erratic trackpad behavior after water spill

Hi, I spilled water on my MacBook trackpad about 2 weeks ago and because I had to meet a deadline, instead of immediately turning it off, I left it on and kept working. It wasn't a lot of water, but it ended up causing a lot of trouble. After being initially erratic and the mouse moving around on the screen chaotically, the problem seemed to diminish over time so I thought the water had dried. At some point, I even turned it off (and kept it off for a few days) so I thought that helped as well. However, every now and again, problem returned (though relatively inconsistently -- one day I wouldn't be able to use the computer because the mouse was out of control, other days there would be hardly any symptoms at all). Last night, I tried placing the battery in a bag full of rice, and it seemed to help, but the problem creeps back every now and again. Any ideas what could be wrong and/or whether there's something I can do to fix it without paying exorbitant amounts of money to the apple store? Please help!

You can't spill water on electronics, then ignore it and hope for the best. When you spill something, you have to IMMEDIATELY pull the plug/battery, then work on getting the water out completely because once it has shorted out, the damage is done. There is NOTHING you can do now. It needs servicing.

As a side note, if you spilled water on the built-in trackpad, getting water out of the battery won't get out any water that's in the trackpad area. Regardless, it's too late now, although you should try to get any remaining water out to avoid further damage.

Lifeisabeach said:

You can't spill water on electronics, then ignore it and hope for the best. When you spill something, you have to IMMEDIATELY pull the plug/battery, then work on getting the water out completely because once it has shorted out, the damage is done. There is NOTHING you can do now. It needs servicing.

As a side note, if you spilled water on the built-in trackpad, getting water out of the battery won't get out any water that's in the trackpad area. Regardless, it's too late now, although you should try to get any remaining water out to avoid further damage.

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Haha I didn't ignore it and hope for the best -- as I said, I was on a deadline and simply had to keep working. Anyway, that's not the issue here, I was just hoping someone could help by telling me what was causing the problem. But thanks for the reply ;D

macbookgirl said:

Anyway, that's not the issue here, I was just hoping someone could help by telling me what was causing the problem.

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The liquid that seeped into your machine. Simple as that. As to what the water has done, that will remain a mystery until a tech opens it up and looks to see what the water has shorted out.

macbookgirl said:

Haha I didn't ignore it and hope for the best -- as I said, I was on a deadline and simply had to keep working. Anyway, that's not the issue here, I was just hoping someone could help by telling me what was causing the problem. But thanks for the reply ;D

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Well then I hope that making the deadline was worth the price of a new computer. The problem is you have electronic components that have shorted out. It's not like you have something sticky under a key that is keeping it from working right and can simply be cleaned out. Water is conductive to electricity and by getting inside your computer, it made the electricity jump to places not intended, or perhaps better said, at voltage levels higher than what those "other places" operate on, causing them to burn out.

For your reading pleasure:
https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Electronics_Water_Damage