Is it the battery or something else? Slight water damage

[mahdi]

Hey everyone, I have a macbook pro 2009 version 15" that had some liquid accidentally spill on it. After a long time of drying out and internal clean up by me, the system only powers on with the power adapter plugged in (functions flawlessly and is quiet)

Is it simply a battery that needs to be replaced, or does the fact that each time I restart, the system time is reset, point to something else? Is there a CMOS battery or something that should work even if the battery is dead/non present as far as the system time goes??

Anyone know anymore? I would just like to get some advice/feedback before dropping $100 on a battery y'know


Thanks a lot for your time!!!!!!

 

[NickZac]

It is impossible to tell you with any real accuracy because water damage does weird things to electronics.

What did you do right after the water spill to dry it out?

Download and check iStatPro or Coconut battery; they show battery health although I am not sure if they will or won't be accurate given water damage. Even if it is the battery and you replace it, it still may not work depending on what damage has occurred.

 

[mahdi]

Thanks for the info! I'll check out those programs. One thing that makes me think it's something else is the system time reset thing. On other laptops with dead batteries, the system time does not reset..

I wasn't the one that caused the damage, but the guy that did it claimed it was a little bit of liquid, and he probably tried to turn it on a few times after it shut down.

If anyone knows a bit about this, please share some info. I will go ahead and just pick up a battery and see, though

 

[NickZac]

The worst thing you can do is start a computer that may have wet internals. Did you use anything to draw the moisture out such as rice, plain oatmeal, Carefresh, etc?

 

[mahdi]

I'm pretty sure he tried to turn it on a few times after giving it to me to take a look at. I took it apart and let it dry and cleaned off some small residue before turning it on. I sure hope it's just the battery that blew up

 

[NickZac]

If the computer was started while wet, chances are that the problem is more complicated than it seems, and obviously the reliability is greatly reduced. If the logic board has damage, putting any money into the computer is not worth it.

 

[mahdi]

I don't know about that completely. From my EE experience, some liquid on components ain't so bad once it's dry as far as reliability. But those power electronics on the board and not just the battery may also be out like you reckon. It's worth a try, so I'll let y'all know when the battery comes in. (side note - I had a glass of milk spill on my case-opened computer while running a while back. Reliable for 3 years +,, didn't touch the power supply however)

thanks for the replies