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Logic board issue or trackpad/battery failure?

Hi there,

A few weeks ago, I spilled a cup of tea on my MB Air 13' (mid 2011 A1369). I was stupid enough not cutting the power off immediately. Then the next thing I notice was the green light of the power charge gradually dimmed and eventually the power was off.

Overnight, I turned the laptop on again, and here come the symptoms:

1. Battery is not charged when power cable is plugged in. It indicates 65% of battery but the power is cut once I unplug the power cable.

2. Trackpad malfunctions. It behaves like the left click is constantly jammed. The keyboard and the rest of the trackpad function properly. I tried to plug in an external mouse and disable the trackpad. The issue kind of resolves if the trackpad is not touched in any means (if the trackpad is touch during login, the issue remains after login even an external mouse is used.)

Attempts tried:

1.I opened the back cover and found visible water damage on the i/o board, other parts look fine to me. So I bought a i/o board from ifixit. However, the problem remains the same after I replace the i/o board.

2. Now, I have both the battery and trackpad removed. The macbook works as usual with an external mouse.

Question:

So, my question is, is this problem caused by logic board or simply a trackpad failure plus a dead battery?

This would affect my decision on whether I will pay more to fix this laptop. If the problem can be fixed by trackpad/battery replacement, I will go ahead. If it's a logic board issue, I won't spend money on replacement.

Please let me know if there is any way to tell.

Many thanks, guys.

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When you spill on a laptop 99.044% of the time the top case is damaged... the keyboard, on button and track-pad circuitry all run through the top case (there's on connector to the logic board for all those parts). You could spend a fair amount of time trying to replace each separate component (time is money too) to see if only the track-pad is damaged or just replace the entire top case.

You may be able to recoup some $ by selling your damaged parts as such on e-bay.

If the battery connector/terminal showed corrosion damage its likely you need a new battery. Connecting a damaged battery to the good logic board could damage those circuits.

Only you can decide how much $ you want to put into the repair.

If this answer is acceptable please remember to return and mark it.

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2 Comments:

Hi machead3,

Thanks for the reply. The keyboard (including the back lit) is working properly without any problem (at the time I am typing now). The conundrum here is I'm not sure whether it is the connector on the logic board is damaged or only the trackpad is malfunctioning.

Disabling the trackpad in MacOS resolves the left click jamming symptom. Could this indicate trackpad problem instead of logic board?

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Only eyeballs can tell. Use a magnifier and look for corrosion, burn marks or swollen components... that it's "sticky" sounds like it might be tea residue, especially if you put sugar in it. Perhaps pulling it, cleaning it-wash in hot water and soap...rinse in distilled water followed by 99% alcohol (less pure alcohol has too much water) let dry overnight it may go back to working. If not you can (and will have had practice so you should be pretty quick about it) replace the track-pad only.

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