Liquid Damage = Gutted. Help please :)

Hi guys,

So the girlfriend dropped half a glass of juice on my m14x a few months ago. When it happened I immediately took action (power off/turn upside down/heat etc etc).

I then turned the laptop on a few days later to check the damage. No power. Plugging the charger in seems to do nothing but turn the charger led off.

I've since opened up the laptop and checked the damage under the keyboard. Without physically extracting the mobo (which I will be doing soon) I can already see gunk around the port for the data cable that goes from the power switch into the motherboard. That is the only sign of any damage up to yet. I've got some rubbing alcahol/cotton buds to clean the mobo but I'm still dubious as to whether this is going to fix the issue.

There is no warranty on the machine. I am based in the UK.

If I can't fix it by cleaning the mobo, the only options seem to be:

- buy a new mobo from online (ebay), hope nothing else is damaged and replace the old one hoping it works whilst spending £200+ on a new mobo.

- send it off to a pro repair shop, pay more than what it would cost to replace the mobo but at least have a good crack at getting it fixed (money is tight )

- strip it for parts and sell on the bay ( I know there is nothing wrong with the hdd/ram/battery and maybe CPU ) and forget this horrible event in my memory.

- sell the whole laptop on the bay as spares or repair, and move on.



Either way, I desperately need a laptop ( student ) and the machine is a heavy paperweight atm. So I'm looking for any suggestions in how to proceed as I haven't got much cash hehe.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

1) Warranty doesnt work with this kind of "accidents" anyway.

2) Your girlfriend should have an insurance for such cases. Why not try this?

3) Buying a new Mobo is a logical idea first but i never saw a board sold seperatly for a M14x on ebay. If you did see please link it to me i would be very interested.

Your best bet is the insurance thing or ask Dell for a refurbished board and pray nothing else is damaged by the juice.

 

um why would his gf have insurance for spilling a drink on someone elses laptop? or are you refering to household insurance?
Also never seen an m14x board on ebay and last time i checked with dell they wanted around 500 for a new mobo

could you not buy another one with say a smashed screen or something and make a working one from the two tho saying that thats going to be expensive also :S

 

Hi,

I've just cleaned the board. Unfortunately the laptop is still dead. My gf doesnt have any insurance, it's my laptop and I was stupid enough to not cover it . Do you really think Dell would give me a refurbed board? I didn't realise that they sold refurbed parts.

Also, Ebay have had boards in there before, they are rare. Especially on the english site, but I swear I've seen them before.

 

If you were to buy it from ebay you would probably get refurb as well anyway. Dell has some available for sale from the U.S. Why not trying to contact DELL using their e-mail. [email protected] they will guide you through the process.

 

@ Smokeydogsmokey

The laptop merging idea looks good, but finding a faulty m14x is going to be a mare!! Hehe, I'm thinking I should really just get rid of it as faulty and be done with the brand for a few years. The laptop itself was amazing, but having 2 clumsy users and no accidental damage was foolish haha. Has anyone got any idea what a spares and repairs model will go for?

 

@ L_Porras

Thanks for that, I will definately give them a shout.

 

Im reffering to an indemnity insurance. In my country everyone has one.
They pay for everything someone damages or destroys accidently of someone else to a limit.

It would be the best idea not to lose too much money.

2nd best idea is of course to contact Dell and ask for help in this case as L_Porras says.

 

No idea what country this is but that would be awesome - i would have +2 laptops, +2 phones and +1 xbox (clumsy gf + stupid friends lol)

 

Germany However not 100% everyone but there are not many people i know without such an insurance. (none of my friends and family for sure)

My guess was that this is normal in most countrys since people dont want to pay for a car or even a house etc. they may damage accidently or if someone broke into your house and steals all expensive items.

Tbh last time i personally needed this insurance was when my bike was stolen in my basement 10 years ago. They refunded me 2/3 of the costs.

However its never too late to learn new things

 

In Australia we have compulsory 3rd party car insurance which means ur covered if u hit someone elses car but not sure about any other type of indemnity insurance other than my medical indemnity (im a med student) so im covered if im negligent haha

Sorry for the tangent - back to the original question...

Personally i would sell it as is to someone that wants to repair it unless u can find a cheap mobo. Otherwise u may end up $300-$500 on a new board and find that it still doesn't work. Combine the money ur saving not getting a new board and the amount u sell it for and buy a cheap acer/asus/dell laptop then wait for the new m14x to come out and get that. Just my 2 cents lol

 

I would go with your last option and sell it as a whole on ebay, liquid damage is the worst damage!

 

@ thehunterooo & laz91

Thanks for your input I've decided to sell it on the bay and be done with it. I've got no idea what I'll get for it though.

I'm probably going to go for a dell xps or a cheap asus k/x series. I'm going to definately get insurance on it for sure!

 

Im american but live in germany and my wife who is german has this insurance and its great. Its just to cover our daughter if she breaks something in a store or a window and stuff like this. and its cheap too.

 

whats the item number dude?

 

+ 1
Will you ship to the US also?

 

First and foremost this truly sucks for you.

But I'm puzzled... Are you saying it's your fault due to not covering it by not having the foreknowledge that your girlfriend was going to spill drink on your laptop?
May I ask why she was even drinking near a gaming laptop to begin with...?

I don't let my family drink or even eat around my Alienware should they wish to use it.
Its both sensible and respectable for my high valued machine.
If the boot were on the other foot, I would show the same respect in return.

Paid a heavy price, in terms of money, time and general stress, not to mention your immediate gaming future.
You've learned the hard way.

You may be able to sell the parts online but at most you're looking at obtaining a £300 replacement machine when you get the components sold.

Your girlfriend should also help cover the costs - Only fair seeing she was the one that created this scenario.