Spill on MacBook pro

My friend spilled coffee on his unibody MacBook pro and it no longer turns on. I went ahead and took it apart. The logic board does not seem to have any water damage to it but the power switch and part of the keyboard do. Is there any chance that replacing the keyboard will fix it? Also are there any ways to check and see if the logic board works other than powering it on.

 

you could try asking it nicely, but ymmv.

 

I wasn't away that I wasn't asking nicely but I meant no offense by what I said.

 

Can't apple check it for you?

 

I think chef was reading more into your post than what you actually said. I think he assumed you were taking the machine to an Apple store rather than doing the repair yourself. Chef, correct me if I am wrong.


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Unfortunately there isn't a 100% chance that anything you do would fix the problem. It is hard to gauge issues with electronics after they have had liquid spilled on them. Coffee and pops tend to be the worst as they contain sugar (or some other sticky sweetener), have a low pH (which can cause rust unless you immediately clean it all up), and coffee often has some type of dairy product in it.

As previously pointed out, taking it to an Apple Store might be your best bet for diagnosing any issues with it simply because there is no guarantee that replacing the keyboard yourself is going to solve the problem. I don't think Apple charges a diagnostic fee but if you have them repair the MBP, they will send your friend a bill.

There is always the option of going to an Apple authorized 3rd party repair center. They normally charge less money than Apple for out-of-warranty repairs (since AppleCare does not cover accidental damage) and there are small shops like that located all over the place.

 

unambiguous version: You could try asking *the motherboard* nicely, but ymmv.

I'm so mean.

The point is that ultimately, someone will have to try to turn it on to see if it works.

 

Most laptops do not fare well with most drinks you would spill on them, but unibody macbooks tend to be ultra-sensitive to it.

The problem is that more than likely it created a short circuit somewhere and it may or may not still be there. This short prevents function and causes damage even if it isn't immediately visible. With the close-quarters in a unibody mac, its almost a sure thing that the coffee got furthur than you think.

The only sure-fire way to fix this is to either replace piece-by-piece or replace entirely.

Unless you have a cache of known-good Mac parts lying about, the trial-and-error method to fix this isn't practical.

I won't say its impossible to fix... but the odds are not good.

No matter what happens, there are reasonably good odds that buying a new one may be the cheapest option.

 

Hmm ok thanks for the info guys. The thing is that apple warranty won't pay for the fix so my friend went ahead and bought a new one already. Now I'm trying to fix it relatively cheap. I was hoping everyone would say that it wouldn't have sort circuited the board. I guess my thought of it being the keyboard probably isn't a safe bet. I do know that the spill was coffee with no sugar or milk. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. Is there any chance that cleaning it up well and assembling back together would fixe it?

 

You could try parting it out... the display, cd drive, memory, ram, trackpad, fans, etc are all worth pretty good money... might could even buy a machine with a good motherboard and other broken parts like say a cracked screen and combine them..

 

Well, as previously pointed out, there isn't an absolute way of knowing what is or isn't broken in the MBP. You would have to completely disassemble it (and I mean completely) in order to see if there is any access coffee. Coffee without sugar and milk helps a little bit but it is still a low pH beverage (anywhere between 4-5 depending on the coffee) that when left in contact with metal (aluminum, copper, zinc, steel, etc.) will cause oxidation to occur and rust to form.

Unless you feel like paying a couple hundred dollars for a small third party to fix it, you are looking at some really long hours of completely disassembling the MBP's body, buying parts yourself, installing them, and going through the whole trial and error method. In other words, you will have to buy a part, install it, test the MBP, it doesn't work, buy another part, install it, test the MBP, it doesn't work, and keep going until you replace every part which isn't causing problem.

You might be able to replace just the keyboard or it could require $500 worth of parts, nobody can tell you for certain except for a 3rd party with actual repair experience. They would essentially go through the whole process for you and then charge you for the new parts and labor. That would be your fastest and safest bet. Depending on how old the MBP is, you might be able to sell it repaired online for a pretty penny (at least enough to cover the repair charges and make some money).

 

My Mac recently shorted out (nothing if you press the power button). I thought it was the logic board as did the genius, but when they sent it to the depot, they ended up replacing the top case and the keyboard. It was good that it was all covered under warranty since the labor itself was $510 w/o the price for the parts on the receipt.

 

Its usually pretty easy to spot moisture inside a laptop to know which parts for sure are bad. Its worth cracking it open.

 

This person has obviously never worked on laptops for any period of time.

The traces are so tiny and the actual problem could be so very VERY little liquid or even dried conductive material that visual impection would not show it.

Anyone who has tried this can tell you this probably isn't going to be easy.
Sure, you could get lucky and replace a single piece... but even if it works after a quick fix, a laptop damaged by liquid may very well fail again once moved. (undried liquid shorted something else)

If this is a fun pet project, then the method to fix this is quite literally replacing piece by piece with known-good parts.

You might be able to guess which parts failed... but don't forget that liquid tends to follow surfaces longer than you think. Check wire leads and inside and around them as often liquids will follow and foul them.

Also, if you haven't done so already, make SURE the laptop has fully dried.
You'd be surprised how long liquid can last when hiding pooled in the bottom of a cable connector or socket.

 

Apple has liquid spill sensors inside their notebooks. I believe they started doing this around '07-'08 when the first unibody MacBook came out.

Here's some pictures on where the LSI (liquid spill indicator) positions are on the unibody:
Inside the new MacBooks: LSI, Battery, HD, and RAM

Turns out not much has changed, location-wise, along the years. They're still in the same spot on the 2011 models.

 

The keyboards are replaceable if you can find another donor keyboard/power switch (power switch is wired to the keyboard). They are only swappable to a like mbp (mbp15 won't work in a mbp 17 because ribbon cables are in different locations).

If you have two MBPs (or a really good friend with one who is willing to help you diagnose using theirs) you could swap keyboards simply as a diagnostic test to determine if the keyboard is the real problem.

Swapping keyboards isn't super difficult, it's just time consuming because of all the keyboard screws. The logic boards are easily removed. But the keyboards have about 75 tiny screws to remove. I've done it recently and went smoothly during disassembly and putting it back together.

*or maybe an apple repair shop can do that diagnosis for you. Remove your suspected keyboard and take it to a good apple repair shop to see if it works in one of their workbench machines.

 

I am not sure about the relevance of this statement...
You are aware that these spill sensors are designed to tell apple shops when a user should not be covered under warranty right?

The OP is aware this happened.

He also isn't going to get a lot of help finding shorts that way. (they are placed with the intent of knowing if spilled on, not to find where)

/shrug

 

I meant it more as a heads-up if he wanted to have Apple look at it. They'd see the triggered LSI dots, and not do any work on it.

 

I have it all apart, and 2 of the 3 water sensors are red. I've tried to clean it up the best I could. I did see a few things on the logic board that look a little suspicious though. On the bottom of the board behind the power connector there are 12 little silver rectangles but a few of them are copper colored and it seems as though they could be fried. I guess all I can do is replace piece by piece like you've been saying.

 

Well guys today I decided to put it all back together. And...it turned on! I guess just cleaning it up worked. The only problem is the keyboard won't type but the lights still work. Also the cd drive accepts CDs but then makes some funky noises and spits them out. But I would call that minor damages for the most part. Thanks for the help guys!