Need Advice on Waterdamaged Laptop Motherboard

[NappingKitty]

I am working on a Dell Inspirion N4010 laptop with Intel Core i3.

The person who brought the laptop to me said that she had spilled lemonade on the keyboard, so there were some sticky spots there which I have cleaned. As far I'm concerned, the keyboard is still working but there's another problem.

The laptop will not turn on, even if it was plugged in or had battery life. Weird thing was that, when I plugged it in the charger the light for the A/C adapter would turn on which meant the battery was charging. It did manage to charge the battery.

I looked into the motherboard after removing the keyboard, and I have discovered that there are some sticky areas, including inside of the two ports which was connected to the power button and some other port.

I thought that the motherboard was actually fried, but considering that the battery is still able to be charged, and it is still receiving some power from the A/C adapter.. I think it is still alive.

Do you think I will need to go ahead and get a new motherboard?

I've tested out some materials such as the keyboard and the memory. They are still functional. I haven't been able to test the CPU, and I just haven't gotten the chance to test the hard drive.

If you have questions related to the laptop, please get back to me.

Thanks!

 

[velocityg4]

The motherboard sounds shot. Just because the charging circuit works does not mean everything else is fine. Charging doesn't require any interaction from the computer. I'm aware of.

That computer is way too old to replace the motherboard. You could get an equivalent used laptop for $100 on eBay. A used motherboard will run at least $50. A new motherboard, if you can find one, will have an obscene price.

I'd advise them to get a replacement computer. Offer to send them some links to suggested replacements. I only make recommendations of warrantied refurbished computers and new computers to clients. You can also link them cheaper used ones on eBay.

Offer to transfer their data and setup software. If used, recommend a replacement battery and a clean install of Windows. As you don't know what junk the seller left behind.