Laptop Spill: What to Do?

My friend recently spilled a liquid that I cannot specify onto a laptop I cannot specify. It now won't turn on. There is no CompleteCare or similar plan with it. What should I recommend to her to do (In terms of doing actual manual repairs)

 

It may be too late. What I would say is to immediately turn the laptop off, remove battery and all power sources and try to sop up as much liquid as possible, then clean components as much as possible, even if this requires partial disassembly. Do not use any harsh chemicals; I would recommend plain, clean, pure water. Then allow the notebook to dry for a good long while before attempting to power it up. Depending on the liquid, i.e. soda, it may be difficult to impossible to preserve it.

 

if its still under warranty call the people and you can say it stopped working (if the liquid is water or alcoholic)....if that doesn't work or your morality kicks in, better buy a new toplap.

 

If it hasn't fried already, you need to let it dry. Put it in an area with good ventilation for a while before trying to power it on again.

 

Is this really close to hopeless in terms of manual repairs?

 

Depending on the size of the spill, in the likely/unlikely event that only isolated components are fried you can try to find replacements for those components and everything should work again. But thats easier said than done...

 

if it doesn't turn on (meaning it probably fried) then you probably can't repair it...maybe order the broken parts from the company like motherboard most likely. because hdd and the rest of the stuff will probably be unaffected. or take out the hdd (if you have valuable stuff) and the ram (if it still works) and graphics card (if its mxm). but a cheap laptop that has ability for dual hard drives, mxm capable, and ram upgradable...and you can potentially lessen the financial burden.

 

It's tough enough to replace a motherboard, so actually repairing is extremely difficult. You have to be able to identify the fried part, somehow take it out, find a replacement and then solder it back on.

It doesn't sound like your friend can do all that. Don't know many people that can do this.

 

If you have low morals go buy full coverage insurance for it through state farm or something, and wait a month or 2 and then report it.....That seems lame though but it would work

You could always use it as a parts computer! go buy a new barebone, and use everything you can (Ex. Harddrive, CPU if possible, wireless card, Mabey graphics card if its MXM compatible.)

 

You can't tell us? And this thread is not closed? Good luck, what do you want? Spelled, but will not tell?

 

If the drink contains sugar or acid (Coca Cola contains both) then the affected components will need to be thoroughly washed. The keyboard has probably taken the brunt of the onslaught and this can be removed and washed. Once the keyboard is removed then it will be easier to see if anything else is affected and also try to clean them.

Once everything is clean and dry then it is a matter of reassembly and a prayer before trying to turn on. If the computer starts up then the battle is nearly won. The final step is to see whether the keyboard fully works. If here are beeps or other messages when the computer tries to start then it is probable that the keyboard is still malfunctioning. Fortunately keyboards aren't too expensive or difficult to find.

John