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White Macbook Milk Damage...How to tell if ruined?

S

Shockster

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2010
7
0
So my brother spilled a cup of milk on his macbook. Its the white older gen from 06' ish. Now i took it apart, how can i tell if the macbooks actually water damaged. Where are the markers that change color?

Also, from what i can gather i think the keyboard has ruined but not the motherboard. The charger lights up green when there is no battery, but doesn't if the battery is attached. I tried the original battery and one from my working macbook, does the same thing on both batteries. So it's not that. Im thinking it will start up if i replace the keyboard because it probably got ruined so the power button won't send a signal to the motherboard, therefore wont turn on.

I don't want to take apart my working macbook and risk ruining it with static discharge or something, unless theres a good possibility that the keyboard is the problem on the broken one.

I see milk residue on the battery prong and around the front left corner. So im assuming the battery ribbon on the macbook and the keyboard itself got ruined. I do not see anything wrong or milk residue on the motherboard or its surrounding components.

Any ideas?

Also worst comes to worst and it is ruined. What is the best thing to do with it? eBay?

Thanks for all helpful input!
 
If it won't turn on, it's more than likely toast. The keyboard and power button are unrelated, but chances are that the logic board is shot.
 
alust2013 said:
If it won't turn on, it's more than likely toast. The keyboard and power button are unrelated, but chances are that the logic board is shot.
Click to expand...

How is the keyboard separate from the power button? They share the same ribbon cable and breadboard if one short circuited then so did the other. =/:apple:
 
Was it chocolate milk? How did he know he spilled milk on it? The white on white would make it camouflage...
 
Take rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush and rub it all over the motherboard and on the ram and in the ram banks. Just recently saved one of my macbooks which seemed to be toast
 
I forgot to mention....this happened a couple weeks ago. He just sent it to me because he couldn't open it up and look at the insides. So everything is dry if it was wet.

Im trying to figure out what is broken and if its worth replacing.
 
Do what Fun173 recommended. The residue needs to be cleaned up. The integration of components on the logic board make it difficult for you to say that one specific component has failed. If you cannot "fix" it, the the logic board will need to get replaced.
 
Shockster said:
I forgot to mention....this happened a couple weeks ago. He just sent it to me because he couldn't open it up and look at the insides. So everything is dry if it was wet.
Click to expand...

Hate to say it, but this significantly reduces your chances of fixing it. If liquid damage is left to sit, it can corrode the components. Especially milk. :eek:
 
You could always short out the power switch pin-out on the motherboard. Just use a precision screwdriver as that would act the same as hitting the power button on the Macbook. Thus you could test if the Macbook will boot. You could also put an ohm meter to the keyboards connectors pins and hit the powerbutton to test if current can pass through

nitro2k01 said:
Click to expand...

For anyone coming across this thread with a 2009 White Macbook.

velocityg4 said:
...

View attachment 233422

Just connect pin 5 to 29 of the Keyboard Ribbon Connector as shown in the picture. From what I can tell connecting the wrong pins causes no damage. Which makes sense since keyboard presses connect the various pins together.

This is only tested on the Late 2009 Polycarbonate Unibody Macbook. I would assume this works on other Unibodies with the same keyboard connector. But do not know. Anyone with other Macbooks or Macbook Pro please chime in if you have to try this and it does or does not work. If not please find the correct pin out if you are in the situation of not knowing if the power button or Motherboard is bad. Given how well the keyboard is sealed if the Macbook works for quite a while after a liquid spill then suddenly dies there is a good chance for corrosion of the keyboard.
Click to expand...
 
velocityg4 said:
You could always short out the power switch pin-out on the motherboard. Just use a precision screwdriver as that would act the same as hitting the power button on the Macbook. Thus you could test if the Macbook will boot. You could also put an ohm meter to the keyboards connectors pins and hit the powerbutton to test if current can pass through



For anyone coming across this thread with a 2009 White Macbook.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what i was looking to do, thanks. I will try this tomorrow and post back my results.
 
Older MacBook isn't really worth fixing. Also don't short those pins like he says...there are actual pads on the logic board for that, they are also located near the fan. They usually say pwr near them. You may want to do some research into that.

Also with the battery thing it's probably all corroded under the battery connector at the left side.

Hate to sound crass but buy a new one.
 
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