Thinkpads Forum

Last week I accidentally spilled Coke on my laptop, and it hasn't started all week. So far I have not had the free time to completely disassemble it but I'm wondering if the specific symptoms I have can be related to a specific part in the laptop.

If I just have the battery in, and press the Power Button, the battery light turns orange, and the power light turns green, the green light by the right USB ports turn on, however it all only lasts for 2 seconds.

If I just have the AC Power plugged in, the AC Light is always on but the battery light flashes for a second and nothing happens.

If I have both the battery and AC power connected to it, I can't turn it on but it does seem to charge the battery.

Would this isolate any specific parts in my laptop?

It's a T60 14"(1024x768) T2400 Core Duo Intel 950 Graphics, 1 GB Ram, 100 GB HD.

Unfortunately, it sounds like your motherboard. It could also be any number of other parts as well, but your board sounds fried.

How much would a new motherboard actually cost? Also, what is the chance if I disassemble it and clean it with some alcohol that it will start working ?

I'm not sure exactly. I've never priced a T60 motherboard. So far, the only ones I've worked on have been under warranty, so I don't have to worry about price.

Hmmmmmmmm...
.............................

I just checked. IBM has my T60 motherboard listed at $506.00. That's retarded high. Not too surprising for them though. you would definitely be better off buying the part from a 3rd party vendor, but even looking on ebay right now, I'm seeing t60 motherboards from $450 to $975. It's rediculous.

Before you go spending that kind of money, you may want to inspect the board to see if the spill made it all the way to it. Spills cause corrosion. It shouldn't be too hard to see. I'm afraid that's your culprit though. Depending on the severity of the spill, you may need more parts replaced too. Unfortunately, it'll be hard to tell until you can get it to power on. Spills suck.

Good luck.

Coke is about as bad as bad as it gets. HIGHLY corrosive. I am thinking that more than the mother board will need replacing.

In this case, things do NOT go better with Coke!

Oh... I meant to respond to this earlier. I do not think that any amount of cleaning will fix the board. Once it's shorted out, it's shorted out.

And by applying power to it over and over again, he keeps frying it.