It’s common to get your Macbook water spilled. But in the first few hours you take the right steps to recover Macbook Air or Pro, it can still be saved.
One of many people’s most precious gadgets is their MacBook. The new MacBook with the M2 processor is undoubtedly the best laptop available for around $1,000. We frequently use our MacBooks to communicate, conduct business, or browse the internet. They are also not inexpensive. That implies that if you’ve got some water spilled MacBook, it’s a substantial financial loss if not handled properly.
Although you could have harmed your MacBook, there are steps you can take to limit further harm in addition to trying to resolve the issue. The good thing about Macbooks is that, in general, they are well built so that their keyboards are secure and do not allow any spillages through. So, if a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air has water on it, here’s what you should do to stop any additional harm.
You spilled water on a MacBook Air/Pro and switched off nearly instantaneously, or If water was spilled on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, it shut down immediately.
What should you do if water spills on a MacBook?
When you first take your brand-new, glossy MacBook out of the box, you want to cherish it and even dust it off occasionally. You get carefree and a little casual about it because what good is life if you can’t enjoy it? So you might start eating pasta or sushi while watching your favorite TV show, or you might begin drinking hot coffee in the morning while finishing that crucial document.
You might find yourself traveling with your Mac. These situations and several others might result in accidental harm to your Mac, such as spilling water or other liquids on it.
Let’s begin by saying that, as of right now, Macs are neither waterproof nor water-resistant. Although we are not experts in laptop repair, splashing water on a MacBook may cause irreparable damage.
What do you think I should do right now?
For your water-damaged MacBook to survive, follow the guidelines in this article to reduce liquid damage. The engineers and technicians that do hundreds of MacBook water damage repairs wrote this manual. It outlines each process and what to do if you spill water on your MacBook. It offers a thorough look at Apple MacBook’s’ intricate engineering design.
1. Immediately turn off the water-damaged MacBook
If water has been spilled on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, could you do this first? The MacBook keyboard has already stopped working if the water-damaged computer cannot be shut off by holding the power button. The MacBook logic board cannot receive the keyboard’s software-level “Force Shutdown” command. Don’t worry; there are still more ways to turn off a Mac laptop.
Before closing the lid, use tissues to absorb the liquid you can see on the MacBook keyboard, touchpad, and screen. You turn on the hardware-level sleep sensor by doing this. The CPU, screen, SSD drive, and most supporting circuitry will lose power when the logic board senses the sleep sensor signal. After that, the MacBook goes into a shallow sleep state. When in shallow slumber, the ability to the memory chips is still present.
The laptop can wake up thanks to this design under typical use. The MacBook will go into deep sleep mode if you close the lid for a bit. The logic board turns off the power to the memory chips while the device is in deep sleep mode. Your CPU, display, SSD drive, and RAM are currently safe. Please don’t feel like you should open the laptop’s lid to turn it on again.
If the screen is still lit up after closing the lid, your MacBook’s logic board is malfunctioning and out of control. But the harm is not severe. Please unplug the charger and separate the battery from the logic board. There is still a good chance that your MacBook will live.
2. If the charger is still plugged into the water-damaged MacBook, unplug it
Less important than the first is this step. The CPU and other vital components WILL only lose power if the charger is plugged in. If you do not shut down the Mac laptop by pressing and holding the power button, the internal MacBook battery still runs the device at full power. You can disable the logic board’s charging circuit by unplugging the charger.
The increased voltage of the charging circuit (14.5V for MacBook Air, 20V for MacBook Pro Retina) poses a severe risk of electric shock, even if water damage to the charging course is almost always repairable. Could you attach the charger now? If you can get to this point, you have disconnected. If you can come up to this point, you have turned off 99% of the MacBook logic board circuits.
3. Prevent water from entering the vent holes, and unplug any extraneous devices
Keep the MacBook where it is. Prevent water from entering the vent holes between the keyboard and the screen. The vent holes are intended to release heat from the logic board and disperse it outside. Protecting the logic board is the most crucial step in minimizing harm from spilled water on a MacBook.
As seen in the image below, there is nothing between the vent holes and the logic board. You can lessen the damage by keeping water from getting into the vent openings. Disconnect any other adapters and any attached external USB drives. Use a towel or tissues to quickly absorb any lingering moisture on the MacBook keyboard, touchpad, and screen.
4. Taking out the battery from the wet MacBook
Turn the MacBook over, then open the back case cover with a pentagon or a Phillips screwdriver for older models. Use your fingernail or a plastic stick to remove the battery connector from the logic board.
Please don’t use metal screwdrivers. If you don’t, you risk short-circuiting the battery or destroying the SMC (System Management Controller) by directly applying the 12V battery voltage to it. How crucial is the SMC? A new CPU can be purchased from Intel. However, Apple does not sell any new SMCs. Waiting for an SMC donor from a dead Mac of the same make and model would be best.
Your MacBook is not currently in danger if you are at this point. You have disabled EVERY circuit on your specific logic board. It’s time to immediately look for a reputable MacBook water damage repair provider.
The logic board and battery are positioned behind the keyboard and touchpad, respectively, in every Mac laptop. The leftover water on the keyboard will eventually drain off the MacBook casing as gravity pulls it toward the touchpad area. The logic board will also be relocated to a less dangerous place if water has already entered it. The water-damaged MacBook should be dried after 24 hours with the bottom lid off.
5. Drain the MacBook while you wait for qualified Apple technicians to repair the water damage
This method will work for you if your Mac laptop has a non-retina screen and is either a pre-2018 MacBook Air or a pre-2013 MacBook Pro. This technique works well on those earlier MacBook models because the screens are waterproof. There is a front aluminum frame (on MacBook Air) or a front protective glass (on MacBook Pro with a non-retina screen) to stop water from getting inside the screen. You can turn the MacBook upside down to drain water from the keyboard or use a paper towel to drain visible water on your keys.
The new retina screens are NOT water-resistant, so if you put them in a “tent” position, you might help to distribute the water from the bottom edge to the optical (reflective) film inside the screen. If you have a MacBook with a retina screen, don’t use the “tent” method. Apple removed the bulky aluminum frame and protective glass to make the new retina screens thinner and lighter and maximize the viewable section.
The affected screen might still be usable, but as you can see in the image below, the watermarks in the backdrop lower the visual quality. Particularly with the most recent touch bar model, we have seen this done more to water-damaged MacBooks with retina screens.
6. An explanation of the hairdryer and the rice-using lore
Uncooked rice and hair dryers have both been used to repair water-damaged MacBooks in the past. Nearly every week, we receive liquid-damaged MacBooks for repair that contain rice.
Even though it is frequently relatively ineffective and unneeded, using air drying or rice for water spillage on MacBook is fine. The thought of turning on the laptop without sufficient care after drying is where these myths actually cause harm.
A mixture of moisture, darkness, minerals, and sugar could produce the electrical bridges known as shorted circuits anyplace among the logic board circuits.
These bridges start when the laptop is turned on the murders, which caused severe, even deadly, damages, as depicted below. There is a potential that only the keyboard or touchpad was harmed and that the water did not reach the logic board. Minor water spills do not guarantee the water did not get to the logic board.
To be safely informed, the logic board must be removed from the case and examined under a microscope. Turning on a dried-out, water-damaged MacBook without inspection and proper care is a risk with terrible odds.
This explains why spilled water and water damage are the leading causes of MacBook death. We never directly power up a MacBook with reported liquid damage. Instead, We will first remove the logic board and evaluate the damage. This straightforward approach has enabled us to raise success rates.
Services for fixing water damage on MacBooks that are currently accessible
If water has spilled, we suggest you take your MacBook to a reputable repair shop. Although many of them have dealt with water-damaged MacBooks, there are several kinds and “levels “services they provide that you ought to know about:
Clean the logic board at level 1. The keyboard, touchpad, screen, battery, and hard drive should all be cleaned or replaced. Then put everything back together in the test case. Just to let you know, the MacBook cannot be repaired if the logic board is malfunctioning. If a “refurbished” device is used, you can be requested to replace the entire logic board at a premium cost. “Available is a logic board.
Due to the time-consuming nature of the cleaning process and the meager success rate, this service provider will typically charge you an evaluation fee. Most independent repairers and Apple-authorized repairers offer this level of service.
Apple’s basic warranty is immediately invalidated for any MacBook harmed by liquid. Apple will cover your Mac, and a service charge will be charged if you have purchased AppleCare+ for Mac. Apple doesn’t offer services for data recovery. Before you use the warranty, you must obtain a Mac data recovery service from a third-party repairer if you need the data.
Level 2: Vacuum the keyboard, touchpad, screen, battery, and hard drive or replace them. On the logic board, replace the corroded chips and then clean them with an ultrasonic cleaner.
A technician can do this job with micro-soldering abilities. The repairer may or may not charge an assessment fee because this service has a higher success percentage than the last one. Because this service requires specific expertise and understanding, only a few independent repairers can offer it.
Level 3: Besides the abovementioned services, an engineer will troubleshoot any defective chips that a microscope could not find. High-level abilities, expertise, tools, and, most importantly, a thorough comprehension of the Apple logic board design are needed for this task. The high success rate will cover the expense of the unsuccessful ones; hence this class of repairers typically does not charge an evaluation fee.
We hope you found our blog on dealing with a MacBook water spilled helpful! Follow our tips to address the issue promptly and protect your device from damage.
