I spilled coffee on the back of my Mac in an attempt to get my dogs to stop fighting. I also gave it a pretty good knock in the process.

I did the rice thing and waited a while. Screen came on, but only briefly and started flickering, before going completely black.

The keyboard lights and sound still worked, so today I bought a HDMI converter to plug it into a monitor to see if the whole thing was just fritzed.

It now works with the monitor plugged in, but in it’s new position at my desk, I noticed that I can see some life on the laptop screen, just in the circular glow through the apple logo.

Is this a screen issue? A screen power supply issue? Is it worth getting repaired or repairing myself? Or should I just hold out for a new Mac?

Additional info: Brightness is set to max. It’s a MacBook Air 2015. No Apple Care.

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

Edit: I fortunately didn’t get any coffee on the dogs.

  • 4v3ngR@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    You’ve fried the backlight driver. IIRC this is on the motherboard and would require a replacement. A replacement can be purchased on ebay (I think ifixit may also sell them). Replacing the board in a 2015 macbook air is quite simple - you just need the correct tools - a pentalobe screw driver and a torx screw driver. These can be purchased from ebay or amazon for a few dollars.

    • Unlikely-Heron4887@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thanks, that makes sense. After watching a YouTube video, I reckon I could probably do it myself with a bit of patience. I’ll give it a shot when I’m feeling brave enough.