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Earlier, I spilled some black coffee near my laptop, which was plugged in but closed and in sleep mode. The spill went under the laptop, which I immediately picked up, dried off, and unplugged. I didn’t power it down for another minute or two, after which I removed the bottom cover to find very little liquid inside… maybe 1/2 a teaspoon or less. I blotted the liquid and removed the battery which was completely dry aside from the tiny bit of liquid that had been on the top. I let the laptop sit over a fan for about 6 hours. I tried to power it up and, nothing. If I plug in the power cord, the battery light glows white. If it is unplugged no lights come on at all. Does it need to dry longer or is it completely dead? Is there something I can do to save it? I guess even the smallest amount of a liquid can cause problems, but there wasn’t even any liquid on the circuit board.
The liquid must have gotten somewhere or it would work. Unplug and take out battery and leave it out. Some residue of the coffee may be causing a short. Was it black or milk and sugar? All that would contribute to the short effect. There is not much hope, but nevertheless there is some. You’ll need to look up the service manual of your model, which incidently you don’t state, and open up the laptop and remove the motherboard and clean it. Use isopropyl alcohol any where you see stains or residue. Leave to evaporate completely. i would stand it verticle on its edge. NEXT day reassemble and I wish you good luck.
Hi, The liquid may have already damaged some components before you opened the laptop and dried up what remained. Water, electronics and electricity are not a good mix. The impurities in the water causes corrosion and provides circuit paths for the electricity which were not in the laptop’s operating design and could damage the components. The corrosion starts immediately and is ongoing until it has been properly cleaned away. First do not try to turn on or charge your laptop and then remove the battery as soon as possible from the laptop to minimize any further damage. Then you need to dis-assemble the rest of the laptop and clean all the affected parts using Isopropyl Alcohol 99%+ (available at electronics parts stores) to remove all traces of corrosion etc. Do not use “rubbing alcohol” as in some cases this is only 70% IPA or less, can contain additives and is not as effective. If you do check the label to verify the amount of IPA. The higher the percentage of IPA the better. Here is a link that describes the process. Electronics Water Damage As always with electronics, especially surface mounted PCBs be gentle when handling and especially when brushing away the corrosion. You do not want to remove any components from the board. You may also have to remove any shields/heat sinks etc covering the components as water may have got in under them. Also any flex cable ends/cable connectors will need to be cleaned as well Hopefully after you have done all this the laptop might possibly work correctly again. Search online for Lenovo (insert full laptop model number) service manual to find the hardware maintenance manual that shows the necessary pre-requisite steps and the procedures to dis-assemble the laptop. If this process seems too daunting, take your laptop to a reputable, professional laptop repair service, experienced in liquid damage repair and ask for a quote for a repair. If you decide to do this, do it sooner than later,
