My beloved apple is struggling. I spilt coffee (1 sugar and milk) on the keyboard. Although the keyboard is working fine, the single mouse button is suffering in a chronic kind of way - either not working at all or doing some strange stuff. Does anyone know if there is any hope for the laptop? I mean will it go away or am I condemmed to a new life using my Microsoft XP machine FOREVER?
Please help [!]
Just buy a USB mouse. That should do fine. The wireless ones work best cause you can use it on your leg.
Can you disassemble your mouse. If you can soak it in water then make sure it is dry before reusing.
I think he is talkin about that built in mouse sornen.
i managed to destroy one of my laptops with a bottle of beer. The ancient Toshiba does not like any booze.
They know why its forbidden in an A+ certified Service place to drink and eat in front of the machines.
It is possible to remove and take apart the internal mouse – I’ve done this on numerous occasions. If you soak it in water, blow dry it, and let it sit for an hour, it will most likely work again. Water on the mouse isn’t a problem at all – just don’t mix electricity and water.
Matt
thankyou very much for replies. iI’ll try out the water and see if that helps. . I had tried something called WD40 - a solvent - without any obvious success.
eep - WD40 - lubricant
Use a steam cleaner and then leave it to dry completely.
We used to get drink spills all the time at the laptop place and the steam seemed to be the most effective in removing the sugar deposits that would build up.
Chimpoid
I can’t believe you can use the mouse at all. I didn’t use the trackpad and one-button for more than a day when I had my laptop - drove me nuts. I got rid of my laptop because I was scared of doing something like spilling fluid on it. I now have a Mac Mini whereby my keyboard is far away from the machine so any liquid will just damage a £25 keyboard. It was pretty much a swap in terms of value - 2 year old laptop for brand new Mac plus about £150 (the money was spent on 1GB Ram) + 1 year warranty :).
I agree about the optical mouse. I have a 3-button M$ mouse and it works great (even on my bed). It’s a must have for Blender and cheap at about £15.
Alcohol is a solvent, and probably much better than water and especially WD-40 because it is oil based and coffee is not.
Isopropyl alcohol is cheap and readily available in purities of ~90%. It will evaporate faster and absorb coffee better.
just wanted to say thakyou very much for all the contributions. I really appreciate the help.
I couldn’t get at the mouse enclosure directly as I don’t have the tools to get the back of the laptop off. However I have splashed a bit of water around - which has made a little bit of difference, but its still sticking. I’m going to try your idea shbaz as soon as I can find some of that alcohol… hmmm, wonder if vodka would be any good…
[picking on Microsoft’s useless questions]
It depends, how much coffee was left?
was it takeaway or homeade?
If it was takeaway, where did you get it from?
How many times did you stir the spoon for the sugar?
[/picking on Microsoft’s useless questions]
was the coffee, black, white, or beans?
was it instant coffee.
did these questions solve your problem? yes, no maybe, start over, it was tea afterall.
microsoft has unexpectidly deleted the whole internet. sorry you have been disconneted from microsoft help.
Alltaken
Vodka is only 40% or so alcohol at most, I think. Use really pure isopropyl or denatured ethanol if you have/can find it.
Be sure everything has evaporated. I’m almost positive that you’re going to need to take the laptop apart.
a couple years back i took apart a really old labtop my freind gave to me because it wasn’t working. i took it apart and it turns out they spilled something on it years ago half to board was coroded.
I heard a long time ago of someone that did the same, lucky it was turned off, but badly it was full of coffee. He bought some pure water without calcium inside it and that such, took a box and filled it with that water, put the laptop inside it and wached it. Aftherwards he let it dry for over 2 weeks and guess what? He turned it on and it was back to life. 
But you only can do this with really clean destilated water I think. :-?