My mom spilled coffee in her Satellite. The power button shocked the crap out of her, and the coffee took a nose dive.

It originally would power up after the initial incident (she had flipped it over, but didn't wait more than an hour or so before powering it back up), and it would make it to the Windows password, but the heyboard wouldn't function enough for her to enter it.

When she got to the local shop, it powered up and "was beeping." I figured that's either the POST, or it's just giving her the finger in-general. They told her it was gone, and the best they could offer would be to get it running for a short time, due to the acidity of the coffee and its effect on the board.

I'd been told a while back that one could attempt to clean laptop internals with club soda. If that's the case, I'd like to at least give it a try. If it got to the password screen before, then I have a little hope remaining. Maybe the coffe just dried on the board and managed to interfere with component function or ruined a solder.


So..can I use the club soda, and is there a specific technique to it? Is there another way to try to clean it?

If you're going to try to clean it, use isopropyl alcohol, as it's got the best chance of getting the gunk off electronic parts without leaving residue and it also evaporates quickly. Also, if you need to gently scrub anything, use a lint-free (microfiber) cloth

So should I just pour it on there as-needed, and just let it dry?

Or should I actually get the microfiber cloth and rub the dirty spots with alcohol?

I'd get the microfiber cloth and rub the dirty spots with alcohol

Thanks!

If it works, I'll post it up for inspiration.

Thanks for the help!

I went over there and opened it up before trying to just fire it up right away. That thing is a little more of a pain to open than the HP's I've mainly messed with.

Anyway..the board was clean. The coffee never made it past the keyboard pad (which was very well isolated from the board). The board had several plastic coverings on the chips. That's also nice, in case something was to find its way past the keyboard.

Those damned computer repair guys heard it beep a couple times and told her it was dead. They also had her convined the HD DVD drive was bad. It all works fine. They probably just didn't want to bother with it. I hate people sometimes.

What model Satellite was it. You know there are disassembly instructions for most models that are available???

Thanks. I got it taken care-of. Every laptop I've ever touched came apart pretty much exactly the same. I probably set a personal record for disassembly and reassembely..LOL