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Water damage to keyboard, computer shut itself off

This is actually for my friend's computer. He accidently spilled some water and the keyboard got quite wet. At some point the computer ended up shutting itself down.

I was wondering what this means? What do you suspect has been damaged?

He hasn't attempted to turn it on and is letting the computer dry out.

I suggested to him that he removed the keyboard when it's dry on the outside so he can see if water has reached, say, the logic board.

Is this good advice?

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Here are some updates:

He opened his computer and didn't really find water anywhere. However, he did find what looks like dried up water on this curved copper part located to the left of the fan. (Part of which is in the yellow box in this image: http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/1N...)

He also sees some very small white spots on circuits. Perhaps this is mold?

P.S. At this point the logic board hasn't been removed.

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here is a picture from above - the part you mentioned is the connector and cable from the keyboard - if this part is shorted - the MacBook won't start (the power button is on the topcase and use this connection)

http://s2.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/lr...

the whits spots are no mold, it looks a little bit similar, it's oxidation - and oxidation is conductive - you can read this for a little bit more about the oxidation problem

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Okay he opened it and brushed many parts with isopropyl alcohol. He noticed that there was more significant water damage on the RAM than anywhere else.

He attempted to turn it on after putting everything back in place and it does turn on, because the screen does the initial flicker and the LED comes on and stays on, but nothing happens. It does not load OSX or anything.

What could this mean? BTW thank you for all the help so far! I appreciate it very much!

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water shorted the parts, that's why the computer went off

you can tell him this:

remove the battery - then disassemble the MacBook and get the logicboard out, use IPA and a soft paintbrush to clean the "odd" looking parts carefully. he should use the guide from ifixit to disassemble the MacBook CLICK

there is not time to waste, the faster it get's cleaned - the higher are the chances to get the MacBook working again

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If there is any hope for it, be sure to remove power cord, and battery. Depending on the acidity of the water- some city water is the worst, the water itself can oxidize connections pretty badly.

Otherwise, you are at a minimum looking at a short. Depends on where the short is. If it simply crossed a power circuit (not allowing the power to flow), drying out may do the trick. Any component you can remove without damaging anything would be good.

The keyboards have a membrane to shed liquids/guard against debris, but if it was a good bit of water, not much hope. If the water allowed power to cross over into a more sensitive cap or chip, and allowed power to burn out the component, then you bricked the part, prob motherboard.

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Michael Swenson will be eternally grateful.
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