Spilled water on laptop, how to tell if it's FUBARed?

[Syringer]

In a buzzed stupor last night I spilled an entire cup of water onto the keyboard of my laptop, and I responded by unplugging it and disconnecting the battery as fast as I can.

I noticed that the screen was turning white right as I took the battery out, but the power was still on.

I then put it under a lamp so as to try to evaporate the water quicker for the entire night, and I wake up early curious to see if ti worked--and sure enough it turned on.

I turn it back off and doze off for another hour or so--but when I try to turn it back on again, it didn't.

So since then it's been sitting around, not responding to anything.

I took out the hard drive and have put it in another laptop for now, but how can I tell if it's completely done or if it just needs more time?

 

[Spikesoldier]

you shouldnt have powered it back on until you disassembled it and eliminated all water manually.

the damage is likely already done, or you may have made it worse by turning it on this morning. liquid spill on electronics can make them do funny and inconsistant things and can be considered unstable forever.

generally liquid spills arent chain reaction as far as components that physically dont have water damage. (ie mb short out and fry cpu/memory)

you will likely need a new mainboard. since its water and not coke or kool aid, the plastics are likely ok though. i have replaced hard drives that had just very very minor water damage on the outside but sure enough is enough to brick it and hang up the entire system. i even had one that made the entire system not power on.

 

[Syringer]

Based on these prices I might as well get a new laptop.. http://www.google.com/products...l%201420%20motherboard

My dell was only about $400.

 

[TheStu]

Last time this happened to someone I know, I had him power it down and then set it keyboard side down (opened up) onto a towel in a warm area of his apartment. Then, after 24 hours of that, he cracked it open and rinsed all the parts with 93% isopropyl alchol and then rinsed them again with distilled water (preferrably de-ionized distilled water, but that is harder to get your hands onto). The parts were then placed bare on a shelf on anti-static mats for about a week (he was out of town) Upon re-assembly, everything worked, some better than before since it (obviously) got a thorough cleaning in the process.

This was Mountain Dew, so for just water perhaps nothing quite as extreme, but all the same, letting it sit overnight ain't gonna cut it.

And I have never actually met anyone that has had luck with the rice technique.

 

[ecom]

What type of laptop? Some of them, generally business oriented models, are designed to handle a bit of water.

 

[Syringer]

So would it only be the motherboard that's done? Are there any other components I should test first? I pulled the HD from there and put it in a spare laptop for now--along with a 2G stick of memory.

How much would a repair shop charge generally to fix it? The laptop probably doesn't cost more than $400 or so new, so if I can get it fixed for ~$200 or so it'd probably be worth it, anything more and it probably wouldn't be.

 

[Modelworks]

Power supply section of the laptop is the most likely effected. Water itself is a terrible conductor so you need a higher current or voltage to really do damage with just plain water. I would take the laptop apart completely. Use a hair dryer to thoroughly dry out every bit of the laptop. It might still work. Water being a poor conductor may just be bridging several IO pins on some chips enough to corrupt data preventing the unit from working.

 

[bruceb]

Kind of hard to kill the hard drive in a laptop with liquid spills. More likely, the keyboard gets messed up or in bad cases, something shorts out and kills the motherboard. I myself have spilled both wine and some beer (not much of either) onto my Toshiba. Had some keys that did not
work for a bit, but after a day or two (and already having ordered a spare keyboard on Ebay) the original keyboard started working fine again.
So now I have an extra keyboard I don't need (was only about $20 to buy it)

 

[Paperdoc]

Modelworks' suggestion is good if you feel comfortable disassembling it partly. I would guess you have NOT caused any permanent damage yet, but I could be wrong. The real root of the problem now, though, is that the water you spilled inside is still there. It can take a VERY long time for water to evaporate into vapor and slowly sneak out of a tightly closed case. Opening it as much as possible to let the air currents flow over it will speed up the process a lot. ALSO, if you can, gently wipe out any liquid water you see, trying not to leave behind any fresh lint to cause trouble. I don't know if your water is "soft" and free of dissolved minerals, or "hard" enough to leave behind a film of minerals when it evaporates. Wiping out the water before it evaporates removes any minerals it might contain before they can deposit. When done, leave it unpowered until it looks completely dry, then leave it for two or three more days. A fan blowing gently over it may speed it up, too.

 

[goobernoodles]

My roomate spilled half a beer on his keyboard. I ran out of the room, grabbed a screwdriver, and we disassembled that thing in a matter of minutes. Cleaned it off, and let everything dry with a fan blowing over it.

Works perfectly still.

I didn't read much of this thread. I'm gonna shut up.

 

[Maverick2002]

How much water did you spill? I've spilled sweetened ice tea on my old Dell before and while the keys never quite got "unstickied", it worked fine. Most laptops have drain holes below the keyboard that run to the bottom specifically to deal with spills. If you dunked it in a bucket, that's another story. Honestly if it doesn't turn on it could be a million things. Try power adapter w/o battery. Try battery w/o power adapter. If neither work and it's been a few days something is probably fried.

 

[Syringer]

It's been a few days now (spilt it Tuesday night) and no luck =/

 

[0roo0roo]

next time, take the case off, leave in an open oven on warm or something...