Spilt Coke on MacBook Pro 2010, no display, all else fine, home fix?

[WaterMelnKidd]

My girlfriend said that her brother spilt coke all over the keyboard of his MacBook Pro mid-2010 and it ran to the inside of the MacBook from the top vent under the screen.

When I power up, the following is obvious:

- There is no display

- The hard drive is spinning
- The keyboard is illuminated
- The fans are spinning

Basically it all seems perfect except from the screen. There was a little blob of coke under the thick black connected on the left hand side of the screen when I took the bottom off, which I tried to clean off.

It was not looked at immediately after the coke was spilt on it but that's not my fault. I think it's been like this for about 3 months but there is definitely some wet coke on here.


What can I do to fix it at home? I'm not paying $120 for a new screen if it won't fix anything, I just want to know the possibilities.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Josh

 

[GoCubsGo]

Have you tried connecting it to an external display? since this happened 3 months ago the best you can do is open it up and clean it, gently. I would hook it up to a display and see if it works. If so, then you may have to just use it like that if you're unwilling to buy a new screen. Why you would buy a new screen for a laptop that belongs to the brother of the girl you're dating anyway is beyond me, but that is that.

 

[Macman45]

Thing With Coke

Is that it gets worse as it dries, stick, covers contacts on the board etc. Most here would say allow it to dry our for 48 hours before you try, but cleaning it yourself is not an option.

Do you have accident insurance? if so I'd make a claim, you might get lucky when it dries out, but I doubt it. Hope you get sorted out.

 

[Dwalls90]

Common sense tells me that if the display won't turn on, you probably fried your GPU - which is soldered to the logic board. Thus, the only way to fix it would be to replace the logic board.

 

[WaterMelnKidd]

Have you tried connecting it to an external display? since this happened 3 months ago the best you can do is open it up and clean it, gently. I would hook it up to a display and see if it works. If so, then you may have to just use it like that if you're unwilling to buy a new screen. Why you would buy a new screen for a laptop that belongs to the brother of the girl you're dating anyway is beyond me, but that is that.

I'm not paying, they are paying.

But good idea, although I can't connect it to my monitor because it's a 2010 and I don't have display port.

 

[awer25]

I'm not paying, they are paying.

But good idea, although I can't connect it to my monitor because it's a 2010 and I don't have display port.

You can get a cheap mini DP to DVI or VGA adapter.

 

[squeakr]

Good luck with this. Coke is one of the worst things that you can spill on electronics as the acids in it are extremely corrosive. If it has been like this for three months, the best I would recommend is to remove everything from the casing and scrub down the board with a bristle brush (a tooth brush works fine) and deionized water. I would then quickly follow with a Isopropyl Alcohol rinse to displace the water and dry everything out.

With luck this should help revive things and insure something is not shorted. I have used this procedure several times in the past to revive shorted boards for multi-million dollar products (was a tech in the semiconductor industry). It is not a sure thing, but in the case of no other choice it can work (which is why we used to do it, as the part was on order, but unavailable for months as most of those are custom built orders).

 

[Macman45]

If the GPU

Common sense tells me that if the display won't turn on, you probably fried your GPU - which is soldered to the logic board. Thus, the only way to fix it would be to replace the logic board.

Is fried and I think It is...DONT connect it to anything. Overvolt and other issues could mean you trash the kit you are trying it on. Take it an Apple Store and let them check it. At least you will know then rather than trashing more kit.