Macbook won't turn on :(

So a couple of weeks ago I posted about spilling lemonade on my Macbook and my ordeal to get a broken key replaced. I chose not to buy a new top case and decided I would just live with the missing key cap. Well, last night I started having problems for the first time since the spill. At first it was nothing major. I was playing Spore and all of a sudden my character was spinning around like I was holding the left or right arrow key. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, because the keys weren't stuck, so I restarted my computer and after that all was fine for a few hours.

Later last night, while on the internet, anytime I clicked a link it tried to download the page associated with that link. Again, I restarted my computer, but the problem persisted. Then an even worse problem arose, the keyboard was typing in all strange charaters. I went to the keyboard language settings, but it said the keyboard was still in English. However, the character map DID show all of these strange symbols.

I then restarted again, but the same problems with the keyboard persisted.
Then, the cursor went crazy, moving around the screen uncontrollably. I attempted to restart again, but was unable because I could not control the cursor with the trackpad, so I removed the battery. Then the computer stopped turning on entirely.

My suspicion is (and this may be a wild guess, I don't know a lot about computers) that something in the top case has gone bad (from the spill?) and the keyboard and trackpad were compromised (since those two seem to be the source of the problem). I took it to an authorized repair center today to have it looked at and they quoted me $108 for a replacement top case (if that's the issue). However, they said it will be up to 3 days before they have a diagnosis, so I wanted to get some ideas... is this likely a keyboard/trackpad issue or is there probably a more serious problem? If so, how much am I looking at paying for the repairs?

Other than the spill, the only thing I think could possibly be the source of the problem is the fact that I opened my case to see the extent of the damage (there appeared to be virtually none, but I could be wrong). I don't know a lot about assembling computers, so I might have messed something up putting it back together. However, this was quite a while ago considering the problem just showed up today.

Sorry for being so long-winded. I just wanted to make sure my description of the problem was accurate and complete.

In your other thread you mention the spill was not on the logic board...

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Where is the logic board located inside the Macbook? The only part of the computer affected by the spill was the top right corner (the only sticky keys were from the far left to maybe 9 at the top and as far down as the row with shift, over to m or n).

Jiten said:

Hmm since Apple has voided your warranty I suggest looking around for other third party Mac repair services like Powerbook Medic. Perhaps they can repair your Macbook for a reasonable rate.

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As I mentioned in my post above, I already have taken it to a third-party store (Capital Mac). It'll be $59 for the diagnostic and once that's done they'll call me with the problem and the price to fix it. However, they said they are fairly busy and it could take a day or two, so I wanted to get some ideas on what the problem might be since I know y'all have some know-how and experience with Macs/computers in general.

kaitlyn428 said:

Where is the logic board located inside the Macbook?

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Actually, if I remember correctly, the part under those keys is the DVD/CD drive, which did have some minor issues in the beginning (it took 3 or 4 tries of hitting "eject" before the disc would pop out) but had been working just like new for the past week or so, and it never stopped reading discs properly as far as I could tell.

So I got a call from Capital Mac today with the verdict... kudos to all those who replied, you were ALL right. My logic board WAS bad, but not because of the spill. It was just faulty and I was lucky enough to not have any problems the first few months I owned the computer (I was under the impression that Apple had resolved the logic board issues but apparently not). I'm not sure how, but even with the spill my logic board was covered under Applecare so I don't have to pay a dime to replace it, I just have to cover the $59 diagnostic fee.

Goes to show you the people at Applecare are really understanding sometimes and know that things are beyond our control and that accidents happen. Reminds me of the time I accidentally stepped on my iPod and broke the screen, took it to the Apple store and told them exactly what happened and they still repaired it for free.