Macbook water damage

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iv just gotten a white macbook of a friend that shes water damaged a few months ago ... iv pulled it apart and put it back toghter ( she took the hdd )

anyways .. it turns on ( only with the power plugged in ) and makes the start up noise , and then the screen flashes like a white colour then goes black .. but the macbook is still on ... i can hear the fans inside and the dvd rom drive working but thats all ...

whats wrong .. will i need to replace the whole logic board or is it just the screen
 

chscag

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Welcome to the Mac Forums.

It's probably the logic board that has been damaged or shorted out from the water. Usually, that's what happens with spills. The screen might also be damaged but the big expense is the logic board. You're probably looking at an expensive repair which very likely will cost more than what the computer is worth.
 
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well it might not be booting becuase i dnt have a hdd in there ... so it cant load anything ... then if that doesnt work ill look at buying a new logic board ... i dnt care if it costs me $700 all up for new parts
 

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If you're intent on repairing it, take a look at buying a refurbished logic board instead of new. In the back of MacWorld magazine and also MacLife there are numerous advertisers and several have refurbished logic boards.

And.... you don't need a hard drive to boot a Mac. All you need is the bootable DVD that came with the machine. I wouldn't buy a hard drive before trying the DVD.
 
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i dnt have the bootable dvd that came with it .. can i download snow leopard and burn that to disc and try that ??? , ill make a video of what the start up looks like if thats any help to u
 

chscag

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You can not download Snow Leopard as that would be piracy, however, you can buy a copy from Best Buy or your local Apple store for $29.
 
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iv got it running .. it reads the snow leopard i just borrowed off a mate the keyboard works ( caps lock lights come on ) but no screen .... the screen flashes grey then goes black ... could it be the grapichs or the screen is dead??? would plugging an extrnal screen in help???
 

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Go ahead and try an external monitor to see what happens. If the external monitor won't work, it may be the GPU on the logic board. But if the external does work OK, then it likely the display itself or cabling to the display.
 
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theres also a faint burning smell that i can smell if i hold my nose upto were the vent is under the screen
 

chscag

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That's not good and is the sign of a short somewhere. Don't leave the machine on or you may wind up with a fire. Of course the burning odor may be left over from before, but don't take a chance.
 
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well do u think it would be good to just get a refurbished logic board??? i think the cpu is burnt out
 
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heres the burning smell issue !!!

7


iv found a refubished loic board in america for $220
 
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<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=i71w9i" target="_blank"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/i71w9i.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
 

chscag

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Yeah, doesn't look good. I can't tell exactly, but it looks like a trace was shorting to ground. (current carrying trace)

As for the refurbished logic board for $220, it's up to you. You may be taking a chance spending $220 only to find out that there are other problems. I've been in electronic repair for many years and learned that there's always one more problem that turns up.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
Also, looking at the rest of that visible corrosion in the picture that you supplied, it certainly looks like it was a pretty hefty spill, and I have no doubt the chscag is correct and that you will find there's more damage, such as the keyboard being totally shot, possibly corroded connectors, etc.
 
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yeah gotta save for the logic board :) and it doesnt work after a replaced logic board ill sell it as parts ( the burnt part is why i can only run it with the power plugged in )
 

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