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Liquid Damage in MBP

B

burnswuff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
21
0
I have the Early 2011 13'' MBP. A few days ago, there would be a purple hue to the display when booting up. The only remedy I could find was closing the lid and reopening it. After doing this step, the purple hue never came back until restart.

I brought the laptop to Genius Bar and they stated that they were going to replace the display. I am still covered under Apple Care. Both the laptop and Apple Care were supplied by my school.

Today I received a call saying that there was liquid damage to the logic board. The representative stated that it would cost $750 to get repaired. She also said that it wasn't water rather a sticky brown substance. I am not about to drop more than 2/3 the cost of buying it retail to fix this issue that only occurs on boot up. I recall in the past where I opened a shook coke bottle resulting in it exploding. I managed to clean up the liquid immediately right after. No problems has occurred since and this happened more than four months ago.

I am going to see the representative today. She stated that it performs as I left it, it still works if the lid closes. I want to know if it is possible to fix this situation by myself. The rep said that removing the back cover does not void warranty, however tampering with the logic board does. I want to know if there is a way to "fix" the problem without tampering with the board. From what I can tell, the problem isn't serious as the computer works fine in every other aspect.

I thought of taking a wet cotton swap and cleaning off the soda. Will this work without damaging the logic board or voiding my warranty?

EDIT: The liquid seems to have slipped in through the crack where the display meets the base. I do not believe any LSIs were triggered.
 
Last edited:
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
burnswuff said:
I have the Early 2011 13'' MBP. A few days ago, there would be a purple hue to the display when booting up. The only remedy I could find was closing the lid and reopening it. After doing this step, the purple hue never came back until restart.

I brought the laptop to Genius Bar and they stated that they were going to replace the display. I am still covered under Apple Care. Both the laptop and Apple Care were supplied by my school.

Today I received a call saying that there was liquid damage to the logic board. The representative stated that it would cost $750 to get repaired. She also said that it wasn't water rather a sticky brown substance. I am not about to drop more than 2/3 the cost of buying it retail to fix this issue that only occurs on boot up. I recall in the past where I opened a shook coke bottle resulting in it exploding. I managed to clean up the liquid immediately right after. No problems has occurred since and this happened more than four months ago.

I am going to see the representative today. She stated that it performs as I left it, it still works if the lid closes. I want to know if it is possible to fix this situation by myself. The rep said that removing the back cover does not void warranty, however tampering with the logic board does. I want to know if there is a way to "fix" the problem without tampering with the board. From what I can tell, the problem isn't serious as the computer works fine in every other aspect.

I thought of taking a wet cotton swap and cleaning off the soda. Will this work without damaging the logic board or voiding my warranty?
Click to expand...

If the liquid did damage the logic board there is no way but to replace it.
Seems like you didnt power off your Mac and put it in rice when you exploded your soda?

The procedure when liquid contacts your machine is to turn it off and dont use it for couple of days.

You may be able to get the stickyness off but you cannot fix it.
 
sweetbrat

sweetbrat

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2009
1,443
1
Redford, MI
I'm not an expert in cleaning liquid spills, but I don't think a moist cotton swab will do it. You spilled soda, which contains sugars and acids. Those substances can cause a lot of corrosion. That's likely why you didn't have any problems at first...corrosion happens with time. You'll likely need to get a new logic board or replace the computer.

Whether or not the liquid sensors were triggered isn't really important. There's a brown sticky substance on the logic board. There's no doubt that there was liquid damage.
 
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
Exactly what Sweetbrat said.

If days have been passed, it most likely that your drink caused rust inside.

My mother spilled tea on her Mac before and within 3 days, the inside had couple rust marks.

And the acid inside the soda can be devastating.
 
B

burnswuff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
21
0
Is it possible to just remove the soda so that there is no further corrosion? I still have to have this laptop for at least another 2 years. I can deal with it with the purple hue at boot up. The only thing I would have to do is close the lid after start up to make it go away. I rather do this than pay $750.

I did not shut it down and flip it over. I did not believe any of the liquid dripped into the crack. I also have a keyboard cover so nothing went through there.
 
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