In this post I explain how I fixed the trackpad and keyboard after water spill on a MacBook Air. The trackpad and keyboard stopped working completely after a very minor spill somewhere in the area of the spacebar.
Everything else in this MacBook Air kept working fine like the water damage has never happened. An external keyboard and mouse connected via one of the USB ports also functioned properly.
First of all, I removed the bottom cover to do visual inspection of the internal laptop components. For removing the bottom cover you will need a special P5 Pentalobe screwdriver.
Two screws I marked with green circles are longer than other eight screws.
After removing the bottom cover I disconnected and removed the battery to take a closer look at the trackpad area. For removing the battery you will need a T5 Torx screwdriver.
Again, three screws I marked with green circles are longer than two other screws. Pay attention during the reassembly process.
I didn’t find any water damage on the logic board. No signs of oxidation or corrosion.
In order to troubleshoot a problem like that you have to understand how the signal goes from the keyboard and trackpad into the logic board.
In a Macbook Air the keyboard is not connected directly into the logic board. A signal from the keyboard travels into the trackpad (red arrow), after that it travels through the trackpad circuit board (green arrow) and eventually goes into the logic board though the trackpad cable (yellow arrow).
- If the trackpad still works, but the keyboard doesn’t, it’s either bad keyboard which has to be replaced or there is a failure in the chain somewhere between the red arrow and green arrow.
- If the trackpad acting weird (the pointer moves on its own, moves erratically, clicks by itself) but the keyboard still works, most likely it’s just a bad trackpad and replacing it with a new one will fix the issue.
- If both stopped working at the same time (like in my case), you’ll have to take a closer look at the cables and connectors in the red-green-yellow chain.
There are three connections in this chain:
- Red rectangular- connection between the keyboard cable and the trackpad circuit board.
- Green rectangular – connection between the circuit board and the cable.
- Yellow rectangular – connection between the trackpad cable and the logic board.
My troubleshooting steps
STEP 1.
I disconnected the trackpad cable from the logic board. In order to release the cable you’ll have to unlock the connector by lifting up the locking tab (red arrow) and after that pull the cable out.
Be very gentle because it’s a fragile connector. The locking tab can be easily damaged if you apply too much force.
After that I looked very closely into the connector and found some evidence of the water damage inside. There was some light blue residue on the golden connectors. You’ll see on the last picture what it did to the cable.
I very carefully cleaned up the bluish residue on the connector pins using a soft toothbrush and 99% isopropyl alcohol.
STEP 2.
I disconnected the cable from the trackpad and inspected the connector. I didn’t find any water damage in there.
If the see any water damage on this connector, it’s necessary to replace the trackpad.
STEP 3.
I removed the trackpad cable and set it aside for later.
STEP 4.
The last connector to inspect was for the keyboard cable. Releasing this cable can be a little bit tricky because the connector is hidden under the cable.
Again, unlock the connector first (red arrow) and pull the cable out. I didn’t find any damage inside this connector either.
STEP 5.
After inspecting all the connectors, I moved to the cables. The keyboard cable looked clean and undamaged.
STEP 6.
Now it’s time for the trackpad cable.
The end that connects to the trackpad looked great. All golden traces were intact and undamaged.
The end that goes into the logic board, on the other hand, didn’t look healthy! You’ll have to use a microscope or magnifying glass to insect those traces.
As you see, in my case two traces on this end of the cable were corroded and burned.
In MacBook Air laptops this cable is a very common point of failure. There is some voltage running through the connectors and when liquid gets inside, the cable traces get damaged very easily.
I was able to fix the trackpad and keyboard issue in my water damaged MacBook Air simply by cleaning up one of the connectors and replacing a $7 cable.
Mattia
You literally saved me 1500 euros.
Thanks buddy.
Gina
Fabulously detailed tutorial. Cables and connectors were all great. Unfortunately, the computer was toast.
JERRY J MCMURRY
I spilled a small glass of Tullimore Dew (Irish whiskey) onto my MacBook keyboard and killed it. After reading the above article, I purchased a keyboard and installed it after finding that there was no problem with the flat cable connections. You need to cover this keyboard replacement job. It is a JOB. Around the periphery are 39 teeny screws – no problem. But distributed throughout the key area are 50 teeny rivets that hold the stainless keyboard part to the aluminum frame. These have to be pried out with a big screwdriver. Most of them come out, but some lose a little ring, leaving just a tiny post sticking up. After the whole thing is finally removed, the little posts remaining have to be pulled out with diagonal pliers. The keyboard seller provides 50+ teeny screws which miraculously thread into the unthreaded little holes to hold the keyboard in place. They just sort of self-tap into the frame. There were no instructions for all of this job; I had to figger it out for myself. Fortunately I am an old engineer. No, I did not take any pix. Wish I had. But you guys oughta cover this strange keyboard replacement job, I think. (I donated to your fund, by the way.)
IML Tech
@ JERRY J MCMURRY,
Thank you for your support! By the way, I did cover keyboard replacement a while ago in this article: https://www.insidemylaptop.com/replacing-macbook-air-keyboard-after-liquid-damage/ and linked to this guide in the article.
Kim
Question: did you power button still work after the water damage?
IML Tech
Yes, the power button worked just fine. If you spilled something on the keyboard and the power button stopped working, most likely you will have to replace the keyboard.
If your MacBook Air 2012 or newer you can turn it on this way:
1. Disconnect the battery from the motherboard.
2. Plug in the MagSafe adapter.
It will take about 20 seconds to turn on assuming the motherboard is not damaged.
Jan
Thanks for tutorial, maybe I will try, but I have a slightly different problem. I spilled my macbook air (mid 2013) with a small amount of water, keyboard and trackpad now work perfectly until I log in to the system. I have an encrypted disk, and as soon as I log in and my settings are loaded, the keyboard and trackpad will either stop working or they only work very laggy. Can it be just some kind of SW protection?
IML Tech
Jan, most likely the water got down to the motherboard and damaged it. If your laptop feels very laggy, most likely one of the thermal sensors located on the motherboard or I/O board got damaged. The laptop should be taken apart for liquid spill diagnostics and possible logic board cleanup. There is chance that cleaning the logic board will fix the problem.
Jan
Laptop works perfectly, with external USB keyboard and mouse there is no problem. Lags
concern only typing on the keyboard or touching the trackapad and only after logging (disk encrypted). Before that, even the keyboard and trackpad are perfectly fine…
IML Tech
Jan, here’s what you can try to figure out if your problem is related to the keyboard/trackpad or motherboard. I’m not sure how technical you are but that’s what I do in cases like that.
1. Disconnect the trackpad cable. On my picture 5 from the top it’s color-coded in yellow. Unplugging this cable will disconnect your internal keyboard and trackpad. You can unplug this cable without removing the battery.
2. Plug in your external keyboard and mouse into the laptop.
3. Connect the MagSafe adapter. The laptop should turn on automatically by itself without you using the power button. The power button will not work because it’s located on the keyboard which you disconnected in the step 1.
4. Login to your account with the external keyboard connected (while internal disconnected).
5. Test everything. If the lag is still there, this is logic board related issue. If the lag is gone, most likely you’ll need new top case with the keyboard and trackpad for your Mac. Also, make sure to take a look inside the trackpad connector and look for any liquid damage.
IML Tech
If the laptop boots properly and it’s laggy only while you are using the internal keyboard/trackpad but at the same time everything works properly with the external keyboard/mouse, I think the damage is somewhere on the internal keyboard/ trackpad side, not the motherboard. Even though it’s hard to tell without disassembly. Liquid spills are very unpredictable and sometimes you can get very weird failures.
Jan
Thx for reply, I will try the procedure above.
Miguel
Hi, very detailed tutorial, looks great.
Perhaps you could help me with a problem?
I recently spilled liquid on my MBP 13inch 2015 model, I stupidly turned it on the next day instead of drying it for longer. Both the keyboard and trackpad stopped working and there was a beeping noise. Laptop works fine with usb mouse also, not even power button on keyboard works. Repair shop is charging me loads for a whole top case replacement.
Is there any chance to repair without replacing the top case?
Thank you very much
IML Tech
Miguel, you can buy a pre-owned top case assembly with the keyboard and touchpad for about $25 here: https://ebay.to/3buSDKR
Step-by-step top case replacement instructions for a 13″ MacBook Air 2015 laptop are here: https://bit.ly/38nBsJd
Most likely your keyboard/trackpad/cables are damaged and have to be replaced. I cannot give you a better advise without looking at the laptop.
Hope it helps.
C
Hey there,
So I had water damage, and I’m having a problem that isn’t quite expressed above. So my keyboard works fine and the trackpad will click fine, but does NOT move the cursor at all. External mouse works fine. I’m assuming this means just a new trackpad, but I’m wondering if it would be worth trying to just replace the cable first. I suspect the fact that the keyboard works indicates that the touchpad cable is fine and that the trackpad itself needs to be replaced, but I figured I’d ask in case I have a chance to save myself some money. Thanks so much for the tutorial, very helpful.
Shad
Man this is awesome write up very clear pics and detailed instructions. My issue is as follows for Macbook Air 2013 – 13.3″. I opened the laptop and cleaned the trackpad area with Lysol wipes due to mild Juice spill on trackpad. After cleaning and put it togather the laptop would not turn on. I opened it again used a blow dryer gently thinking may be it will dry the water which then it turned on right after connecting the magsafe but was peridoical. Then I realised the keyboard is not responding so attached the external keyboard which help me log in atleast. So now…
– My track works fine.
– Cant turn on the Mac as the power button is not working and do not know how to turn it on with Windows keyboard.
– I disconnected the Keyboard cable from trackpad can’t see much (probably need some magnifying glasses)
– cant clean anything as I have 91% alcohol.
– There is no lag
My question is what do u think the issue here is? I was told it might be logic board but its $270+labor to fix it and don’t think its the cause and I don’t wanna spend $300+ for a 2013 laptop. There was no spill on the Keyboard so I am not sure if that the issue. But I am assuming the Lysol wipes I used was the issue n may be the liquid from wipes must have cause the issues. If you can please guide me here I would really appreciate. Thanks
IML Tech
I prefer to use regular water for cleaning liquids with sugars in it. Alcohol doesn’t work well in these cases. Just make sure it’s dry completely before connecting power.
Disconnect the battery from the motherboard. The laptop should turn on by itself when you plug in the AC adapter (models 2012/2013 and up). The the laptop with an external USB keyboard. If it works properly, most likely there is a damage to the trackpad/keyboard. Cannot tell you more without looking at the laptop.
Vipul
Hi. Thanks a lot for these useful tutorials. Much appreciated. I do have a question if you don’t mind. Coffee was dropped on a 2015 mac book air a couple of years ago. We assumed the laptop was dead and replaced it. We decided just to turn it on a couple of years later and it switched on but battery was dead and worked through the cable. However also noticed the track pad and keyboard weren’t working but by using an external Bluetooth keyboard and mouse we had full control. I decided to replace the battery and then the trackpad and keyboard started working… for 2-3 mins and then stopped. Left the laptop for a day and then again the trackpad and keyboard worked for 2-3 mins. So it appears that they only work for a few minutes and die. Would you have any incline why both work intermittently and then die at the same time? Any help appreciated. Thanks