Weird MacBook Pro Booting Issues (after spilling water on it)

Htimsnahtan · 03-01-2013, 11:00 AM

Okay, first things first, I have a mid 2009 MBP (unibody). A small amount of water was spilled on this thing causing it to shutdown a few weeks ago. After waiting forever for it to dry I tried turning it on and it basically came up with a gray screen and just hung there eventually shutting down. Battery still charged, startup chime still happened.

I pulled the hard drive and it came up with the folder with a question mark so at least I knew it saw the HD. I reset Pram and smc with no luck. So I tried popping in another HS with an OS already on it. I booted holding down option and sure enough it cane up with the screen to allow me to select windows but instantly turned off when I selected it. Then I tried booting off a Linux CD (don't have a Mac install disk). Magically after pressing C it booted off the CD. I tried running memtest86 and a hard drive test and both checked out fine. So I figured why not and installed Linux on the HD. It went fine but when I booted up the Mac again same thing. Grey screen w/ nothing. I even tried selecting Linux w/ option key (shut down when I hit it). However Linux CDs have the option of booting off HD so I tried that and sure enough it booted right up. Well I then popped in another HD w/ Windows and booted into Linux off the CD and when I selected to boot off the HD windows came up no problem. However when I restarted and tried to let the macbook boot off the harddrive itself it would just stay at the gray screen and shut off. The computer ran awesome off the live Linux CD and when I ran it off the HD by using Linux to select it.

So basically I'm guessing something is wrong with hardware (not totally sure), and would feel competent trying some things but have no idea where to go from here. I don't want to always use a cd to boot from my HD...

Thanks for the help in advance!

Htimsnahtan · 03-02-2013, 06:02 PM

Well I finally made a Mountain Lion boot CD, expecting it to boot just fine. However, when I tried it started loading (grey screen with apple) then the whole computer just shut off after about 5 seconds. So basically it seems that the computer will run Linux just fine but can't run either Windows or Mac installers... help! I don't want to just junk this computer, but I need to be running Mac OSX...

Htimsnahtan · 03-02-2013, 08:55 PM

Ok so I got a hold of a friend with a Macbook and tried swapping his HDD into mine. It booted up okay into the login screen but after a few seconds just shut off without warning. I tried this a few times and it kept happening. So I swapped in my HDD with linux on it and it continues to work flawlessly. So at this point I am figuring that there must be something that the hardware is telling Mac that causes it to shut off, but that Linux for whatever reason ignores. What I'm looking for is some workaround to get Mac up and running. I'm looking for answers/ more things to try! Help!

DeltaMac · 03-02-2013, 09:12 PM

"Waiting for it to dry out" may not be enough - and you should check inside for corrosion.
Liquid damage (corrosion) can take several weeks to build up, so one way to find out is to open up your MacBook and carefully inspect underneath the areas where you know the spill happened, and as much as you can see in areas where liquid might have drained.
I think an Apple Authorized repair shop will know what to look for (they've seen liquid spills before, and should know where to look for corrosion)

The "shuts off when booting to the hard drive" usually means that the hard drive is bad.
As you have tried an already-installed hard drive, and you said it still won't boot to the system (and just shuts off), then I suspect that you have other problems related to the liquid spill.

NaOH · 03-02-2013, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaMac


	As you have tried an already-installed hard drive, and you said it still won't boot to the system (and just shuts off), then I suspect that you have other problems related to the liquid spill.

DeltaMac could well be correct about the issues from the spill, but there are other possibilities, too. That MacBook HD may have machine-specific drivers which wouldn't be the ones your MacBook Pro requires. Similarly, if that MacBook OS installation predates your MacBook Pro, there's no way your Mac would run using that HD.

Htimsnahtan · 03-03-2013, 03:52 AM

Spent several hours troubleshooting and finally figured it out. The logic board was totally free of corrosion and since Linux was able to run just fine I knew most of the system components must be fine. Eventually I tried removing the keyboard/power button cable and then shorting the power pads to boot and everything suddenly worked! Must have been some intermitent signal to shut off from the liquid damaged keyboard that for some reason Linux didn't respond to. Anyways just purchased a new keyboard for 20 bucks on eBay and hopefully the install goes well. Thanks for the suggestions

03-01-2013, 11:00 AM	#1
Htimsnahtan Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 4	Weird MacBook Pro Booting Issues (after spilling water on it) Okay, first things first, I have a mid 2009 MBP (unibody). A small amount of water was spilled on this thing causing it to shutdown a few weeks ago. After waiting forever for it to dry I tried turning it on and it basically came up with a gray screen and just hung there eventually shutting down. Battery still charged, startup chime still happened. I pulled the hard drive and it came up with the folder with a question mark so at least I knew it saw the HD. I reset Pram and smc with no luck. So I tried popping in another HS with an OS already on it. I booted holding down option and sure enough it cane up with the screen to allow me to select windows but instantly turned off when I selected it. Then I tried booting off a Linux CD (don't have a Mac install disk). Magically after pressing C it booted off the CD. I tried running memtest86 and a hard drive test and both checked out fine. So I figured why not and installed Linux on the HD. It went fine but when I booted up the Mac again same thing. Grey screen w/ nothing. I even tried selecting Linux w/ option key (shut down when I hit it). However Linux CDs have the option of booting off HD so I tried that and sure enough it booted right up. Well I then popped in another HD w/ Windows and booted into Linux off the CD and when I selected to boot off the HD windows came up no problem. However when I restarted and tried to let the macbook boot off the harddrive itself it would just stay at the gray screen and shut off. The computer ran awesome off the live Linux CD and when I ran it off the HD by using Linux to select it. So basically I'm guessing something is wrong with hardware (not totally sure), and would feel competent trying some things but have no idea where to go from here. I don't want to always use a cd to boot from my HD... Thanks for the help in advance!

03-02-2013, 06:02 PM	#2
Htimsnahtan Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 4	Update Well I finally made a Mountain Lion boot CD, expecting it to boot just fine. However, when I tried it started loading (grey screen with apple) then the whole computer just shut off after about 5 seconds. So basically it seems that the computer will run Linux just fine but can't run either Windows or Mac installers... help! I don't want to just junk this computer, but I need to be running Mac OSX...

03-02-2013, 08:55 PM	#3
Htimsnahtan Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 4	Another Update Ok so I got a hold of a friend with a Macbook and tried swapping his HDD into mine. It booted up okay into the login screen but after a few seconds just shut off without warning. I tried this a few times and it kept happening. So I swapped in my HDD with linux on it and it continues to work flawlessly. So at this point I am figuring that there must be something that the hardware is telling Mac that causes it to shut off, but that Linux for whatever reason ignores. What I'm looking for is some workaround to get Mac up and running. I'm looking for answers/ more things to try! Help!

03-03-2013, 03:52 AM	#6
Htimsnahtan Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 4	Solved it! Spent several hours troubleshooting and finally figured it out. The logic board was totally free of corrosion and since Linux was able to run just fine I knew most of the system components must be fine. Eventually I tried removing the keyboard/power button cable and then shorting the power pads to boot and everything suddenly worked! Must have been some intermitent signal to shut off from the liquid damaged keyboard that for some reason Linux didn't respond to. Anyways just purchased a new keyboard for 20 bucks on eBay and hopefully the install goes well. Thanks for the suggestions

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03-02-2013, 09:12 PM	#4
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,998	"Waiting for it to dry out" may not be enough - and you should check inside for corrosion. Liquid damage (corrosion) can take several weeks to build up, so one way to find out is to open up your MacBook and carefully inspect underneath the areas where you know the spill happened, and as much as you can see in areas where liquid might have drained. I think an Apple Authorized repair shop will know what to look for (they've seen liquid spills before, and should know where to look for corrosion) The "shuts off when booting to the hard drive" usually means that the hard drive is bad. As you have tried an already-installed hard drive, and you said it still won't boot to the system (and just shuts off), then I suspect that you have other problems related to the liquid spill.