HELP! Laptop flickers horizontally after water spill

Hi @endorsea,

Spilling tea on the keyboard should not mean a screen replacement.

What the flickering screen may indicate is that the tea may have penetrated through the keyboard and affected the motherboard.

Any liquid 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 doesn’t stop until it has been properly cleaned away.

Do not try to charge or to turn on the laptop and then remove the battery as soon as possible so as to minimize any further problems. Even when the laptop is switched off there is still power available at various points on the motherboard. The power button is not a power isolating button. Think of the laptop as being in an extremely low power standby state when it is switched off rather than totally switched off.

Next you need to disassemble the laptop to gain access to the motherboard and inspect it for any damage.

Here is a link to the maintenance and service guide for the laptop, taken from this webpage. Go to p.67 to view all the necessary pre-requisite steps and then the procedure to remove the motherboard. This should give good access to check for any problems caused by the liquid.

If there is any obvious corrosion or component damage then all the affected parts need to be cleaned using Isopropyl Alcohol 99%+ (available at electronics parts stores) to remove all traces of corrosion. 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 have to use it, check the label to verify the amount of IPA. The higher the concentration (%) of IPA the better

Here is a link that describes the process. Electronics Water Damage

As always with electronics, especially surface mounted pcb, be gentle when handling and especially when brushing away the corrosion. You do not want to remove any components from the board. Also remove any shields that may be covering some components and clean there as the water may have got in under them as well. The ends of any cables and the connectors need to be cleaned as well.

Hopefully after you have done all this the laptop possibly work correctly again.

When you are satisfied that the corrosion etc has all been cleaned away etc, check that it works OK. One way to verify that the screen is also not affected is to connect an external monitor to the laptop (a TV perhaps) and check its’ display. If the laptop screen is still flickering and the external monitor is also then the problem is still on the motherboard. If the laptop screen flickers but the external monitor doesn’t then the problem is either the laptop screen or the video cable/cable connection from the motherboard to the laptop screen. It is recommended that you don’t try this until the laptop has been inspected and cleaned if necessary as it may only cause more damage operating it.

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. It isn’t going to fix itself.