Liquid Damage
Macbook Pro
&
Macbook Air
This is usually the part where panic sets in. You've spilt something, dropped your Macbook into some water, or even left it in the rain. It might not even be your fault that this happened. Now what?
What To Do:
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Turn it OFF and keep it OFF. The desire to turn it back on to see if it's working is the #1 reason additional damage is done to a liquid affected device.
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Disconnect charger from device. You don't want additional current (electricity) running through your laptop or charging your battery while there is moisture inside your device.
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Keep away from rice. As much as rice will dry any liquid that leaks out of your device, rice is a starch. When rice is mixed with liquid, it turns from a solid into a soft substance that can get into your device.
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Visit Us or Mail In Your device to be repaired. The moment your Macbook arrives to us, we will remove the back plate, motherboard, and all surrounding components. This is to verify that all moisture and debris have been removed prior to any tests we conduct. Once your Macbook is completely dry, we will begin to visually inspect your motherboard, replacing any affected components. From there, we assess each individual component of the Macbook: keyboard, trackpad, battery, speakers, USB ports, etc. Once completed, your Macbook operates as if nothing ever happened.
What Does Liquid Damage Look Like?
Depending on what type of liquid is spilt onto your Macbook, the results can be different.
Water
Water is the most forgiving liquid you could possibly have in your Macbook. That doesn't mean we can simply dry off your internal components and get it back to functional but, it significantly increases the chances of reducing the number of components we need to replace.
Coffee
Coffee comes second to oxygen only. It's a fundamental requirement for the majority of the population. Macbooks on the other hand, don't enjoy it. Most coffee lovers enjoy a little cream (or milk) and sugar in their coffee. When dissolved sugar makes contact with internal components, it typically shorts them. This is also true for water, however the sugar is a binding agent to components, and typically causes additional damage, beyond what water would.
Pop or Juice
The primary ingredient that affects Macbooks moreso than water, is sugar. Along with the preservatives in juice, and the food colouring in pop, these create binding agents with internal components. What tends to happen is that anywhere the pop or juice had run along inside your Macbook will have residue.
Most of the residue is conductive and will short your components if you try and turn your device on. The second challenge is the stickiness. Your keyboard needs to operate freely with each keystroke. Your trackpad needs to be able to click in and release.
How Long Does It Take To Fix?
Most liquid damage repairs can be done within 48 - 72 hours. The difference between us and our competitors is that we stock a large amount of components specifically for your Macbook's motherboard. Other repair shops have to order in parts to determine the issue.
The majority of the time spent on a Macbook liquid damage repair is identifying the affected components. While we use schematics to help us identify your affected components, a significant amount of time is spent testing points on your Macbook's motherboard to ensure current is travelling where it should.
We also take the time to use our thermal imaging camera to confirm there are no additional issues with your device. Regardless if your device is powred on and operational, we don't want you to have further issues down the road.