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Battery Is Not Charging / Water Damage

R

rustyosaurus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 13, 2009
157
26
So the cat spilled a little water on my 2011 Macbook Air 13. I know I should have turned it off, etc but I just held it upside down, let the water run out of it, and then continued using it like nothing ever happened.

And it was all fine. I thought I dodged a bullet, that is until I realized that it was no longer charging. Everything works on my MBA like normal with the exception of the following:

- Battery will not charge and says 'Battery Is Not Charging'
- Green (or amber) light won't come on with mag safe connector

Took it to Apple Genius. He ran a diagnostic on it and told me it was "probably" the logic board. He didn't even bother to open it though. Said it would cost $760 to fix it. I left.

Took it to an Apple Authorized Dealer. They thought maybe it was the mag safe connector. They swapped in a different one but said it the mag safe LED still wouldn't come on (and I guess the battery wouldn't charge) As a result they think it is the logic board. Wanted to charge the same price as Apple to fix it. I left.

The Apple Authorized Dealer told me I would not be able to continue using my Air when plugged in. I had noticed the battery going down as the weeks went by. I wondered what would happen when it got to 0%. The guy said my Air no longer turned on and would not turn on. I asked him to wipe the drive and I ordered a new Air.

Got it home. Powered it up to see what would happen and sure enough, it does boot up when plugged in. And he never wiped it for whatever reason. So now it has gone down to 0% and will shut off immediately if I unplug it but it works just fine plugged in.

Is there anything else it could possibly be other than the logic board? Like the battery? I just want to make sure I cover all the bases before I put it on eBay. I'd rather not have the extra $1500 expense of a new Air if I don't need to.

Btw - I've googled and searched and although I've found about a zillion thread about water damage, I really haven't found much about a fix for my specific issue.

Thanks!
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
You should give puss the boot:p

The only thing what you can do is to clean the motherboard with Alcohol, just a few days ago recommended to do it with a soft new toothbrush, he managed to repair quite a few like that, I would say you could do it with cottonbuds.

Ifixit.com is the place to go to for guided on how to open up Apple gear.

You should also be aware of static electricity, it could damage electronics.

This could work, but your Power Management board could be fried.
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
rustyosaurus said:
why does it need to be cleaned if it was just water?
Click to expand...

Because water is not clean and conducts electricity, wish this was not the case then we wouldn't have so many electronics spoiled by water.

Only distilled water is free of all minerals and afaik does not leave residue and is completely clean, that's why you fill your car batteries with distilled water if the level is low, normal water will kill the battery.

The problem is that if you don't clean right away after a spill is that later on there will be problems down the road.
It's a shame batteries are non removable, normally if you spill water the best way is to disconnect the power and battery instantly after the spill, then clean it.

Not all spills are problems, my colleague left his laptop in a factory once, when he came back palm oil leaked onto it, but it kept working until the end.

So, you might get lucky after cleaning it, but you also might not.

Edit: You could also try to search on MRoogle, just search for water damage, there are plenty of topics on this here on MR.
 
Last edited:
W

wolfpuppies3

macrumors 6502
Jun 26, 2012
413
0
Virginia, USA
Let's see - $750 for a logic board or $7.50 for a keyboard cover. Let me consider that choice for a moment.

OK, moment's up, I have keyboard covers on all three of my Mac laptops.
 
biggd

biggd

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2008
345
0
Calgary
So the water has damaged the logic board that controls battery
This is not covered under warranty
Your laptop just became a desktop

I am so very sorry
 
F

FireWaterTobin

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2012
1
0
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Water Damage on Macbook Air

Whenever I get electronic components wet like that, even just a tiny bit, I open the laptop flat and place it face down on a bed of rice or other dessicant after immediately powering off the device. This super-dries the air around the components without requiring opening up the case (hard to do in Macbook Air). I would have the electronics cleaned as there is likely residual evaporate residue that is shorting something. That's not going to be cheap if you have it done professionally.
 
L

lukepeterson

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2014
4
0
Right wolfpuppies3. This happened to me as well with my MacBook Air. Due to water spill, I learned that it’s about time to start putting that water-proof coating. Anyways, I had my keyboard repaired at Mac Parts Online. I also had a replacement of new 661-5072 Top Case with keyboard-Mac Air 1.86.13GHz for good.
 
P

penguin555

macrumors newbie
Apr 14, 2016
1
0
rustyosaurus said:
So the cat spilled a little water on my 2011 Macbook Air 13. I know I should have turned it off, etc but I just held it upside down, let the water run out of it, and then continued using it like nothing ever happened.

And it was all fine. I thought I dodged a bullet, that is until I realized that it was no longer charging. Everything works on my MBA like normal with the exception of the following:

- Battery will not charge and says 'Battery Is Not Charging'
- Green (or amber) light won't come on with mag safe connector

...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

So I recently spilled water on my MBA too, dried most of the water with tissues, a fan and by flipping it over. It's working fine - the screen brightness, the keyboard backlit, the camera, the audio, almost like nothing happened. It was 87% charged but then I used it until it was about 17%, woke up and used it some more until 9% and then finally dared myself to insert the charger. Everything was almost too fine, I was terrified something would go wrong here. So the light didn't come up but the charging symbol did, so I just whatever maybe the light just won't work anymore but then I realised the battery itself wasn't charging. The battery slowly decreases everyday, like I sleep with it on 5% and wake up with it on 4%. I'm not dealing with a ticking time bomb here am I? What happens at 0%? Is it gone forever, or will it continue to work?

Also what did you end up doing? Did you continue to use it as it was, buy a new laptop, or have it repaired? If so, then for how much?

Thank you!
 
darlashea

darlashea

macrumors newbie
May 4, 2016
1
0
penguin555 said:
So I recently spilled water on my MBA too, dried most of the water with tissues, a fan and by flipping it over. It's working fine - the screen brightness, the keyboard backlit, the camera, the audio, almost like nothing happened. It was 87% charged but then I used it until it was about 17%, woke up and used it some more until 9% and then finally dared myself to insert the charger. Everything was almost too fine, I was terrified something would go wrong here. So the light didn't come up but the charging symbol did, so I just whatever maybe the light just won't work anymore but then I realised the battery itself wasn't charging. The battery slowly decreases everyday, like I sleep with it on 5% and wake up with it on 4%. I'm not dealing with a ticking time bomb here am I? What happens at 0%? Is it gone forever, or will it continue to work?

Also what did you end up doing? Did you continue to use it as it was, buy a new laptop, or have it repaired? If so, then for how much?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
I'm in the exact same situation! Did you find out anything? My computer immediately turns off once it's unplugged and decreases in % each day when charging. I have 14% left.
 
Megha Dadarwal

Megha Dadarwal

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2020
1
0
india
penguin555 said:
So I recently spilled water on my MBA too, dried most of the water with tissues, a fan and by flipping it over. It's working fine - the screen brightness, the keyboard backlit, the camera, the audio, almost like nothing happened. It was 87% charged but then I used it until it was about 17%, woke up and used it some more until 9% and then finally dared myself to insert the charger. Everything was almost too fine, I was terrified something would go wrong here. So the light didn't come up but the charging symbol did, so I just whatever maybe the light just won't work anymore but then I realised the battery itself wasn't charging. The battery slowly decreases everyday, like I sleep with it on 5% and wake up with it on 4%. I'm not dealing with a ticking time bomb here am I? What happens at 0%? Is it gone forever, or will it continue to work?

Also what did you end up doing? Did you continue to use it as it was, buy a new laptop, or have it repaired? If so, then for how much?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Facing the same issue. I have 9% left. Other than that the MacBook seems to work fine. This happened after a water spillage. I assumed I managed to clean it all and dried it for a few hours. Out of curiosity I checked to see if If it was working ( despite knowing I probably shouldn’t). The Mac seemed to work perfectly well from audio to screen, but It shows “battery is not charging” despite the charging icon.
Please suggest whether to wait it out or go to the Apple store asap?
Also what are the chances of having my Mac book repaired? Or will I have to end up replacing it.

ps- it’s a MacBook Air 13 inch bought only 4 months back, hence still under warranty!
[automerge]1591043394[/automerge]
Facing the same issues. Battery at 9%. Kindly suggest whether to wait it out or take to the Apple store asap?
 
O

orenishi

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2020
1
0
Megha Dadarwal said:
Facing the same issue. I have 9% left. Other than that the MacBook seems to work fine. This happened after a water spillage. I assumed I managed to clean it all and dried it for a few hours. Out of curiosity I checked to see if If it was working ( despite knowing I probably shouldn’t). The Mac seemed to work perfectly well from audio to screen, but It shows “battery is not charging” despite the charging icon.
Please suggest whether to wait it out or go to the Apple store asap?
Also what are the chances of having my Mac book repaired? Or will I have to end up replacing it.

ps- it’s a MacBook Air 13 inch bought only 4 months back, hence still under warranty!
[automerge]1591043394[/automerge]
Facing the same issues. Battery at 9%. Kindly suggest whether to wait it out or take to the Apple store asap?
Click to expand...

I’m in the same position! did you find out what happens when you get to 0%?
 
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