A client brought a laptop to me, saying his daughter had spilled a little bit of water on it, not a lot though. He said one of his dogs eat through the power supply cable and it is sellotaped up, but he said it does work on the charger. However, he came over with it, and I tried it with the charger plugged in, came on for about 10 seconds, no beeps or anything, could hear the hard drive and fan working, but then it went off again (worked on it in my conservatory). I took it in to my home office, tried it, didn't even start up! Not even the light saying it's charging! However, when I put the power cable in, sparks came off it. Because I am not very dexterous, my mate who normally helps me with these things is on holiday.
However, as he said it worked fine on the charger before, it's probably not the laptop. He also said that the laptop doesn't work without the charger plugged in.
Question now is: Should I get a new charger? (While transporting the laptop, a component in the psu might have gone)
It is a Logiq M76T, and it is less than a year old.
(I got told the PSU's made in China don't last long!)

A client brought a laptop to me, saying his daughter had spilled a little bit of water on it, not a lot though.

It is not the amount, it is where it goes that matters. Sparks are obviously not good. When did this happen? The first thing after the water spilled is the power supply should have been unplugged and battery removed and laptop turned upside down and left for a few days to fully dry out. If power was left on or applied after the spill, more damage could have occurred.

With the dog chewing the cord, that sure cannot go in for warranty repair. You could try a new supply, and if no good, you will probably need to send the laptop in for repair. But if they find evidence of liquid inside, it may be expensive.

I would also note that if your client was talked into buying an extended warranty - even this damage may be covered (well, I don't know about the dog damage).

It happened a couple of weeks ago, and she didn't use it for a week. But the laptop did work fully, but only on the charger.

But the laptop did work fully, but only on the charger.

"Did" being the operative word, right? My "guess" would be the charging circuits internal to the laptop have been damaged - if the charger is still good.

The charger doesn't work at all now! No charge LED on the laptop!

Then as I said earlier, you could try a new charger, but at this point (considering the sparks and the fact it did work on battery) there may be additional damage inside.

Bottom line - I don't see an easy (or cheap) way out of this - unless you just happen to have a spare charger handy, with the correct connection, and proper voltage and current output - but even then, plugging in a new charger could cause sparks again, taking out the new charger.

If me, since this laptop is less than a year old, I would send it in for warranty repair and hope they are having a good day and only charge for a new charger.

I've got new information that I wasn't told before:

The water wasn't actually spilled on the laptop, the laptop was sitting on the top alongside the water when it was spilled. So the water got under it.
I asked him what happened immediately after, he said she shook the laptop, and left it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days to dry! He said he doesn't thiink she took the battery out!

Also... her work on it isn't backed up!!!

She also said it works on the charger if you leave it plugged in all night.

Well, if no water got in it, I don't think that is part of the problem. It sounds like the battery is bad . And backing up the data is a whole 'nuther issue, but since the computer works, she needs to back it up.

Question: Was she right to put it in the airing cupboard to dry? I know you should dry it out, but before this, I'd never heard of anyone putting in there before!

Follow-on question: Wouldn't the water have seeped up from the bottom of the laptop?