Wet Laptop Help

[jdwright]

Heya AT gurus,

I've got a friend who had liquid (Vitamin Water) spilled into his laptop.

Here is what he has done so far:

"It is a Dell Inspiron E1705.

The lights are blinking up by the screen. The blinking lights are the "A" and and "arrow" light. They are to the right on a light with a 9 in it.

I've rinsed the keyboard with denatured alcohol, vacuumed it out, pulled the memory and reset it."

I told him that the lights could be an error code, but I'm not familiar with them for this laptop. He said most of the moisture seemed to be contained in the keyboard backing, but that there was some in by the battery when he removed it (very quickly). He also said that it didn't stop functioning while it was on until he pulled the battery.

You guys have saved my butt in the past. I'm hoping you have some suggestions for my bud =).

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[C1]

Just change out the KBD - a job you should be able to do yourself or just pay Portable Source to do it.

http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Keyboar.../dp/B002AQ7FBE

 

[Devilpapaya]

Just change out the KBD - a job you should be able to do yourself or just pay Portable Source to do it.

http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Keyboar.../dp/B002AQ7FBE

How is replacing the keyboard going to help if the laptop isn't turning on?

JD,

I assume you allowed the computer to completely dry (I.e. leave it in a warm dry place for at least a day, just to be on the safe side) before attempting to boot, or even restore power to the computer, again.

However at this point, if it doesn't turn on it's likely that something got shorted. I'm not familiar enough with dell laptops to tell you what the flashing lights mean; I'd recommend contacting dell support if the laptop is still under warranty, that would probably be the quickest way to figure out what the lights mean (though generally they use system beeps for error codes, not lights)

Barring that I'd start trying to diagnose what Hardware might have failed. Take out the HDD, attach it to another computer, see if that still works. Attach an external monitor to see if you can see anything. If you have some spare RAM, try that, or try just one stick of RAM at a time (both slots).

Sorry can't be any more help than that.

P.S. The 'A' is probably caps lock the 'arrow' is probably scroll lock and the '9' is likely numlock, if you have to try to explain it to dell support on the phone.

 

[jaggerwild]

How is replacing the keyboard going to help if the laptop isn't turning on?

JD,

I assume you allowed the computer to completely dry (I.e. leave it in a warm dry place for at least a day, just to be on the safe side) before attempting to boot, or even restore power to the computer, again.

However at this point, if it doesn't turn on it's likely that something got shorted. I'm not familiar enough with dell laptops to tell you what the flashing lights mean; I'd recommend contacting dell support if the laptop is still under warranty, that would probably be the quickest way to figure out what the lights mean (though generally they use system beeps for error codes, not lights)

Barring that I'd start trying to diagnose what Hardware might have failed. Take out the HDD, attach it to another computer, see if that still works. Attach an external monitor to see if you can see anything. If you have some spare RAM, try that, or try just one stick of RAM at a time (both slots).

Sorry can't be any more help than that.

P.S. The 'A' is probably caps lock the 'arrow' is probably scroll lock and the '9' is likely numlock, if you have to try to explain it to dell support on the phone.

+1 You could use a hair dryer if you could open the lappy up, also remove the battery hold the power button for several minutes, I'd leave it sitting upside down too for several days before trying to dry it out with a hair dryer.

 

[C1]

Your best bet is to let the unit dry out over a few days. After that, if it still doesnt work properly Id take it to a notebook repair service to have it evaluated. The whole thing may have to be disassembled & blown out with electrical spray evaporative solvent. (The CPU may have to be removed & the socket cleaned.)

Even though Vitamin water doesnt contain a lot of sugar, dont be surprised if the recommendation is to also change out the kbd. The whole thing might be able to be fixed for $200.

The reason why Im recommending this is because dismantling & reassembling a notebook (especially without breaking anything) can be really tough even with directions. Take it from one who has tried.

 

[jdwright]

Thanks for all the input guys =). I know he did let it dry out well, but he was also hesitant to open the box up too much (I don't blame him). I think it would be a good idea to start trying some of the hardware separately and also to consider a repair shop.

For now, I think I'll tell him to let it dry a bit longer, and maybe take a hairdryer to it.

At any rate, I really appreciate the input from you guys and I'll fill you in if we end up making any progress on it =).

Thanks again!