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jkt44

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2017
2
0
So I got an Early 2015 Macbook Air 13in with my graduation money for college, but this past summer, I accidentally spilled water on the keyboard and I've been having lots of issues with it since. I took it to a computer repair place for $90 and they successfully liquid cleaned it and salvaged it all except for the battery, which couldn't retain a charge. They said they'd replace the battery for $250 with no warranty but I felt that was too overpriced. After keeping it on the charger all summer, I took it to a place that only charged $150 for a battery replacement and a warranty on the labor and parts. Now, my computer's randomly and intermittently cutting off, resulting in a lot of frustration and lost work. It cuts off when it's fully charged, close to dying, plugged in, unplugged, after 5 minutes of use, sometimes not until 5 hours of use, on a cooling panel, etc etc. It's completely random and will sometimes pull up things I was looking at when it shut down two hours before, or will randomly turn the sound on and off. I've reset the SMC and done a PRAM reset and from what I've read, it's something to do with the logic board, which will require yet another repair. OR it's a faulty battery and I will need to take it back to the repair place that replaced my battery in the first place and either get my money back or a new battery. I don't know if any of you have any computer knowledge, but I'm pretty stuck and don't really have money to whip out for computer repairs. I don't know if it just needs one repair and it's fine for a few more years, or if I'd be better off just getting a new computer.
 

ZapNZs

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2017
2,310
1,158
I find that after water damage occurs, the best course of action is usually replacement because the system's reliability is often unpredictable after the spill. What are the specs on your model? If it is a base i5/8GB RAM/128SSD, then it will arguably be more cost-efficient to replace (because purchasing one of these models outright is often not much more than the cost of a logic board replacement.)

I've seen some non-OEM batteries in the 13 MBAs result in some unusual behaviors, but it sounds as if this is directly related to the water damage rather than the battery. To test this, you can remove the battery or have a tech remove the battery and see if the computer operates on AC power without the battery. It will run with severe lag because it will be in a limp mode of sorts, but it should not be randomly cutting off.
 
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CaptRB

macrumors 6502a
Oct 11, 2016
940
1,015
LA, California
Don't forget that you can still sell that laptop as "damaged" on eBay so long as you disclose what's going on with it. I've gotten good money for dead or dying Apple stuff because a lot of folks want parts or just to mess around.

I had two iPhones that went swimming and I still got about 80 dollars each for them. Better than nothing, right? I recently sold a 2011 MacBook Pro with bad battery and not working keyboard and it sold for 175.00

R.
 

Bazza1

macrumors 6502a
May 16, 2017
751
581
Toronto, Canada
Sadly, it sounds like it's toast - you've done all the right things to fix it, but it may be beyond reasonable repair. If the Apple Store does do free diagnostics, that's great, but to what end?

That said, if the cost of the current crop of Apples causes you extreme pain (as it does me), I suggest that you could do well to look at Apple's own Special Deals store online. They very much bury it - hoping regular consumers won't find it, I suppose - but the US store I've linked below. They sell refurb products there - returned with buyer's remorse, wrong product, maybe damaged - but they go thru a full Apple refurb (arguably better than at factory, as each unit individually worked on), are eligible for AppleCare, are discounted, and often include free shipping. Product changes all the time.

https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air/13
 

gertruded

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2007
308
1,056
Northwestern Illinois
Similar to the symptoms i had when i replaced my battery, but did not seat the plug all the way into the socket when attaching the battery. It snapped in hard. Open up the back and try to reseat the plug. It is worth a try before you throw the computer away.
 

Sedulous

macrumors 68030
Dec 10, 2002
2,530
2,577
Yeah, liquid damage is tricky... and it does seem likely that something on the logic board is unhappy but it could be a dodgy battery, specifically a bad cell. Bad cell manifests itself exactly as you have described. The battery appears normal but will randomly die as if it ran out of power.

I hate to say it, but your computer service majorly over charged for replacement battery. They are $40-80 MAX and literally 3 mins of labor to replace (10 pentalobe screws on bottom case, 5 torx screws holding battery). I'd consider doing as someone else suggested: (1) reseat battery, if that fails to fix, (2) buy a replacement battery [check battery model number to be sure you get same model] and install it yourself. You'll need pentalobe and torx drivers.
 

gtx3r

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2018
7
0
Most of the people would suggest to sell or buy a new laptop, but for me, everything I own has a sentimental value in it. Anything can be repaired as long as you know where to ask. You can go and check this video and this channel to for a start. Louis Rossmann even has his own store repairing Mac. They can provide for you a free estimate. Try check them out at rossmanngroup
 
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