T61 - Hardware malfunction

Hi there,

Several weeks ago, I had an accident where I spilled a cup of tea (no sugar or milk) all over my keyboard. Since the my T61 model (2008) has the spill protection, most of the water got in through the top left speaker area.

When it happened, I turned off laptop, unplugged battery, opened the case, and fan dried it (24 hours), followed by putting it in a plastic bag filled with some rice for 2 days.

Anyway, here are the results:
-My laptop works COMPLETELY fine but only in safe mode
-I have maximum resolution and sound functioning in safe mode (registry edit)
-I been using it in safe mode for word processing, flash videos, browsing, etc for the last couple of weeks

However, when I start up in regular windows,
my computer shuts off AFTER about 3-4 minutes (weird).

I realize this is probably a hardware malfunction as a result of possible short short circuiting. Given the information above, what are my options in terms of fixing it by myself (or a cheap solution involving a component hardware swap).

The first thing i want to try is:
-Taking the laptop apart and cleaning SOME of the components (isolating the hardware components likely to cause a problem, i.e. hardware components that do not boot up in safe mode but do in regular mode)
-Using 100% pure alcohol (and air can maybe?)

If any of you guys would have any possible suggestions that may work,
or feedback on my proposed method above, that would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Val

 

there is probably an issue with the CPU or GPU, since safe mode requires very little CPU or GPU processing power.

If you can only work in safe mode and it starts to act weird in normal windows mode, then something must have short circuited, check the area of the motherboard where the spill happened, to see if there is any marks on the motherboard.