PowerBook dies w/o AC power: why?

[F. Todd Wilson]

Hello,

My PowerBook G4 Titanium (15-in) recently suffered an accident and
got a _little_ wet. (Yes, I hear the groans.) Anyway, after a day or so
of not wanting to powerup at all, I ran through a series of steps
suggested by Apple (involving removing the battery and holding down the
reset button for a period of time) and got the thing to restart, etc.

All kinds of screwy things had happened to my primary user account,
and it took some nerve-wracking hours to create a new user and move
everything over, etc. But now, I've got the unit working fine... as
long as it's plugged in.

Remove the plug while it's running, and it all goes down instantly,
with only a faint, high-pitched whine coming from somewhere. Similarly,
put it to sleep, remove the plug and all is well: until you try to wake
it from sleep, and then all you get is the whine.

The computer is covered under my insurance, so I'm prepared to send
it in and get it fixed, but I'd rather not have to be without it if I
didn't have to. Does anyone recognize what's going on and have any
ideas on how to fix it (shy of sending it in)?

Thanks,

Todd

PS I have two PB batteries, one of which was brand new at the time.
Both are fully charged, and it doesn't make a difference which one I
use, I get the same result.

[Nigel Blatheringstock]

In article <fa382483-A299BD.10125503082003@news.skynet.be>, F. Todd
Wilson <fa382483@nospam.skynet.be> wrote:

> My PowerBook G4 Titanium (15-in) recently suffered an accident and
> got a _little_ wet. (Yes, I hear the groans.) .... I'm prepared to send
> it in and get it fixed, but I'd rather not have to be without it if I
> didn't have to. Does anyone recognize what's going on and have any
> ideas on how to fix it (shy of sending it in)?

My condolences, Todd.

There are several immutable rules for life. One is "Never trust
formerly wet electronics."

It's possible that contributors here will offer excellent suggestions
for quickly restoring your PB's functionality. But for how long will it
have to work before you regain your confidence in it... before you lose
the nagging dread of failure at the worst possible moment?

Do yourself a favor: have a pro do the work.

Nigel

[Lewin A.R.W. Edwards]

> What if anything is there in an electronic system, say for example a

> laptop, that would be permanently damaged by being briefly exposed to
> *clean, pure* water? And what would be the mechanism for the damage?

Unless you happen to dip it in distilled, filtered water, it won't be
"clean, pure" water. Tap water contains various combinations of salts,
algae, and other debris.

The hard drive has a breather hole; it is not hermetically sealed.
Water ingress -> death next time it spins up, because the heads won't
fly properly when damp.

The LCD sandwich is not hermetically sealed either; water ingress will
put shadows/splotches on the screen which won't go away even if
completely dried out, because the aforementioned salts and debris will
be left behind. Cleanable, yes, but tedious and difficult.

[chibitul]

In article <siegman-8A2E1D.09583303082003@news.stanford.edu>,
AES/newspost <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:

Hi, are you Mr. Siegman, I mean THE SIEGMAN, the laser guru? I keep your
book on my desk, I look up information every other day. Great book by
the way!

Others gave nice answers already, so I won't.

> In article <030820030657352175%LordBumbreshoot@yahoo.co.uk> ,
> Nigel Blatheringstock <LordBumbreshoot@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>

> >
> > There are several immutable rules for life. One is "Never trust
> > formerly wet electronics."
> >

>
> Sounds like a reasonable rule, no quarrel with it, but I'd like to ask
> out of curiousity about the physics of the problem:
>
> What if anything is there in an electronic system, say for example a
> laptop, that would be permanently damaged by being briefly exposed to
> *clean, pure* water? And what would be the mechanism for the damage?
>
> I can see how liquids like wine, coffee, dirty water, as they dry might
> leave films that would, depending on the film, either short out exposed
> circuitry or block keys or switches from making good contact.
>
> And if you leave water, or just very moist air, long enough and some
> exposed materials may corrode.
>
> But isn't essentially every exposed object in a modern piece of
> electronics either metal, ceramic, hard plastic, fiberglass, or
> contained in hermetically sealed chips? What would be damaged by
> *brief* exposure to *clean* water?