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The larger of Apple's MacBook Air laptops featuring dual microphones and 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity.

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Isolating issue with water damage

Hi,

I have a Mid 2013 Macbook Air that had some water damage. Quickly disconnected battery and dried it out and cleaned any spots I saw with alcohol.

I am getting no light on the MagSafe charger when battery is connected

When I disconnect the battery, I get a red light - but machine will still not power on at all.

I have tried an SMC Reset with no luck.

What does this suggest? Any advice on next steps?

Thanks

Rebecca

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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The power LED has now stopped showing when battery is disconnected now..

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Hi Rebecca,

First you must stop connecting power to your laptop. Disconnect the battery and the charger.

Second, you should remove the logic board entirely from the laptop. You have 2 parts: the main big board, and the smaller I/O board. The below applies to both parts. Don't forget to remove the heat sink and wipe away the thermal paste with IPA.

Now use good magnification to examine all the board. Minimum 10x. Better 20x or more. Take note of all corrosion spots and dirty spots.

Then soak the board entirely in isopropyl alcohol at 99% (at least 90%).

Scrub with a soft toothbrush all the apparent damage that you had noted before. And all the board if you want.

Dry over an air filter or in a toasting oven at say 50 degrees C for 1-2 hours.

Examine again using magnification. If you don't see anymore apparent damage, test the board again by connecting together the 2 boards, the fan and finally the power cable to the board (should light green). If charger turns green and fan spins, disconnect the power, connect the battery and try again to see if charger led will turn to amber.

Always test briefly, and disconnect the power ASAP.

If the above is successful, you can apply thermal paste to re-install the heat sink, and mount the boards back in the laptop to see if the keyboard or screen are affected and preventing the laptop from starting properly.

If the above is not successful, let us know here to, so we take it from there to try chip and board level troubleshooting.

Note that cleaning with IPA and drying is a minimum. It is usually better to clean using a pro ultrasonic to avoid failures in the near future.

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Hi. How long would you recommend soaking for?

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10-20 minutes in a tray while gently brushing in circles.

Here's another post for this issue from a much more knowledgeable and experienced person re this subject.

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Yes why offer real advice when linking to one's own website is so much easier, because people totally love sending their stuff to people who provide no helpful advice. GTFO!!!!!!

First get a schematic or boardview online for your model motherboard. 820 number will be written on the board somewhere. For mid 2013 yours will be 820-3437, so find a schematic and a boardview.

Check the following.

a) Resistance to ground on both sides of L7905. Put multimeter into resistance mode for this, and put measurements here.

b) Voltage on L7905. Put the black probe on the metal near a screwhole and the red probe on either side of L7905.

c) Is pin 22 on J9500 good, or corroded looking? This is the connector on the logic board that attaches to the DC in board. This provides PP3V42_G3H to the dc in board so that the onewire circuit's data line can allow communication with the charger and the SMC. This often burns.

d) Is it burned on the CABLE itself? The flex cable between the DC in board and the motherboard - this often burns when the board itself is fine. If you rlogic board part number is 820-3437, the DC In board flex cable part # is 820-1722.

Reply back with findings, details, and questions and we'll do our best to get you a working board.

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The logic board completely failed due to water impact that caused electrical surge (water working as a conductor among opposite poles on any part of the logic board). Still, I can suggest you to try any logic board repair services like this service shop which is quite cost effective than replacing with a new logic board.

I would like to suggest not to try plugging MagSafe or Battery which will keep causing more damage on every attempt you make.

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Rebecca will be eternally grateful.
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