Fix Your Stuff Community Store

Repair guides, support, and troubleshooting information for the first 13-inch MacBook Air to feature Apple's Arm-based M1 SoC (with an 8-core CPU and up to an 8-core GPU). Released in November 2020 and identified by model numbers A2337 or EMC 3598.

175 Questions View all

Options

Fix M1 Air: working after water damage EXCEPT Keyboard and Trackpad?

***Water spilled all over my M1 Air a few days because of an upstairs plumbing issue. It still works perfectly EXCEPT the Keyboard and Trackpad are non-responsive. Power button, fingerprint sensor, speakers, ports, display and backlights work. For repair, anyone experienced this? I'd like to fix it and am tech savvy.

Apple Diagnostics showed no problems. Deductible is higher than the cost of the device. I can't have it in a shop for multiple days. Either I fix it or it's getting replaced

Block Image

***😢

Answer this question I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Yes No
Score 1
Add a comment

2 Answers

Filter by:
Most Helpful Newest Oldest
Most Helpful Answer

Options

Have you opened the device up yet? That would be step one. Although liquid damage can be instantaneous, depending on where water went there may still be liquid somewhere on the internals. or minor corrosion that should be cleaned up. and you'll want to know where water went.

My thoughts are that this is probably related to either the trackpad, the keyboard, or both. Water gets into the trackpad area fairly easily since there's not a whole lot keeping it out.

There is also small board mounted to the top case, under the trackpad, which the keyboard connects into that could have seen some liquid. That board connects to the trackpad and handles some trackpad function and the majority of keyboard function. So I'm expecting your issue is going to be in that area. If you're lucky, the trackpad will be the only issue. If you're not as lucky, the little board on the top case might also have some water. Both parts are replaceable, but the little trackpad board can be difficult to source independent of the top case (which you may need to replace anyway if the keyboard itself is damaged)

Block Image

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No
Score 3

2 Comments:

It was sort of a perfect storm where the lid was open, directly under a toilet pipe and I wasn't there so it just sat wet for 30+ minutes. So essentially it soaked right into the keyboard with a decent amount of water coming in through the keyboard. I'm actually kind of surprised that it works at all honestly! I'm going to try and clean the connectors with alcohol, but without somehow finding parts to test it with do you know if there's a way to diagnose it independently?

by

@dorrough Yikes. Sounds like a nightmare. I’m surprised too. The keyboard itself might be toast in that case., but I will hope not. There’s definitely ways of testing things without known good parts, it just makes it a lot easier if you have them. I would start by just getting a look at everything and see what the damage is. If you have access to an external keyboard and mouse, back up your data if you are concerned about losing anything, just in case.

Edit some pictures into your original post once you peek inside, and I’ll be happy to have a look what you’re dealing with .

by

Add a comment

Options

Hi everyone I have had the same problem re liquid damage. I got a diagnostic done on it and it says that I need a new trackpad and top case. Really can’t afford a new machine and this happened two years ago and I put it in a press but since recently returning to work really need my machine. Anyone any suggestions where I can source reliable replacement bits for this model?

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No
Score 0
Add a comment

Add your answer

D Dawg will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 4

Past 7 Days: 25

Past 30 Days: 131

All Time: 1,864