Acer 532h Black Screen and unresponsive. AHH. Please Help

My wife's 532h netbook which she uses for her small business has blacked out on us. I have searched around the net and found that this is a common problem for acers and have tried many of the solutions to no avail.
Here's the story: We came home a few days ago and the cat had knocked over a vase of flowers on the counter. Water ran under the netbook but there was none on top, the netbook was closed and off when it happened and plugged in also. The GFCI was not tripped. My wife used it the next day for an hour or so and it suddenly shut down on her. When she tried to restart it the the computer would start and the HDD light would flash but the screen remained black from the very start. That evening I tried pressing f10 at the startup to get into the settings as it seemed it was booting up but the screen was just dead. The Acer logo screen showed and it froze right there.
I restarted it again and nothing. The power light comes on and the fan runs but no HDD light or any other activity. I removed the battery and restarted, held the power button down and a number of other combinations of power button and battery in and out moves.
I found instructions to flash the BIOS and tried it with a usb drive but nothing worked. When I held the fn and esc keys and pressed the power button, the power light and fan would turn on, turn off and then on again but no activity from the usb drive. I tried 2 different usb drives.
Last night a friend who is good with computers came over, removed the battery and it started up like nothing was wrong. We were able to copy all the important files to a backup drive, thankfully. This morning it is back to where it was before. Power light and fan but no activity otherwise. I tried wiggling loose the ram this morning and reinstalling it but no luck starting up.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am pretty handy and not afraid to take things apart with good instructions. My wife has a retail store and this is a bad time of year to be having an unexpected expense. Thanks for any help. It is greatly appreciated.

 

You say your friend removed the battery and it started right up. Have you tried that again? If it starts with the battery removed but doesn't with the battery installed, it would appea to be a battery issue. I have found in the past that if I run my battery completely flat, the charger/power module doesnt have enough juice to bulk charge the battery and run the computer at the same time. So, I let the battery charge for at least 12 hours with the laptop switched off.
Of course, the issue with the cat and possible water damage cannot be overlooked. However, the fact the computer booted with the battery removed makes me think it's a battery or insufficient power problem.
One last thing, Do you see a flashing cursor in the upper left hand side of the blank screen as you describe the problem? If so, that is a sign that the BIOS does indeed need to be flashed. Make sure you follow the flash instructions exactly, including renaming the 2 files you place on the USB flash drive.

 

I tried removing the battery this morning and it did not start up with or without the battery. There is absolutely nothing on the screen at all. Just completely black, not even a flicker or flash or anything. As if it is not even on. I tried the monitor on/off button.
I like your battery/power issue answer. Maybe because it is easily resolved. Should I get a new power cord? I could swing by radio shack and pick one up or do I need an authentic acer part?
Thanks for your help. At least we have some hope now.

 

Does the charger light come on when the adapter is plugged in to the wall socket? How about the green LED on the charger itself?
The most likely culprit based on what you have reported is water damage. Was the liquid in the vase simply clean water? If everything else fails, you might consider some way of drying out the unit. You could take off the covers on the bottom of the computer and aim a hair dryer onto the motherboard for a bit. I know that cellphones that have been immersed in water can sometimes be revived by sinking the phone in uncooked rice for a couple days to draw out the moisture. You would need a lot of rice to covers netbook but it also might be worth a shot.
Good luck.

 

Try using an external monitor to see if it will boot with it.