Liquid Spilled on Keyboard, Logic board or keyboard issue?

I recently had the same experience on my MBA A1370. Spilled liquid on the keyboard. I turned it upside down to remove the liquid and tried to dry with a little bit of heat from hairdryer. The first restart test ended up in only the fan spinning (I stopped it immediately with a long push on the on key). Second after trying to dry it was with half screen backlight blinking. I stopped it immediately too.

After a few days of rest, in order to dry it properly, the screen was back to normal but keys were acting like the ctrl key was always pressed (seen on keyboard display utility) however the trackpad was working fine. Everything was fine when using an external keyboard on USB.

Once I managed to find the right tools to open the case, I was able to check that LSI was red only on the back of lcd connector none anywhere else. I went to the case following the instruction but due to the rivets the keyboards layers are not accessible.

I asked some chinese friends to provide me the right naked keyboard for the aluminum case layout (big enter key was needed). I also asked some (+/-70) microscopic replacement screws (like the ones around the keyboard).

Once the keyboard arrived, I checked it by connecting it directly to the trackpad the setup was quite brittle but it proved the new keyboard was working normally. I had to pop out the 70 rivets. it can be done easily when all the philips screws around are removed. Just press the 4 keys around the rivet and it will pop-out. Some rivets heads were broken and I had to remove the remainder with a flat plier to start with a clean frame.

The new keyboard came easily in place, fitting exactly the frame. then the funny part of the job was to put back the screws in place of the rivets, checking that it was tight enough to have no play when keyboard was pushed slightly against the aluminium case.

Once the new keyboard was tight in place I put back all the stuff together and it was working as before the spill.

This operation is quite long and difficult (much more than replacing the whole upper case). To try if you can find a supplier, have patience and good electro-mechanical skills!

based on my experience I suggest the following:

1) Shut down the device immediately

2) clan up as much liquid as possible. If you have a small vac you may be able to vac some liquid out.

3) Let the MacBook dry out in a well ventilated area. DO NOT submerge it in rice the particles acan get into the computer. You can place rice or a dessicant under the computer to help absorb water.

4) WAIT at least 24 hours to try the power up

5) If it powers up back up your data

6) Take it to a liquid spill specialist for Macs that is Apple approved. If water has gotten in it may work for a while then slowly die due to corrosion.

7) The repairspecialist I used was Apple authorized. They charged $480 flat rate to fix the problem like new and revalidate the Mac warranty I had purchased. They ended up having to replace the screen and logic board even though my macBook Air did temporarily power up post spill. I essentially got a new laptop and my warranty reinstated for the price- a more than fair deal. The likelihood that the damage is slight is small. If there is no damage, they will tell you and not charge you.

I used Expert Mac Repair which has offices in DC and Chicago. They were great and people mail work to them from all over the country. The repair took 6 days and they sent me all my files the first day so I could do my work.

some of my keys were playing up after water got into my macbook pro too (although i stupidly sprayed windex on it to clean it.. yep dumb!).

anyway i went to apple the following day and they said a new top case was about 400 and was the only thing that could solve it. lucky for me i'm broke and said i would think about it because the next day everything suddenly worked fine. it obviously took just a bit of time for it to fully dry in there. even after i opened the bottom up and held a hair drier up to it for a while.

so... make sure if you want to get it repaired you at least wait a few days in case it happens to come back to life. i would even give it a week if you can. you don't want to pay a load of money for nothing!

To check where the problem is

if the power light is on,then you need to check the fan to see if it dont run, it may be the A1370 keyboard or A1369 keyboard , or the logicboard problem

if the power light is not on, it may be the magesafe power DC-IN jack problem

If you want to solve this problem completely,you may as to find a technician