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mid 2010 MBP logic board cleaning

U

uurxin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2011
7
0
I have a mid 2010 MBP 15" that had an unfortunate incident with an ice tea spill. I did all the normal stuff... turn it over and let it dry out, but it does not work after a week of drying.

My next step was going to be cleaning the logic board and after talking to a bunch of people it seems the best way to go is soak it in hot (140-150deg) distilled water for 15 minutes and go at it with a soft bristle brush. Then dry completely before putting the whole system back together.

My question is should I have to remove the heat sink from the board before the cleaning or will it not matter.

Also if you have any suggestions on cleaning it would be greatly appreciated.

-ED
 

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I would personally soak it in isopropyl alcohol as opposed to deionized water.
Isopropyl alcohol is non-conductive and evaporates very quickly.

I would definitely remove the heat sinks as the thermal paste between them and the cpu, gpu, chip set will be ruined.

I would recommend arctic silver for when you reapply the thermal paste, either arctic silver 5 (electrically conductive) or céramique 2 (electrically non-conductive).

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask ;)
 
watchthisspace said:
I personally wouldn't soak it in water, but rather clean off what you can with isopropyl alcohol.
Click to expand...

well i did use lab grade IPA, soft bristle brush and qtips to clean what spots i saw. wasnt much. the power board was the worst and i cleaned that good. put it all back together and i can get the battery status lights on the side, but when i presss the power button i get nothing. so i thought the power button might be all gooked up... pulled the cover off and there wasnt much. i cleaned it and put it all back together.. still nothing. there is a little ribbon cable coming off of this button running under the black keyboard cover. could it be possible i fried it under there? should i pull all the keys off and clean under them?

any other suggestions before i do the soak?


hope i dont need to buy a top case.. anyway to test to see if i do need one?


thanks

-ED
 
I've known plenty of people who have salvaged their graphics cards after their water cooling leaked using this method.Some people have even gone as far as putting it into the oven after soaking.Plenty of success storys: )
 
miles01110 said:
The problem is likely your logic board. If you already tried cleaning the surface with a brush and whatever liquid, you need a new logic board. Soaking it is not going to work.
Click to expand...

PatrickCorrigan said:
Pessimistic much?:pHe might as well try, he has nothing to lose : )
Click to expand...

He's not being pessimistic, he's being realistic. OP, obviously it's your prerogative to try soaking it in alcohol, but if you cleaned it and it still didn't work, it likely means something shorted and broke when the liquid spill initially happened. Continuing to clean residue off isn't going to revive a short.
 
Queen of Spades said:
He's not being pessimistic, he's being realistic. OP, obviously it's your prerogative to try soaking it in alcohol, but if you cleaned it and it still didn't work, it likely means something shorted and broke when the liquid spill initially happened. Continuing to clean residue off isn't going to revive a short.
Click to expand...

Spot cleaning is different to soaking, one could easily have missed some residue causing a short.were only human after all :)
Op let us know how you get on, i'd love to hear the results, best of luck.
Il be keeping my fingers crossed :p
 
PatrickCorrigan said:
Spot cleaning is different to soaking, one could easily have missed some residue causing a short.were only human after all :)
Op let us know how you get on, i'd love to hear the results, best of luck.
Il be keeping my fingers crossed :p
Click to expand...

ill try the soak... what do i have to loose? all it can potentially save me is a $500-900 logic board

anyone have a good place to find some for sale other than ebay?
 
If after a week of drying it won't turn on, it's fried. Don't bother trying to clean it, you're wasting your time. It's been shorted out and no liquid on this planet will fix a short.
 
snaky69 said:
If after a week of drying it won't turn on, it's fried. Don't bother trying to clean it, you're wasting your time. It's been shorted out and no liquid on this planet will fix a short.
Click to expand...

And now it works...but it was not the logic board. the power button was not making contact or shorted so i replaced the top case and now all works.
 
uurxin said:
And now it works...but it was not the logic board. the power button was not making contact or shorted so i replaced the top case and now all works.
Click to expand...

So you DID go through with the soak?
What did you soak it in and how much did you strip the logic board down?

I've just removed my logic board - after a wine spill 2 weeks ago - and am trying to research everything before i drop the logic board in a pan of alcohol. One thing that worried me were the 2 metal plates the presumably protect the processing chips.... Did you remove these and/or the chips?
 
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