Laptop sabatoged by tea! Need advice

[kisk]

My wife's laptop (emachines m5405) was laying on the floor the other night and our cup of tea turned out to have a small crack in it, which trickled tea onto the laptop overnight.

I had gone to work that morning and my wife booted up her computer, no problems. Laptop was still uncleaned inside, only wiped down on the outside.

We have always used the AC adaptor when she uses her laptop, and when I got home everything seemed to be ok -- computer was running fine. After about an hour of playing World of Warcraft (we're both addicted!), her low-battery light came on, and soon the laptop went dead.

So I broke down the laptop and cleaned everything inside with alchohol. The most noticeable area on the mobo was the area near the AC jack -- there was crud all over the place on the underside of the mobo, just under where the jack is soldered in the mobo. I cleaned it up and put the laptop back together.

Upon plugging the AC adaptor into the laptop, the "plugged-in" light came on, but whenever I tried to start it up only the normal lights would flash and even before the fan could kick in, it would die. Now this to me sounds like maybe the AC jack was fried, especially since I had seen all the crud near the jack on the mobo.

I'd REALLY like to not have to buy a new mobo, so could anyone give any suggestions as to where I could maybe find just a replacement jack that I could solder into the mobo? Any other useful information would be appreciated as well

Thanks

[flanzig1]

I would say that the battery charging circuit part of the motherboard is kaput. Two possible problem areas, the AC adapter is bad or the mother board.

[kisk]

Checked the voltage on the AC adaptor and it was fine. I even went as far as to buy a new one, and it did not work either. Any other suggestions?

[TimPoet]

Originally Posted by kisk I'd REALLY like to not have to buy a new mobo

I don't think you can replace the mobo on a laptop.

[glc]

Yes you can, it's just expensive and a pain in the neck.