You guessed it, water spill.

To start off, I under exaggerated "spill". In reality my laptop got rained on when a ex-roommate decided to leave it next his window. I have no idea if it was running when water first attacked it, or for how long it was sitting in its pool of water. All that I know is that when I found it and tilted it sideways it was like watching Niagara Falls.

I immediately took the battery out and dried as much as I could on the outside, then tipped it upside down and let it dry out for a few days. When I first tried it there was no response. A few months latter I decided to try and get it working again and low and behold it powered up, but only if I had it plugged into the wall. The battery is dead from what I've gathered.

My only problem now, is that neither the keyboard or touch pad work. Everything else is in working condition even the media remote works just like it was new. So now I have to use a USB keyboard and mouse which ruins the point of a laptop. So I was wondering if just replacing the keyboard and touch pad is a solution, or would I actually have to change out the mother board for this to get fixed?

the top case is all in 1 piece which includes the key board and mouse, so you could just get that replaced. Does your house insurance cover your laptop ?

Actually, since I'm living in an apartment for college I have no insurance because I thought the extra money every month would be pointless...

But since the computer still runs fine, besides the keyboard, does that mean I can hook up a new top case, or could the connection piece be faulty as well?

man, id've killed a room-mate if they'd done that, u shud take it to an apple store and see what they say.

yea, there is no way to tell if it's the pieces or the connectors with out actually trying it with different ones. i would just take it to the apple store.

I'd get it fixed and send the repair bill to your ex-roommate.

Some people who had the problem with the Macbook's casing cracking were quoted up to £130 for it to be replaced. Take it in to an Apple store or an Apple authorized repair center and get a quote. I would rather pay out the money to get it fixed than have it only as a desktop machine. Maybe you could get your friend to payout some to it aswel?

i had spilled juice all over my mbp but it continued to work just fine,the keyboard was ok and the touchpad aswel..but i still wanted to get the keyboard replaced cuz it was a little sticky anyway i watched them to replace it and heard some stories about spilling things on mbs and mbps according to them,you have just saved your computer..if it is working fine besides the keyboard the motherboard is fine..and u can get it replaced without replacing the top case..i hope it wont happen again.

Thanks for all the replies, they are very helpful. I'm going to try and go the CompUSA in town, which is the only Apple Certified place, to get it check out tomorrow. Thanks again for all the help

I'll preface this by saying I've never had a MP apart but have serviced many other laptops over the years.

Typically there is a ribbon cable that connects the keyboard / synaptics pad to the motherboard. I would imagine that some water may have gotten into this connector and possibly has corroded. I would disassemble the case, remove the connector and clean the contacts on the end of the cable as well as using a toothbrush along with a little bit of contact cleaner from Radio Shack on the connector end - then re-assemble.

I have repaired a couple of "rained on" laptops in this way.. In both cases the laptops were powered on when the rains hit. Examining them carefully with a magnifying glass showed a corrosion on a number of connecting points. Both of them dragged the batteries to zero volts and the batteries required restoration.

Hope this helps!