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Water spill macbook air 2015

rufunky

rufunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
115
2
Boston, Ma
After ultrasonic cleaning the board I am able to get to the user login, normal fan speed but it never fully loads into the OS ( apple bar fully loads then stays there) . I have run the diagnosis and only error i got was 5010f. I have tried recovery but again, it just hangs after the apple bar fully loads. I tried resetting nvram but a second chime never takes place. I have tried entering safe mode via shift but it doesnt go into safe mode. Also, tried an external keyboard ..no luck I am running out of ideas

Any suggestions?
 
Your best bet would be to burn macOS on an external USB stick and boot from the USB directly. You should also take the time to open the MBA and check for any shorted components. I have a gut feeling you may have shorted out the SSD. Check carefully using a magnifying glass under some good lighting.

Fortunately the 2015 Air uses standard, non-proprietary flash storage, so if the SSD is fried you can easily replace the part without having to trash the entire logic board.
 
Audit13 said:
The SSD in the MacBook Air uses a proprietary, physical 12+16 Apple connection to the logic board. Also, the SSD is an AHCI drive rather than NVMe.
Click to expand...

You can use a cheap adapter off Amazon or eBay that will make it work with standards drives. I've upgraded a few MacBook Air's/Pros using this method with no issues.
 
Dhock_Holiday said:
Your best bet would be to burn macOS on an external USB stick and boot from the USB directly. You should also take the time to open the MBA and check for any shorted components. I have a gut feeling you may have shorted out the SSD. Check carefully using a magnifying glass under some good lighting.

Fortunately the 2015 Air uses standard, non-proprietary flash storage, so if the SSD is fried you can easily replace the part without having to trash the entire logic board.
Click to expand...
Do you know if I can boot off of an external drive via USB without the internal SSD installed?
 
rufunky said:
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
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Trying to install on an external drive and it gets stuck in the loading stage. Recovery looks like its going to work, loads all the way to the apple logo and stalls at the full bar. Not sure what is going on.
 
Is the keyboard and mouse working properly?

Tried disconnecting the trackpad and keyboard and using an external mouse and keyboard?

I wonder is not being able to reset the Nvram is causing the Air to hang.
 
Audit13 said:
Is the keyboard and mouse working properly?

Tried disconnecting the trackpad and keyboard and using an external mouse and keyboard?

I wonder is not being able to reset the Nvram is causing the Air to hang.
Click to expand...
Yes, I tried disconnecting the keyboard and trackpad and jumping the logicboard. That is what it seems like, if i could get NVRAm to reset I feel like I will be able to boot! I've ran out of ideas though...
 
rufunky said:
Yes, I tried disconnecting the keyboard and trackpad and jumping the logicboard. That is what it seems like, if i could get NVRAm to reset I feel like I will be able to boot! I've ran out of ideas though...
Click to expand...
Yes, it sounds like an Nvram reset will help. If it doesn't, at least you will know that the issue probably lies with the main logic board.
 
UPDATE!

So i went ahead and replaced the logic board and it booted. The mac boots automatically when i plug in the power adapter but the power button does not seem to be working even though all the other keys are!

I was now able to reset NVRAM but still no power button. Do you think I need to also replace the keyboard
 
The circuits for the power button and keyboard are separate but the power button circuit runs through the keyboard to the trackpad.

The keyboard and power button are installed as a single unit.
 
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Audit13 said:
The circuits for the power button and keyboard are separate but the power button circuit runs through the keyboard to the trackpad.

The keyboard and power button are installed as a single unit.
Click to expand...
Do you know if the air early 2015 have the nubs holding on the keyboard or if it has the screws?
 
Audit13 said:
The keyboard uses nubs so you'll need to order a set of screws to replace the nubs.
Click to expand...
I went ahead and purchased a new keyboard and the power button still is not working :(. I dont get whats going on. it boots when i plug in the power adapter but not when i press the power key.

Any other suggestions??
 
Or what pin in the cable from trackpad to logic board is the power button pin so I can check for continuity?
 
rufunky said:
Do you know how I would test the cable with a multimeter. Like what pins and what voltage to see if the two ends are communicating?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I don't know as I have never seen any information about the function of each contact.

Could there is a grounding problem with the board or case?
 
Audit13 said:
Unfortunately, I don't know as I have never seen any information about the function of each contact.

Could there is a grounding problem with the board or case?
Click to expand...
I figured it out! user error. I had the keyboard cable in backwards! The trackpad part was plugged into the logic board and vice versa. Hope my embarrassment can maybe at least help someone else.

Thank you for all your help though :)
 
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rufunky said:
I figured it out! user error. I had the keyboard cable in backwards! The trackpad part was plugged into the logic board and vice versa. Hope my embarrassment can maybe at least help someone else.

Thank you for all your help though :)
Click to expand...
Great news!

I've done things like this before. One time, I plugged the charger cable into the wall outlet but never has the other end connected to the Magsafe lol
 
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Audit13 said:
Great news!

I've done things like this before. One time, I plugged the charger cable into the wall outlet but never has the other end connected to the Magsafe lol
Click to expand...

Actually I think I did have it right the first time! The trackpad isn't working when plugged in this way. This tells me one of the traces in the cable must have a short ( even though there is no visible damage) as when I reversed the cable the newly used trace connected the circuit to the power.

I just ordered a new cable. We shall see...
 
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