Water Spilled Macbook Pro

[yuji22]

I hope that I am posting in the correct section. I bought a MBP mid 2009 from a friend for cheap. He spilled some tea on the keyboard and it will not power up again. He took it to the A***e store and they told him that he needs a new logicboard. This seems to be their standard response for water damage.

I will be taking apart the keyboard and logicboard next week and cleaning them. Any tips from someone who have done this type of projects before ? I am experienced in PC repairs but have also done many hard drive, RAM, fans and keyboards on MBP's.

I will also post my results in the next week or two.

Thanks.

 

[OldFred]

Silly as it sounds, what was in the tea? Just tea, or tea, cream and sugar? Sugary spills can be a real problem. If it's just tea, you stand a good chance of cleaning it up and having it work. TV tuner cleaner and a can of air might do the trick. If you have to get sugar out of all the nooks and crannies you might be buying a new board.

I would sure try to clean it before replacing expensive parts! Ifixit.com is your friend for manuals.

 

[yuji22]

Thanks. I was planning to clean it and wanted some advice on cleaning agents. Is TV tuner cleaner non conductive and will evaporate easily ? I have removed several MBP logic board to replace keyboards so it is not a big deal on the removal.

 

[OldFred]

Back in the day TV tuner cleaner was the best thing to clean electronic parts. I may be out of date here, so search around on Google and see what people are using now. There may be something better. Yes, TV tuner cleaner is non-conductive.

 

[yuji22]

I narrowed it down to an electric contact cleaner. You pointed me in the right direction. I will tear apart this bad boy next weekend and post my results. I already did some diagnostics and this logic board is not dead as per the so called a***e genius. It is so sad that the standard response from these guys are that the customers must replace their logic boards.

If you look carefully at the logic board you will see that the power button is attached to the keyboard. Spills can sometime only affect the keyboard and the logic board is still unaffected. There is an indicator for water spills that trigger the Logic board response from a***e.

Please no a***e bashing will be tolerated. Please note that opening up your MBP can void your warranty and water spills are not covered and it is clearly stated in your contract. A***e makes the best laptop and those who purchase them pay for a premium product and should be careful around fluids. My little project here is to just fix my MBP and share my findings.

 

[yuji22]

Update:

I finally got it working. I had to remove the logicboard and clean it first with distilled water and a brush since it had minor corrosion and let it dry for one day. I then used a contact cleaner and cleaned the logicboard and keyboard and let it sit for one day. Installed new thermal paste and put everything back together. This project is not for the faint hearted.

I did not get any power at first so I removed the battery and then powered it up with the AC power adapter. I still had no power, I then reinstalled the battery and then powered it up and it worked like a charm.

I am very satisfied that I got it to work. This type of repair requires patience and some repair skills. The next time someone has a water damaged MackBook Pro and sells it for cheap, take a plunge and you might end up with a very nice machine. Thanks to Oldfred on the cleaner tips.

I have since added a Kingston SSD drive and it boots faster than a friend's I7 MacBook Pro with stock hard drive ! I also upgraded the RAM to 8 GB. Not bad for a $ 200 water damaged machine. My friend who sold it to me is now mad at the "genius" who told him that his logicboard was dead.

Total cost of repair: $ 10 for contact cleaner, free rain water (distilled), $ 1 toothbrush and lots of patience. Thanks to ifixit for great guides on their website on assembly and repair of MBP.

 

[jester969]

Damn, what a steal!!! Good work, patience and perseverance.

Runs off to eBay....

 

[yuji22]

Ebay has lots of "fixable" Macbookpro. A***e just tells the owner of a MBP that they need to replace the logicboard on water damaged products. Yours for the taking. Easy fix. Just make sure that it is water damaged and the seller has 100 percent feedback. Do not forget to get the serial number so that you can confirm that the product is the correct item.