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Need advice for cleaning minor water damage

MacBook Pro 17" Unibody Early 2011

Hey all,

Just spilled a small glass of water on my MacBook Pro. Powered it down, let it dry open, upside down for a few days (maybe not long enough?) and booted it up to find it working almost flawlessly. I seem to have lost functionality in three keys (left shift, left option, and control), and every now and then the screen cuts out for about a second and then comes back. When it comes back the computer gives me a notification from MagicPrefs about the trackpad being engaged, which it normally does when being woken from sleep, making me suspect that the screen problem is the computer momentarily falling asleep. I've now partly disassembled the computer (removed logic board) in order to allow for further drying and possibly cleaning. My question is then: what hardware components could be causing these false sleep malfunctions? Where should focus I focus my cleaning/drying efforts? Any insights would be a great help.

Bonus question: having only lost three keys, is it me necessary to replace the entire keyboard? Is there any way to fix just a few keys?

Thanks,

-T.

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Narum Hyatt, no such thing as a "minor water damage". It is not so much the amount of water, but where it "hits". I strongly suggest that you carefully cleaned your board with some 90%+ isopropyl alcohol and a sift brush. Carefully inspect the area of where the water seeped onto the board. Check for missing and/or burned components. Once it is cleaned properly reassemble it and re-evaluate it. OH yeah, can't forget about the bonus question:-) The failing keys are most likely caused by a shorted circuit within the keyboard. You will heave to replace the entire keyboard. Hope this helps, good luck.

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Hey OldTurkey,

thank you for the quick response. After close inspection of the board I was unable to find any obvious damage. The water spilled right onto the whole keyboard, so it's hard to say exactly where it would have landed. Fortunately it was clean, filtered drinking water so hopefully that minimized long term repercussions. I think the random sleeping and the specificity of that as the sole issue is a pretty strong clue as to where the problem might be in particular, but I'm not familiar enough with the hardware to guess exactly what that's indicating. I'm hoping someone might have some thoughts as to what would be causing that.

Thanks,

-T.

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