Stupid me... Fan problems after water damage.

[Auralie]

Hey all.

A few weeks ago I managed to spill some water in my two year old Macbook pro. After I dried it out and turned it on, I noticed the fan running really loudly. I checked my istat widget and it appeared that my right fan was registering at 0 rpm, even though I could clearly hear it spinning rapidly on that side. Thinking it might have been a glitch in the program, I downloaded SMCfancontrol, but sure enough, it read the same thing.

With an smc reset, the fan stays normal and registers in both programs until randomly it shoots up and displays as 0 again. Sometimes this takes minutes, sometimes hours, and sometimes days.

I'm sadly assuming this is something like a short in the logic board (which would SUCK because I just had said board replaced a month ago for the previously recalled Nvidia chip).

What do you guys think? :S
Any way I can fix it at home? Or am I out another logic board for my stupidity.

 

[C01E]

Hey all.

A few weeks ago I managed to spill some water in my two year old Macbook pro. After I dried it out and turned it on, I noticed the fan running really loudly. I checked my istat widget and it appeared that my right fan was registering at 0 rpm, even though I could clearly hear it spinning rapidly on that side. Thinking it might have been a glitch in the program, I downloaded SMCfancontrol, but sure enough, it read the same thing.

With an smc reset, the fan stays normal and registers in both programs until randomly it shoots up and displays as 0 again. Sometimes this takes minutes, sometimes hours, and sometimes days.

I'm sadly assuming this is something like a short in the logic board (which would SUCK because I just had said board replaced a month ago for the previously recalled Nvidia chip).

What do you guys think? :S
Any way I can fix it at home? Or am I out another logic board for my stupidity.

If you are feeling adventurous you could always open the MBP up and check the connections from the fans to the mobo, Possibly even order a new fan on iFixit and see how it works. (My guess is indeed damage to the mobo though.)

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

What are the odds you still have water in this? (or even the fan)

Water does NOT evaporate inside a computer like it would anywhere else - and you can have water trapped for literally weeks if the computer is never opened up.

I'd say to open it up, shake things around (not the HDD, obviously) and let it really dry out. Ditto this for your fan.

 

[C01E]

What are the odds you still have water in this? (or even the fan)

Water does NOT evaporate inside a computer like it would anywhere else - and you can have water trapped for literally weeks if the computer is never opened up.

I'd say to open it up, shake things around (not the HDD, obviously) and let it really dry out. Ditto this for your fan.

Good point, They didn't mention the drying time used to "dry" the machine... I hope it was at least a week or something. (Side note: While a container large enough to fit a mbp can be a pain to find, White Rice is a waterlogged electronic device's best friend!)

 

[Auralie]

I guess I never thought that there still might be water trapped in there. I'll give it a try and air it out, then check the connections and try replacing the fan if all else fails.

With it being older and out of applecare now, I'll just have to live with a faulty fan until it completely dies if I can't get something to work.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Auralie]

Good point, They didn't mention the drying time used to "dry" the machine... I hope it was at least a week or something. (Side note: While a container large enough to fit a mbp can be a pain to find, White Rice is a waterlogged electronic device's best friend!)

I had it dry for three days, upside down in front of a fan. I'm sure I should have waited longer now, but what's done is done . All I can do now is make the best of what I have.

Honestly, thanks for your help.

 

[C01E]

I had it dry for three days, upside down in front of a fan. I'm sure I should have waited longer now, but what's done is done . All I can do now is make the best of what I have.

Honestly, thanks for your help.

My guess is that things dried ok, But possibly some residue from the water is the problem. I see it every now and then at work where a PC is bone dry after a spill, But the residue from hard water (tap, or cheap bottled) causes a short to happen. What you can do, Id say is hop on ifixit, Pick up their $20 50+ piece bit driver set, and a couple of nylon pry sticks (Spludger?!? ?SP) Then break that bad boy open and give the mobo a good cleaning with some isopropyl alcohol. Worse case, You are out $25-ish but you have all the tools to repair your mac and pretty much any other PC on earth.

 

[white95supra]

So I just got my MBP used on ebay, and it was listed as-is with the high fan condition. I found that whoever owned this MBP broke the fan connector off the logic board and tried reattaching it. They apparently broke one of the resistors off the logic board also. I want to replace that one and the one next to it just to be sure. I believe that the resistor is a 47k ohm resistor from what I can tell on schematics, but I need to be sure before I order the replacement, see attached photo.

 

[Astroboy907]

So I just got my MBP used on ebay, and it was listed as-is with the high fan condition. I found that whoever owned this MBP broke the fan connector off the logic board and tried reattaching it. They apparently broke one of the resistors off the logic board also. I want to replace that one and the one next to it just to be sure. I believe that the resistor is a 47k ohm resistor from what I can tell on schematics, but I need to be sure before I order the replacement, see attached photo.

Image

Might not be helpful to you but you might want to give Dadioh a PM or something (he's a user here, in my friends list). He made a thread about logic board repair for bad backlighting but he is pretty experienced with these boards and replacing stuff on them. He can make sure you've got the right schematic and stuff...

Anyways, just letting you know, soldering these resistors sucks. A lot. I had to replace the 0402 backlight fuse on my mobo and they are about the size of half a grain of rice. Try soldering that without a hot air station!
Best of luck,
A907