MacBook Air powers up and works - when lid shut, but not when open!

[NickWymes]

So my old 11-inch old MacBook Air (from 2012) has a problem: I can't power it up at all when I open the lid: nothing on the keyboard and black screen. I have tried all the keypad recovery combinations and nothing works. It's dead.

HOWEVER, the moment I shut the lid it powers up! Fan goes on and logo lights up. I can open the lid just enough to see the login on the screen through the gap, but the moment I open the lid anymore it shuts down. Still no keyboard response at all.

What I can do is attach a wired mouse, wired keyboard and a monitor through the thunder adaptor and it's fine - works perfectly OK. All my files and folders are there and everything works - so long as you keep the lid shut. The moment I open the lid, the Mac shuts down. If I shut the lid, it starts powering up again.

Unfortunately this isn't a long term option for me as I travel around with the Mac. I've been onto Apple support and they think it's now a hardware problem. Have taken the back out, disconnected the battery, reconnected etc but still the same.

I have to also mention that last week I accidentally poured a glass of wine into the keyboard! I dried everything out over a number of days, but perhaps the liquid did some damage? The strange thing is that everything works fine - in reverse! Lid shut and it works, lid open and it closes down!

Any help appreciated - thanks

 

[Audit13]

Sounds to me like there is some sort of short inside.

My recommendation is to stop using it immediately, disassemble the MacBook, clean all affected parts with pure isopropyl alcohol, allow it to dry for a few days, and reassemble.

The more you power it up, the worse it may become. Sometimes, the damage can occur over a period of time because the residue left behind when the liquid has evaporated may continue to corrode the components.

 

[deeddawg]

I was going to say a loose cable or similar until I got to the glass of wine part.

I'd suggest opening it up and looking for whatever you can clean up.

Look for whatever is perhaps touching/shorting when lid is opened up.