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After spilling coffee on the lower right end, I immediately cleaned it off using a cloth but I continued using it. After about 30 mins, the arrows stopped working.

Then I turned off my Mac and when I tried to turn it on by pressing the power button, I realised that my keyboard was dead as it won't let me type in my password.

My Mac contains some very important data and I cannot afford to lose it at any cost. What should I do?

Please help me!

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  • Why are people down voting this? At least give me the reason so I can edit my question :(
    – Aaryan Dewan
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 4:22
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    Having had the same experience on other SE sites, that sucks, so I'll give what I think is the reason: it's too broad, we can't help directly, and there are a range of possible solutions. Ignoring the data issue, think about the problem: Your keyboard isn't working, probably because you killed it (advice for the future: if you spill liquids, stop using the device and allow it to dry. You need it to work to access your data. At this point, it's pretty clear you need to replace your keyboard (either temporarily with an external one, or an actual repair.) What more is there to say? (cont.)
    – JMY1000
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 8:21
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    We can't replace the keyboard for you, and we can't offer any more advice besides that. SE is about sharing knowledge, not necessarily solving problems. There's a time for the latter, and–though I wish there was a more centralized site–a place. Think about your question: Is it likely to contribute to the quality of the site as a whole? Chances are, to be quite frank, no. It will help you–and that's something I'm all for–but it's not the mission of SE. It's both a great strength in that it makes it an awesome reference, but difficult in that it can often result in over-moderation (cont.)
    – JMY1000
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 8:27
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    and–more importantly–result in driving people who might be great resources. In a site like SE where community is everything, hurting that is kinda a big deal. That's why I'm making these comments: not to put you down, or to belabor laws, or frankly in hopes of improving this question, but in hopes of spreading what SE is about and building a stronger community as a result.
    – JMY1000
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 8:29
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    A shorter version of "why the downvotes?" The answer is - buy a new computer on your insurance, recover your data from your backup. If you have neither, now would be the time to question why not.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 12:08

2 Answers 2

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Your data is not lost; that's stored on the hard drive, and from what you've said, that should be recoverable even if the computer is dead.

It sounds like you got the connections to the keyboard wet. Water (or coffee in this case) can mess up electronics in one of two ways: it can short them out if power is applied, and it can corrode the connections over time. My guess is that something got shorted.

Best case scenario, you could replace your keyboard and be back in business. Your options are to fix it yourself or bring it to the Apple store and shell out the cash. If it's not worth the work/money, you could simply remove the hard drive and transfer your data to another computer. From experience though, taking apart a MacBook is not for the faint of heart. There are about a bazillion screws, and half that many little pieces to get to the most simple components.

Another option would be to use a USB keyboard to access your data and copy it to a backup drive.

Moral: if you have important data, make backups because it's not always this easy to get your data back.

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First of all shut it down. It is a really bad idea to turn elecetronics back on after a spill. You should at least wait a day for them to dry off.

What I would try is:

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    The one missing is « practise safe computing » - always have a backup...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 8:41

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