water spilled on laptop... how bad is it?

[gregulator]

Well a friend of mine just called and said he spilled water on his laptop enought so that he encountered what sounded like his description of the BSOD. He said he left it to dry for a while and now it will not turn on... anyone have any suggestions or heard similar stories w/ solutions? As I recall MaximumPC did a dishwashing experiment with a laptop and it left the notebook as useful as a football bat... anything salvagable? think warranty? it is a new sony vaio i believe... thanks

 

[loogie]

so long as it completely dries, he should be fine...i think.

edit: I just noticed it was on when it happenned. He's prolly SOL. Warranty doesn't cover that kinda damage...but I'm sure it won't hurt to try.

 

[Supradude]

uh.. he shoulda yanked the plug ASAP... and let it sit till yuor 100% SURE its all dry... dry as a bone, then try to start again... most electronics will survive water as long as you stop the current through it right away, and let the componenets dry out

 

[Zucchini]

add dry quickly to that .. i remember getting a keyboard wet.. didn't bother taking it apart for a night.. when i finally bothered some leads on the circuit board were corroded through.

your friend might want to invest in a panasonic tuff book The things are well.. tough i have a viao too.. guess i should be more careful from now on

 

[Zenmervolt]

The manual for my ThinkPad said to "Immediately unplug and power off the machine" if water is spilled on it while it is runnning. I did not add the italics, by the way. When IBM said "power down" the meant force the machine to shut down by holding the power button, not shutting down windows. IBM also said to let the laptop dry for at least 24 hours before powering it up again. If the laptop won't boot though, you may well be S.O.L.

Zenmervolt

 

[Choralone]

I'd say that if the laptop in question won't boot after drying for 24 hrs then it's toast. Too bad. The company I work for sees laptops in at least weekly that have suffered similar or worse fates. One of the worst was the machine that came in due to a rather nasty run in with a turkey! But there have been literally hundreds of other nasty machines work their way through our service center...

 

[shadowfaX]

Uh... Well... Water spilled on a laptop is probably better than a bunny that takes leaks on it...

 

[yakko]

That is one of the reasons I am glad I drink distilled water. I can submerge my computer in it and not have a single problem.

 

[d33pt]

uhhh..try it yakko

 

[Law]

haha, well i spilled urine juice on my laptop and it didn't work for a couple of days so I let it thoroughly dry for 2 days and it worked fine although the keys were "sticky"....haha.

 

[yakko]

d33pt,

Distilled water, which is just hydrogen and oxygen, is non conductive.

 

[d33pt]

try it..

 

[joeryu]

water is always conductive

 

[yakko]

d33pt,

Why do I need to try it with my pc? The laws of physics state that nothing will happen. Do you possibly believe that the laws of physics somehow do not apply to me and my pc? Are you one of those people who believe that all water is the same whether it comes out of a distiller or a sewer? Learn a little something about how the world works before you make a challenge.

 

[yakko]

jOjO316,

ummm...ok. When did the laws of physics change? Show me proof. I will post a link as soon as I find it to prove you wrong. I'm off to search now.

 

[yakko]

READ THE FIRST SENTENCE. PURE WATER IS NOT ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE.

 

[loogie]

then do it. I know its true...but how do you know that the distilled water you drink is really pure? You should stand behind your statement and do it.

 

[hendon]

Yeah, but there's stuff in your laptop so when the water hits it, it's not necessarily pure

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

<< You should stand behind your statement and do it. >>

Could still result in damage from corrosion, even though it would not short out.

For the originally damaged laptop, it might be a good idea to open it up and really dry everything off insteand of letting it dry naturally, hard for air to really move around like that. Dry it off and then clean with some alcohol, let dry thoroughly.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Those extended warranties those sales people always pitch are sometimes worth it....

 

[yakko]

loogie,

Even if I knew it was 100% pure and nothing else would contaminate the experiment I am just to damn lazy.

 

[Zucchini]

yakko,

are you sure nothing inside the laptop would disolve in water? if something did, then it might become slightly conductive

 

[Shalmanese]

if you expose distilled water to air, the CO2 will dissolve into carbonic acid which is conductive

 

[yakko]

Zucchini,

I highly doubt that it would be enough.

Shalmanese,

See above reply.

 

[luckydragon]

doesnt distilled water taste nasty?