Help! My MacBook May have water damage :(

[Julie Holt]

Hi there, I'm typing this from my iPad. Let me start this by saying I feel like such an idiot right now.
My MacBook Pro's screen and keyboard were looking dirty. So I decided to clean them off with a little bit of soap and water. I did this while the computer was powered off. I dried the computer off genetly wit ha big wad of clean tissues. Then when I thought I dried it off enough, I powered my laptop on. The caps lock button glowed green and when I tried to type in my password, they keyboard didn't work so I tried restarting my computer. Keyboard still didn't work. So I looked up online what to do for a keyboard that has stopped working. It said to click option, command, shift and the power button at the same time. Then it occurred to me that some water might have gotten in the keyboard when I was cleaning it. So I looked up what to do for possible water damage which was to place my laptop open face down on a towel and let it air dry for 72 hours. Will doing this help it? I need my computer for college. I've only had it since December 2015.
Thanks,
Julie

 

[honestone]

That information about drying it out "on its own" works sometimes, but sometimes not. It all depends how "deep" the water got. In fact, there is the possibility that you'll have use of "some" of the keys.

If not all of the keys (or none of them) work, you should then be able to use an external keyboard that can connect to one of your USB 3.0 ports. This link shows some options:

https://9to5mac.com/2015/04/29/the-best-mac-and-ipad-keyboards/

Don't worry that the wired connections are USB 2.0. They still work fine. I use an Apple wired keyboard with my Mac MIni (the one with a numeric keypad), and it works fine. In fact, this is the one I have, and you can get it from Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-k...omputers-silver-white/3142351.p?skuId=3142351

As for using wireless keyboards, that would be the case if you need both of your USB 3.0 ports (although you could purchase a USB 3.0 "hub", which basically gives you more USB connection ports; I also have one of those that I use on my Mac MIni, and again, it works fine).

Hopefully, the 72 hour drying process will work. But, all is not lost!

 

[Terry Corder]

I've heard many tales of people successfully putting iPhones in rice to dry them out. Might be worth a try with your Macbook.

 

[honestone]

I've heard that also, but need to be careful about where the pieces of rice wind up.