very much your friend on this one.

One of the Mac forums, by way of Google, was where I got the idea to let it sit in the sun. But, as a precaution, I've brought it back in.

I guess all I can do now is wait.

This morning, my wife spilled several ounces of water onto the keyboard of her Mac Powerbook as she was powering it down. The Apple folks suggested she place the computer upside down over some towels and let it drain for 24-48 hours. I tried to start it a few hours later - after she'd tilted it right-side up to double-check things over my protestations - and nothing happened other than catching a whiff of a distressing burning smell.

So... what are the odds that the Mac is dead? Is there anything else we might try? I'll take any help I can.

Thanks.

I think you have pretty good odds that it'll be okay. I spilled most of a can of ginger ale on my last Macbook pro and the only long term effect was sticky keys, and even that got better in time.
Worst case is some kind of fried motherboard, but given the age of the laptop (powerbook), it's probably time to upgrade anyway. It's very unlikely that there's anything wrong with the disk and you'll probably be able to get things off of it one way or another if you don't have good backups. I've heard accounts of the staff at an apple store assisting with disk transfers in similar situations.

This morning, my wife spilled several ounces of water onto the keyboard of her Mac Powerbook as she was powering it down. The Apple folks suggested she place the computer upside down over some towels and let it drain for 24-48 hours. I tried to start it a few hours later - after she'd tilted it right-side up to double-check things over my protestations - and nothing happened other than catching a whiff of a distressing burning smell.

So... what are the odds that the Mac is dead? Is there anything else we might try? I'll take any help I can.

Thanks.

sorry to say I had the same experience. Did everything you said except putting it in the sun. It never came back to life, sent it in for repairs and verdict was not good. They apparently do not like water. Now have new powerbook.

just saw post below,,,,, I let mine sit for a week.

Let it dry for a couple of days.

Well, we got it started and it's running fine. Backing everything up onto an external drive now, just in case. Our last update was a few weeks ago so I'm glad we have the chance to correct that error.

Thanks to all of you for your feedback.^

We'll see how much life it's got left in it.

This morning, my wife spilled several ounces of water onto the keyboard of her Mac Powerbook as she was powering it down. The Apple folks suggested she place the computer upside down over some towels and let it drain for 24-48 hours. I tried to start it a few hours later - after she'd tilted it right-side up to double-check things over my protestations - and nothing happened other than catching a whiff of a distressing burning smell.

So... what are the odds that the Mac is dead? Is there anything else we might try? I'll take any help I can.

Thanks.

Why the He!! did you start up in a few hours when Apple told Mrs Hoya to let drain and dry 24-48 hours????

Let it dry out completly and try again.

But in general, since electronic components work on smoke, once you let the smoke out of them, they don't work anymore.

My guess is you need a new motherboard.

And now seems a good time to say "Remember folks, sugary liquids are very corrosive & therefore very bad for electronics. Wash with distilled (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=754685&highlight=water+distilled) water - not mineral water or hard water or fruity water, if you have to use water out of a tap, at least boil it first."