Battery does not charge after (small) water spill (in corner the power connects to)

[The12thMonkey]

Hey there!
Problem is: the upper right corner of my MacBook got a bit wet. Not having realised the liquid got inside, I left it running.

Now:
- the battery does not charge
- laptop still runs on battery with normal battery life
- laptop runs on external power:
- w/o battery incerted
- w/ battery incerted.
In the latter case (running on external power w/ battery incerted) it does not charge but also does not drain the battery. Same if sent to sleep. Also the green/red adaptor LED does not go on or off.

Both the adaptor and the battery behave perfectly fine in a friend's MacBook.

Any advice what I could try to do next?

 

[clyde2801]

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Wiki/MacBook_Troubleshooting

Sounds like your dc in board may have gotten fried. If you can troubleshoot and determine that's what it is, see on the ifixit site how hard it is to replace there. The same site also sells that component.

 

[The12thMonkey]

Troubleshooting possibilities?

Hi Clyde,

thanks a lot for the tipp and the link -- it's quite helpful, and the instructions are fairly detailed!

However, the ifixit website problem description does not 100% match with mine, and also googling for related posts indicates it could also be the logic board/battery connector. Even the heatsink (?!) was mentioned.

Do you/anyone else have any suggestions how to troubleshoot it?

Cheers!

 

[l.a.rossmann]

Clean clean clean.

a) Rubbing alcohol already puts you behind the curve. Use 99% or don't bother. Search eBay. I like ultrasonic cleaners like the ones for jewelry, howeverm if you are patient, 99% alcohol works great, with a fresh, hard toothbrush. Do not brush back and forth, brush from the center of a particular location outwards.

b) Stop plugging it in. Each time you do you potentially screw up something else.

c) Do not just clean. It is not the cleaning that is important, but rather, the drying. You can keep the board next to the window or let it dry for weeks and it can still be screwed up. However, half an hour next to a drying tool that does not apply heat to the board will get the job done. It was once I realized this that I had a 100% success rate on the water damage stuff.

If you do not have access to professional tools for part C, a household dehumidifier will work in a pinch. After you're done going through the board with a fine but strong brush & 99% alcohol, hang the board in front of the dehumidifier's intake. Change the side facing the intake once an hour. Do this for about six hours. If you feel the air moving into the dehumidifier from outside the dehumidifier - if you can drop a paper in front of it and watch it get sucked onto the dehumidifier, it will most likely work.

Do the drying right after you have done the brushing, with the board still a bit damp from the alcohol.

Each step is important, the more you deviate from this the lesser the chance it'll work again.

 

[The12thMonkey]

Problem resolved!

thanks a lot everyone, especially Clyde for the tip-off!

Followed the link, ordered the DC-in board, and today opened the lapy and replaced the old one (which was quite visibly fried!). The description on the ifixit link posted was very helpful!

What certainly helped is that the lapy was opened before (to replace the upper case), so it helped with the screws, which are sometimes stuck.

So good to have a MacBook to work with! Realised this once more as I had to deal with the replacement laptop running XP and Fedora Linux...