I think I killed the laptop! Help?

[GonnaBeDead]

Please help if you can. My ex husband loaned me his HP laptop because the motherboard in mine fried (not even two years old, dang it!) and I have to return it tonight. I was preparing to turn it off to pack it up and knocked a soda over. I immediately flipped it over and minimal amounts got on the keyboard area or actually in that grooves. I turned it off and it now works fine....but there is a moisture line on the bottom 1/3 of the screen....shaped like a small mountain. What can I do about this? I am going to take it to be professionally cleaned this week, I am going to tell him what happened and not hide it from him but if I can fix this obvious esthetic issue he won't flip his lid as badly and threaten to kill me! Eeek. Any help? Thank you!

[PrntRhd]

Soda in the layers will kill the display, the display is toast.
New laptops can be had for under $800

[GonnaBeDead]

Well, crap. As a single mom who was laid off 15 months ago I will have to see what I can do. One of my friends suggested a bag of rice to put it in to pull the moisture out like you can with a cell. Will that make it worse?

[PrntRhd]

It is the sugar/sweetener in the liquid that is problematic, it concentrates as it dries, it leaves a sticky residue that attracts dust and cause shorts.
The display can be replaced but it will cost $$.

[GonnaBeDead]

It is slowly shrinking so hopefully it will keep doing that. I took the casing off and cleaned everything, took the keys off and cleaned there as well. Hopefully everything will be ok.

[jlreich]

If it can be cleaned out properly and it didn't hit any of the wires or contacts all may be well. It would really be good if someone can take the display apart and clean it out.