Need Help Please! Water Damage??

Hi guys, I have an emergency, I spilled apple juice on my m11x R2, and although I took it apart and dried it all off as quickly as I could. I let it sit for a week straight before I tried turning it on. I just did, and it didn't work. Don't know if this is relevant but the battery indicator still shows full bars. When I plug in the charge the light on the alien head inside doesn't light up.

Really need suggestions and help, I only paid for the standard 1 year warranty!

Thank you!

 

Was the computer on when you spilled it? By take apart what exactly do you mean? If you like fully took it apart are you sure you put everything back together properly and seated well etc?? Sounds like the board may be fried in which case you are SOL.

 

1. It was on when I spilled it, a white screen with some red (lines?) popped up and it shut off.
2. I only took apart, back plate, hard drive, battery.
3. I contacted dell through chat and told them I spilled this, would have that information already been recorded in my records?
4. I heard lying might get you in big trouble in these situations?

Thanks for the suggestion, side note: what does SOL mean? (edit: found out)

 

If you don't have accidental damage warranty AND you told them you spilled apple juice and fried it, you are SOL

 

The other factor to take into account here is the fact that apple juice has sugars in it and will stick to the mobo especially if you did anything to speed the drying up without wiping it down first. As everyone above said your probably SOL, and on a side note you guys might want to get rid of the talk about lying to Dell on open boards

 

So my m11x is now a dud. Valued at 0 dollars. Theres no chance of repair?

 

Open it up again and see what things look like. Any sticky residue? If so then cleaning with alcohol might help. If there's any difficult to reach areas that need cleaning then buy a small spray bottle and sparingly spritz with alcohol as needed. Let it air dry (fan is ok, heat gun or hair dryer is not).

Tried running it with the battery taken out?

 

Tried running it with battery out, has not worked. So far as I can tell there isn't any sticky residue. I have only taken the things I have mentioned out. Should i take apart the whole thing?

 

Do you still have accidental damage coverage? If you do, you can call up Alienware and arrange for a replacement laptop.

Edit: Just read that you have one year of standard warranty. In that case you may be out of luck.

 

At this point you have nothing to lose. Take it slow and be very methodical during tear down so that you can put it all back together again. It's not difficult.

Service manual:

Documentation

Great tear down video if you're more into visual reference:

YouTube - Alienware m11xR2 high speed modding

The fact that your M11x shut itself off after briefly displaying that white screen doesn't make me very hopeful, but you really never know until you check everything out.

 

Some repair shops will fix that kind of damage (or they can try).

I bet it wouldn't be hard to find a new motherboard and other parts for this notebook.

Even if you can't fix it or get it fixed, it would make something on ebay for parts.

 

Sorry to tell you but if you had it on when you spilled it and you saw the screen go white with lines the board is already fried and shorted out. You can get a new one on sale now for $599 so that's your best bet.

 

Use this video as reference for teardown( link). If it wont boot at all then thats a motherboard issue which can be repaired with a service like on ebay( link).

Also I wouldnt think apple juice is like water since it sticks to everything apple juice is especially bad. It would almost be better to run water under it after pooring apple juice then to leave it set in. Its like when you spill some type of juice on tile and feel it months later. Hope it works out in the end for you!

 

Yep - considering that its fraud. Not permitted here on NBR. See forum rules.

As others have mentioned, you can look at -

1. a repair via a repair shop,
2. part the system out - either here on NBR's MarketPlace or on ebay,
3. replace the board yourself (although there may be other damage) or,
4. you can ask Dell what your options are

Either way, without the accidental spill coverage, you are probably out of luck due to the sugar factor. Sorry to hear about this. Hope it works out.

 

Best case scenario is the sugar/sticky residue is causing a short somewhere. Personally, if it was me, I'd take it apart and give the electronics a iso-soak and then let them dry overnight and then reassembly it and go from there.

 

My home insurance covers damage to things I own, including accidentally spilling apple juice on my computer. You should check your policy.

Edit: my sister dropped her laptop in a pool once. It still worked. Electrosoft's suggestion is spot on. That's what I would do - take it apart, wash the parts, put back together, and try again.

 

Oh... it's my history..
I also spilled juice, and he did not want to forcibly shut down. I had to take it apart in a panic and pull out the battery. The keyboard had to be washed under water for a long time to dry. Now everything works fine.

 

If it seems to be irreperable, it's warranty is voided, then might as well give it a shot to disassemble and clean it up. Completely (and I mean completely) disassemble. You might want to video yourself doing it so you can remember what goes where, there's also decent youtube videos showing how to do it.

Remove CPU, RAM, HDD, GPU even if possible. Then use high alcohol percent (99%+, my local superstore carries 99% for like $0.89 a bottle) and clean the motherboard. I use toothbrushes, buy some at the dollar store (I get them 3 or 4 for $1) and scrub away.

I've heard of people actually running it under water, then rinsing with distilled water, but IMHO that risks further damage. Water gets in a little crevice and can't escape it won't dry out, and when you turn on the PC, poof.

Toothbrushes with alcohol will take a while, but that high % alcohol dries quickly and much less chance for residue being left behind.

My $0.02.

Good LUCK!

 

Those 99%+ ethanol solutions have heavy metals in them, as it's the only way to get the concentration that high, so personally, I wouldn't touch them. If you're going to use ethanol, find a pure distilled source (ie/rectified spirit, which is 95-96% EtOH and the rest is H2O). It costs significantly more, but at least you can drink it after when you're done.

 

lolwut?

Rubbing alcohol is isopropanol, with chemical formula C3H8O, which can also be written as: (CH3)2CHOH. It contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which are all non-metals.

 

Rubbing alcohol can actually comprise of either ethanol or isopropanol. The OP didn't specify which he was referring to, so I naturally assumed ethanol, an old scientific habit.

Edit: though the suggestion to use isopropanol is actually a good one.

 

Yeah, I've always used isopropanol and never had an issue. But I see your point, you need to be careful what you buy.