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I hope you don't mind but I'm going to skip the template this time because this is more of a request for advice rather than a specific technical problem so a lot of the sections aren't relevant. I went and spilled some very diluted fruit juice on my macbook, which is several years out of extended support. I managed to get it back to functional and pull some fresh backups off it, and already have a replacement on the way as it was already quite old, but I'd like to see about cleaning up the slightly sticky keys without making it worse and giving it a bit more life rather than chucking an otherwise functional laptop in the bin. I've blasted out the underside of the keys using compressed air and dried out the laptop in a sealed container with a desiccant dehumidifier, so I'm confident most of the water is out. If this were a normal computer keyboard (or perhaps a bulkier laptop) I'd pop the keys off and clean underneath, but with a tiny macbook that's a recipe for disaster. Any kind of taking it apart is likely to result in something worse off than when I started. With mechanical solutions out of the question is draining the battery as much as possible, shutting it off, rinsing it out and drying it off for several days the right approach? I have around 10ltr of deionised water on hand which while I wouldn't trust it to be completely non-conductive might reduce the chance of a short while rinsing.
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Apr 24, 2019 21:28
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If the keyboard still works you may be best served by using it as-is and hoping the stickiness goes away through use. If the choice is between cleaning it out and throwing it away and you don't want to spend money having a professional look at it, you should be prepared to possibly fry the computer. Here are my thoughts on cleaning a spill with the following disclaimer: while I do work in computer repair, I've never actually resurrected a spill-damaged laptop this way (most of the spill damaged laptops I see aren't worth salvaging, and the ones that are I always recommend replacing parts rather than trying to salvage), so the following is based on advise I've heard from colleagues over the years and stuff I've read online. First, definitely physically disconnect the battery. Your computer will shut down well before the battery is completely drained (if a lithium battery goes completely flat it can't be recharged and becomes useless). The process to do this will depend on which model of MacBook you have, but https://ifixit.com provides great illustrated guides, along with lists of what tools you'll need for any model of MacBook. Once it's disconnected, hold down the power and/or let the laptop sit for an hour or so to make sure no components are holding a residual charge. I know you said you don't want to take apart your laptop, but ideally you'd also want to remove the keyboard/top case from the rest of the system (or as is the the case of most MacBooks, remove the rest of the system from the top case) to avoid washing juice residue from the keyboard onto other parts of the computer and possibly shorting out a more critical component. The complexity of this ranges from "serious pain in the rear end" (non-retina MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 2015 and earlier) to "waking nightmare" (MacBook Retina 12", MacBook Pro with TouchBar) but this will minimize the risk of ruining other components in the process of cleaning the keyboard, and again, https://ifixit.com is a wonderful resource. However far you decide to disassemble your laptop (removing the bottom cover and disconnecting the battery should be considered the minimum), rinsing with distilled or deionized water would be the way to go. Keep in mind that you're trying to wash away dried crud so it could take multiple passes. Once you're confident you've cleaned away as much as you can, rinse the water away using as high a concentration of isopropyl alcohol as you can get to speed up drying. After this, put the computer, without reassembling it, in front of a fan to dry for as long as you can let it sit, preferably several days to a week. Then reassemble and hope for the best.
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Apr 25, 2019 11:26
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Erotic Thomas posted:If the keyboard still works you may be best served by using it as-is and hoping the stickiness goes away through use.The complexity of this ranges from "serious pain in the rear end" (non-retina MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 2015 and earlier) to "waking nightmare" (MacBook Retina 12", MacBook Pro with TouchBar) but this will minimize the risk of ruining other components in the process of cleaning the keyboard, and again, https://ifixit.com is a wonderful resource. Yeah, it's a retina 12" and the ifixit disassembly looks a lot like the iphone disassembly I did recently which was an absolute shitter. I do have a bunch of 99% isopropyl alcohol lying around which I was going to use to clean it if I could get swab access, but I reckon there's a higher chance to destroy this thing by taking it apart than by leaving it out in the rain. I'll see if I can find a non-destructive way to pop the keys off (I've had to have the top case replaced in the past due to damaged keys, hence not wanting to take that approach) and clean from the top if possible. Ta.
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Apr 25, 2019 11:37
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Ah yeah, those things are awful to do even the most basic repairs on. Removing the keycaps is possible but be aware that the butterfly switches are extremely delicate. This video is a good reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML1XmISgAmI If you do decide to run water through it I'd still recommend at minimum disconnecting the battery. Depending on which model year you have, you should be able to do that by following the first 13 or 14 steps of the battery replacement article on iFixit, and when they suggest using a "battery isolation pick" you can just jam a thin piece of plastic or two in there. If you work slowly and follow the instructions carefully it should be doable without much risk. If you don't already have a Torx and pentalobe (Apple proprietary) screwdriver, a kit like this should do the trick.
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Apr 25, 2019 12:39
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Erotic Thomas posted:If you do decide to run water through it I'd still recommend at minimum disconnecting the battery. Depending on which model year you have, you should be able to do that by following the first 13 or 14 steps of the battery replacement article on iFixit, and when they suggest using a "battery isolation pick" you can just jam a thin piece of plastic or two in there. If you work slowly and follow the instructions carefully it should be doable without much risk. If you don't already have a Torx and pentalobe (Apple proprietary) screwdriver, a kit like this should do the trick. I have torx and pentalobe but not in those sizes. I'll stick to keycap removal and swabbing with alcohol, seems like the path of least resistance.
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Apr 25, 2019 13:21
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