Liquid damage is the most common job that walks into the workshop, and it is also the one where the customer has the most influence over the final bill. Corrosion is a chemical process. It keeps working as long as there is liquid and power on the board, and it stops when both are gone.
1. Shut it down immediately
Hold the power button until the machine dies. Do not shut down politely through the menu — that leaves rails powered for several seconds longer. A board with liquid on it and power flowing through it destroys itself far faster than a wet board sitting inert.
2. Unplug everything and turn it upside down
Disconnect the charger and any peripherals. Open the lid to roughly ninety degrees and stand the machine on its keyboard like a tent, so gravity pulls the liquid back out the way it came instead of down onto the board.
3. Do not put it in rice
Rice does almost nothing. It cannot reach moisture that has already wicked under the shields on the logic board, and rice dust finds its way into the ports. The delay is the real damage — every day a wet board sits, corrosion eats further into the traces.
4. Do not test whether it still works
This is the mistake that turns a cleanable board into a dead one. Pressing the power button to check pushes current through circuits that are bridged by liquid. If it does switch on, that is not good news; it just means the short has not found the fatal path yet.
5. Get it opened and cleaned within 48 hours
The real fix is disassembly, battery disconnection, an ultrasonic clean of the board and corrosion removal under a microscope, followed by rail-by-rail testing. Done within a couple of days, most spills are a straightforward repair. Left for a fortnight, the same board often needs components rebuilt — or cannot be saved at all.
If it has already happened, do not worry about the steps you missed. Bring it in, or ask us to collect it. The diagnosis is free and we will tell you honestly what the board looks like inside.