Spilled chicken soup in a laptop*@#! Now what?

The number ONE thing to do when you get any electronics wet is to get the power OFF ASAP!!!! Pull the batteries both the main and the backup - or what ever it has to keep the internal time clock running when it is off. With NO power on you could soak it - at least the keyboard/cpu part (not sure 'd risk the LCD display) - to get most of the soup residue out. Use CLEAN water - distilled if you can get it. Let it drain out and partially dry. Then - and this will be the expensive part - get 200 proof (that's as pure as it can get) alcohol and flush the keyboard/cpu with it. Alcohol will suck up any water and carry it away. Then it will eveporate leaving no residue. That is what we cleaned the tape heads with in the comp. cent. where any left over residue would spell disaster. Be sure to let it dry several days before putting any power to it.

WARNING!!!
The above is NOT for the weak of heart!
The idea being, It's BROKE! Can't do much more damage and maybe even it will fix it.

Good luck,
Larry

The real issue with electronics and water is that the water will allow current to flow where it should not. This will burn out things. Also it can create low resistance (like a weak short) paths across a printed circuit board, This happens when a lot of current is carried across between two conductors because of the water. The high current will burn the phenolic (the plastic part) of the board. The burned phenolic leaves a carbon path between the conductors, which is the same thing that is used in some resistors, thus allowing current to flow where it should not, forever on that PC board. The other thing that sometimes happens when you get water in electronics - even when it is off - is the leaving of deposits from the minerals in the water. If thest deposits are thick enough, they will carry current just like the carbon from the burned phenolic. That is why I said to use distilled water, if at all possible, so you are not risking the leaving of mineral residue that was in the water.