How can you tell if your Mac has water damage?

Category: technology and computing laptops
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The most well-known procedure is the check for liquid damage, as determined by Liquid Contact Indicators (LCI) located both on the outside and inside of Apple products. On a 13-inch MacBook Pro, for example, the diagram below from a LCI test document shows the location of the contact points under the casing.



Beside this, can a MacBook with water damage be repaired?

MacBook water damage is not easy to repair; even minor spills can present advanced issues requiring lots of tools and expertise. Beware of any advice telling you to simply allow it to dry or clean it with alcohol; modern MacBooks have many components that can be damaged by a spill.

Furthermore, how much does it cost to fix a water damaged MacBook? Liquid or water-damaged MacBooks can be professionally repaired at a reasonable cost. Most customers leave our store paying between $250-$500, depending on their problem and the MacBook model. The degree of damage depends on how you handle the liquid spill.

Herein, how can you tell if your computer has water damage?

Residue, Discoloration, and White Powder Take the back off your laptop and visually inspect it. If water or another type of liquid has made its way inside, you're likely to see corrosion, discoloration, and a white or green powder.

Can you fix water damaged MacBook air?

The next thing that happens to a water damaged MacBook Air is corrosion of the internal electrical connections. But, we can open your spill damaged MacBook and perform a thorough cleaning of the corroded parts. In most cases, this is enough to repair the liquid damage to your MacBook Air.

34 Related Question Answers Found

How can I save my MacBook from water damage?

How to save your MacBook laptop after a liquid spill
  1. Step 1: Kill the Power. Shutdown your computer as quickly as you can.
  2. Step 2: Use Gravity to Your Advantage. Turn your computer upside down to prevent further liquid damage.
  3. Step 3: Clean Affected Areas Inside of the Computer.

Can a laptop with water damage be repaired?

Laptop Water Damage Repair. If you do spill something on your laptop, the main thing to do is not to panic. Unplug your laptop, pull out your battery, and flip the laptop over so that the liquid drips OUT of your water damaged laptop and not IN to it where it can damage internal electrical components.

How much does it cost to repair a liquid damaged MacBook?

If you're dealing with liquid damage, you're looking at a charge of $299. Even with the most expensive AppleCare+ plan ($380 for the MacBook Pro) and the cost of the screen repair ($299), there's a drop in price.

What should you do if you spill water on your laptop?

Take a dry cloth and wipe up any excess liquid from the surface of the laptop — especially near the keyboard, vents or ports — and open the lid as far back as it will go. Turn the laptop upside down, put it over a towel or something absorbent, and let the water drain out of it.

What do you do if you spill coffee on your laptop?


How to save a laptop computer after a spill:
  1. Switch the laptop off. Shut down the laptop.
  2. Remove excess liquid from the laptop. Blot up excess liquid with a soft lint-free cloth or paper towels.
  3. Turn the laptop over.
  4. Use compressed air to dry the laptop.
  5. Leave laptop to completely dry out.

How do I fix my MacBook air?

How to repair your boot disk/startup disk with Disk Utility
  1. To start in Recovery Mode press cmd+R when you start up your Mac.
  2. Once your Mac has booted up you will see a Utilities screen. Choose Disk Utility.
  3. Select the disk you wish to repair from the menu and clink on First Aid.

Can a water damaged motherboard be fixed?

Why is Water Damage Hard to Fix
These are generally pretty easy to replace and not a problem if you can identify which components are bad. Some of the components on the motherboard get shorted out and damaged beyond repair. Some of the wiring on the motherboard corrodes and creates a shortage with other wiring.

How much does it cost to fix a water damaged laptop?

Price Ranges
Type of Repair Price Range
Hard Drive Replacement $100-$225
Liquid Damage Repair $99-250+
Motherboard Replacement $150-300+
Fan Repair/Replacement $99-175

What does water damage do to laptop?

The first thing you should do is turn off the laptop and take out the battery. Liquid damage is bad because it corrodes the system boards inside the machine when the liquid meets an electrical current. If the system has no power, it can't burn out!

How do you dry out a laptop?


In case of wet-laptop emergency
Unplug your mouse and any cables, and remove any flash drives and DVDs. Leave your laptop bare. Step 2: Dry the outside of your machine. Open your laptop as far as it goes, hold it upside down, and wipe dry any wet surfaces that you see with a towel or another lint-free absorbent fabric.

How can you damage your computer?

So easy, in fact, we've laid out 6 very simple ways you can ruin your computer.

How to Ruin Your Computer in 6 Easy Steps
  1. Don't clean it.
  2. Don't ever reboot.
  3. Never Defrag.
  4. Expose it to the elements.
  5. Plug it directly into the wall.
  6. Shut it down improperly, and often.

Can I put my MacBook in rice?

You can also try the rice trick (often recommended for drying out wet iPhones) You need to transfer your damp Mac into a big bowl of uncooked rice and cover it completely. Leave it like that for about 48 hours. Apparently the rice will absorb the moisture.

Does Rice work for wet laptop?

Put the laptop in a large bag of rice. Get a garbage bag and a lot of rice. The rice will act at a de-humidifier and suck the moisture out of the air in the bag and out of your laptop.

Does Apple repair water damage?

If you don't have AppleCare+, an out-of-warranty repair for water damage can be very expensive. Apple doesn't repair individual components on water-damaged iPhones — they replace the entire phone. Just know that replacing any component on your iPhone with a non-Apple part will completely void your warranty.

What does spilling water mean?


According to folk belief, spilling water behind the person who goes on a journey, or to do a job, will bring good luck, and is done so that the travel or the job will end happily. At the very act of spilling water in some areas it is said: "Let him go clean and clear as water."

Does Apple cover water damage MacBook?

Liquid damage to Mac computers and accessories not covered by warranty. Damage to Mac computers and accessories due to liquid exposure is not covered by the Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty or the AppleCare Protection Plan (APP). You can learn more at Apple Products and Consumer Law Rights.

How do I clean my MacBook air keyboard?

How to clean the keyboard of your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  1. Hold your Mac notebook at a 75-degree angle, so it's not quite vertical.
  2. Use compressed air to spray the keyboard, or just the affected keys, in a left-to-right motion.
  3. Rotate your Mac notebook to its right side and spray the keyboard again, from left to right.