I've just experienced the tragedy of having beer spilt all over my powerbook. :-(

The machine crashed, the LCD screen started to burn out to white and the power led in the PSU started flickering. I unplugged it, removed the battery immediately and drained as much of the excess liquid away as I could.

What is my best course of action now?

I really obviously want to try and retrieve any data off the hard drive first. Maybe removing it and putting it in an external case might be a good idea? Or should I try powering the machine back up?

Any advice appreciated. I'm gutted. :-/

That sux.  Dont power it back up.  More than likely you will need to strip it down and clean it out.  You cant just let it dry as it will leave residue in it.  Get the hard drive out first and back it up if you can.  Good luck.

Any advice on how to clean off the residue without damaging it further? The model is a G4 Aluminum 15".

Are there particular parts I should concentrate on? Or just look for any obvious residue build ups?

Regarding getting the hard drive out, can I just put it in a 2.5" external case (USB or Firefire?) and link it to another machine? I did this with an old Pismo successfully, but don't know if the technology's different these days?

Exactly the same. The Alu books use the same ATA drives as the Pismo, they just tend to be bigger capacities. You can easilt put it in an enclosure. The place where you want to make sure there's no residue is the logic board, and the sound/DC in board. You can get special stuff for cleaning circuit boards. I forget what its called though.

I heard about submerging parts in rice (uncooked of course) to absorb all the moisture... I think I saw it on digg a while back.....

Well I took it apart this evening. The screen hinge and *every* key were stiff after drying out, but weirdly when I got it all apart I could see virtually no residue on anything??? Only a tiny (1cm) dried bit on the corner of the HD and a tiny (2cm) bit on the ribbon over the PC Card bay. The whole unit does stink of stale beer though. :-/

I managed to rig the HD up to an external USB box and have thankfully managed to get all the data off intact. That's a big weight off my mind. Thanks for the advice, guys.

There's two black bits of film directly under the keyboard which looks like they would have shielded the logic board pretty well but would have directed any liquid to the top edges of the battery/HD/DVD, and also (rather worryingly) the DC in & fans.

My main question is what do I do now? I can clean away the few bits of residue I can see with a damp cotton bud before putting it back together?

Should I then try and power up???

I'd recommend using some rubbing alcohol, not water to clean up anything that needs it.

I'm not sure what rubbing alcohol is?  :-[ I'm sure we have something like it in the UK but I don't think it's called that?

Anyone know? Is it the same as methylated spirit?

I think rubbing means "not for drinking" since it has methanol in it in order to prevent people from drinking it. But I'm in the UK too and thats just a guess.

Rubbing alcohol is what you use to clean cuts and women use to clean off make up and such.  It is also used to clean off thermal paste on cpus, heatsinks.  Use it sparingly and it should be fine for cleaning reisdue.  It drys quickly but there are some things you shouldnt get it on.  Just be careful and you will be fine.