So what do you suggest? What has worked for you in the past?

⟐ Answered May 31, 2013 at 6:26 am -0700

⟐ Edited April 22, 2013 at 11:33 am -0700

⟐ Answered March 1, 2013 at 9:38 pm -0700

Long story short, it sat that way for 6hr until I got home. I pulled the battery, hard drive, optical drive, fan, MB out and cleaned and dried it out as much as I could. I let it sit about 3 days in a nice dry room and when all components were dry, I put it back together. Turned it on with only battery power first, and it flickered for a sec then died, and would not come back. It will also not take a charge.

Do I continue trying to fix this 3 week old MBP by buying and swapping in new parts (MB, DC-IN, battery..etc), or cut my losses, and just go buy a new one?

Thanks..

⟐ Answer deleted May 28, 2011 at 4:47 am -0700

Yesterday I spilled a hot coffee with cream on my two year old MBP. The problem is after I turned the MBP upside down, trying to remove liquid from the pads and after I wiped it with a cloth, the some of the keypads are not working. I found one article saying how to remove the pads with scissors effect.. but the thing is i am scared ripping them off.. how to remove the pads? do you think if i remove them and clean them, will the pads be working? everything works fine though, i dont have the problems with screen, battery ect..

i would like to fix this if its possible.. oh, and i have the problem with the cdrom, but this has nothing to do with coffee..

it just stopped working.. when i put the cd in, it grabs it, than smth is working and after a few minutes, the cdrom throws the cd out.. cd is not shown at all.. sometimes the cd gets stuck in there, and than after using creditcard,it will be thrown again... i would appreciate if you can advise me,

thank you,

ideep

system:

Apple Macbook Pro 17 Anti - Glare 3.6 gHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB

⟐ Edited May 2, 2011 at 2:15 pm -0700

⟐ Answered July 25, 2012 at 9:04 am -0700

Harold

⟐ Edited July 18, 2012 at 11:50 am -0700

I took the computer apart entirely and cleaned up all the coffee I could using 91% isopropyl alcohol. After reassembly, I tried to power it on, but it was no good. The MagSafe light would not illuminate when any power adapter was connected and the logic smelled a bit like burned plastic, so I determined it was a dead.

I purchased a used, working logic board on eBay a few days ago and transplanted that into a separate MacBook Core Duo that I obtained from my brother using the iFixIt repair guides. His logic board had died of natural causes and none of the internals had ever come into contact with fluids, so they were fully operational. The only internal component I used from the MacBook that had coffee spilled on it was the hard drive, but it was not damaged and was tested in an external enclosure, so it too was operational.

I finished reinstalling all the internal components today connected the MagSafe adapter. The light on the adapter came on this time and the battery indicator lights are blinking and rising, so the logic board is receiving power. Upon power up, the optical drive sounded, but it just kept cycling. I didn't hear the fans power up and all is silent, but the cycling optical drive. So I'm not sure what problem there may be now. Could someone provide some insight given the symptoms I've described? Let me know if you need to know more. Thank you so much, indispensable iFixIt community!

Update - 11/5/10 Repair Log

After trying all the suggestions that rdklinc provided, I compiled a log of my results in order to see if this issue could be further diagnosed. Here it is:

When powered on, the MacBook's optical drive and hard drive fire up, but the sleep light comes on immediately and stays steadily lit. No start up sound is heard and the display remains black.

Display

The display I reinstalled is fully functional and there is no faint image on the screen. I have also connected a second fully functional display (see photo below) from another MacBook and still nothing comes up. This may rule out a bad display or inverter cable.

Resetting PMU/SMC

When resetting PMU/SMC, the sleep light would flicker, but no tone was heard after any reconfiguration.

Resetting PRAM

I reset the PRAM, but nothing happened.

Reseat RAM

Initially one RAM card seemed improperly seated, but after removing both RAM cards, switching up the configuration, using different cards, and reinstalling the cards properly, nothing happened.

Reseat Internal Connections

I opened the MacBook again, disconnected all internal cables and reconnected them all, making sure they were properly and securely seated.

Disconnecting/Replacing Optical Drive Cable

I replaced the optical drive cable with another. This initially improved the optical drive's cycling issue upon start up and it operated and sounded normally. After trying to start up with the hard drive disconnected, it went back to cycling. This optical drive is known to be fully functional.

Disconnecting Hard Drive

I disconnected the hard drive cable and attempted to start up the MacBook, but the sleep light did not illuminate and the optical drive started cycling again.

Update 11/18/10

I got an email back from the Beta Macs company and a phone call from the rep I was emailing with about the logic board yesterday. They said they tested the board in a different machine and that it worked fine for them. I don't know if something they're doing is different from what I did, but the rep called me to tell me that my issues may be from improperly installing the temp sensors and not using thermal paste during reassembly. I'm certain I did both properly with the aid of iFixIt guides. What do you guys think, could it, in fact, be something on my end? I mean, I've tried all the things you suggested to get it working. Beta Macs has fully refunded me the cost of the logic board and the shipping. I've been thinking about ordering the only 1.83GHz 4-wall logic board that iFixIt has in stock, despite it being $100 more than the previous board that I purchased. I feel like there is a higher degree of functional certainty from iFixIt. What would you guys suggest? Once again, thanks so much for your help! You guys have been incredible.

⟐ Edited August 4, 2012 at 4:53 pm -0700

Wife may have spilled some coffee on keyboard.

⟐ Answered August 6, 2012 at 2:59 pm -0700

It was possible to start the computer and backup the data after the damage, although the computer behaved strangely (I don't have all the details on this).

When I opened the computer it wouldn't boot and the logic board and the io board had heavy corrosion from the coffee (it was only opened a few months after the fact). (The price to fix the computer at the computer shop (no Apple shop nearby) was deemed too high and I tried to fix it myself.) I took the computer apart and cleaned the io and logic boards with deionized water, some electronic cleaning stuff (made for this purpose) and Q-tips. I then used a blow dryer to make sure no liquid remained on the boards. (In hindsight, I should probably have left the boards drying over the night, but I was confident at the time and for practical reasons I didn't want the computer's part lying spread all over the place.)

The Air booted after the cleaning. The screen looks fine and the ssd seems to work well. The keyboard, however, wouldn't work (it did work before my cleaning). (This was a while ago and I actually don't remember if the trackpad was working. :( ) However, the kernel_task ran at 100 % (making the fans run at their maximum), something that might be related to the keyboard problem (?). After a few minutes, the computer turned off spontaneously. This continued as I tried to run the OS to try to diagnose the problem. I tried to run the Apple Hardware Test, but the computer shut down in the middle of it. Eventually, the computer failed to boot at all, even having trouble with lighting the magsafe LED. Connecting the Air to power now only results in some twitching of the fan.

I got some irc support from the Ars channel, from someone who seemed to know his/her stuff. The IO board or the IO cable were thought to be the most probable reasons. I ordered an IO board from ifixit and switched it, but it didn't make any difference.

Now, I think I have two options: try to sell it in parts (or together), as spare parts, or see if a logic board switch would help. Obviously, as a logic board is quite expensive, I would like your input on this.

Do you think it is likely that switching the logic board would fix this damaged Air? There is also the problem with the keyboard, that suggests that some connection to it might be damaged. Is it possible to buy replace the cables connecting the keyboard and trackpad to the logic board?

Thank you for any help!

Best regards,

Jonathan

⟐ Commented August 25, 2012 at 6:25 am -0700

I spill coffee on my MBA. Everything is running well. I see a tech that explain that the motherboard is not touched. They don't clean up the laptop. So i need to change the uppercase and the keyboard.

I would like to open the laptop. I would like to clean up the keyboard and the uppercase because therre are sticky. But i would like to know what kind of tool i need exactly?

On this tutorial, they say that i need 9 mm 5-point Pentalobe and 2.6 mm 5-point Pentalobe.

See: MacBook Air 13" Mid 2011 Upper Case Replacement

My question are

Do the pentalobe screwdriver open the booth size?

See: MacBook Pro and Air 5-Point Pentalobe Screwdriver

Do i can put the keyboard in the hot water and dry it?

Thank you very much

⟐ Answer edited September 27, 2012 at 4:56 pm -0700

Luckily, my computer was off, it wasn't connected, and I turned it upside-down immediately to drain the coffee out.

I took it apart, up until the battery (as I didn't have the three-way screwdriver), dried as much of the inside as I could find, and removed all the keys, cleaned, and replaced.

So... the good news is the keys feel like new, and the computer pretty much works.... the only problem is that it keeps popping up the menu asking me to power off as if I was pressing the power button.

What do you think is wrong?.. can I do anything to fix it?

Thank you!

- David

⟐ Commented November 22, 2012 at 8:29 pm -0700

I had a shop professionally clean my macbook of coffee spills, and they said there is still chance for corrosion since they couldn't get under every little part. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to prolong my macbook corroding, or does it have a set lifespan?

⟐ Commented December 26, 2012 at 7:27 pm -0700

⟐ Commented March 25, 2013 at 10:05 pm -0700

Since this happened, I have tried to power it on but it does not respond when I press the power button. The LED light on the power cord is orange. When I press the button on the side to test the battery, all the LEDs light up to show a full charge. The power button has no response.

Today I removed the back cover and unseated the battery connector. I should have done this 2 days ago, but I'm an idiot. Right now the battery is in the macbook, but it is not connected to the logic board.

What should I do now? I can still smell coffee, so I am optimistic it might still be wet and I can clean it.

I have read about using rubbing alcohol (90%+) to clean up coffee redisue. Can I pour that in the keyboard if my battery is still physically connected to the computer (but unseated from the logic board)? Or do I need to completely remove the battery from the enclosure before I try the rubbing alcohol trick?

⟐ Answered June 5, 2013 at 2:44 am -0700

So far, I've already disassembled it and cleaned the components with special electronics/pcb cleaner. Unfortunately it doesn't want to power on and I don't have any idea which part is causing it yet. Here are two things I've already figured out:

• The MagSafe 2 LED is green when connecting it and changes to orange (charging) after one second.
• The MagSafe 2 LED changes when resetting the SMC, so I guess the keyboard/upper case is still ok.

I already disconnected almost everything from the logic/IO board in order to exclude these parts (SSD, speakers, microphone, AirPort/Bluetooth etc.), yet absolutely nothing happens when I hold the power button. No startup sound, no fan spinning, display remains black.

Is there any way how I could find the defective parts or get it to work at all? Unfortunately I don't have another MBA to exchange parts.

⟐ Answer accepted June 16, 2013 at 11:15 pm -0700

So my wife was at college, coming up on a year ago, and she spilled coffee on her MacBook. She turned it off let it sit and dry but it never powered on again. She brought it to the apple store and they said the repairs were going to be as much as buying a new one. So she held on to it and waited for me to try and see if it could be fixed.

After reading up on what other people did, I try to see it it was just the keyboard that went bad and it didn't work. Now I've already replaced the logic board and it still won't seem to power on. Any idea what it might be? Also the logic-board still looked bad when I opened it up months later.

⟐ Commented June 17, 2013 at 4:36 pm -0700