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Repair information and guides for the 2015 Retina MacBook Air. Model A1534

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grease stain INSIDE MacBook?

The keyboard & trackpad on my macbook stopped working all of a sudden. I opened it up to investigate and found a very suspicious grease stain by the keyboard. It seems to have been caused by something inside the macbook. Any idea what this could be from? I don’t think it’s causing the keyboard issues but just curious whats spewing oil on the inside…

EDIT:

my computer overheated during normal use, and smelled like electronics cooking. It had never happened before so I turned it off. Shortly after, it had trouble detecting the keyboard, so I assumed the events were related. However I could still enter my password on the login screen - the keyboard stopped working only after login. So I suspected a software/driver issue. I booted into Safe Mode using a usb keyboard and everything worked fine. This confirmed my suspicions. So I decided to wipe and reinstall the OS. Now the keyboard doesn’t work at all. So I’m back to suspecting a hardware failure.

Also this computer is of low value to me. I’m mostly interested in understanding what happened and learning how to fix it out of curiosity. Maybe I can donate it to someone who needs it if I fix it.

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I can’t tell from the photo. A leaking heat sink will cause a greasy type of residue stain. See if your stain is adjacent to the crimped ends of the heat sink. If so, replace it.

I can’t tell from the teardown if this machine even has one.

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crwdns2944067:04crwdne2944067:0:

Interesting, I will look into that. The keyboard stopped working shortly after a sudden overheating episode, where the whole computer got very hot all of sudden (wasn't doing anything crazy; just downloading a movie) and it smelled bad. I immediately turned it off. Hasn't gotten hot since but my first thought was perhaps some battery swelling caused the keyboard issues. However upon opening battery looks fine.

(I edited the question with more info)

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@mayer - These MacBook systems are just using a metal block no heat pipe to fin solution here.

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@danj Oh well, guess not all greasy spots are the same.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@mayer - Did you forget to lick your fingers after eating your fried chicken ;-}

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The only liquid would be an electrolytic capacitor failing, there just isn’t any in your system. It’s more likely a stain created during the the manufacturing process.

As to why your system keyboard & trackpad have stopped working will need some deeper diagnostics. Do you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse which you can sue with your MacBook? If you can see if you can check the USB section in the System Report, do you see the hub and the internal keyboard and trackpad?

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I guess I shouldn't call it a stain. There was still residual "oil" that transferred to my fingers.

I used a usb keyboard to boot into safe mode and the internal keyboard worked again, so I suspected something with the software and wiped the computer and reinstalled the OS but now the keyboard doesn't work at all, even in safe mode. So I'm back to suspecting the hardware.

(I edited the question with more info)

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

Is it possible you may have fallen victim to a minor keyboard spill? Nothing like a dash of olive oil to ruin your keyboard.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

I don't think so. I peeled back the black tape protecting the keys and it was clear the stain/oil is coming from inside the computer. Besides I really don't recall spilling anything on it.

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