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The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Air features fifth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, resulting in slightly increased performance and battery life.

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Mac very slow with loud fan after liquid spill

I spilled some tapwater on my macbook. It stopped working so I opened it up and cleaned the logic board. Now it runs but I noticed that the trackpad got hot to the touch when plugged in, so I believe theres a short on that circuitboard. So I’m currently running the laptop with that ribbon cable disconnected. Unfortunately it is running very slow and has the fan at full blast constantly.

Is this caused by the fact that I have the trackpad disconnected?

The reason I ask is because I don’t want to spend money buying a trackpad and keyboard if there are additional problems with the logic board.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Sadly Yes! Your system has a system Management System (SMC) which has a bunch of sensors, when you disconnect most everything, you upset SMC, so it goes into CPU Safe mode, lowering the CPU’s clocking and ramps up the Fan as its worried you’ll over heat your system.

Time to replace the trackpad MacBook Air 13" (Mid 2013-2017) Trackpad and here’s the guide MacBook Air 13" Early 2015 Trackpad Replacement

MacBook Air 13" (Mid 2013-2017) Trackpad Image

Product

MacBook Air 13" (Mid 2013-2017) Trackpad

$49.99

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12 Comments:

Thats actually good news. I was afraid there might be issues with the logic board which is obviously much more expensive to replace.

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I'd appreciate if you could answer one more questiom for me. If I replace just the trackpad would my keyboard work again? The chip that is getting hot is the big square one to the left of the ribbon cable that goes to the keyboard as you can see in the guide that you helpfully linked. I wonder if a malfunction in that chip causes the keyboard to also not work? Thanks.

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@D W - Where did you spill?

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I spilled only a little but it went everywhere. Trackpad, keyboard, vents. I only found corrosion near the top of the logic board near the vent though Although when I tested with the keyboard plugged in, it was acting odd For example, the caps lock light was flickering.

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@D W - The Trackpad has the keyboard logic so if you had a sizable spill the keyboard could be damaged. From what you've stated I'm suspecting the trackpad will need replacement.

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D W will be eternally grateful.
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