Attempting to repair old Macbook Pro

[stopsign002]

Well a long time ago in an apartment far far away one of my buddies still water on my laptop. I took it to a Mac repair shop who said I needed a new logic board and DC in board. Back then in 2010 (mine is a mid 2009er) it was WAY to expensive for me to bother. Now I found it sitting around and decided to get into it since parts are much cheaper now. I see what I believe is corrosion (or possibly some sort of electrical arc destruction?) on the DC in board and on the logic board and wanted to get some opinions from ya'll. There are no blown capacitors anywhere on the boards (that I can tell...). I'm hoping to fix this for as cheap as possible and am not affraid to solder/get my hand dirty. Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated. Here is some pictures of the areas that aren't lookin' too good. (Sorry I'm not particularly versed in taking macro pictures with my nice camera yet)

 

[duervo]

1. Go to ifixit.com and lookup the parts for the model of MBP that you have.

2. Find the part numbers for the logic board and DC-in board (see attached sample screenshot for DC-in part. NOTE: Do NOT get this part unless you know for a fact that I'm showing the correct part # for you. You didn't specify the model of your MBP, so I can't guarantee that this is the right part.)

3. Go to eBay and search for that part number along with the string "Macbook Pro", because iFixit charges a small fortune for their parts.

4. When you get the part(s), go back to iFixit and follow their instructions to replace the part(s).

 

[stopsign002]

1. Go to ifixit.com and lookup the parts for the model of MBP that you have.

2. Find the part numbers for the logic board and DC-in board (see attached sample screenshot for DC-in part. NOTE: Do NOT get this part unless you know for a fact that I'm showing the correct part # for you. You didn't specify the model of your MBP, so I can't guarantee that this is the right part.)

3. Go to eBay and search for that part number along with the string "Macbook Pro", because iFixit charges a small fortune for their parts.

4. When you get the part, go back to iFixit and follow their instructions to replace the part(s).

So your saying my parts are probably cooked huh? Well alright. I ordered the DC-in already (mid 2009 a1278 is my model) before posting this. I guess Ill just have to order the logic board too...

 

[duervo]

So your saying my parts are probably cooked huh? Well alright. I ordered the DC-in already (mid 2009 a1278 is my model) before posting this. I guess Ill just have to order the logic board too...

Well, I'm no expert, but the logic board looks really bad compared to what my Early-2008 MBP looked like. The DC-in doesn't look too bad, though.

You could try to clean it up, and repair the damage, but there's risk that you can damage other parts by doing so. Personally, if it were me, it's not a risk that I would be willing to take.

 

[stopsign002]

Well, I'm no expert, but the logic board looks really bad compared to what my Early-2008 MBP looked like. The DC-in doesn't look too bad, though.

You could try to clean it up, and repair the damage, but there's risk that you can damage other parts by doing so. Personally, if it were me, it's not a risk that I would be willing to take.

Yeah at the moment the laptop wont run on battery, but will 'power on' while plugged in. By power on I mean the heatsink fan starts to run, and the hard drive revs ever so slightly. No screen, no light on caps lock if I hit it, the front light that is on the front of the case just stays solid white. I'm thinking the logic board is probably dead...

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Whatever the greenish stuff is, it is coming RIGHT off with warm water and Qtips... thoughts anyone? The board looks like nothing ever happened now...

 

[stopsign002]

Well it holds a charge now... I can turn it 'on' without the wall outlet being plugged in. But still no luck on getting it to boot past very initial stuff. Screen doesnt come on and no start up chime. Grr...

 

[duervo]

Greenish stuff?

Not sure, but I would be using alcohol on the Q-Tips, not warm water. Use the purest alcohol that you can find ... it evaporates faster. Failing that, try to get some alcohol wipes or something to use.

 

[stopsign002]

Greenish stuff?

Not sure, but I would be using alcohol on the Q-Tips, not warm water. Use the purest alcohol that you can find ... it evaporates faster. Failing that, try to get some alcohol wipes or something to use.

Yeah, I dont know what it is, cleaning it off allowed the laptop to run off battery power instead of just wall outlet and also made it so when I try to turn it on the dvd drive makes that little noise it makes when you boot, both of which it wasnt doing before. I'm not holding out much hope, but I'm going to try everything I can before I drop $300 on a new logic board

 

[stopsign002]

Well I think I found the issue. It looks like the processor took a hit. Oh well, new logic board time I suppose...

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Greenish stuff?

Not sure, but I would be using alcohol on the Q-Tips, not warm water. Use the purest alcohol that you can find ... it evaporates faster. Failing that, try to get some alcohol wipes or something to use.

Yeah I was going to go out and get some then I found burn marks on the under side of the processor

 

[T5BRICK]

Greenish stuff?

Not sure, but I would be using alcohol on the Q-Tips, not warm water. Use the purest alcohol that you can find ... it evaporates faster. Failing that, try to get some alcohol wipes or something to use.

When copper corrodes, it leaves green "rust"(I've forgotten what it is actually called, but the Statue of Liberty is made of copper, and that's why it's green). If you're seeing this, there is quite a bit of damage to the parts and possibly the PCB itself.

 

[stopsign002]

When copper corrodes, it leaves green "rust"(I've forgotten what it is actually called, but the Statue of Liberty is made of copper, and that's why it's green). If you're seeing this, there is quite a bit of damage to the parts and possibly the PCB itself.

Yeah its oxidation. I know lightning causes ozone which is just three bonded oxygen molecules (and if I remember correctly not very stable. It really wants to break up and go hang out with the copper molecules causing oxidation), so maybe arcing electricity does the same even though it isnt nearly as powerful. This could explain the quick oxidation of the copper?

 

[T5BRICK]

Yeah its oxidation. I know lightning causes ozone which is just three bonded oxygen molecules (and if I remember correctly not very stable. It really wants to break up and go hang out with the copper molecules causing oxidation), so maybe arcing electricity does the same even though it isnt nearly as powerful. This could explain the quick oxidation of the copper?

I'm not a chemist so I could be way off here, but most tap water has some chemicals in, usually including chlorine. Chlorine can react pretty severely with metals. I'm guessing it had more to do with this rather than a reaction caused by arcing electricity.

Either way, green corrosion is a bad thing.