crwdns2933423:0crwdne2933423:0

The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Air features fifth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, resulting in slightly increased performance and battery life.

crwdns2934591:0623crwdne2934591:0 crwdns2934593:0crwdne2934593:0

Water damage, problem booting

Hi,
Ive got a Mac Air 2015 from an friend who spilled a glass of water over it. It worked for a couple of days after for my friend but later stoped. She was about to throw it away, but I got it instead. It seems that it doesnt boot correctly, (all black, fan spins) beacuse now I have tried to boot from an USB which works, and everything seems to work ok.

I have checked Disk utilty but the old SSD drive doesnt show.

Do you think if I only change the internal SSD to a new one it will work again, or is it a big chance there is something else, and I throw some money await with buying a new one?

crwdns2934081:0crwdne2934081:0 crwdns2934083:0crwdne2934083:0 crwdns2934093:0crwdne2934093:0

crwdns2934109:0crwdne2934109:0

crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 0
crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933313:01crwdne2933313:0

crwdns2934051:0crwdne2934051:0

Hi,

The impurities in the water causes corrosion and provides circuit paths for the electricity which were not in the laptop's operating design and could damage the components. The corrosion starts immediately and is ongoing until it is completely cleaned away

First do not try to charge or to turn on your laptop and then remove the battery as soon as possible to minimize any further damage.

Then you need to dis-assemble the rest of the laptop and clean all the affected parts using Isopropyl Alcohol 99%+ (available at electronics parts stores) to remove all traces of corrosion and water. If possible do not use "rubbing alcohol" as in some cases this is only 70% IPA or less, can contain additives and is not as effective. If you do have to use it check the label to verify the amount of IPA. The higher the percentage of IPA the better

Here is a link that describes the process. Electronics Water Damage

As always with electronics, especially surface mounted pcb be gentle when handling and especially when brushing away the corrosion. You do not want to remove any components from the board. Remove the shields that may be covering some components as the water may have got in under there. The ends of any flex cables and their connectors need to be cleaned as well

Hopefully after you have done all this the laptop might possibly work correctly again.

Here is a link to the ifixit MacBook Air 13" Early 2015) guide, that may help.

If this process seems too daunting, take your laptop to a reputable, professional laptop repair service, experienced in liquid damage repair and ask for a quote for a repair. If you decide to do this, do it sooner than later.

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 2

crwdns2944067:02crwdne2944067:0:

OK, thanks. Just some follow up questions.

Im a newbie but I realy cant see any corrusion, maybe some on the SSD, and on the motherboard under that spot on the SSD there is some small colorchange, I have fixed the spot on the SSD. But do I need to take the whole mac apart anyway?

If I try with the original SSD, the fan goes up to full speed, but if I use the external drive It sounds nothing.

Could it be that the SSD stoped working, and the rest is ok? And is it somehow possible to check an Mac Air 2015 SSD, I havent seen any adapter for it?

Since I tried some stuff myself before posting, I also charged the battery to full, and I used Coconutbattery to see how the status was, and it said it was good condition and so on.. So everything sems to work, otherwise.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@Mr Magoo

Since you can't see any other corrosion etc, and since you can boot OK with no problems from an external drive it looks like only the SSD has been affected.

Double check the motherboard where you noticed something to make sure that no components were there and that they may have been affected or the motherboard itself. Use a magnifying glass if you have to.

Also check the motherboard's SSD connector to make sure that the pins are not corroded

It is better to check it thoroughly now and be satisfied that all is well rather than close up and experience problems down the track because it wasn't

Cheers

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2934229:0crwdne2934229:0

Mr Magoo crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
crwdns2936625:0crwdne2936625:0:

crwdns2936751:024crwdne2936751:0 0

crwdns2936753:07crwdne2936753:0 0

crwdns2936753:030crwdne2936753:0 0

crwdns2942667:0crwdne2942667:0 60