What Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop? How to salvage your notebook

[iGuest 3]

spilled OJ on keyboard then did something stupid to fixWhat Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

First I spilled oj on my comp. I tilted the keyboard to drain it, and it was functional for a day. Then I decided to wash off the stickiness by pouring more droplets of water (very stupid) into the key, while the comp was turned on.

As you can imagine, the keyboard is totally malfunctioned- won't type wut I type, and types without me typing continuously.

I have turned on the computer several times after the water fix, and I'm not sure if that was a good idea now that I read this thread. The computer still turns on, except one time it slept after booting up, and I had to press the power button again for it to turn on.

now its sitting upside down with an eraser wedge between the display and the keyboard in hopes of air drying itself.

not sure when I should turn it back on? and is it dead?

Thanks.

[iGuest 3]

spilled OJ on keyboard then water...What Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

I recently spilled oj on my laptop- samsung r522

I tilted it, and wiped the keyboard clean.

The keys were sticky and hard to press down, but eveything was fine.

I was stupid enought to use drops of water to clean out the dried OJ... And of course the keys were no longer sticky... But now its non-functional. It keeps presing keys even when I don't touch the keyboard, and when I type the wrong letter comes out...

 I have been able to turn it on.

seems like only the keyboard is messed up. But I'm scared that it will further damage my computer. Last night I let it sit upside down and took out the battery. This morning I took the laptop out to look for technicians... I've turned it on a couple of times, and one time it slept after booting up, but it still turned on fine after. I hope its not going to die on me.

Just now I decided to shut off my computer, took out the battery and turn it upside down, and will leave it there a couple of days to dry up completely, hopefully draining the liquid from the keyboard's rubber membrane...

not sure when I should turn it back on, any more fixes to ensure success?

thanks

-reply by Kenny

[rayzoredge 2]

To all iGuest members that spilled something onto their laptops:I suppose I never addressed anything about residue.@AndyC: Sounds like your keyboard is pretty messed up since it's delivering input by itself alongside your external keyboard. What you should do is seeing if you can disable your laptop's keyboard by going through Device Manager and disabling it there, or turning your laptop off, unplugging it, disassembling down to just the keyboard, then disconnecting the ribbon cable to the keyboard so that you can't use it anymore. (It's a fairly easy process... look online for disassembly instructions for your make and model. MAKE SURE TO GROUND YOURSELF FIRST AND FOREMOST.) Either replace your keyboard (through your warranty or spending $20 on eBay or something) or continue with your external.@TeeKay: Cheapest route is to just go with an external keyboard. If you're not afraid of opening it up, I suggest you do that and clean as much Pepsi residue as you can from system components and making sure that it's relatively dust-free. (See the precautions I laid out for AndyC.) Most laptops are designed so that if there are any spills ON the laptop, all the liquid will pour off to the sides and away from the internal components as much as possible. I actually revived a presumed-dead Dell doing this: after three coffee spills over time, I disconnected it, drained it, let it dry, opened it up, cleaned off dried coffee residue and blew out dust, put it back together, and miraculously, it worked for over a year before I sold it on eBay to someone whom I know will be able to squeeze more years out of that laptop, provided it was taken care of.@Kenny: I'm guessing the last two posts were both by you. Same advice as above: open the laptop up (without battery and unplugged) after grounding yourself, clean up any visible residue, clean out the dust, reassemble.If you are not comfortable with opening up your laptop, find a friendly geek or a computer-savvy friend that can do it for you. They are actually not very hard to disassemble and reassemble, but I know it can be intimidating. (Believe me, I wasn't super-comfortable with my first time, but after I popped that cherry, it's cake now.)

[shadowx 0]

Kenny, In addition to the excellent advice above it sounds like you have residue either inside the keyboard connections making a short circuit between the button or the button has become stuck down. In this case remove the keyboard (see below)and my advice is to use a *damp* cloth to wipe away the residue. Now, when i say damp i mean damp. not wet. All you need to do is dissolve the sticky sugars in the orange juice to free up the keys. Really squeeze all of the water from the cloth as much as possible. Get it about as damp, if not drier, than a wet wipe (also known as a baby wipe in some places. I mean the wet tissue type thing you get from fast food restaurants to clean your hands) If possible you want to get in between the keys too using a damp cotton bud or something. Again, not wet, just damp.*Keyboard Removal*Remove the laptop battery and lead. It is recommended to statically discharge yourself (at work we dont, ill be honest but you should) grabbing a central heating or water pipe will do the trick. It is just to prevent the electric shock you sometimes get/give people or things when you are walking around.Most laptop keyboards are fixed in place by 5 or more latches around the edge of the keyboard. Look very carefully along the edge of your laptop for little latches that stick out from the side and overhang the keyboard. These are what keeps the keyboard in place. Carefully with a small screwdriver you need to push these little latches off of the keyboard and free up that section. The latches will spring back so lift the keyboard over the latch and proceed to the next latch.Once you have them all free the keyboard should be very loose but do not pull it yet. IF the keyboard is not loose check for any latches you missed, run the screwdriver along the edge of the keyboard feeling for bumps as it hits the latch. IF there are no more then flip the laptop over and look in the centre for a screw with a little keyboard icon next to it. You will need to remove this screw and any others labelled with the same icon. Keep them safely to one side.Now the keyboard is loose but it is still connected by a cable which could easily be broken. On my laptop this cable is at the top of the keyboard (if you are sitting at it as you would usually use it) so you will notice that the keyboard can be opened almost like a hinged trap door with the cable connecting it to the motherboard at the back (or one side) be careful here, it's not particularly weak but still take care. You dont really need to disconnect this cable and in fact it might be difficult to do anyway, so leave it attached. Now carefully clean what you can being gently and removing the residue. Once clean leave the keyboard wet side up to dry for about one hour. Make sure it is in a place that is fairly clean and not vulnerable to people or more drinks getting to it! After it is dry replace the keyboard firmly pressing it back into place. IF you are sure it is 100% dry replace the battery and adapter and power it on. IF you are unsure leave it to dry naturally for some time. Id advise against a hair drier at this point due to the heat and dust.Hopefully that will solve the problem. If it doesnt look on e-bay for a spare keyboard or a broken laptop the same model as yours for a cheap keyboard. You may need to pay a pro to replace it depending if you want to get down and dirty with your laptop. When i bricked mine up thanks to various spills and a lot of use i couldnt get the back free from the motherboard so i ended up using force I had a new one so it didnt matter but i found it pretty damn hard to get off. Disclaimer:I accept no damage to you, the dog or any other object, person or creature or state of mind resulting from following these instructions. This may or may not void your warranty or other agreements. Personally i would feel comfortable doing all of these steps and i have done so before. It isnt dangerous or hard but i still cant accept responsibility!Good luck

[rob86 2]

This reminds me of a funny story. It happened a couple years ago My father got a brand new expensive cell phone and was showing it off to me, he's not the most agile person with small electronic gadgets and it slipped out of his hand while he was pushing a button, he bounced it in the air a couple times trying to catch it, then it bounced off the kitchen counter, and into a kitchen sink full water. He was pissed! The phone shut off and seemingly looked dead, but I told him to dry it out for a couple days. But, by some miracle, the phone survived and worked perfectly. Strange.. a miracle?

[Ash-Bash 0]

Damn this topic is to late for me lol. I spilt coke over my laptop 4 times and now its screwed lol. I have a new one and am being a lot more careful trying to stop myself from drinking and eating around my PC now so I don't keep having to buy a new one .

[rayzoredge 2]

ShadowX has a pretty good detailed post over there... I'd just junk the bad keyboard and get another one, but I know how it is when $20 is a lot of money. (Believe me, I'm still there.) I didn't post detailed instructions because every laptop is different, but for the most part, there's a bezel piece you remove with a screwdriver (carefully, unless you like broken pieces of plastic), get to and undo the (usually 2) bolts that secure the keyboard to the laptop, then sliding and lifting (gently and slowly) the keyboard upward to get at the ribbon cable to disconnect it from the motherboard. Replacement is the same deal in reverse, although be careful that you actually insert and secure the ribbon cable correctly; otherwise, the keyboard won't function. (I would boot the laptop up and test the keyboard before replacing the bolts and the bezel.)Of course, grounding is important before disassembling or handling any PC component, since a simple static charge can kill your lovely pieces of silicon. (That multi-hundred dollar graphics card can be turned into a useless piece of junk in less time than you can blink.) I usually touch the case of a desktop machine if I'm working on one, and with laptops, I keep a part of my hand or arm on one of the metal pieces of the laptop case while I work. There are anti-static wristbands, and I'm sure they work well, but I don't even wear the one I bought because it likes to get in the way of things, not to mention that it doesn't like staying where I clamp it.@Ash-Bash: My wife used to love keeping her coffee mugs ON the palm rest of her Dell. Stupid? Yes. Did she still do it? Yes. Did they spill on the laptop? Yes... three times. Third time was a charm, and it "died." Fortunately, opening it up, letting it dry, cleaning it up, and reassembling brought it back to life. Now I have her put her coffee AWAY from the laptop, which does have unfortunate side effects with six cats running amuck. My advice here, though, would be to have a wooden or folding chair next to your workstation and putting your delicious beverages on it so that even if it does get knocked over, only the chair and floor gets wet (and wall, in some cases... unless you like "ye 'ole coffee drip wallpaper").I also like to put my drinks BEHIND my laptop so I can't knock it over, especially when that beefy arm of mine does a sweep over to the home keys. (I've done that once: a nice, tall bottle of water all over my work laptop. No harm, no foul... but work was definitely brought to a screeching halt.)

[Nameless_ 1]

The thing is, you don't only lose your laptop. You also lose your drink. Of course, there is also the potential risk that you may lose all the data stored on your laptop, which also includes all the time and effort and maybe even money that you have invested in it. The only thing that I can say is: Don't drink in front of your laptop!I actually spilled some pizza pie on a school computer one, and the food got stuck between the keys and I couldn't get it out. Miraculously I think a new one got replaced at the school and I didn't get caught, despite having a lot of witnesses. I guess you can trust you friend on these things.So don't drink or eat in front of your laptop!!! That is all I can say. Haha... cheers, Nameless_

[buxgoddess 1]

This has happened to me quite a few times now, but the commonest is with my mobile.My laptop was HP/ Compaq nx6120 and I loved that too much as it was my father's gift, first laptop from him. I had a nice time keeping it nice and clean and taking good care that it did not get scratched or dirty. One night I was so dizzy that I decided to get some water for me from the kitchen. I got a glass and filled it full and reached for my table. I kept the glass on the table and it toppled. I kept the glass over my paper weight and it toppled. The spilled water went running through the table and some got into the keyboard of the laptop. It was not much water that went into the laptop so I got my towel and wiped it clean. My laptop did not show any signs of problem and I kept on using it for about an year.Then again it happened and this time my laptop was actually damaged. My cousin sister was in my place and is hell of a problem. She is too busy with herself and will do anything to get what she wants. She got a bad habit of dropping things down from her hand without any reason. And what happened was that she came to my study with a cup of milk and before I could understand poured the full cup of milk on my running laptop. I was stunned and without thoughts shocked for a moment. Immediately realizing what has happened I switched off my laptop and removed the battery, but it was too late. Something that I got to know from the laptop repair guy was that the milk that has seeped in had gone into the DVD drive and the head was spoiled. Also the motherboard is covered with dried up milk and is to be cleaned, later being declares as damaged. It was a great loss for me.The worst happened when I realized that my mobile was missing. After she spilled the milk she grabbed my mobile and dropped the cup on my table and ran. I was too busy with my laptop that I overlooked what she took with her. About fifteen minutes later when I wanted to call my friend Natasha about what can be done with the laptop I realized that the mobile was missing. By that time the thing that happened was unimaginable. My cousin took my mobile phone and went to the loo. In there she probably smashed the mobile a few times in the wall or floor and then it got wet. There was no bucket nor any water stored in he toilet but the mobile later recovered was wet enough, but most worrying was the damaged cover and screen. I kept the phone for drying and after it got dried I switched it on only to find that the display was damaged and was showing thick horizontal lines with unclear text showing.I do not want to recollect those days but I think I am feeling a bit better by venting my anger out in this manner typing it out. I could not hit her with a blow but I was to sad and cried a lot. I however am glad that after so much loss my father gave me a better laptop now and this time I am a bit more careful with it.

[iGuest 3]

old daysWhat Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

This reminds me of the good old days in the late 80s with the IBM type M keyboards.  ?80 (a fortune back then) but they are big tough clacky keyboards for typists, could take being stood on or dropped from a window, could be cleaned out because of removable key heads...And unique for the time (and nothing since has been as good) were spill proof because of a watertight membrane.

Spill water, tea, coffee, it wouldnt damage it in the slightest...Unless you had sugar in your tea which could sticky up the keys, the eventual death of most of them, but even now 30 years later a few are still going strong

There are a few keyboards in only the last 5 years or so that finally caught onto the idea and have started doing a cheap imitation of this membrane.  Maybe not submersible but at least it is some protection from pouring things on it, in moderate amounts.

-reply by D'or Kadar

[iGuest 3]

I lost my F6 :/What Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?I lost my F6 key of my unibody mac pro after coffee spillage. :/There was no sugar in the coffee. How ever there is a remnant of coffee which results the F6 key not functioning condition.How should I clean it. Is using a hypo and some alcohol applicable?-reply by G?khan OZ

[iGuest 3]

Laptop Liquid Spill - Replaced Motherboard and Keyboard. Result?What Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

I have a Compaq F700 and spilled beer in the machine. The machine was only one week old! I sent it to Compaq and they indicated that both the motherboard and keyboard needed to be replaced and therefore they shipped it back to me because I wouldnt pay $750 for them to repair it. So, I bought and installed a new keyboard and a new motherboard myself and the laptop has the same problem it had before the repair. The power button on the machine, when pressed, turns on the unit for about 3 or 4 seconds, the fan starts, the hard rive spins, then it shuts off immediately. The power button light when pressed and the power chord connection at the laptop are both illuminated...But it powers down after 3-4 seconds.

Any ideas? I will say that I used the old CPU, heat sink, and fan on the new board...I wonder if these could have been damaged too.

Thanks in advance.

-question by Jack

[iGuest 3]

spilled whiskey on netbook...What Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

Yeah, it was a darn good whiskey! Aside for *****ing about wasting my drink, I would like to try to make it work again (keyboard not working, screen and sound OK). One guy who knows a thing or two about these things suggested to submerge it completely under lukewarm water for a few minutes, except the screen, which should open and, of course, after removing the battery. Work the keys while under water an d rinse it to dissolve all the gunk. Let it dry completely for 48-72 hrs. Any second opinions? How is the hardrive going to take this? Are they supposed to be waterproof or just dust proof?

-reply by terra2016

[iGuest 3]

PC + Margarita = MigraineWhat Do You Do If You Spill Liquid Onto Your Laptop?

So, I found this article, after the fact, while I was searching to see what else I could do. I was sipping a Margarita, and of course set it on the kitchen table where I'd left my Dell Inspiron E1505 while I was cooking. Of course, the dog that hardly ever chases  the cat, chose to and the cat subsequently knocked the glass over when he jumped up (dog is good-natured, just doesn't realize that cats don't like to play with him). I unplugged the computer, tilting it while I did, and removed the battery, not from any knowledge of this helping prevent shorts, mostly so I wouldn't get electrocuted. I let it sit, with the screen open, and the body of the computer upside down over a towel. Miracle of miracles, despite being doused, my computer is perfectly fine, after I let it dry out. I removed the keys individually, and cleaned them gently with Q-tips. No other liquids, because at the time I was thinking, liquids bad. But this worked for me, makes me not hate Dell as much. (Replacement power cord number 4 being used now, in under two years)

-reply by digitalsorceress

[iGuest 3]

Water was spilled on the screen of my laptop. There are 3 places where the water got in and is traveling across the screen - I don't know what to do. Can I save the screen and how? thanks.