My Macbook Pro will only Safe boot and is stuck on caps lock after a coffee spill

Buy a new computer. There's no point in troubleshooting your issues given that you can't undo the damage done by the coffee at this point.

There is probably a lot more damage than just the keyboard, but that is your problem. If you replace the keyboard (which in the unibody models is actually a complete unibody replacement, not cheap and a bitch to do) you will likely get some more use out of it.

The bigger problem is that the damage caused by liquid doesn't necessarily present immediately and is almost guaranteed to cause future problems and majorly shorten the lifespan of the machine.

Well both the slow minimizing and booting into safe mode are caused by holding down the Shift key, so most likely the Shift key is shorting out. I think it's safe to say you need a new keyboard at the very least.

If replacing the keyboard doesn't work… if you don't mind going through the effort, I would take apart the entire computer and check every component and look for coffee stains, etc. Write down what parts have been affect and then then clean everything with deionized water. Rinse all the affected parts (except the optical drive and hard drive) and break out the hairdryer to dry the parts up. Wait a couple days for any residue to fully dry. Then put your computer back together and pray it works. If it doesn't work, you can buy all the parts that were broken or pay $1200 plus tax for Apple to replace the computer with all working parts.

If you don't have access to deionized water (which should be accessible in your college if you ask around), don't even bother rinsing computer parts (you'll probably make it worse if you use tap water).

And miles01110 speaks the harsh truth. This is all probably more trouble than it's worth.

Hey. I saw that no one offered any stop gap solutions. This may be an old post but I am posting to help people who might come across it like I did. I was having this same exact issue. Here is what I did.

Buy a USB keyboard

Attach USB keyboard

Hold the Alt key before you touch your power button.

Turn comp on and continue to hold alt key until little wheel stops spinning.

Your comp should boot and function normally.

In the meantime, put money away for a new laptop. You will need one soon probably

[edit]
Wow, thanks for bumping a couple year old thread.

Is that sarcasm? Like I said, if it happens to someone else and they are googling it, I wanted them to see a solution

Thank You

I spilled my coffee yesterday, and this thread was the first one that popped up when I googled my problem. Thanks to your information I was at least able to reset my password to a black on using the ALt trick an external keyboard, which is already making the problem considerably less aggravating. Now I just have to find a way to hang in there until the new October models...

So, thanks again for posting a replay to a very old post.

omgitsbees said:

[edit]
Wow, thanks for bumping a couple year old thread.

Click to expand...

Forum trolls complaining about someone giving a solution for googles having the same issue. Far from an unnecessary bump.

Work-Around

Just for the heck of it I opened up the beast (15-inch MacBook Pro early 2008). I found that the keyboard was encased in plastic, and that none of the liquid actually seeped through onto more vital parts. I disconnected the native keyboard from the motherboard (the connector becomes visible when the battery is removed) and attached a USB keyboard. Everything has gone back to normal, it no longer boots-up in safe mode and everything else went back to acting normal. So thanks again!